Summary: It should have just been a regular morning for Chris Redfield. He should have been just heading out for his usual every day job. So why did he wake up to find a certain puppy eared male in his bed?
Pairing: Nivanfield
Author's note: A bit late again x.x it might start taking me two weeks to push these out. Working four stories at one time is a lot. Dx
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
My Pet Peeve 06
"…I don't really remember why…all I remember was that these two guys chased me and one of them stabbed me. I think…I think I did something to one of them."
Those words were starting to come back to him now as Chris sat in his office stuck thinking about Piers and the show of skills from the hour Chris had spent with him down on the training field. He remembered Piers saying something like that back when he'd first gotten to really talk to the unconscious Semi after his first meal. The Semi had been talking about the attack on him…and probably about his retaliation to the attack. So had he killed someone? Just seriously hurt them? He hadn't sounded sure. Not that Chris was surprised considering that the guy was literally bleeding down the side.
Still, other things were starting to be a little weird in his mind too. The fact that there had been so much blood even though the only thing that Piers seemed to have suffered was a cut on the arm. Was it the blood of one of his pursuers? Was it his blood from another wound? If that was the case, why didn't he find that wound when he checked him? Why was the blood only on one side of his shirt? How could someone that looked like he'd been starved almost half to death have the strength to fight back? Who were his pursuers? How many? Why? Why were they pursuing him?
"Guess you won't mind if I just take this back then." The hand snaked down to the unopened soda on his desk before Chris reached out grabbing the wrist roughly earning a wince in response from Leon. "Geez, I was just kidding. You need to lighten up some, Chris."
"…Sorry," Chris said frowning half hesitating before he let the wrist go. He stared down at the unopened soda and sandwich tossed on the table in front of him. "When'd you get me this?"
"While you were sitting there all zoned out." Leon grinned down at him sitting his butt against the edge of the desk. "But seriously, what the hell are you thinking about so hard? Is it that Semi?"
"…." Well it wasn't like he wanted to mention all the crazy things going on in his head. "Have you found anything on Umbrella yet?"
"You're really letting this kid get to your head."
"I'm not."
"You are if you think changing the subject will make it go away." Leon actually plucked him on the forehead, ignoring the grumble of frustration from Chris as he rubbed at the small ache glaring up at him. "So you might as well spill your guts because I'm not leaving until I get all the juicy bits out of you." He looked smug when he said those words, his arms folding over his chest as he stared down at Chris. "So start talking."
"…How good would you assume your sniping skills are?"
Leon lifted a brow, surprised by the question before he rubbed at his smooth chin in thought. "I'd say…I'm not a bad shot with one."
"On moving targets?"
"Not perfect but more than above average."
"…I'd say I'm about the same on that as well." Chris leaned back in the chair, resting is arms behind his head as he stared up at his partner. "Then…how about moving targets while you're on the move too?"
"I wouldn't say I'd be a perfect shot seeing as the scope wouldn't be even at all with my target. I might hit him in the chest if I'm lucky. A head shot would be almost near impossible."
"That's what I thought too…till earlier."
"What do you mean?" Leon's attention was fully on him now, his body pushing away from the desk as he turned to look down at him, a frown starting to form on his face as his eyebrows clenched up slightly.
"…That kid…" Chris leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on the table as he stared up at Leon in return. "He used a sniper rifle like no one I've ever seen before. His accuracy is perfect…a headshot to every target. And he does it while walking…hell even a few times at a jog. And on moving targets."
"…Maybe the kid's just lucky."
"I was there with him for an hour and a half," Chris said standing to his feet. "He didn't miss a single target." Chris frowned before he moved walking over to the nearest window and cracking open the blinds looking out at the training field. He couldn't see the shooting range, not from his vantage point, but he could see his men out there running, some in the battle ring practicing hand to hand combat. He hadn't gotten to see Piers do that much yet but he had no doubts the Semi could handle it with no problem. "He kept mentioning training, that he did this with a bunch of others. I'm almost certain they must have all been Semi."
Chris turned around looking at Leon again realizing the man had been watching his back the whole time with a dubious look. "If you're thinking that there's a place that trains Semi, there's none that I know of…none openly known of anyway."
"I want to get Piers checked out by the medical team as well. If not today than at least tomorrow." Chris frowned slightly. "Those puncture wounds on his neck…even though it's healing quickly, I'm still curious about what he'd been injected with." He also wondered how often did Piers get injected. Maybe it'd been something done one time to knock him out. But what if it was something else? He wasn't even sure if Piers would agree to the medical visit.
Leon stared at him, a smirk starting to lift to his lips. "Puppies' should be taken to a veterinarian, not a doctor."
Chris rolled his eyes at him. "We have a medical team here that can take care of Semi too. Or did you forget that Ada Wong works for BSAA as well?"
"Heh." The mentioned name didn't bring good humor to Leon's eyes despite the short laugh. "That's one Semi that needs to be chained down and declawed."
"A pretty weird fetish you have there," the female voice said from the door, Leon turning quickly as the feline Semi made her way into the room, her heels clacking on the floor. She had her arms folded though her hand held a stack of papers that she tossed on Chris's desk before she looked up at the two men, smirking. "I hear your little Semi friend is trying to join the BSAA."
"He's going through the training now," Chris said nodding his head to confirm it, his eyes watching the little cat ears flicker. "If he passes the final test after the week long training, he's as good as in."
"Doesn't sound like he's having a lot of trouble with that at all," Ada said, an amused smirk lifting to her lips. "He's the talk of HQ." He'd figured as much even though it made him frown thinking about it. He'd barely even started the paperwork to officially get Piers into the training regimen and was really only letting him do the training to keep him from getting bored while Chris researched. Semi did draw a lot of attention, especially since Piers would be the second one to join them. Speed and strength wouldn't be a problem since Semi were known to be fast runners and to possess amazing strength. Though he doubted Piers was stronger than he was, he was sure the Semi could put up a challenge regardless.
"What's this?" Chris looked down at the papers tossed on his desk, grimacing slightly.
"Information on the Semi case I told you about," Ada said, her eyes glancing at Leon though she didn't seem bothered by him knowing this information. Maybe she assumed he was already well informed by his partner. "They found another one. Dead in a barely used parking garage downtown." Chris picked up the papers skimming through them and looking through the captured photos of the crime scene. A Semi… that was hardly recognizable. It was hard to tell with how badly beaten the body was. It'd been left naked, bruises and blood covering the bare body.
"Whoever killed him didn't want us being able to easily identify the body." Ada walked closer as she spoke, her black cat tail swaying behind her lazily. "Fingertips, toes, even his tongue and eyes have been removed. They also cut off his tail and ears if you can tell and stripped him of every hair on his body." Ada grabbed the papers from him and flipped through to another picture before handing it back to him. Chris could barely tell that Leon was close to him looking over his shoulder before he whistled down at the photos. "We believe it may have been a tattoo, maybe one pertaining to the people that killed him seeing as he had other tattoos that remained untouched."
It was a picture of the back of the victim's shoulder where a patch of skin had been forcibly cut from his body leaving only the patchwork of damaged muscle to be seen underneath. Other parts of the body lay untouched except for abrasions and two small puncture wounds to the back of his neck that strangely reminded him of something else.
"I can't tell if the killer just hated this guy's guts or what," Leon said making a face at the picture. "Honestly, why go through so much trouble?"
"Maybe for fear that this person might have been a part of their organization," Chris said. "For instance, the tattoo may have been a particular symbol for their group or a link to it anyway."
"Do tattoo parlors even cater to Semi?" Leon asked folding his arms in thought.
"Most don't," Chris said frowning. "After all, some people consider Semi to be a threat."
"Does it count that I consider this one a threat?" Leon pointed at Ada as he said it.
"Does it count that you might be the most ignorant human I have ever met?" She seemed to smirk at her words ignoring the opened mouth stare of Leon or the way Chris was chuckling lightly. "Now then." She returned her attention to Chris who sobered up pretty quickly. "Since they're not letting me investigate because of this whole business, I'm requesting the two of you go take a look at the crime. You might be able to find some clues, maybe something the culprit left behind."
"…Right now?" Chris asked frowning.
"No, next week," Ada said letting the sarcasm bake in. "Look, if you're worried about your little pet Semi, I'll keep an eye on him."
"He's not my pet," Chris grumbled out. But it was true that he was skeptical about leaving Piers behind, even though he'd shown himself to be plenty capable of handling himself.
"But it can't hurt to check," Leon said drawing Chris's attention to him. "Who knows? It could be related to our case in some way." Well there was that….
Chris sighed feeling defeat as he set the picture back on his desk. "Fine. Just let me tell Piers and my team so they're not looking for me later."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Piers hadn't been happy to learn that Chris was leaving without him. But he didn't verbally argue about it, just gave a nod of his head with a small, frustrated frown on his pouty lips. He didn't tell him the details of what he was going to do, just that there was a case he had to investigate. Last thing he needed was Piers worrying that he'd be in danger. That was if he even really worried about him at all. It wasn't like they really knew each other that well to begin with.
And yet Chris was perfectly fine with letting this complete stranger stay in his house with him. Why did he feel so attached to the Semi? Maybe it was just due to the fact that Chris felt like protecting him? It probably didn't help that the sight of those sparkling, hazel eyes could easily draw him in to the young Semi. He'd had urges to pet those light brown ears, an urge to maybe see a smile on those always frowny lips.
"Focus, Chris." They were there at the crime scene now, the sky overhead completely dark. Thanks to the street lights, however, it kept them from being in complete darkness and illuminated the way for them. Chris drove, not daring to let the man beside him behind the wheel considering his atrocious driving skills. Seriously, how did a person cause a five car pile-up while only going twenty miles per hour on a one way street? It wasn't really that his driving was bad, just that bad things always seemed to happen once he touched the wheel. Chris would rather walk from a bar than ever let Leon be his designated driver.
They pulled up to the second level, leaving the car before the yellow tape that blocked access to the third level. Climbing out, guns were tucked away behind their backs before they were moving heading up the ramp and slipping underneath the yellow tape. The crime scene was in the furthest corner way from them, closest to the wall that overlooked the streets below.
Walking over, Chris noticed there was more yellow tape here to hopefully deter anyone that decided to want to agitate the crime scene. Though it wasn't like it'd hurt them. Ada's Delta Team had already taken enough photos of the scene to make coming back seem pointless. So then why were they here again?
"Let's see if we can find some useful clues around here," Leon said as if verbally reminding him of what their task was to be there. Exactly what were they looking for? Delta Team should have found everything needed. Granted with Ada being confined to HQ, it was possible they'd missed something without her perfect eye sight.
Leon was staring down at the puddle of dried blood shaking his head at the sight. "Poor bastard. Probably didn't have a clue he'd end up dead in a place like this."
"Hopefully Ada can find a match on his blood for DNA…if it's not too old," Chris said joining him. He frowned. Something felt a bit off by the scene. The blood…it just didn't seem like enough blood for someone that'd just been killed. "How did Ada say he died again?"
"Exsanguination," Leon said glancing over at him. "Or bleeding out as an easier term."
"Hmm…" Chris reached into his pocket pulling out the photos of the victim. "From the cuts?"
"Maybe…but I doubt that'd be enough to kill a person…well maybe that one on the shoulder." Somehow, looking at the shoulder, it seemed more like an afterthought. While the fingertips had been cut along with the toes, eyes and tongue, it just didn't seem like enough blood for a person to have been alive when it happened. Not even that much blood came from the tail and ears that had been forcibly removed. It was almost as if the body had been dead before it got here…dumped here as a means of attraction…to draw their attention.
"Look out!" He was tackled to the ground by Leon before he even knew what happened. As he was falling he heard the distinct sound of a bullet whizzing past his ear hitting into the ground of level 3 before bouncing off as a project further behind him. Chris was stunned but he didn't let it stay that way for long, rolling over to follow Leon in a crawl as they took cover behind the wall overhanging the street.
"What the hell was that!"
"I don't know!" Leon yelled back panting slightly from the sudden rush of adrenaline. "But it's luck that I saw the glint off his scope in time." Leon glanced over at him before he looked around the third level as if worried that something would be up there hiding as well. "They were trying to kill you."
"Obviously," Chris said grunting feeling a sting in his shoulder from where he'd landed on it. He pulled his gun out, Leon following suit as they heard another bullet whizz by hitting something nearby followed by a third shot right afterwards. There was no way they could get out of this mess the way they were pinned down. They were going to need backup. "Alpha Team Leader calling HQ. Requesting backup at scene #10153. We're being attacked by unknown assailants."
"Copy that," the voice said back into the phone. "Status report?"
"A sniper…maybe two," he said frowning. "We're not sure if there are others-" Leon's gun went off suddenly, shooting back behind him and hitting the dark figure that appeared up by the ramp before the shadow fell over unmoving, a gun clattering down on the ground beside him. "Correction, there are more. Total number of enemies is unknown."
"Copy that. Sending back up to your location in T-minus ten minutes. Try to hold out until then."
"Hold out he says," Leon muttered beside him, though his eyes stayed focus on the ramps entrance. "We're sitting ducks like this. We'll be dead before we even have a chance to fight back."
"This was a set up," Chris said softly frowning. "They've been waiting to get us back out here…probably just the two of us." His mind said it had to do with Umbrella. Maybe to silence them? Maybe this whole thing was also just part of Umbrella's scheme and they were getting too close to the truth? But then how would they have known that he and Leon would be the ones to come back out here? And what truth would make Umbrella want to kill them?
"We can't stay here like this," Leon whispered moving into a crouching position but keeping his head low so he wouldn't get shot. "We need to move, find some better cover and see what we can take out." The lighting on the third floor was poor, but it was something they could probably use to their advantage if they got away from the street lights.
He followed Leon, edging to the other end of the wall before they stopped. "It'll be a problem if they have heat detectable scopes," Chris spoke lightly. "Our problem is getting back to the ramp. If we can get there we'll be safe…safer." They had the car there and could just beat a hasty escape instead of being pinned down to one side. There was the exit ramp beside them, one that Chris found himself staring at dubiously as if expecting the enemy to just jump out and fry them. They could attempt it…go down the exit then make a running dive for the car. It all depended on how good a sniper these guys were.
"We'll have to take the exit ramp," Leon whispered his gun being held up as he shot off two enemies while Chris shot the third one just coming up the opposite ramp. Down on the second ramp, there was a little more cover to work with thanks to a few abandoned cars left behind. He'd like to be able to capture one of these damn guys alive for questioning. But at the moment it was more important they save their own hides first. It'd be a cake walk if they could just get rid of whatever snipers were out there. Honestly, he wasn't sure if it was just one, two, or maybe even more. But with the snipers out of the picture, he'd be able to bomb rush the unsuspecting enemies and knock them into next week.
The sound of three shots being filed fired almost consecutively caught his attention right before the phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, opening it and bringing it to his ear holding it with his shoulder. He didn't speak, just listened as he kept his eyes forward watching for enemies and using the pillar as a sort of cover to hide from their guns.
"Alpha Team Leader, this is HQ. The targeted snipers have been eliminated. Alpha Team should be heading up to convene with you shortly. Abort your current mission. Returning to HQ is your priority."
The line died leaving Chris with his new orders as he stood up holding the gun with a tight grip and putting the phone away. So that's what the shots had been. Someone had taken out the snipers. He'd have to commend whatever member of Alpha had done it.
"Snipers have been taken out," Chris said looking down at Leon. "Let's clean house and get the hell out of here."
Leon smirked standing as well putting his back to Chris behind the pillar as he peered around it. "Finally talking my kind of game then." As he said the words he came around, rushing to the nearest car and firing his gun shooting two of the three hidden targets that were leaning out to attack. A third one leaned out from behind a car preparing to shoot, but Chris didn't let him, firing and hitting him through the glass of a car window before he was moving up to the car in front of him. The alarm went off blaringly loud as the lights flashed on and off repetitively. Chris was just glad these were just regular people and not the beast that he was used to fighting.
The battle ended quickly, Chris moving forward to punch the next target in the stomach, knocking him out before he knew what happened. He let the body fall to the floor just as Alpha team was coming up the second ramp in their direction.
"Captain!"
"Captain, is everything ok?"
"We're fine now, thanks to you guys." Chris smiled and gave his nearest man a squeeze on the shoulder. They were fully suited up, something Chris was completely lacking for this particular mission. This wasn't his usual style, after all. This was the kind of stuff Leon usually did. "So, which one of you took out the snipers?"
"That was me." Chris blinked staring recognizing the sound of that voice. He could see the ears now, something he hadn't taken notice of before when the group first showed up as the small Semi stood behind the other fully dressed members of Alpha. As he pushed his way through, the others parted way for him until he was standing in front of Chris looking up at him. "Piers Nivans. Rookie for the BSAA Alpha Team starting today at HQ's orders." Piers actually had a bit of a cocky smirk on his lips as he stared up at Chris. "It's a pleasure to be working under you."
TBC…
And uh...action! This chapter had a lot of action. :nods:
