Hello, dear readers!

Hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to drop by discord!

This is an invitation for my discord server, where we can share thoughts and other stuff about some of my fanfiction.

I share teasers of chapters, answer random questions (if you have them) and overall interact with everyone! So feel free to drop by! Use the link below or DM for more info

_discord._gg/wr48UmENbx

(eliminate the _ when used)

57. Chris

Claire had looked well, despite going through a full remembrance of her ordeal during captivity. His sister had the will and energy to smile and joke, so Chris took that as a good sign.

However, Chris was not a fool, and he understood his sister well enough to know that Claire could be one hell of an actress. If she hadn't chosen the path of science, she could have gone for acting, and she would have been quite successful.

Sometimes, it was hard to tell if Claire was alright. However, with the current situation, he had no other choice but to let it pass. He'll have to rely on Leon, as much as he disliked the idea, to watch over his baby sister's wellness.

"Someone seems moody," Barry snorted when Chris stepped into the office and dropped on his chair.

"Well, I guess he hates how much he has to rely on Leon these days," Jill chuckled.

"Don't even start," Chris said, glaring at his friends. "So, how's the search going?"

"Well, Claire gave us some nice tips, but I'm still searching. As far as we know, the asylum might not be listed at all," Jill answered. "There are several unnamed islands around the area, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to say that the place could be on one."

Chris stared at the map that Jill had projected on the wall and crossed his arms. There were several tiny islands around Northern Ireland, many of which were uninhabited. They would be perfect spots to perform bioweapon research.

"Fucking bastards," Barry said. "Posing as a medical facility to perform hellish experiments on patients? That's like Umbrella..."

"Shouldn't we be used to that already?" Chris said bitterly. "All I want is to find them and destroy them with my own hands."

"Well, that makes us a crowd," Barry said. "Kennedy said the same once when I talked to him."

Chris grimaced.

"Oh, talking about Leon, he said his friend at the FOS would be searching, too," Jill said. "If we don't find anything, there's a chance she will. He said he wouldn't let them get away this time."

"Leon said that? Guess I shouldn't be surprised..."

"Guy's taking care of the wife," Barry snorted. "That's what we, husbands, do..."

"As it should be," Jill smirked.

Jill and Barry knew the subject put Chris on his toes.

"Can we focus?" Chris groaned. "Mobius could make a move at any time, and we are not closer to finding them."

"We are one step closer, to be fair," Barry said, turning back to the screen. "Claire's info is a lot more than everything we had before. How was she, though? I don't think those memories were nice ones."

"She says she's fine," Chris replied, scrolling through his computer screen. "I doubt she is, but I already know I shouldn't push her to talk when she goes into the I-am-alright mode."

"So, how long did it take you to learn that?" Jill asked.

"32 years and 1890 punches," Barry laughed. "I told you, girls like their privacy. You have to give them their space..."

"I don't see you applying that with your girls, Barry," Chris complained.

"Hey, I do give them their space," Barry replied. "And then, I start asking questions..."

"Girls need time to assimilate stuff," Jill said matter-of-factly. "We speak when we are ready, not before. You men should learn that already."

"You women and your secrets," Barry said in a chuckle. "My girls are always muttering to each other; it drives me crazy sometimes."

"Hey!" Jill complained.

"I am just kidding. I've learned the lesson, alright? My girls knocked it into my head, " Barry laughed. The older man turned to Chris and snorted. "Give Claire time, and she will talk."

"Yeah, I suppose. I'm just worried."

"We all are, but hey, that's what Kennedy is there for, right?" Barry smirked. "Husband's job is to keep the wifey happy and safe. Who knows, maybe when all of this is over, Kennedy will be your official brother-in-law, Chris."

Chirs, who had been sipping his coffee at that moment, choked, spilling the hot beverage all over his shirt. Jill laughed as Barry gave her a mischievous wink.

"Who will take her to the altar, though? Chris should get the honor, but I am afraid that he might try to punch the groom," Jill asked with the same teasing voice, and Chris glared at them.

"Hah, Chris can do it. If he wants to kick Kennedy's ass, let him do it at the bachelor party. Be sure we're doing one!"

Jill laughed, and Chris pinched the bridge of his nose with annoyance. However, Barry was onto something. Chris had been deliberately ignoring it, but something seemed different between Leon and Claire. Chris shook his head. He was probably overthinking it. Barry's teasing was making him see things.

"Can we focus on our task?"

Jill and Barry laughed. The two BSAA soldiers turned back to their computers and continued scrolling through several files. Chris swiped his shirt with a napkin and turned back to his screen.

Blackwell Asylum. Chris scrolled through the listed Psychiatric Asylums in the Irish sea. There couldn't be many, but Jill had a point. The chances for it to be in the database were low.

The hours passed, but none of the three soldiers had found anything. There were several Psychiatric Asylums and retreat centers, but none of them were named Blackwell.

"Fuck terrorists and their secret labs..."Chris growled in annoyance

"Second that," Jill sighed. "Any luck?"

"No shit," Chris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Maybe it has another name?"

"That would make sense," Jill said thoughtfully. "They might have changed the name, too."

"Do you think they would do that? Change its name?" Barry asked.

"Of course they would. Fucking bastards..."

Chris felt frustrated. Suddenly, his phone began to ring, and the caller's ID made him groan.

"Talk about the Ceasar. Brother-in-law calling."

"Barry, you know I see you as a father, and I respect you, but I swear..." Chris groaned, picking up the phone and answering with irritation, while Barry laughed.

"Leon..."

"Chris."

Chris scoffed. Somehow, their greeting always consisted of them saying each other's names. Well, at least that was better than punching each other's faces.

"Did I interrupt something?" Leon asked.

"No, just a useless search for Mobius's hideout that has not yielded any fruits," Chris said, giving Barry an annoyed look as the man was making silly faces. "How's Claire? Did she make it home fine?"

Chris heard Leon snort. That was an unexpected reaction.

"She's sleeping now. She seems well, so far, better than I anticipated considering what she went through today." Leon answered. "She's...amazingly calm."

"Well, that's Claire. Sometimes I am not sure if I should be proud or guilty," Chris sighed. "She learned to be so independent because of me. Keep an eye on her. She's not as strong as she pretends to think."

"I know that," Leon replied. "You know I will take care of her."

"Yes, I do..." Chris sighed. "I don't suppose you called me to tell me she is sleeping, right?"

"No, I was calling for something else," Leon replied, "Hunnigan found Blackwell..."

Chris stood up from his seat, making the chair fall loudly to the ground. Both Jill and Barry turned to him with alarmed looks.

"What? Are you sure? How?"

"FOS agents have their ways, I suppose..." Leon replied. "She called me a minute ago telling me she'd found it. It was a Psychiatric Hospital located on a small, isolated island 200 miles from Arranmore Island. It ran during the Victorian Era and got shut down in the 1970s due to inhuman conditions. The entire Island was bought by a family named Crawley in 1979. It's been private property ever since."

"So it isn't a legal hospital," Chris groaned. "That explains why we didn't find it on the local database."

"Yeah. I doubt it was a real institution in the first place. Mobius used the charade to fool their test subjects."

Leon's reasoning seems accurate. It was easy to have their staff and scientists pretend the place was an operating asylum and make everyone trapped there that they were patients receiving treatment. The thought made Chris's blood boil with disgust.

"Those fucking assholes. You might be right, considering they fooled Claire into thinking she was crazy."

"That's, exactly, where I got the idea," Leon said.

"What about the owners?"

"The property is still under the Crawleys. I asked Hunnigan to look into them. Maybe they have something to do with Mobius."

"Yeah, they could be the ones behind all this shit."

"Yes, that's a possibility. I'll let you know if I find anything."

" I will appreciate that. Your friend is good if she found that info..."

"Trust Hunnigan to find anything," Leon sighed. "Chris, we should approach this carefully."

"Yeah, I know. We won't make any impulsive moves. We'll start on a plan, and we will let you know. "

"Yeah, that should work."

There was a pause, and Chris pondered what he should say next.

"I should go..." Leon said, "We'll talk later, Chris."

"Yeah, sure. Thank you, Leon."

The agent's reply was a soft hum and then ended the call. Chris put down the phone and punched the desk with anger.

"What's wrong?" Jill asked.

"Leon's friend found Blackwell. It used to be a Mental Asylum, but it has been out of service since 1970. Mobius was setting up a play, making the inmates think they were in a mental institution." Chris replied, "at least, that's Leon's theory, and I think he might be right."

"So, they took people and made them think they were crazy; why?" Barry asked.

"Because they are sick bastards. That's why," Chris answered.

"I guess we won't know until we go there," Jill said, "but I don't think there is an easy answer to that."

"Well, kids. I think we'll need a plan," Barry said, "and a good one. Experience tells me that we won't be finding a welcome party when we get there."

"Oh, we will have a welcoming party," Chris said bitterly. "With BOWs."

"And if they are the new strains, we will need heavy artillery," Jill said. "Should we request DSO assistance?"

"We could," Chris admitted, "but with all the mess they are going through, who knows if they can help."

"Well, we need the ammo if we want to make it alive through that," Barry observed.

"Do you think the BSAA could manufacture it?"

"I don't know. The technical part isn't my thing," Chris sighed.

"Oh, yeah. Claire's the brain in the family."

Chris snorted. He would have felt offended if he didn't know Barry was probably right. Claire was the smart girl, while he was more a man of action.

"I found the island on the satellite," Jill said. "Exactly where Leon said it was..."

"Well, that's great news," Chris said, punching his hand. "Jill..."

"I know. I'll do some scouting through the satellite, but what are you going to do?"

"I'll see Adams. We need an order to move forward."

If it depended on Chris, he would leave right away, but protocols were protocols, and the team needed a formal order to move out and proceed. The eldest Redfield had no doubts that Adams would issue the order without hesitation, but the needless bureaucracy irritated him sometimes.

Chris arrived at Adams's office, and he was about to knock when he heard the man's voice speaking in a quiet voice.

Chris was not someone who liked to overhear conversations, but there was something about the secrecy and the quietness of the conversation that set up all of Chris's alarms.

"I understand, but I don't think that's the wisest decision," Adams said in a very soft voice. " Yes, but no matter how you see it, she's still a person."

Chris frowned with suspicion. With whom was Adams talking?

"If it were that simple, you wouldn't have asked for my help. Yes, I know that, and no, that's out of the question. The last thing you want is to ruffle Chris' feathers in the wrong way, and he's already pissed enough."

The mention of his name sent Chris into a graver state of alert.

"Keep a low profile. Your informant seems to be good at that, isn't she? I need to go now. Goodbye."

Chris waited for a couple of minutes before knocking on the door. The conversation had been suspicious, but Chris had no incriminating evidence to demand an explanation, so he decided to proceed with discretion.

Adams smiled at Chris when the soldier entered the office, the older man signaled the seat in front of his desk, and Chris sat down quietly.

" I didn't expect you to be in my office this early. What can I do for you, Chris?"

Cris looked at the older man without answering right away. He searched for any sign that would betray the chief, but the older man's expression was passive and unaffected. Was he overthinking it?

"We found a suspicious location that might be our ground zero. We need your authorization to proceed."

"Ah, of course. Did you find the place where Claire was captive?"

"Leon found something, or at least we think it is the place. We need to scout the area to be sure. With some luck, we might even catch the bastards in place."

"I see," Adams replied. The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Aside from that gesture, nothing seemed to change in his demeanor. The man was as calm as he always was.

"So, how is Claire? Did the regression session go smoothly?"

Chris hesitated. With the excitement of having a name for the location, Jill and he had jumped straight into work as soon as they had arrived from Claire's lab. Naturally, they had not informed Adams about the results.

After hearing that suspicious conversation, Chris wasn't sure if he should tell him anything at all.

"It went...well, I suppose," Chris answered. "It's not like I understand it, so my ."

"So she remembers everything?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask for details," Chris sighed. "I didn't want to trigger anything."

"Understandable," Adams nodded. "I assume Claire is with Kennedy?"

"Yeah, as usual."

"He's done a good job, hasn't he? Keeping her safe..."

"I suppose I can't complain," Chris admitted. "She seems alright and happy."

"Yes, she looks well. Let's hope it stays that way, right?"

Adams passed him a piece of paper. It was the authorization note for Chris's team to start the recon mission in Blackwell Asylum.

"Yeah..." Chris replied. "Let's hope it will."