"Oh, my bad." A small kid that just collided with Valentine gave the half-assed apology as he ran past, only for Valentine's hand to snap out and grab him by the hair, causing the child to instinctively try and grab his hand, which also revealed that he'd tried to pickpocket Valentine's wallet during the collision.
"That's right, it is." Valentine took his wallet back and pushed the kid along his way. "Now fuck off."
Sheva clutched her purse - a gift from Rize, a nice and simple black purse - closer to her body after Valentine caught the kid's attempt to steal his wallet. She was impressed by his reaction speed, for sure.
Sliding his wallet back where it was, the two of them continued along their way through the crowds of the state gun show, both on the quest for new guns for themselves. Valentine had been saving his money for them both, since Sheva didn't have a summer job.
"So what guns did you have in mind?" Sheva asked over the din of the crowds of people and the distant gunfire from the shooting area over at the other end of the large field of tents and booths.
"I want some sort of rifle, maybe even a new sidearm." Valentine replied, then asked. "What about you?"
"I guess I should get a pistol..." Sheva admitted, then shrugged. "But I guess I'll see what catches my eye while we're here."
Valentine nodded in agreement, and they both continued to prowl the stalls and booths, checking out the entire long stretch of booths dedicated to just pistols of a large variety of calibers.
"How about this?" Sheva presented Valentine with a short barreled Taurus Judge, and he raised an eyebrow at the revolver for a moment, considering what he could possibly do to the weapon.
"Nah, that's not exactly something I had in mind." Valentine made a face after his evaluation failed. "Dad's the one that likes revolvers, not me."
"It's also a shotgun." Sheva indicated the tag on the gun's trigger guard, which declared the weapon was chambered in both .45 Longcolt and .410 shotgun shells. "Kinda cool, I guess." She returned it to the display rack and scanned the next one for a gun for either of them.
By the end of their visit to the gun show, neither could really find a suitable gun, so they joined Tobias in his truck and went home, slightly disappointed by the lack of success as they informed him of the turnout.
Neither noticed his smirk.
"Well shit." Tobias smirked at Valentine's current weapon project laying on his workbench amidst a plethora of scrap parts, spare components and scattered tools. "That's gonna be a fun little toy, for sure..."
He tucked the gun case he'd intended to gift his son - Sheva's was still being custom built at the moment - and returned to the main floor, coming face to face with Kuro and Shiro, who were regarding him curiously.
"Tobias, I presume that you were looking for Valentine? To gift him that gun under your arm?" Shiro asked, to which he gave a nod.
"I noticed his new toy he's building right now." Tobias replied. "If he can get it to work, I will be a very impressed man."
"How so?" Shiro asked curiously, but Tobias just smirked before replying.
"A magazine fed flintlock pistol... What will he come up with next?" Tobias joked as he shook his head in amusement before walking into the living room to retrieve his lit cigar in an ashtray on the coffee table, only slightly curious when he heard them join him. "I take it there's something else to discuss?"
"We were curious about the Syndicate, seeing as we are privy to the current circumstances regarding them. What made you create the original roster of the organization?" Kuro asked as he took a drag from his cigar and motioned for them to sit on the couch while he resumed his seat in the large armchair that everyone loved so much - It was actually Rize's chair, from when Yuuki was still a newborn.
"I knew that things were beginning to get out of my sole control at Umbrella, specifically regarding Wesker, so I opted to form a network of trusted individuals or those with power or influence..." Tobias blew out the smoke as he paused. "My intention was to create a sort of safety net if things went south between myself and the Corporation."
"Would you say they did?" Shiro asked.
"Against Wesker, yes. Against the Corporation itself? Not really." Tobias shook his head. "Of course, by the time I fell into Wesker's little trap with Alice and those MA-121's, the Syndicate was merely connected by contact information, with the express awareness that they were a contingency plan by default. After I returned to my right-hand partner, who was the brains behind the whole thing, Natasha, we sent out the first summons to bring the Syndicate together. After that, it was a war between myself and Wesker, and I happened to have a few more surprises up my sleeve than he did."
"Meaning what?" Shiro asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as she stared at him.
"Umbrella had significant political influence, secret military contracts, and a network of spies in the city, not to mention a vast and powerful propaganda campaign. What I had up my sleeve was our anonymous, faceless concept, the loyalty of my members, and personal knowledge of Umbrella's inner workings. One of my key members was the founder of Umbrella itself, Sir Oswald E. Spencer. With his influence in the Corporation we gained the upper hand well before we even prepared our first drills for the final assault on the Umbrella HQ."
"And the aftermath of the battle?" Kuro asked this time.
"After the nuke, with all traces of the outbreak only collected on social media as well as archived data gathered by the Syndicate through first hand capturing as well as Umbrella's data, the surviving members of the Syndicate - about four hundred and fifty in total - were gathered together in a meeting with myself and my fellow leaders of the Syndicate, and I told them things straight." Tobias took another drag of his cigar, then exhaled it through his nose before be began to recite the admittedly improvised speech he'd given to them.
"What happens now rests entirely on my shoulders, I must now do something drastic, and that is to disband the Syndicate henceforth. From here onwards, you aren't members of the Syndicate, it has served it's only purpose, and you that stand before me now bear the title of survivors. I dragged you all into my fight with Wesker, escalating into a full out war to the death. Your actions over the past 24 hours have proven your strength and tenacity. Now, it's my turn to prove to you that this wasn't a dead-ended journey; You trust me as a leader, and I trust you all as people, as individuals. My path is clear, and yours is a clean slate. I will forever bear the reminder of the deaths I've caused in my vengeance. The blood of 130,000 people stains my hands, and I intend to continue what I started, and bring Umbrella down. You are hereby discharged with full respects, from my Syndicate, and I wish you all safe and happy travels, until we meet again."
"After that, you helped form the BSAA, took the brunt of the blame for Raccoon City, and lived up to your words." Shiro nodded in understanding, knowing at least that much already. "So, that brings about another question; Who revived the Syndicate after all these years?"
"That's the problem; I don't know." Tobias had his cigar between his index and middle fingers, but began stroking his lip with his thumb as he spoke. "Even with all my knowledge on the new Syndicate's methodology matching the old, and the fact they're setting their sights onto our family, I don't know their true objectives, nor do I know why."
"So, any theories about the connection the new leader may have?" Kuro asked curiously.
"As of yet, all I know is it's personal, the person is patient, and they're intelligent and more than likely cunning. They're at least in their forties, since they'd have been at least my age at the time of Raccoon City, and lastly, the one fact I have nailed down is they're only one person, not a group or collective."
"No confirmation of appearance? Gender? Nationality? Absolutely nothing? Kuro asked, her expression becoming thoughtful.
"That's right." Tobias took another drag, then put the cigar out in the ashtray since it was finally finished. "Just like how I operated the Syndicate when I was at the helm."
A/N: Story's now up to date with the uploads. Next chapter is not finished yet, so once I get it up and running, uploads shall resume as normal.