Chapter 26: Just A New Day
A dark scowl creased his clean shaved face as he struggled not to scratch the constant tickle being created from the tailored suit he wore watching as the men and women cavorted about the lavish rooms.
He didn't understand why he was there, nobody knew who he was accept the usual gang; who were nowhere to be seen, in fact nobody could know who he was, which gave him a great idea. His trademark smirk blazed on his face and the glint of genius in his eyes, he made his way to the door at blinding speed, he almost made it to the front door when a vice like grip held onto his wrist pulling him back into the main building before he could protest.
"Where do you think you are going, Mr. Muller?" Hunnigan asked angrily, receiving a cold shrug from Jake, she then shook her head and walked away, leaving him in the empty conference room.
There was no way of leaving, obviously.
Standing in the empty room he felt like a mannequin in a shop window, swiftly deciding upon finding the bar after suppressing his thoughts. 'Might make things more interesting.', he continued to think glumly, and for the second time began pushing his way through the finely dressed to a perfect high-end oak bar with a French bar tender flinging a dishcloth over his shoulder.
"Err… Jack Daniel's on the rocks…" He answered finally, after deciphering the man's words. 'God damn fabric!' Jake thought enraged as the wooly material rubbed against his bum cheeks, agonizing his already itchy parts.
His face contorted into a pre-sneeze, and nodded to the bar man in thanks as he set the drink down before him. Cautiously, Jake looked behind him to see if anyone was looking, 'All clear' he mused smugly, before reaching down to the itch and the other to the glass of liquor.
The itch was getting more and more irritating, driving him mad! In one swift movement his fingers made contact with the rough trouser material, his skin just below it, fingers twitching to the problem he managed one stroke when his hand were slapped away, causing him to choke on the whiskey and spit it everywhere.
He didn't even have time to put his glass down, wipe his face, or catch a glimpse of who was dragging him, he was too busy concentrating on not tripping over his own feet.
"Hey! Hey! Wait a god-damn minute!" He roared making a few people turn their heads, I mean he was hopping out the room on one foot.
The people started to thin and he felt the cool night air and light rain on his face, the person dragging him slowed down letting him regain control over his feet.
"Sherry?!"
"Shh!" Came her response, as she continued to drag him further into the darkness around to the back of the marble building and into a small crevice in the wall.
"Sherry!" Jake whispered, "What are you doing?" He muttered in an even lower tone poking his head out to look at the surroundings, which was difficult considering she was pushing him backwards all the time.
"I just wanted to… You know…" She smiled seductively and pressed her lips to his, her hands wandering up his chest, slowly rubbing as she went. All Jake could do was moan into her mouth at the sweet kiss.
What felt like a blissful eternity later, footsteps in the gravel approached them, but being carried away in their personal heaven didn't notice until the person had to clear their throat making their presence known. The two jumped apart and flew into battle mode; each with a knife and gun in hand.
"Caught like a deer in the headlights." Chris chuckled adjusting his tie staring at the two with an amused grin, "It's a good job I came out here instead of Leon, you know how he gets."
"Hmph." Jake smirked thinking about it, fleetingly reminiscing about the last few months since the Middle East and how Kennedy had hated his and Sherry's relationship.
"It's about to begin in there, we need you inside." Chris continued before walking back the way he came, hands in pockets and head held high.
The death of Piers effected him badly but never let it show, unless in the presence of Jill; in fact he was more empowered to bring all evil in the world down, as if he was trying to redeem himself though he didn't need too.
"Alright, we're coming." Sherry smiled, putting her gun and knife away into her garter belt, like Ada had many times and looked back to Jake.
"After you Supergirl." He said huskily holding his gun free hand out to take hers.
"Alright, Superman."
Jake frowned at her reply and began protesting all the way into the building; it was his nickname for her, she couldn't steal it!
All Sherry could do was laugh at him, the dark scowl etched into his brows made him look even sexier than normal, every now and again she'd stop in mid step and plant a light kiss on his soft lips; not only to shut him up but just because she wanted too.
Once the pair reached the inside of the large mansion, the halls were emptying and the people flooding into the meeting hall taking their places at the sizeable round oak tables. One large oblong table stood at the foot of the great room with 4 seats, two occupied by the leader of the BSAA and the other of DSO.
Sherry and Jake nodded to Chris and Hunnigan as they passed; their seats being at one of the tables closest to the front, sharing with Leon and Helena.
"Where's the others?" Jake whispered to Leon as they settled in, meaning Ada, Jill and Claire.
"Jill's up front with Chris and Claire… she's running late."
"And Ada?"
Leon huffed and turned his head toward the ceiling.
"Disappeared…"
"What?!" Jake choked, almost falling off his chair.
"Sorry… What I meant to say is, she always 'disappears' when there's a social convention she should be at."
Jake sighed and shook his head, 'Just like her.', then remembered Sherry telling him something from Leon about Miss Wong, but regretted not listening 100%
Waiters came to the tables once everyone was seated, bringing bottles of champagne and water, leisurely filling up the glasses then departing leaving everyone in anticipated silence.
"Thank you all for gathering here at this crucial time," Hunnigan spoke slowly looking around the room at everyone. "You know why we are all here and what we represent."
Jake frowned and looked to Sherry for answers; he didn't know why they were called there.
"I am Ingrid Hunnigan leader of the DSO, these are my associates Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine of the BSAA, and Claire Redfield of Terra Save."
Again Jake frowned, Claire had suddenly appeared as if from nowhere dressed in a stunningly bright red dress that complimented her hair.
"Some of you will already know that the Bioterrorist threat has not been silenced as of yet, our teams have worked hard in the Middle East some months ago to eliminate the newest and latest threat only to be re-handed a new one. One, that has been so old, and undetected to any of us." Hunnigan spoke calmly, taking her time to keep her words constant, fluid and powerful. "I have brought you here today to brief you all on what we know of this danger waiting to happen… And I know all of you are wondering why I asked you to dress especially for this occasion?"
95% of the room nodded.
"Two months ago under the blazing sun and desert many miles underground near Egypt, there was a man who strove to protect this world from the bioterrorist threat, and died in doing so… An incredibly brave young man full of honor and valor, his name was Piers Nivans."
Jake watched as Chris clenched his jaw at the mention of his name, and his partner Jill put a hand over his to give him strength.
"In memory of him this night we will give thanks to him, and honor him as the brave soldier he was with a formal dinner and verbal tribute." Ingrid nodded and gave Chris a solemn look, which he returned with a kind smile. "But, before we celebrate that great soldier, we must get down to business… The newest threat to our world: The Organization."
Jake wasn't sure how long they'd been sat there, and had counted at least 100 people in the room, and from what he could tell they weren't the normal public.
He laughed at himself, how could these people be the everyday Jo-Public when they were listening and talking about BOWs, Zombies, firearms, DNA and the like? He shook his head and tried to concentrate, just as Claire bowed to Ingrid and stood shakily.
"Thank you Miss Hunnigan. I am Claire Redfield part of Terra Save. We are a Medical group who work alongside the U.N. World Health Organization and other Medical functions around the world. In light of recent events, the stronger waves of Outbreaks we have been called to other parts of the World to give extra kinds of aid to other associations; for example, the NHS in the United Kingdom." Claire took a small breath and clenched her hands tightly together, "I am here tonight to inform you that we are offering more support to the BSAA, in hope that some of our Medical troops would join alongside their teams to deliver more anti-virus and vaccines to the suffering world." Claire spoke with a nervous edge, looking from Chris to Sherry and then to Leon.
"Miss Redfield if I am not outspoken," A man in the audience started, "Did your 'Terra Save' not cause an outbreak in one of the Airports near Harvardville?"
Sherry's small intake of breath and sighed, catching Jake off guard as he really wasn't listening to these debates, he was just there to sit and look pretty - 'well, handsome' he smirked.
"The incident at Harvardville Airport was caused by a mad researcher, we were trying to stop him." Claire smiled sweetly before turning to her brother.
"I am Chris Redfield, one of the founders and Captain of the BSAA..." And that was the point Jake sighed, rolled his eyes and turned off for the rest of the briefing.
"Jake... Jake!" Sherry nudged and nudged angrily, finally getting his attention in the end as people burst into hushed conversations between themselves, whatever had been said got them worried from the hushed notes in the room.
"What is it Supergirl?"
"You didn't listen to a word of what was said, did you?"
"I did... The redhead was on about medicine supplies, and a guy over... there!" He pointed, "Asked why she caused an outbreak in an airport or something, and the main Jarhead agreed to have Terra Save build some sort of alliance with them." Jake stopped half asleep, and looked Sherry in the eyes and smiled. The look in her eyes told him everything, she hadn't seen it coming, he did listen - admittedly half arsed.
"You just saved your ass there Muller." She scolded with a small tap on his thigh beneath the table, Leon catching it out the corner of his eye.
Jake shrugged it off, he was tired and hadn't slept for days due to his and Sherry's vigorous bedtime antics, and just wanted to go to bed for a change.
His eyes were half open when the food arrived, miniscule hors d'oeuvres that wouldn't satisfy a hamster greeted him; a tiny biscuit with the thinnest piece of sashimi salmon he'd ever seen, topped with a slither of avocado and sesame seeds. The others were topped with a carved pickled plum instead of avocado. 'Damn that's one sad looking plate.' He thought sleepily as he picked one of the tiny hors d'oeuvres pieces up and stared at it.
"You're supposed to eat it." Chris commented from across the table, after finally taking his seat with the rest of the group.
"You can hardly call it food." Jake whined un-amused observing the tiny thing, next shoving it down the hatch in one large mouthful. "Mmm... Not bad." He murmured ignoring Claire and Jill as they sat in the empty chairs next to Chris.
"The Organization hasn't made a single move in months!" Jill whispered to a new man who sat in Leon's place as he went to the bar, "We aren't sure what they are planning."
"I see, I see..." This man replied, his voice was deep and croaky he was an elderly gentleman and rather large too, hairs protruded from his grizzly white beard and mustache, wisdom and heartache behind his bright green eyes; he reminded Jake of one of the men he used to work for back in Edonia.
"On that note Miss Valentine..." The man resumed looking around cautiously, lowering his voice even further. "I may have a few leads you and your team may need to know about."
Instantly, Jake's head snapped in his direction, but it seemed nobody else heard this man speak other than Jill. "Albert is alive."
"What!?" Jill and Jake chimed loudly.
UPDATED: 16/01/2015 - Spelling, Grammar, Minor story changes.