Chapter 15: The Unsung Reality

The sound of a rolling chair echoed the room, the clicking of a printer joining the rhythm as hot steam danced in swirls above a boiling cup of ramen. Yoko took a second from traveling from one computer console to another and stood, grabbing what had been printed and ultimately what could be added to the file she was stacking up to send to Alyssa. It wasn't often the quiet and sometimes hesitant computer nerd took on personal favors, but it being someone that Yoko could nearly consider a sister, she accepted Alyssa's request and went to work.

The target was straightforward, but the goal was inexact. Yoko was asked to look into not only the Spencer history, but also to find if there was any connection that a woman that went by the name of Piper Mulligan had any relation to the long but forgotten English blood. The results that Alyssa wanted were indeterminate; more like Alyssa just asked that Yoko look into these two subjects. Whatever Yoko found, Alyssa would be content with.

Yoko was told that there was little to no expectancy with the search, but Yoko knew that if anyone could find anything, she could. What began as a task with no true ambition converted into a case of discovery, a treasure box full of old skeletons and information worth gold.

Poor old souls, the Spencer's, let alone anyone involved with Umbrella or even the mention of bioorganic weaponry, were never too good at wiping their fingerprints. With some good effort and patience, hacking into files and records proved to be fertile. Oswell E. Spencer was a devious man, but what Yoko had been able to find proved just how sick he was. He had a son, Elliot Spencer that was known of by many. But it was his purpose to Oswell that would explain Elliot's lunacy aside from the genetic psychosis.

Apparently, Elliot was a biological breakthrough in science as well as the human race. His cells refused any virus introduced, effectively making him immune. This would have been useful information during the many outbreaks that occurred over time and all over the world, Yoko knew, but leave it to the Spencer's to keep something progressive to themselves and hidden from the ones in need. However, it was unclear if Elliot carried antibodies.

After Oswell and the accompanying scientists had gathered information from the guinea pig Elliot, their need for him was no more and therefore paid him little to no attention. Elliot was raised in what the Spencer's looked at as a normal household. He was kept from leaving the estate and kept hidden from the world. But it was when he reached adulthood that he was able to venture, to mingle with his own and experience what life really was. Though Oswell never really approved of such exploit, he had no interest in his own kin and let him be, rather being rid of him than dealing with the whiney child that Elliot was, pulling at his father's sleeve for more attention than what apparently the butler's could give him.

It didn't have to be written down to express just how destructive Elliot had become in those "independent" years of his life. Always wanting that approval of his father and the love he never received, Elliot rebelled in the most immature ways, living a life of alcoholism and wanton habits. It wasn't long until he really dug that deep hole of irresponsibility and managed to impregnate one of his many unnamed lovers.

Being the undisciplined man he was, he crawled back to father for solutions, for someone to clean up the mess he made. The mother of this son that would be the first of the new Spencer generation handed over the infant, stating that this child was a mistake and unwanted on her part, handing him over to Elliot who in turn begged his father to take the child off his hands. And Oswell keeping his reputation as the mad man he was took that baby and conjured up plans to begin experiments that could prove to be more gainful than Elliot's own "gift".

With some tedious work and patience, Yoko was able to uncover exactly what happened to this child Spencer but also what his results were in the experiments. His name was Isaac Tate, Yoko marked that down, and he had the same cellular immunity to any virus just like his father, Elliot. But what set him apart and sparked Oswell's interest was that this boy's cells had somehow made the virus stronger all the while refusing to mutate. Never being a man to miss such an opportunity, Oswell must have given Elliot permission or encouraged him to produce more children.

And that is exactly what Elliot did. Like some male jezebel, Elliot had done the dirtiest work of the entire scheme and brought more of his offspring into this world, gathering each and every child to deliver them to father Oswell. What others might have looked at as disturbing, they saw as necessary protocol.

Though it could be doubted that he had many more that went unknown, Elliot had a total of seven children. The firstborn and oldest being Isaac Tate, followed by the only Spaniard, Anne Martinez, and next a Scottish born boy, Pete McClintock. Like a missing puzzle piece that finished the picture, Yoko discovered Piper Mulligan was the third and middle child, revealing her connection to the Spencer's in the most unsuspected way; true blood relation. This explained the reasoning why Mulligan would be found at the Spencer estate, but why was still the unanswered question.

The fourth child was American, Vanessa Johnson and after her was another English bred, Fred Perry. But then the last child proved to be more of a confusion than Piper Mulligan. The last child was unknown, either forgotten or lost, Yoko wasn't sure. All that was known of this last child was that it was female and the mother had taken off with this daughter while she was still carrying the baby before any Spencer or Umbrella employee could capture the mother and descendant. Yoko made a point that it'd be best to leave this last child unknown. If the mother had gotten away from the Spencer's then there was no need to research the last of Elliot's offspring. Yoko just hoped this last child had gone on to live a normal life from what the other children had to endure.

Tragically, most of Elliot's progenies had died during experimentation after all of them seemed to have the same result as the firstborn did, all proving to be repetitive results that became unnecessary until finally their young newborn bodies gave out and sadly they passed away. The only surviving children were Isaac, Piper, and assuming that neither Oswell nor Elliot ever found the child, the last unknown daughter. It was indeed a misfortune that so many young lives had been lost, but it also shortened the search.

Isaac Tate was the easiest to find and learn what he'd been up to since his childhood. After surviving the experiments as an infant, he had been sent to boarding school in Ireland, staying there until he reached adulthood. His whereabouts were foggy during this time, for he was neither here nor there. He seemed to have disappeared altogether until about four years ago when he reappeared and founded his own school for boys and girls in an old mansion by the coast in Ireland. Steadily, the school had flourished and still stood and enrolled children from all around Europe. Yoko couldn't help but smirk then, knowing that she had found if not a grand finding than at least a lead for Alyssa to follow.

As for Piper Mulligan, Yoko was only met with what the investigation team of the BSAA had already found. Mulligan was a first class conundrum. A tough childhood and young adult life with a schizophrenic mother seemed to be the only intriguing aspect of her life. But Yoko had to ask the simple and maybe the least obvious questions; when she enrolled for college, why did she major in Biology? After school, why did she remain ideal? Never accepting a job better than bartending or waitressing? Why work for a degree to never even have the ambition for something better? And where was she now if she had left her job waitressing and her fingerprints were found at one of her family's homes? These were the things that ate at Yoko, the small details in between that may have meant little to the average onlooker but were the bits that could make or break an investigation. These were the details that would finish the puzzle.

Though the analysis had overall been fruitful, searching had met a dead end. Elliot's children were thoroughly inspected, Piper's history was further looked into but still remained unclear, and the address to Isaac's school for girls and boys had been found. All Yoko needed to do was send all the information to Alyssa and could only hope for the best to her longtime friend. And if Yoko could offer any words, it'd be to wish Alyssa good luck. Because with what the nerdy hacker had found, Alyssa was going to need it.

It had gotten steadily worse. That chatter that flew from Sheva's lips was unceasing, progressively getting severer in the past hour until finally Wesker had just about enough. He was standing over a keyboard, typing faster than Sheva's produced words, and trying dearly to hold on as her utterances flew to his ears in constant waves. But as she fidgeted and refused to stay still on the stool next to him, he caught on to the heavy nervous ridden emotion in her voice, building as he clicked the 'enter' key and the clunks of the printer sounded.

Paper upon paper ran through the printer, taking longer than Wesker desired for Sheva's anxiety only seemed to increase as one every new sheet of paper was finished. Reflexively, he brought his fingers to his nose, pinching the bridge when suddenly her chatter halted, silence filling his ears like a gasp of breath that'd been held for far too long. Opening his eyes that he hadn't realized were closed, he looked to her in the corner of his eye, intrigued with her sudden change of action. With a slow turn, he faced her as her eyes went wide as the moon, staring at the printer as her chest rose with no exhale.

"Breathe," he told her.

Initially, she didn't listen, stuck in her own daze to register he had spoken. But with the touch of his hand to her arm, she snapped out of her paralysis and directed her wide eyes to him with a slowly leaving breath.

"Would you care to tell me what is wrong?" he requested with an arched brow.

A shaking and pathetic laugh spilled from her mouth, her shoulders refusing to relax as she sat at a perfect angle. "Nothing's wrong. I'm completely fine. Why do you ask?"

Turning his back to the table he stood at, he leaned against the steel and crossed his arms all the while the printer continued to whine with more papers feeding through.

"I assume something is wrong because just a moment ago you didn't seem to grasp the ability to stop talking, but suddenly, you are quiet with this look on your face." He gestured to her, looking her up and down to further express how her image looked. "So, while I am offering an ear to listen, why don't you tell me what is wrong?" He trained his scrutiny to her, bowing his head slightly to show the seriousness in his stare.

Sheva brought her hands to her face, pulling on the delicate skin under eyes as she sighed hoarsely, slouching in her seat as she accepted Wesker's offer.

"I'm scared. I'm scared what those results are going to say and I'm scared what's going to happen after. I know that once those papers are done and I read them, it's all going to be real. And I don't want it to be real. I don't want to know what kind of freak I am. I don't want to be the subject of experimentation and I don't want to know what's going to happen when others realize what I am and who I am. I'm scared and for the first time in a long time, I don't know how not to be."

It was as easy as that, Wesker thought, to get her to open up and express what woes were on her conscious. Though not all of it was a surprise to him, the real shock was just how much she vented and she was willing to trust him with. He faced her as she hid her face in her hands and before he was going to pry those hands from her face, she angrily mumbled into her palms.

"It's just, why did I have to be born with this cellular makeup? Jake gets to have the antibodies while I'm stuck with God knows what."

With a whine echoing in her throat, Sheva pressed into her eyelids with frustration. Slowly, she lowered her hands and opened her eyes to look at Wesker who had yet to reply, causing Sheva to itch with anticipation and knowing that he'd most likely scold her. But the expression on his face was what made her double take, his eyes widening for a slight second before they squinted and gaped onto her.

"Antibodies? Jake carries antibodies? For what exactly?" he questioned with a hint of dangerous curiosity laced in his voice.

Oh no, Sheva thought. The last person that should know about Jake's "gift" was his father, for Wesker was a man of deadly intent. If Wesker knew of Jake carrying antibodies for the C virus then one could only imagine that something dark and morbid would be stewing up in Wesker's brain. And Sheva was the one with fingers pointed at her, she being the one to spill the beans about Jake and now she was stuck with an inquisitive Wesker.

"What does he have antibodies for, Alomar?" he probed with a lower pitch, his eyes seeming to darken as he took a step closer.

Sheva needed to abort mission, to change the topic to not only save her behind but Jake's as well. She'd just dug a hole that she and Jake could share. Eyeing the lab that she and Wesker stood in, she desperately looked for an out, an answer in the silver metal walls to get the man's mind elsewhere. Her gape settled on the printer, her heart thumping hard in her ear as she realized the report had finished printing. Well, she was looking for a distraction.

"The results are done," she announced with a breathless voice. It felt as if her entire stomach was stuck in her throat.

Luck was on her side. Wesker dropped the interrogation and turned his attention to the finished results. Though he already had an idea what they were going to reveal, he anticipated what the official results were. He could only hope they'd be as flourishing as he guessed.

A grunt sounded in his mouth as Sheva weaseled her way in when he brought the small stack of papers in front of him. She was effectively sandwiched between him and the table, her backside pressing into him with no space in between to offer.

"What do they say?" she asked with a hurried and shaky tone.

He could even feel just how shaky she was with her back pressed into him. He was going to try to push her away, but he instead scooted back a tad and leaned over her shoulder, shuffling through the papers quickly as he took in the information. And as he was expecting, the results were just as prosperous as he hoped.

"You're going too fast," she called in panic. "What do they say, Wesker?"

Sighing angrily, he took a moment to collect the annoyance growing inside and went back to the first page and began to explain her test results.

"These are all showing what viruses you benefit from and which ones you don't. While the ones that your cells don't bond with have pretty much the same result—burning to nothing with what resembles acid—the viruses you do bond with seem to have different benefits with your DNA."

"Like what?" She seemed to have calmed down slightly, but the shaking and frigidness of her body remained.

"Well, with T and G virus, they both seem to just make your cells stronger, more resilient against damage. T-Veronica gives your cells a resistance towards fire and anything with acidic properties. You're immune to T-Abyss and offers you nothing, not even harm. I haven't had much research with the new C virus, but it appears that you have no immunity or profit from C or Prototype. They'd both kill you within a certain time span. As for the Progenitor virus, it seems to offer your cellular makeup healing properties. If you had a cut you'd most likely heal within seconds, but with a larger injury, it'd take longer—plenty minutes possibly."

Completely and utterly enthralled with her results, Wesker felt like a child on Christmas day that had opened the present of a wooden baseball bat he'd wanted all year. However, Sheva had different reactions. Her breathing picked up, he could practically feel her heart slamming against her ribcage as she began to visibly shake. He was broken from his fascination with the results when she began gasping for air.

"What is it?" he questioned, turning her around to face him as he held on to her shoulders, trying to make eye contact but her eyes seemed to fixate on nothing as she tried to breathe.

"Can't. Breathe," she wheezed, tapping her chest as she met his gawk. "Panic…attack."

She clutched her hands to her chest, bundling up the shirt she wore as she tried with all her might to inhale air but to no avail. This was not exactly something Wesker knew how to deal with. The closest thing to a panic attack he had to deal with was either when William Birkin would stress out a little too much over creating the G virus or the one time when he was training S.T.A.R.S. and Jill Valentine had panicked during a practice run. She had forgotten to check behind a door, effectively putting her in the position with a gun to her head and a failed practice.

But this… Sheva truly panicking and gasping for air was like nothing he'd had to deal with before. He let his internal human instinct kick in, reaching behind her and sweeping the papers away. Standing tall, he cupped his hands under her arms and lifted her up until she sat on the table, her shaking body moving easily with his manipulations. He took a moment to examine her, leading up to her face and watching as she clutched her throat and really gasping.

"I've never dealt with this before," he shamefully admitted, his forehead collecting light perspiration as his brows furrowed.

He nearly jumped when she gripped his arm, his own nerves coming to life as she wheezed more and more. For the quickest moment, he looked into her scared hazel eyes, watching as she rocked back and forth and salty tears collected at the corners of her eyes. Carefully, he laid his hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat erratically and his other hand found her waist, trying to hold her steady.

"Breathe," he told her, repeating his earlier words. "Just calm down and breathe."

Her eyes burned into his. He could see she was trying to follow his advice and she was struggling to do so, but took her first deep breath when he told her to calm down again.

"Focus on breathing. In and out," he encouraged her, his hands still on her body as she began to calm. "That's good, just like that."

Finally, after a minute or two of urging her to breathe, she could inhale with much more ease than seconds before. He stood straight, removing his hands from her and taking his own deep breath. Running a hand through his hair, Wesker eyed her carefully as she stared up at him. He thought he got over the biggest hurdle of the day conquering her panic attack until she lunged for him, wrapping her arms around him and hiding her face in the curve where his shoulder and neck met, and she began to sob.

Her body shook as she wept, her cries muffling in his sweater as her tears soaked the fabric. He was stiff in her embrace as she leaned into him, her arms tightening with every sob. With a quick movement, she moved her arms to around his neck, moving off the table until she was practically dangling, forcing Wesker to hold her so she wouldn't pull them both to the floor.

The tighter he held the harder she cried, pushing him to hold her at a pressure fit enough to keep her up but to not encourage anything that he knew she was capable of.

"I'm so scared," she cried into his shoulder. "I'm scared, Albert."

Calling it reflexes, Wesker began to stroke slow circles on her back as he sat her back down on the table but didn't pull away, afraid she might catch him again if he tried. After a moment as he hushed her to calm down again, she pulled away with less tears in her eyes. She sniffled, rubbing her tears away with the sleeve of her shirt.

"I don't want anyone knowing of these results. If anyone finds out about all of this, they'll kill me, one way or another. I don't want that to happen, Albert. I never asked for this and I don't want to have to pay for it. Please, promise me you won't tell or sharing anything with anyone. I don't know if I can handle that. Please, promise me," she requested, her teary eyes searching his face for any emotion.

He was making a lot of promises to this girl lately, too many for his liking. But with her shaking in his arms and softly crying into his shoulder moments before and now eyeing him with a desperation in her eyes, it was another secret he knew he'd take on and keep. Truly, he had no intention of sharing the results with anyone, but now it'd be certain he'd keep it to himself.

"I promise," he said, hating having to say those words a second time in such short time.

Her sigh of relief played in his ear as she gazed up to him, a small and grateful smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she thanked him. She continued to gaze into his eyes and he didn't look away, watching as she began to relax in her own body. When she slowly started to come towards him, her eyes never leaving his, he remained still. Soon, he found himself meeting her halfway until their lips met in what must have been their first gentle kiss.

There was an understanding in this kiss of locked lips and a surrender on his side. For now, he let this happen, keeping his own hungry appetite at bay as she raised her hands to his hair and brought him closer. His apprehensive walls had come down for a moment, his pride and ego vanishing as he pulled her to the edge of the table she sat on and held her against his body. Wherever she found the courage to kiss him, he found the strength to let go and not consider the consequences. His own desire flared as she tiled her head, deepening the kiss as their lips began to part and mesh with one another.

For now, he'd let the guard down and kiss her back. In the morning he'd deal with what he'd done with the child of a Spencer, the woman he had a past with that he was slowly recalling, and the woman that could offer change not just to him, but to the whole world. Yes, he'd let go and he wouldn't worry when to put his walls back up.

Author's note: Was that an awkward way to have them kiss? I hope it wasn't sudden, but then again, I think some want the romance to pick up like I do. And phew, if those files that Yoko was looking into had all Elliot's kids' names… Well, Sheva's little secret would no longer be a secret, eh? I call that dodging a bullet.

Guest (Sasusakui?): Looks like you're gonna have to hunt down Piper because it seems she want's Sheva's head on a spike… The sneaky kangaroo Piper better be on watch for you coming for her! Yes, Alyssa needs to know Chris is off limits. Then again, Sheva's kinda breaking the rules with Wesker… Jill is pregnant with Carlos's taco baby, so she can't go on any mission or take any on right now. Gah, ripping eyelashes and fingernails off sounds horrible! D:
Sheva Redfield: Piper is a sneaky kangaroo. That's her official nickname, haha. I'm glad that Flynn actually being Steve gave you a surprise! I was worried that it was obvious, but that's just a situation I made up in my head. Oh, I know! When Chris finds out that Sheva's been sharing her bunk bed (if you know what I mean) with Wesker, he's gonna flip. Thanks, dearie!
Comix777: I'd say your guess about Flynn was pretty spot on. Just now he's actually Steve. :o Haha, that's good to hear the hate is positive for Piper. It always feels better to hate the person who's actually meant to be hated. D'aw, thanks! I'm just happy you like the story! :)

We have Isaac's location for Alyssa to find and who might be at Isaac's place? Hmm… Our story is progressing! Hope you enjoyed the longer chapter. :)

-Sarai