Orphan

Part Three:

-Something Wicked This Way Comes-

Chapter 20:

Bondage

2006

He twitched, his head rolling like a bad hangover, and the voices lured him back from the dark.

"Do you really think that'll hold him?"

"I don't know, but what choice is there?"

Leon groaned, and a voice commanded, "Stay down, Mr. Kennedy. Don't make me use this."

His eyes flickered as Leon emerged from the darkness. He cracked one bleary lid to find a pixie above him with a shock rod aimed at his chest. Amused, Leon grumbled, "I usually ask a woman to buy me a drink before they shove their rod in me."

The answering look wasn't amused. This happened, he speculated; his jokes were notoriously misunderstood. When he started to quip something else, he realized his hands were bound above his head and his feet the same. He was spread-eagled on a mattress with a shock rod aimed at his face.

Curiously, he mused, "Why is this familiar?"

Now the face above his twitched with humor as the pixie returned, "You didn't tell me he was kinda dumb."

Offended, Leon joked, "Get to know me first, sweetheart; I get better."

The pixie returned flippantly, "I doubt it."

Ouch.

The pixie put her face closer to his and breathed, almost reverently, "Wow...the iris...I've never seen the like."

The voice behind her sighed, "I know...it's disturbing."

"It's actually pretty remarkable," Claimed the pixie as she studied his face like he was a moth spitted for perusal, "How do you feel, sir?"

Leon smirked, "Peachy, princess. Why don't you untie me, and I'll show you."

The shock rod aimed at his left eye as she backed off, looking less amused now. "He seems violent."

The voice laughed lightly, "Only if poor humor is considered assault." And now the voice was above his, and Sherry's face looked pale and worried, "Answer honestly, Leon, make this easy. How do you feel?"

Leon grunted, "Super. Like I got hit in the head with a concrete beam."

She looked sheepish, "I had to. You wouldn't listen. I had to do it."

His brows winged up, "You hit me!?"

Sherry murmured, "I'm sorry...but I'm not sorry. Not really. I had to. You were acting like a fool. I had to protect you."

On the bed, Leon jerked on his bonds. "Damnit...you killed him!"

The pixie mused, "Doubtful. Hard to kill a man with regenerative capabilities. You say you both cut and shot him once, right?"

Sherry nodded. The pixie sighed, "Then a slap isn't likely to have done him in. Though I would have broken his neck while he was down, myself...the bastard."

Leon jerked again, "I needed him alive, Sherry! Do you know what you've done?"

The pixie stuck that rod in his face and cautioned, "Be still, Mr. Kennedy. He's not dead. And neither are you. I say she did alright. As for you? I'm working on a serum for the mess he made in your blood, but it's gonna take time. I need you to lie there and be good until I do."

Leon gave her a look worthy of having witnessed the second coming of the Lord, "You kidding?! No! Let me up...now!"

He jerked on his bonds, and Sherry crawled atop him. She straddled him and shoved his arms down so hard he felt it echo through his chest and shoulders. He grunted, and she warned, "Still, Leon. You hear me? Or I will knock you out again. I mean it."

"No!" He shouted it, "Let me go! Let me go back! I need to know what he knows, Sherry! I need him!"

This was how far he'd fallen, Sherry thought madly; he was convinced Wesker was the answer to his problems. It was time to show him the world had more things in it than a past, the haunted and a man who murdered. "You can't."

He roared, "Goddamnit, Sherry! Get off me or so help me, I'll-"

Leon jerked again, and she slapped his face. He stopped struggling, eyes wide, as the slap rang around the room. Looking aggrieved, she demanded, "I mean it, Leon. Still. Or I'll hit you again."

The shock on his face nearly killed her, where she held him down. She finally dropped the stern tone to beg, "Please? Please...just trust me. Please, trust me. Don't you? Haven't I earned that?"

He went still, and she leaned up, keeping her weight pressed down on his hips. "Thank you. Something is happening to you. It's not good. It's eroding your humanity. It's making you a monster. You have to believe me when I tell you I had no choice. It was here or death. I couldn't kill you. I couldn't. I have to try to save you."

He held her eyes with his angry red ones until she whispered, "Even if it costs me you, I have to try."

Leon jerked his head away from her earnest face and watched feet come down the basement stairs where they held him. It was a spartan room with an ugly plaid couch and an old television. Some boxes were piled along the walls, and the room itself smelled like musty age and dust.

When the feet hit bottom, he jerked his gaze to Claire's face beneath a fall of red hair. She carried a tray with food on it. As she turned to face him, he snarled, "Claire!? Really!? That was who you ran to!? Wh-"

As she turned, the tray she carried bumped into her big belly. It jutted from beneath a pretty blue t-shirt. He could see the convex belly button popping against the cotton.

Leon froze. His mouth went dry. He felt like someone had shot him in the chest with a tranq dart as Sherry whispered, "See? You have more than just a past to fight for, Leon. So much more."

He stared at Claire until the redhead mused, "...oops."

Horrified, he jerked his gaze to her face as Claire added, "Yep. That one night we bumped uglies? This is what happened. I'm guessing using a condom might have stopped it, but...whatcha gonna do?"

Leon shook his head and denied, "Nope. Nada. Not mine."

Claire gave him a quelling look. "Don't be stupid."

He laughed, and it was harsh and cruel. "Nope. Rejected."

He looked away, and Sherry grabbed his chin. "Damn you." The look on her face broke his heart as she accused, "You know it's yours. You know. Stop being a coward."

What had she felt when she'd found Claire heavy with his child? The betrayal hurt him, and he wasn't even with Sherry when it had happened. He felt like a fucking bastard and couldn't explain why he wanted to apologize to every woman in this room - even the pixie looking at him with knowing blue eyes.

A little desperately, he whispered, "I...can't...Sherry. I can't. I can't do this. I don't want it."

She held his eyes and accused, "...liar. It's not ideal. It's not perfect. It's not a wedding and a white picket fence and happily ever after..., but it's family, Leon. It's family. And you have to fight for it. You have to. Because it's the only thing in the world worth dying for."

Claire set the tray in her hands on the bed beside him and mused, "Good for you I'm not expecting a proposal, Kennedy. In fact, if you tried, I'd probably throw up on your perfect hair while you knelt. We don't love each other, Leon. We barely like each other. It was sex. And sex made a baby. I decided to keep it because, shitty timing or not, I've always wanted to be a mother. So, it's your kid. Be around, don't be around - it doesn't matter to me. But I'm going to help fix you here because I promised Sherry I would."

Leon scoffed, "Like your promises mean anything."

Claire slapped his forehead and made him grunt. "That's a warning, smart mouth. The next time I have Rebecca poke you in the dick with her shock rod."

This was his life, he thought wildly, tied up and spread eagle on a bed with three beautiful women - and he wasn't going to fuck any of them. In fact, they just kept right on fucking him instead. One with a baby in her belly, one with a shock rod aimed at his nuts, and one with a quiet look of such utter desperation he couldn't really look away.

Rebecca cleared her throat, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Kennedy...I wish the circumstances were different, but..." She shrugged, "I'll go get working on that compound to see if we can stop you from becoming a monster."

She headed the stairs as Claire added, "I'll give you a minute, Sherry. Use the secret knock on the door, and I'll let you upstairs." Claire pointed at Leon and warned, "The door is reinforced titanium, asshole. I had this safe room installed when I bought this house a few years ago - just in case I ended up in a fucking zombie apocalypse with B.O.W.S. running wild in the streets. It'll hold even your evil ass."

Leon scoffed, "Secret knocks. Safe rooms. Trapped in the basement by a woman carrying my bastard kid, a mad scientist, and a B.O.W. jealous of my father...what nightmare is this?"

Claire snapped as she took the stairs, "It's the story of your life, you jerk. Better start making peace with it."

Damn her.

He nearly laughed as she closed the door and left him with Sherry in the basement. Sherry studied him where he lay for so long that he finally muttered, "...what?"

She climbed off him shaking her head. As she crossed to the table and brought back some soup with a spoon, he snapped, "Goddamnit, Sherry, I didn't know."

She gave him a calm expression as she perched at his hip and stirred the soup. "Hmm. I know that."

He implored, "Then why are you so mad at me?"

She lowered the bowl and gave him a cold look. He felt it shrivel his balls in his pants. "How many women are you sleeping with, Leon? Hmm? Me? Claire?...Ada? Anybody else? I'm just wondering, between being the disciple of a sociopath and the lothario of barebacking, how you'll find time to avenge your name. It must be tiring being so goddamn stupid."

She'd never spoken to him like that. Ever. Not that he could ever really remember. It rocked him in his belly and had him breathing, "It was before, Sherry. Before. Before you...before us...you want me to apologize for something that happened before?"

Shaken by how much she was hurting, Sherry shook her head as tears sparked in her eyes, "No. No, I don't. I'm not stupid. I'm not. I knew what you were when...I knew. It's not even my business. I can't do a damn thing about your women...I can't. But I can stop you from being the protege of a madman."

She held his eyes and warned him, "I will fix you. I will save you. I will kill him to do both. And I will keep you here, a prisoner, until I do. With or without you, I will avenge your mother and me and clear your name. Do you understand me?"

When he said nothing, she offered him the soup in the spoon she held. He opened his mouth, and she dumped the tasty broth in his mouth. He swallowed, and she added, "It's not just your name anymore, Leon. It's that child's legacy too. So, I will do that for him. Because no child should have to live with the knowledge their father was a monster."

Leon shifted on the bed and breathed, "It's a boy?"

She held his look as she stuffed more soup in his mouth. Voice hard, she answered, "Yes. It's a boy. She's due in about three weeks."

Jesus.

He let her feed him as he waited for her to speak again. She didn't. She fed him and would hardly look at him. He ached knowing he'd hurt her - with Claire, the baby she carried, and becoming disillusioned in that compound. He'd failed her.

His voice broke a little as he begged, "Look at me."

Her eyes rolled to his face as he stated, "I'm a bastard, Sherry. A stupid bastard. I am. But I'm still me. Let me loose, and trust me. My heads clear. I swear."

She denied him, surprising him, and rose from her perch at his hip. "No. Not until we know what's happening inside you. I'm sorry. You can't be trusted."

He warned, voice rising, "Goddamnit, Sherry, let me go. I mean it."

She shook her head again as she went for the stairs. "I can't. I'm sorry, Leon. I am. But I can't trust you." Her voice broke as she said it and broke his heart right alongside it. "You're lost...I'm gonna find you...or die trying."

"Sherry!"

She slammed the door shut on his desperate shout.

He jerked on his bonds until his wrists were raw, but whatever they'd bound him with, his monster strength wasn't doing him any favors. With a rage-filled curse, he roared, "FUCKING WOMEN!"

Rebecca mused at the top of the stairs, "Not nearly as cute now, is he?"

Claire snorted, "He's half nuts with whatever is happening in him. Don't hold it against him; we'll figure it out. He's usually at least semi-charming."

Rebecca shrugged, "He seems like a real bag of dicks, just sayin."

Claire returned as she washed some dishes in the sink. "He's not Leon. He's a monster or will be soon if we don't figure this out. I mean, I don't know exactly how long he ha-"

The little monitor on the kitchen counter echoed as he shouted in the basement again, "SHERRRY!"

Rebecca jerked. Claire's eyes widened. Sherry slapped a hand to her breast as she and the redhead shared a look so full of memory that they both stood rooted to the spot. The last man who'd roared her name like that had wanted her dead.

He'd been a monster too.

Claire breathed, "...shit."

Rebecca decided, "I better get going. That was the cry of the damned there."

Sherry whispered, "...it's too late."

Her eyes filled with tears as she whimpered, "It's too late, Claire. He's gone. He's gone, right? He's lost...I can't...you hear me? I can't do this. I have to go back down th-"

Claire grabbed her hands as they reached for the door and turned her around. Her big belly bumped the other woman as she gathered her in and held her, stroking her soft hair as Sherry shattered in her arms and wept wholly and pitifully.

"Hey," Claire soothed, cooing as she held her, "Hey, hey, hey...he's still in there. You heard the jokes, right? He's still there, Sherry. He's just pissed and throwing his monster strength around to scare us. So what? You think I'm afraid of Leon Kennedy?"

Sherry mewled and wept wildly as she tried to hide behind her hands, and Claire demanded, "Look at me, Sherry. Don't let this scare you, you hear me? We're gonna get him back. Wherever he is, he's still in there. Trust me. I know it's a lot to ask with everything that's happened, but this time? I'm in this too."

She patted her belly. She held the girl's eyes and stated, "Family, right? You're mine. So is this kid taking up my uterus and making me look like a fat blimp. And so is that asshole in the basement roaring like a monster. Faith, Sherry. You've had it in him all this time - keep having it. And we will fix it."

Sherry nodded rapidly. Her breath hurt as she let it out and brought it back in. "Give it time, Sherry," Claire cautioned her maternally, "And I swear we'll fix it."

Rebecca nodded. Time was the answer to all things. The question was...how much did he really have?

Wesker ripped the sink out of the wall and launched it across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into a dozen pieces.

Amused, Alex lounged on the couch in the other room and mused, "Did that help, darling? Feel better?"

Albert dropped onto the couch beside her, and Alex shifted, smoothing his hair back from his tired face. "I underestimated the Birkin girl."

Alex rolled her eyes, "You didn't. You underestimated the human condition, Albert, as you've always done."

"...which one?"

"Love, darling. Love. It motivates. It stimulates. It extrapolates response from the body and the blood and the groin." Her hand slid down his chest, "But you were right, Albert. We both were. Their mingled blood? It's keeping me strong. The answers we want? They're inside your son and that girl."

Wesker turned his head on the pillow and looked at her face. If anyone in the world was dear to him, it was Alex. She was somehow softer than he'd ever been. She desperately wanted a child but was unable to conceive. They both need Sherry Birkin to do it for them.

Wesker sighed, "I need to get him back."

Brows arched, Alex studied his face, "For the blood?"

"For the future."

She tilted her head curiously, "Do you care for him?"

Wesker laughed roughly, "It's not that simple. In the wrong hands, he's the death of me."

Alex cuddled against his side and watched the clock tick on the wall before them. "I know how to make it happen, Albert, but you'll have to trust me."

He curled his arm over her back. "Explain."

Her mouth twitched. "You need to let me take the Redfield girl."

Curious, Wesker considered this, "What good would that do?"

"She's their link. They will follow her. If we bring her here...Leon and the girl will follow."

It was a good plan. It had merit. Holding Claire Redfield would also bring Chris - and Wesker had been hungering for that reunion for too long. He tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch. He considered its merits before speaking again, "I have to ensure Redfield is the enemy first. If Leon suspects his innocence, he will join forces with that neanderthal and attack us."

Alex cooed, "So, set him up. Leak the intel about Africa and Tricell. Set up Redfield as the fall guy."

Wesker felt his mouth turn into a sly smile. "Make it clear the B.S.A.A. is in cahoots with Excella?"

"Of course. Let Redfield and his bitch find the answers they seek there. And then...lay the groundwork for them both to become the enemy."

A simple thing, really. Tricell was the biggest backer of the B.S.A.A. Excella was a perpetual thorn in his side. Her constant flirting was easy enough to dissuade. But what if he simply gave her what she wanted? What if he offered her a path to the new world? She would happily implicate Redfield and his organization in the fallout.

Wesker hugged Alex closed to his side and mused, "And when he's done...you'll take the Redfield girl."

"Happily. I've needed some new blood for my T-Phobos project. I heard she's hard to frighten. I bet she'd be...delicious."

Wesker shifted a little, "I dislike you using this project as a form of digitized transfer, Alex. It means you've accepted your demise."

She smiled lightly. "Just preparations, darling. Just in case. This way...if this body decays, I'll be able to still be with you."

He considered the clock on the wall. "I'll enjoy forcing my failures on Redfield."

She chuckled and cuddled closer. "I know you will, my love. As will I. And the moment your son returns to your embrace; we'll celebrate with a slaughter. Who first? The White House? The Senate?"

Wesker shook his head, "Slowly, I think, Alex. It must be done so slowly. If we overplayed our hand, the world would hunt us."

"They're already hunting you." Alex pouted and hated the idea even as it secretly thrilled her to know they were so much smarter than the rest. He was safe in her arms from those who'd harm him.

"Yes. But soon, they'll have another to chase. And I'll rise to power with you beside me and my son in place behind the throne."

Alex sighed happily. She thought of a little baby with Wesker blood and beautiful blue eyes. Her hands trembled as she cupped him close and dreamed of a future filled with fear and power.