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: Another long update. X.x I guess with so much happening, it takes me a little to piece it together the way I want. But I think this chapter should be interesting. ^^

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My Pet Peeve 16

They stayed silent as they traversed through the tunnel though the sound of their boots splashing in the water was unavoidable even for the Semi. There hadn't been any signs of beast hiding down in the sewer like terrain but the Semi's ears were still twitching wildly as if irritably searching for whatever was down there with them.

Shining the light up ahead into the darkness didn't do anything but stretch the darkness even wider and fill Chris with the feeling of dread to the point he'd cut it off almost as soon as they had started. But it wasn't hard to follow Piers through the dark once his eyes adjusted, his gaze following the tail as it swayed back and forth. Besides, it was probably for the best that the light was off. That way they could hide before whatever was down there saw them.

"Think those guys after us finally figured out that we're not in the shack anymore?" Chris said glancing back listening but not hearing sound of pursuit.

"Even if they did, they wouldn't come down here anyway." He said it without stopping or looking back.

"And why is that?" Piers didn't stop, but the tenseness of his shoulders showed that something was bothering him. His silence to the question was a little more than just disarming to the point that Chris actually felt relief when Piers finally did respond to him.

"Because…of what's down here." He slowed to a stop looking up at the ceiling that Chris was sure was not even ten feet above them. "The thing down here preys on anything it can get its grubs on. I escaped it once, but that was only barely and only because it attacked the ones pursuing me at the time." Chris tensed up as the Semi turned slowly to face him. He tried to see the eyes in the darkness but all he could see was a silhouette of Piers with no indication of what he thought or felt on his face. It filled Chris with a sort of anxiety. Piers was remembering things much faster than before. That was a problem.

"Still," Piers continued turning his head away again. "I'd rather take my chances on not being discovered down here than to go back up and try to dodge bullets again." It made sense. They didn't know how many of the enemies were still up there. Piers had managed to take down a few of them, but it didn't mean the people chasing them weren't skilled. They apparently knew how to shoot with a gun.

"Well with the two of us here, we should have an easier time."

"I hope so," was all Piers said in return as he started walking again leaving Chris to once again start following him. Chris took a brief moment to check his phone. It was almost time for him to send Claire a text to let her know they were ok. Had they really been walking down here for an hour? It felt long for a tunnel but it wasn't necessarily just a straight route. There were several cases of taking stairs to different levels and turning corners to unintentionally run across a few rats here and there. One instance was of a rat feasting on the carcass of…some creature. From what he could figure out of the remains, it must have been a human, at least at one time. It didn't help him feel any better and seemed to only serve to make Piers even tenser.

An arm shot out suddenly holding Chris back as the Semi looked around quickly, his ears flickering much faster. He was hearing something that was too out of frequency with Chris's own human ears. He stayed still as a statue. Both of them did listening for whatever it was Piers was hearing. It took a few more seconds but he started to hear it too, a sound like a bunch of grasshoppers chirping all at one time. It was irritating and could grate on one's nerves which explained why the Semi's ears were starting to lean back more in frustration.

The two moved into the nearest tunnel, their backs against the wall as the sound got louder. Piers cupped his hands over his doggy ears holding them down to his head to keep the sound at bay as he kept looking, staring out the tunnel. Chris looked just in time to see what looked like a giant slug like creature slither on past them. There were bodies stuck to its back by a sticky substance that didn't look like it'd be good to have on the skin, at least by the looks of the decay that looked like acid had ate through the remains. The stench was nothing to laugh at either but Chris wasn't daring to make a move at this point, keeping his body as still as possible even if his nose and eyes protested to the sight.

One body wiggled slightly indicating that it wasn't quite dead yet and might have been the freshest catch. He was thankful to the dark for keeping him from having to see the horror of the bodies in full detail. When he thought about it, he was reminded of the creature he saw in the TRICELL lab. Plagas. That's right, that thing resembled the plagas in the laboratory, except much bigger and apparently deadlier. Speaking of which, what had TRICELL been researching there? Why where there people kept inside the tanks? Experiments? Or were they something more than humans now? They'd obviously been still alive from the bubbles coming out of their noses.

The cricket sounds slowly seemed to dissipate the further away the creature got. It didn't make Chris's heart beat any slower thought. Piers didn't say a word when he started moving suddenly grabbing Chris's hand as they started walking again though a bit quieter than before. The beast must have been far enough away now that they could continue on their hidden path to their destination. But aside from walking much faster than before, Piers didn't say a word. Chris assumed that meant that speaking wasn't a good idea right now. He couldn't say he blamed him. That thing…whatever it was, had been killing off a lot of people. And from the silhouettes he saw of a few of those forms, some of those people had been Semi. It meant a normal human like him didn't stand a chance of staying alive if it could catch even something as strong and fast as a Semi.

It also meant that Piers was in just as much danger as he was. He could tell the other was nervous, the grip tight enough to hurt. His fingers trembled, palms sweating to the point that Chris had to grip his hand back in return to keep from losing his grip. How much longer did they have to stay down here? Were they almost there?

"Nngh!" Piers stopped suddenly, clutching at his head with one hand as he leaned against the tunnel wall.

"Piers!" Chris hissed out, keeping as quiet as possible while showing his concerns to the other.

"I'm…fine," Piers responded back just as quietly, head tilting to look up at him as his fingers relaxed more. "Just…remembering more stuff." Chris nodded slowly, a frown on his lips as he stared at the Semi watching the other pull away from the wall as he started walking again. "We…gotta hurry before that thing comes back." The next tug on his hand took them around the corner, a ladder standing in front of them as Piers looked at him before grabbing it. "This is it. We can get out of here soon." He started climbing up, gripping the ladder one step at a time followed closely behind by Chris who kept trying not to stare up at his butt or to yank at the tail that had a habit of continually smacking him at times. He also had to keep from slipping and following due to his sweaty palms.

Like before, it was a long climb up and he was happy when they made it to the surface again, Piers securing the latch on the entrance before covering it with a large rock nearby as if he'd done this before. Whether it was to keep their pursuers from following or to keep that beast from escaping was only one of the things that crossed Chris's mind. He doubted this was the only exit. He didn't think this would keep someone with a Semi's strength at bay for long either.

Chris glanced around cautiously, much the same way that Piers had done when he'd first come to the surface. They were still in the forest, hidden in the thick surrounding of bushes that shielded them from anyone that might be passing by. Silence wasn't a comforting thing to him considering the guys after them had been pretty silent when moving around. But Piers didn't show any alarming concerns which must have meant a good thing.

They were close to a building, the lights illuminating one of the upstairs windows with no indication of who was inside. There was a sign outside badly lit with the words Arklay Laboratory brazenly etched into the foreboding sign. Strange, he didn't remember there being a lab up here. Further out in the distance, there were other buildings as well, including one that could easily have been a mansion. But being able to see Piers's eyes let him know the other's focus was on the lab, his ears flickering slower with the immediate threat of discovery out of the way. Or maybe he just looked more relaxed without that weird creature lurking about. But if there were things like that roaming around, what else did they need to avoid?

"Let's go," Piers said pointing towards the building. "I don't exactly know where Wesker is but I think he's there." He pointed towards the lit window before he frowned looking at Chris, the worry shining in those hazel eyes. "Just stay close to me. I can protect you from those other guys."

"…Those other guys?" He'd mentioned something like that before when they'd run away in the forest. They. They knew they were there. But who were they?

"The Semi I trained with," Piers said casually as if it meant nothing to him, as if he didn't just kill some of his comrades he once trained with. Granted they started it first when they tried to kill them both, at least to Chris it seemed that way. "They're the ones attacking us right now, so we have to be careful." Well as careful as a human being chased around by Semi could be anyway. But why were the Semi attacking them? Didn't Wesker say he wanted him and Piers to come here? He remembered that there were others out there working with Wesker. Maybe they didn't agree with his decision? Maybe they wanted to ruin whatever plans Wesker had. In that case, what was it that Wesker was planning to do? Why did he need the two of them? Or did he only really need Piers?

Piers snuck off, Chris moving to follow closely behind him feeling like he was more of the subordinate than the leader. He followed the Semi's tail before his eyes trailed up to the back of his head contemplating how much Piers remembered now. How much more before Piers became the Semi he had once been beneath Wesker? Piers paused behind the bushes peering around. Something had stopped him. Chris peeked through the bushes, his eyes spotting two guys with hoods on taking watch in front of the building with their guns held ready. Chris blinked before he frowned at them. Weren't they part of TRICELL? He remembered seeing plenty of those hoodie covered fiends before when they'd infiltrated the TRICELL lab. Why were they here?

Piers didn't seem too concerned by them, the two of them skirting by quickly as they went to the side of the building crouching down. Piers took a moment to work the window open before the two of them slipped inside into the darkness with Chris turning and closing the window quietly. The light shining in from the windows did help to illuminate what appeared to be a conference room.

Within the dark room, Piers pulled out his gun reloading it. Chris followed his example reloading his own. If Piers was worried about a gun then there must have been something up ahead that was a threat to them.

"Follow me," Piers said stopping by the door and looking back at Chris before rushing out the door. Outside the door the hallway was well lit. It took some maneuvering going from dark room to dark room and using Piers's superb hearing to get past the guards hanging around the area. They'd caught sight of not just the hooded guys but the Semi too. In the case of the Semi, it took a lot more work because of their superior hearing and speed that Chris couldn't outmatch. At least he felt like his strength could at least give them a run for their money. But luckily, Piers was able to take care of them by knocking them out before binding and confining them in the empty rooms. Apparently Piers was even considered A Class even among his fellow Semi.

"Here," Piers whispered stopping in front of a large door labeled Specimens A-C. He wondered about the name on the door, his mind feeding him all kinds of concepts. Chris nodded his head swallowing slightly. Behind this door was the man he formerly looked up to, the man he thought was dead all these years. The man that used to be a part of his heart whether he wanted to admit to it now or not.

Chris looked over at his current partner giving the signal that they were going in before he went first kicking the door open and pointing his gun to the figure at the center. "Don't move!" he yelled out, Piers right behind him with his own gun pointing.

"My! My! What a pleasant surprise!" The gun trained on Chris wasn't what surprised him as he stared in confusion at the mousy like face grinning back at them like they were old friends. "Nice seeing yous again, Redfield!"

"Irving? What are you doing here?" Chris said catching Piers moving up beside him in his peripheral, gun still trained on Irving.

"Strange that yous ask that!" Irving laughed before his crooked teeth flashed at Chris. "Ole man Spencer found out his favorite boy has been cheatin on him with the enemy, t'workin with them so ta say."

"What are you talking about?" God, why was this guy so annoying.

"Start talking, you quack!" Piers held his gun more meaningfully missing the glance his way as Chris gave him an amused smirk. The kid sure had some spunk in him. He'd fit in perfectly with Alpha Team. He was definitely going to have to take the team out later, once they made it back anyway. If they made it back.

Ricardo Irving turned his eyes towards the Semi, a disgusted sneer appearing on his face. "I really can't stand yous mongrels."

"Good," Piers said seeming to stand up straight, his ears sitting straight up on his head as he stared at Irving defiantly, gun still firmly aimed on the man. "Because I can't stand your pig face either." He seemed to get under the man's skin, Irving growling under his breath and glaring at him before he turned his angry eyes to Chris.

"Well if yous lookin for Wesker, yous might as well give up!" He laughed atrociously. "The man ain't here! He's in juvenile detention right now, so ta speak!" He stopped laughing though the grin didn't make him looking any less menacing. "Well, time to pay the piper, Redfield."

Chris didn't even get a chance to respond as his body froze hearing the click of a gun behind him. Piers turned his head quickly hearing the click at the same time that Irving fired his gun, a dart shooting out and hitting Piers in the back of the neck. He yelped, before his body went limp as he fell down to the ground, his gun falling from his hand.

"Piers!"

The gun pressed against the head reminding him of the threat behind him. "Don't move if you know what is good for you, Christopher." His hands clenched up recognizing the voice of the TRICELL's regional director. So they were having dirty dealings with Umbrella. Working together with this Spencer guy? With Wesker? But then Irving said he was in juvenile detention. What exactly did juvenile detention mean to Umbrella? Did something happen? Was Wesker not doing what the leaders of these two companies wanted?

"I'd advise you to drop the weapon," Excella said just as Irving walked over and picked up Piers's gun pointing it at Piers's head. "Otherwise, I can't guarantee that he won't blow the poor puppy's brains out." Chris swallowed looking down at Piers before he slowly kneeled down enough to drop the gun on the ground. "Good boy." The gun went lower pressing against the middle of Chris's back. "Get moving."

"Where are you taking us?" Chris started walking, hesitating as he saw Irving walk over and kick Piers to flip him over. There was nothing he could do about it with the gun to his back, nothing but clench his hands tighter at his sides.

"I see you forgot we had plans for you." She kept pushing the gun against him back to make him move while Irving grabbed the Semi's hands to drag him along the floor behind them. "It's a shame that Leon Kennedy isn't here as well." He felt some relief in that. If they didn't know that Leon had been here, then it meant Wesker had never told them about him. What had Wesker been planning to do then? "But one will have to do. Just having you is enough for us to go ahead with our master plan." Master plan? They never did figure out what they planned to do with them. Was it the same things they had done to the missing scientists at TRICELL? Was it something to do with the people inside those containers?

As they walked down the hallway, he saw more of the hoodie guys and Semi watching them. With the Semi, at least, he was able to see their emotionless eyes. The same couldn't be said about the hooded ones who tilted their heads down as if in obedience. The Semi had metal collars around their necks with numbers embedded into the metal like a name. Some had markings on their wrist that indicated captivity and reminded him of when Piers had first come to his house. He'd had those same markings including a bruising circle around his neck. Even now, it was still there, though it had lightened up a little bit.

They stopped in front of a holding cell, some hooded men restraining him and searching him for weapons before they pushed him inside locking the door. He stumbled over his feet and turned around glaring at the group of them as he struggled in the restraints. No good…they used rope with a good knot in it. They also handcuffed him as well as if using a secondary safety measure. "Don't worry, we won't make the same mistake twice," she said tapping her fingers against the metal bars. "I don't know how you got free the last time, but I'll have my boys here to keep watch over you." She gestured to the two hoodie guys standing in front of the cell, staring inside and watching his every move like a hawk looking at dinner.

"They'll let me know if you try anything," she said smirking at him. "If they do, you can say goodbye to your precious Semi pet." As she said it, another, bigger guy wearing a hoodie walked up picking Piers up and throwing him over his shoulder before he started to leave.

"Wait," Chris said running to the cell door. "Where are you taking him?!"

"For reprogramming," Excella said pressing a finger against her lips. "Spencer did tell me a defective Semi had escaped some time ago. Turns out it was one of his favorite ones." She laughed. "The old man must be sick to want to keep such a broken toy around to play with."

"He's not a toy!" Chris yelled out angrily, the woman just laughing louder as she started to walk away swaying her hips, her little lackey Irving following beside her. "Hey!" One of the hoodie guys slammed his hands against the cell bars, his eyes staring dangerously at Chris. Cursing under his breath, he stepped back staring back at the eyes looking at him before he looked away feeling a shiver go down his spine.

Monsters. Inhuman. These were some of the words that described how he felt looking into their eyes. They weren't human. These guys felt like they could rip you apart within seconds without even trying and not care that they did it. He never noticed it before because all the ones before them had kept their heads down so you couldn't see their eyes or even most of their faces. Now, they were standing there in the partly lit part of the corridor staring at him with carnivorous eyes as if they were just waiting for him to make the wrong move so they could kill him. Would they kill him?

"You know…you guys don't have to stare so hard," Chris said hoping for some kind of response as he glanced back at them. Nothing. He didn't get even get a cracked smile or even a blink of the eyes…did they even blink at all? Sighing he lowered himself down against the back wall, tilting his head down to stare at the ground to avoid their gaze even though he could still feel their stare on him.

Perfect mess he'd made of this situation. Not only had he failed to save Leon, but he'd also managed to lose Piers too. Wesker seemed a lost cause wherever he was, and he was sure that it'd only be a matter of time before he was next up on the menu. He had a feeling that the three hours had come up by now but he doubted that the BSAA team could make it in time to save them not to mention trying to fight through a horde of Semi and possessed guys in hoodies. Just how the hell was he going to get out of this situation?

TBC….