Alice carefully explained everything she could, speaking in a way that gave them the best possible chance for Michelle to accept them.
"So let me get a recap so far..." Michelle pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes for a second. "The three of you have the T-Virus... but you're not 'infected' by it. You're SOMEHOW immune to that, and because of that immunity, each have unique superpowers, and can locate anything that has the T-Virus in it. However..." Michelle glared at Ryan lividly. "YOU are not like your daughter and wife: They were captured by Umbrella and experimented on, and you weren't. It was only recently that you were introduced to the T-Virus, thus granting your powers to you. Am I that far off, Alice?!"
"No. That is everything." Alice replied calmly. However, Ryan was not so calm in his words.
"Just because they were captured doesn't mean I'm subpar! What the hell is this woman's problem with me?!"
"Calm down, Itoshii. We'll find that out in due time. For now, let's at least try to get ourselves inside Sanctuary." Alice reminded him Telepathically.
"Well... What are your superpowers? They might have some usage inside Sanctuary, depending on what they are." Michelle asked, staring Alice up and down. She gave Katie a quick glance, but completely ignored Ryan entirely due to how little of him was actually visible through his armour, hood and mask.
"I'm Telekinetic... I can move things with the power of my mind." Alice explained, indicating herself with her hand.
"Like what?" Michelle challenged her.
"Sixteen hundred pounds of concrete for six minutes. That's my record." Alice scratched the end of her nose idly, as if that tidbit of information was nothing all that spectacular to have accomplished.
"That might be of use to us. We need some heavy lifters. Okay, how about your silent husband?"
"Electrokinesis and Magnokinesis. He can control electricity and magnetism, plus he doesn't require sleep to function." Alice explained, turning to him as she talked.
Michelle's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing in regards to his power. "And your daughter?"
"P-Pyrokinesis... I can um... control f-fire." Katie spoke for the first time towards Michelle, using her cuteness to her advantage.
"Hmmm... Not quite sure about how we could use that... But since she's your daughter, I'll let her in as well." Michelle sighed. "But swear, right here, right now, that you'll keep this a secret from the general population. Not everyone needs to know that your husband is a living battery, and your daughter is a walking matchstick. Keep this a secret, and I'll allow you inside, no screening, and a permanent bypass for a bite check."
"Done. My husband says 'Understood, Michelle.'" Alice indicated Ryan with her head as he mentally gave his reply.
"And you?" Michelle stared down at Katie, who once again played the cute card and took a step towards Alice, slightly hiding herself behind her back as she nodded. "Good."
Michelle held out her hand to Alice, who took it and gave it a firm shake. She held out her hand again for Katie, who glanced at Alice for support (still being cute) before shyly taking it as well.
Michelle visibly hesitated before offering her hand to Ryan though, and he easily noticed before she offered her hand and he slowly took it with a devilish smile behind his mask.
"Thank you, Michelle. For allowing our family into your Sanctuary." He spoke to her Telepathically, which caused her to release his hand like it had electrocuted her. (Which he didn't. He purposely redirected his electricity away from his hands and into his chest so that he wouldn't harm her in any way.)
"How did you..." Michelle began, staring at Ryan in shock. "I heard..."
"That is how he communicates to anyone without the T-Virus. He needs skin contact to use his Telepathy for them to hear him." Alice explained. "But the two of us don't need skin contact to hear him." She indicated herself and Katie with her hand.
Holding her wrist with her other hand, Michelle glared at Ryan for several seconds, almost as if she was rethinking her descision to allow him inside. But she released her wrist and beckoned for the guards to return their weapons.
Once they'd been rearmed, she then turned towards the rest of Claire's former convoy and loudly called out. "You're all now allowed inside of Sanctuary, use the rest of the morning to familiarize yourself with the city, and meet some of the citizens. Go on!"
As Claire and K-Mart gazed at Alice from across the triage, they gave her a 'we'll talk later' look before disappearing through the gates.
"However, Alice..." Michelle suddenly turned on her heel to face them. "I want you to meet me at the marketplace in half an hour. There are some things I want to discuss in more detail. However, in the mean time, go ahead and get aquainted with your new home. I will see you later."
Alice nodded before taking Katie by the hand and walking across the triage and through the gates, with Ryan at her side. Together, they inwardly prepared themselves for the beginning of their new lives within a walled city.
As Ryan passed through the gate's threshold, a thought passed through his head. One that made him hesitate for the smallest second.
'We're walking into a cage... Like we're just a pack of mindless animals.'
However, he kept that thought to himself, and didn't announce it Telepathically. His instincts were warning him that something was amiss somewhere inside the walls, and it didn't bode well with him. There was more going on than it seemed.
The moment that the former convoy caught sight of the well kept city before their eyes, they were almost instantly in shock when they realized that there was the nearly heavenly scent of cooking coming from somewhere just up ahead through the crowds of people.
"That smell..." Alice stopped in her tracks, mesmerized by the heavenly scent assaulting her nostrils. "It's something I've never thought I'd ever smell again!"
"What is it, mom?" Katie asked curiously, staring at Alice's awestruck expression. "I don't recognize it at all." Her grip tightened in Alice's hand at the sight of so many strangers around them. She stepped closer to Alice, taking a few calming breaths.
It was true: Having been under Umbrella's control for so long, and from such a young age, Katie had almost literally grown up eating canned foods, and military MRE's. She knew a small number of prepared dishes from her very faint memories of her time before being captured, but they were few and far between. In fact, she could barely register the fact that the strange scent contained meats.
"It's called curry. It's one of my favourite dishes... well... before Raccoon City, that is. Oh, what I WOULDN'T do for a really big plate of some well made curry..." Alice smiled wistfully as she sniffed the air happily, taking long and deep inhales through her nose each time.
Behind her back, Ryan's gaze was riveted to her, a strange glint in his eyes. Katie noticed over Alice's shoulder that Ryan's eyes had crinkled into an unmistakeable smile. She knew her brother well enough to realize he was planning something. However, she said nothing, since she honestly could already tell it was between them as a married couple, so it wasn't something she wanted to know about.
"Shall we keep looking around?" Ryan asked, still smiling behind his mask. He was actually amused that Alice was so enthralled by the scent of the curry. He thought it was another little quirk about her he would to grow to love. "I for one, want to check out that hydroelectric dam that Taylor mentioned."
In his own head though, he was dancing a victory dance at the knowledge that Alice loved curry. Unknown to anyone in the convoy, he was actually able to cook a large number of dishes... Curry was one of his favourite dishes to cook, not to mention HIS all time favourite dish, shepherd's pie. If memory served him correct, Katie's favourite dish before her capture was their uncle's special version of chicken and vegetable soup. Thankfully, Ryan knew the recipe perfectly. He was going to become well acquainted with the food vendors in the near future, that was for certain...
"I doubt that it's close to the entrance, to be honest." Alice snapped out of her reverie, turning to face him. "Unless you can sense the electricity that it's generating from here."
Ryan shook his head, snapping out of his inward scheme planning. "No, I can't. This whole area is being powered from what I can tell, but I can't isolate the source lines." He gazed off to the right. "However, about three blocks that way is a fairly large area that is devoid of electrical power entirely. That's very odd, so I'll catch up with you in a little bit, after I have a check to see why there's such a large deadzone."
"Are you sure, Itoshii? You are a mute, after all." Alice reminded him as she gently took his hand. "What if something happens with Michelle's guards? I personally think that they're her special police force or something like that."
"You mean something like with that sniper on the fourth floor of that tall building? He's aiming directly at your back." Ryan indicated the open window on the fourth floor, where a small glint sparkled in the sunlight. He was well experienced at spotting tell tale signs like that, and was amused that the sniper didn't realize what a rookie mistake he was making by sitting so close to the window.
"She has snipers watching the streets?" Alice replied in surprise, acting very casual about the fact she could be shot at the drop of a hat. "Actually, no... that makes sense. This IS the main entrance after all."
"He has a strange liking to you though." Ryan commented, still gazing at the sniper. "I think that Michelle is going to be keeping her eye on us for a while."
"So you want to set them up? Separating yourself from us, I mean." Alice realized his plan about the supposed deadzone. "So, is there REALLY a deadzone, or are you bullshitting me here?"
"It's real." Ryan replied honestly. "But I also want to figure out why the woman hates me so much. If anything, I can find us a place to go after that meeting you have with her. I'll ask around, might have one of the old convoy members to help with communications."
Alice could tell that Ryan was set in his decision to lure Michelle into his little trap, so she sighed and pulled his mask down to give him a kiss goodbye.
"If you EVER get into trouble, please... Don't you dare hesitate to call for me. Promise?" She stared at him from inches away, her eyes locked onto his.
"I will." Ryan replied, before pulling his mask back in place and disappearing through the crowds. "I promise."