Author's Note: So I think I need a better summary. I'm seeing all of this traffic to Reverence and only a small handful of people actually taking the time to review (thank you kindly), which is slightly disheartening. Now taking suggestions for what the summary should be, because I can only possess so much creativity. That and I'm horribly sleep deprived right now.
Disclaimer: This one is a little bit darker than the other two but oh wells. I also still lack the ownership over all that is Capcom. Sadness. Sorrow. Shame. (OMG DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE'S A 'NEW' KATAMARI GAME COMING OUT FOR PS3?!?!!?? CAN'T WAIT!!!!1!)
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They had been tracking this guy for weeks; Rupert Jones, a suspect in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of at least five different young females. S.T.A.R.S. had taken over the investigation when the R.P.D. had turned up a positive ID on the bastard from one of the pieces of evidence left at his last crime scene. From the reports and investigations, it was clear that this guy was needlessly torturing these women for days on end before murdering and dismembering their bodies to hide the parts in different locations across Raccoon City. On his last excursion, the victim had managed to slice into his face with her car keys before he did away with her, and the small sample of blood that had remained on the discarded keys had been enough to get a match.
Jones had holed himself up in a motel on the outskirts of town when Alpha Team was dispatched to either bring him in or take him out. It seemed like it was supposed to be a relatively easy operation- the raid had started at dusk and Jones had been completely unprepared for the arrival of S.T.A.R.S. and thus could do nothing but attempt to escape from the motel. They had even managed to corner the son-of-a-bitch without too much incident, until they realized that Jones had not been alone in the motel room. Thrown into the shower with her pleading eyes still wide open was the body of his latest victim. Apparently, he had killed her in his haste to escape from the police. Chris was the one that had discovered the body and when he got a closer look at her marred features, he recognized her as one of Claire's friends from college. With nothing left to lose Jones decided he was going to heckle the young officer, going into detail about his disgusting exploits with her unwilling body and her reactions to his horrid ministrations. It was then that Chris snapped. He rushed at the man and decked the murderer as hard as he could with his fist. He continued punching, despite the fact that he knew that Jones could not defend himself, until Wesker and Barry had pulled him off the other man and ordered him back to the precinct before he could cause any more of a scene.
That's where he still remained. He knew that his actions would probably have caused him to be immediately discharged from the police force but right now he could not bring himself to care. That bastard deserved to die for what he had done to those girls. He stood alone on the roof of the office building looking out into the horizon, going over the scenario in his head and wishing that S.T.A.R.S. had gotten there just a few minutes sooner.
"Chris? What are you doing here so late?"
He immediately recognized the drawling voice as belonging to his captain but could not bring himself to care at this moment in time. He was still infuriated at the day's events and fully intended to wallow in his misery alone… at least until the blond showed up.
Working as a member of S.T.A.R.S. for almost two years had introduced him to the most twisted of individuals- terrorists, murderers, rapists, serial killers- but he had taken all of his assignments in stride and his dealings with the worst of humanity had never affected him as this case had. Jones, just like the many others of society's rejects that S.T.A.R.S. had put away, should have been just a face to go with a name, but to Chris it was so much more. Never before had a case hit him so hard to home before; it could have been Claire that was killed, for christsakes. Jones' last victim was a young girl that Claire had gone to school with and hung around with; hell, they had even been together the night that the girl was abducted. What if the killer had followed Claire home instead of poor Liz Downing? It would have been his sister's body that S.T.A.R.S. had uncovered earlier that day, and the thought of that bothered Chris to no end.
Chris was not a vengeful person. Sure, people had wronged him in the past but over time he realized that most of the events were not important in the larger scheme of things. But never before had he been face to face with a person and wanted to just execute the scumbag right then and there. Hell, he probably would have if the captain and Barry hadn't entered the scene when they did and arrested Jones on the spot. He knew that he had let his emotions get the better of him, but he simply didn't care. If he was going to be removed from S.T.A.R.S., so be it. There was nothing he could exactly do to prevent it at this point and it wasn't like he was a stranger to being discharged.
"What happened today, Mr. Redfield? Your reaction was unlike anything I have ever seen from you in the past."
"If you came here to tell me what I already know, you can save it. I'll get my shit out of my locker and be on my way soon," Chris growled in agitation.
"Taking the initiative to tidy up your locker seems largely irrelevant to this conversation, Christopher."
Infuriated once more, Chris spun around, shouting loud enough that the entire office below could probably hear him.
"I really, really, am not about to deal with your smart-ass bullshit right now! If you want me out of here, I'm gone. I don't feel like skirting around the goddamned issue. Just say the word, Captain," Chris sneered.
Much to Chris's surprise, Wesker did not even appear to be fazed by the hostile remarks. Instead, the captain slowly walked up to stand a mere foot away from the still seething brunet and casually removed his dark sunglasses.
"I believe I asked you a simple question and I merely wanted your answer."
"You want to know why I almost fucking killed that bastard? Fine!" he bellowed, unfazed by Wesker's intimidating stance. "That girl that we found? That was one of my sister's friends! They had gone out to dinner the night he was abducted by him. Don't you see? It could have been Claire lying stripped and bleeding in that bathtub! He could have killed my baby sister!"
His body involuntarily shuddered from the release of such pent up emotion, but Wesker remained passive and unmoved.
"I was unaware that this mission would have emotionally compromised you, Chris. While there is some justification for your actions, as I am sure that you are aware, your conduct today was out of line with every expected behavior of a police officer." Wesker paused to let his words sink through and calmly walked past Chris to stand a mere foot away from the edge of the rooftop. Both men remained silent while Chris waited to hear the verdict and Wesker simply gazed at the horizon.
"It is fortunate that Mr. Jones provoked you into a hostile engagement and you were forced to defend yourself. Otherwise you would have been discharged for use of excessive force."
Chris was so taken aback by the Captain's words that he could only spin around and stare dumbfounded into the back of the other man's head. 'Defending himself'? What the hell was he saying? The younger officer had been provoked, yes, but not physically. Confused, Chris darted over to Wesker's side.
"Captain, what the hell are you talking about?" he demanded, still incredulous. "You and Barry… you saw what I did!"
"What I saw when I entered the scene was a fugitive resisting arrest and one of my officers attempting to subdue the target, rather unsuccessfully, I might add. Upon recognizing the struggle, I called Mr. Burton for assistance and together we managed to detain said fugitive. I have already submitted the report to Chief Irons. While rather annoyed at the escalation of the situation, Irons sees no need to pursue the matter."
Chris continued to stare with his mouth agape while he tried to make sense of the situation. He had been so sure that he was going to be discharged from S.T.A.R.S. that this new turn of events had him completely flabbergasted.
"Sir, I can't possibly ask you to compromise yourself by falsifying information on my behalf-"
"As I had said before, I have already submitted the report. What we found at the motel is very clearly incriminating evidence against Mr. Jones and we have the DNA report to tie him to the Abigail Sullivan murder. I believe his defense attorney is going to make a bid for the insanity defense, thus, his possible allegations of 'police brutality' are unlikely to ever make it into the courtroom. So," Wesker turned his body so that it was once more facing Chris. "You made mention of cleaning out your locker? At this point that would require you to spend more time off-hours at the office and I cannot imagine you doing that willingly."
Chris blinked, still having some difficulty digesting what had just transpired. The Air Force had discharged him for something substantially less serious than what had happened today, and let unlike his former superiors, Wesker wanted to keep him on the team?
"Captain… I'm not sure what to say…" he admitted.
"Chris, I am not about to let you leave S.T.A.R.S. that easily," the captain stated, smirking. "You are, after all, still somewhat of use to me."
The brunet snorted in indignation. "You mean that I'm a walking stress ball for your convenience and you would have a hard time finding someone else to replace me," he muttered.
"Hmm, something like that."
Wesker resituated his sunglasses upon his face before motioning to leave.
"Get out of here Chris. It's far too late for you to still be at the precinct off the clock. Get some rest before some other crisis arises and I have to call you in early for another debriefing of which you will undoubtedly be late to."
"So you've come to terms with it then?" Chris asked, now grinning.
"Hardly."
"I didn't think so. It wouldn't be a normal day at the office if you weren't giving me hell and I weren't finding new ways to drive you crazy."
"I shudder at the thought," came the sarcastic reply.
"Captain?"
"Yes?"
"…Thanks."
Wesker managed a ghost of a smile before brushing past Chris to exit down the flight of stairs. The latter remained on the roof for a few more moments reflecting upon the enigma that was his captain before smiling wanly himself and exiting to head home.
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Answer: Yes, it was a reference to Sherry and the Birkin family. Yay!
A little bit shorter than the last chapter, but I really couldn't find a way to prolong it without seeming forced. Oh yeah, happy 4th to those of you celebrating it. I actually have a cookout that I'm pretty hell-bent on avoiding personally, but I hope others are enjoying it. I also managed to come up with a plausible way to turn this into a legit story, but I have to work out some kinks first. I'm going to continue on as is for now, and then just probably rewrite/rework the beginning chapters. We'll see.
Thank you to all of you that have already reviewed (and a special shout out goes to aquacrow- I'm glad someone appreciates the obsession :) ) and I hope to see more people putting in their two-cents in the future. Feedback is the lifeblood of a writer. (Unless you're a caffeine junkie like myself, in which cause I suppose you're just screwed?)