I know this update took a while, but... here it is! As always, I really love feedback so let me know what you think, yeah?
The storm followed the Umbrella helicopters back to the Arcadia. The return was infinitely easier than the mission and even the departure. They just needed to get all their cargo off the aircraft and below deck.
As the helicopters came in for a landing, dozens of other soldiers swarmed around to help with the civilians that had been captured. For all the highly trained agents, these survivors plucked from Baltimore were no big deal – they were the first action some had seen in days because of the botched missions.
Alice got off the chopper that she, Carlos, Jill, and the newly acquired blonde teen had occupied. That was the first glimpse Alexander caught of the girl. "And who is this?" he asked over the wind and rain.
"New recruit," Alice answered rather gruffly.
"What?" he pressed, obviously not happy.
"How do you think we got some of these other agents? Not every single person we snatch goes below deck," the woman informed him.
Claire was walking over toward them, careful to mask her surprise at seeing K-Mart there with them. "Everything go well?" she asked.
Rain took the opportunity to throw in her own opinion. "Your team disobeys orders like that again and not all of them are coming back," she said, casting a meaningful glance toward Alice. "Chairman Wesker is going to hear about this."
"They don't have to follow your orders, Rain, they're my team," Claire stated, making the other woman storm off in irritation. "And what do we have here?" The redhead turned her attention to Alice and the teen that had been brought back.
"A new recruit," Alice answered. "She was in the convention center."
"How old are you?" Claire asked the girl. She already knew, but now more than ever they had to keep up appearances.
"Eighteen," K-mart answered. She already knew what was at stake if she didn't play along.
"Take her down and get her settled in a cabin. I'll have Jill and Carlos come down and get her oriented," Claire ordered.
The blonde offered a nod, making it look like she grabbed K-Mart a lot more roughly than she actually did. She led the teenager below deck and to an empty cabin. She briefly glanced up to the camera in the corner of the room as the red light switched off – signifying the camera turned off.
"I don't know what we're going to do yet, just… play along," Alice advised.
"I can do that," the girl said with a nod. "I never expected you guys to show up at the convention center."
"I never expected to find you there," Alice replied. "Jill and Carlos will come check on you in a little while. You'll have to cooperate; follow orders… don't do anything to draw suspicion, okay?"
"I'll do my best," K-mart assured the older woman. "Is there any way to tell Chris…?"
"We'll figure it out. For now, just try and relax, blend in with what's going on around here." Alice gave the girl a pat on the arm before turning and heading out of the room. She was soaked to the bone and wanted nothing more than to have some time to herself.
It was a quick walk to her own secluded cabin. She decided the best idea right now was to get in a shower and just sit down to relax. Heading into the adjoining bathroom, she peeled off each piece of wet clothing that clung uncomfortably to her skin and let it plop ungracefully to the floor below. Things were starting to get far too intense, far too dangerous… the charade could last only so much longer.
Thankfully, the warm water took away the chill that had settled in her body. It helped to start clearing her head, which was what she desperately needed.
It was barely fifteen minutes after she had gone into the bathroom and she was coming back out. Alice wasn't surprised to find that she wasn't alone anymore. Claire was sitting on her bed.
"K-Mart was at the convention center?" the redhead inquired. She watched as Alice went over to pull herself some fresh clothes from the closet.
"She was," Alice confirmed with a nod. She dressed quickly – she didn't mind that Claire was watching, but she didn't want either of them to get distracted either. "I had no idea until I found her."
Claire frowned, not because of the blonde's answer, but because of her distanced demeanor. "Alice… what's wrong?" she questioned.
Alice did not look to her lover as she spoke. "Claire, this is getting too dangerous. We can't keep doing this. I can't risk someone finding out; I can't risk your safety."
The redhead's frown deepened now as she stood up and moved closer to the other woman. "Don't say that," she told Alice.
"I have to," Alice said, still refusing to look at Claire. If she did, she'd likely lose her willpower. "We're playing with fire here, and we're going to get burned. Considering what kind of fire this is, when that happens, one or both of us could be killed."
Claire reached up to turn the blonde to face her. "Why are you saying this now?"
"Rain would have shot me if I gave her the chance to while we were in the convention center. We're in too deep, Claire. We've got to start playing this more safely."
Claire couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was ridiculous. They'd been together for well over two years now and hadn't once had this conversation. "We've made it this far without any problems," she pointed out.
"We've never been this close to our goal before." Alice seemed determined; she didn't want to see the redhead get hurt.
Though the efforts were noble, it was just making Claire angry. She didn't want to lose her lover. "Just stop this, Alice," she said.
"That's what I'm trying to do so I can keep you safe."
"Damn it, Alice, you don't have to protect me!" Claire couldn't help it as her voice rose. It was a good thing the cabin was soundproof.
"Claire, please." The blonde knew she was upsetting the other woman, but this was what she thought necessary.
"No, you don't get to do that."
"Listen to me, please," Alice was to the point of pleading with the other woman. "I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. I don't think I could survive it if I lost you. So, I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you. It's better this way." Though they were in her cabin, she turned and walked out, not leaving the redhead any room to further the argument.
"Alice! … Alice!" Claire called after her. The shouts fell on deaf ears, because Alice rounded a corner and didn't once look back.
Project Alice had been active for barely even a month, but everyone was thoroughly impressed with her progress. Unfortunately for those loyal to Umbrella, her loyalties had already been swayed elsewhere. The group was very small, but it had to be. Too many people offered up too many liabilities.
After leaving the Detroit facility the first time, the group charged with Project Alice was shipped around to a few different facilities; various specialists absolutely insisted upon getting some firsthand studying of her. The constant moving made it very hard for any strategies to be formulated.
Finally, they settled back at the Detroit facility for a little while. It was a hub of activity, which gave them the opportunity to gather and talk about what they wanted to achieve – and what they were willing to risk.
It was not uncommon for Alice, Claire, Jill, and Carlos to gather together. That was no problem at all. Getting anyone else into the same place at the same time proved more difficult. To further complicate the situation, they needed the cooperation of an entity beyond their group to ensure there was no surveillance of their meeting.
The four had taken over one of the currently unused offices. The office walls were made of glass, but Umbrella had made their own version of switchable film glass – that made it infinitely easier for the group to keep out unwanted observers. While opaque, the glass was absolutely impossible to see through and with Claire's fairly high level of clearance, she was able to punch in a code to keep it that way.
They waited nearly twenty minutes for their last expected guest to arrive. Considering how few people in the facility had a clearance level equivalent to Claire, the threat of unauthorized intrusion was minimal. Still, when the door opened, they tensed out of instinct.
"Relax," Rain told them as she stepped inside the office and shut the door behind herself. "The boogeyman isn't coming to get you… yet."
"We were beginning to think you wouldn't show," Claire commented.
Rain walked over and dropped into a chair, leaning back and kicking her feet up onto the table they were sitting at. "Somebody's gotta do some work around here, Redfield. So where are we at?"
"One of us is going to have to get into deeper cover. It's going to be a lot more dangerous, but the information we're getting now just isn't enough," Claire answered, looking between the others. "We need someone to get closer. It's going to be a huge risk, especially since whoever takes the challenge won't have any back up at all."
There was silence for several long moments. Getting further into Umbrella would be a hard and possibly fatal task. It wasn't something to rush headlong into without considering all the consequences.
"I'll do it," Rain finally spoke up. She reached up, locking her fingers behind her head – far too nonchalant about the situation.
"You do realize what you're saying?" Jill asked, raising a skeptical brow.
"I'm the only one here who's not going to cut and run crying to Mommy at the first sign of trouble," Rain said with a nod. "If we're going to take these fuckers down, somebody with balls is going to have to get in there and get the job done."
"If things go wrong, we aren't going to be able to help you," Claire pointed out.
Rain merely shrugged at that. "That's fine. I do better on my own anyway. I'd rather not have the rest of you weighing me down while I work my magic."
The redhead thought things over for a few moments before nodding. "Then it's settled. It's going to take a lot of work to get inside and you're going to have to be believable. You do whatever you think is necessary."
"Oh… you don't have to worry about that, Redfield," Rain assured her.