This one is going to be a hopefully interesting chapter, I'm curious to see what people think about the first section. The rest of the chapter is pretty fluffy as far as content goes so I apologize for any whiplash lol

I do have a bit of a conundrum that I am facing. The more that I write, the more I feel like the story should probably be rated M. I posted a copy to AO3 with a Mature rating but, the problem is if I do that here the story basically becomes invisible in the search menu... the story is tame as far as resident evil goes but a bit much as far as general fanfiction. T is for 13+ and If I am being honest I wouldn't want to hand my story to a 13-year-old. but I also want people to be able to find and read the story... Should I change the rating? I added a Poll to my Profile page so you don't have to worry about writing a review to tell me your opinion.

Song Suggestion: Kings and Queens by Ava Max

Disclaimer: I own nothing. CapCom if you managed to read this far I'm glad you're finding this amusing at the least. still gonna throw in a please don't sue me.


June took the place of May. The second full week was almost at a close, and it had officially been one year since Emma moved into the apartment complex. She thought about this as she did laps around the roller rink. It was still a little weird to be here alone, but she is starting to get better now. At least it was something to do that wasn't, eat, sleep, and work, since Chris had been away for a mission for the last three weeks or so. Not to mention the drama from the merger had finally calmed down. It is weird to be a branch of a major label now. They probably just wanted a location in the city that was pre-staffed and didn't want to deal with the work to build it. Emma couldn't complain though, the pay raise was nice. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of the air moving around her.

Little did she know, Chris was in the middle of wrapping up the mission process. The agent was currently sitting in the break room of the BSAA with Night Howl and Canine.

"The coffee here is crap," Canine said with a tired sigh.

"Yep," Night Howl agreed but took a sip from his paper cup all the same.

"We're debriefing tomorrow afternoon. We should be home after that," Chris informed them while looking at his own cup. One solid mission for three weeks was much better than a gauntlet of back-to-back smaller ones, so he'd count it as a blessing.

"Yeah," Night Howl agreed as the three waited and relax in peace for a while before the soft 'Ding' of the elevator across from the break room caught their attention.

Through the glass walls of the break room, they saw a very unusual sight. A young woman with silky straight blond hair and vibrant blue eyes exited the elevator. Her eye color was offset by the bold pink hue of her short, sleeveless dress, and perfectly matched trendy pink makeup. An excessively fluffy cropped jacket covered her arms and practically hid the gold chain resting over her shoulder connected to a small designer clutch that rested at her side. The black choker around her neck matched her black velvet, thigh-high stiletto boots, which clicked against the tile floor as she strode out of the elevator with two large men in suits behind her.

"I'm pretty sure none of that is standard issue," Canine said as he watched the woman and the two men walk down the hall with purpose.

"Put your jaw back in place. You never know who's connected to who with Umbrella in the mix," Chris pointed out, and the two nodded.

"I mean fair, but a sore thumb is a sore thumb... Are we sure she's supposed to be here?" Night Howl replied.

"She went towards the director's office..." Canine said with frown before an idea comes to mind. "Hey Alpha, maybe you should confirm our debrief time?"

Chris gave a tired sigh, but got up, knowing they wouldn't let it go until someone checked. "I'll be right back. If this ends up being nothing, you're doing reps," he stated, and the others nodded. With that, he went to see what the unusual guests were up to, and make sure they aren't trying anything.

As he walked down the hall, his expression shifted to one of confusion. The woman and the two men were nowhere to be seen.

"You guys have some nerve you know that?!" said a muffled woman's voice from the director's office. All right. Color me curious. Chris leaned against the wall outside of the director's office to listen in for now.

"Must be fun being Umbrella's dogs now, huh?" the voice accused. "Did you think I wouldn't find out who blew up my lab?"

"Your lab?" the director asked, shocked that anyone would just waltz into his office and admit that.

"Yeah, my lab. I have my rights. That was private research that you were tampering with," she further accused.

"There are exceptions to those rights when you're making Bioweapons that can result in mass destruction—" the director started with his usual calm even tone only to be cut off.

"Oh, so just kicking down doors and blowing up buildings isn't domestic terrorism?" she countered as the shuffling of cloth suggested she'd folded her arms. "Just because Umbrella thought to buy out a bunch of mercenaries before I did, doesn't mean I'm going to lay down and take it. Tell them to keep their noses in their own business," she said with an air of confidence.

"What makes you think you can just make demands? I should have you arrested," the director pointedly remarked.

The sound of a few clicking steps and creaking wood suggested the woman has moved to sit on the director's desk. "Oh, I'm sure you'd like that. Thing is, I'm not some faceless, nameless guy in a white coat," she said, clearly not taking the threat seriously. "While I'm sure my scientists made for some fun target practice for your meatheads, the difference is, the world knows who I am. If something happens to me. They're going to want answers." Her tone was condescending, as if she were trying to explain something simple to a small child. "And if they want answers, where will that lead them back to? Oh sure, my own labs will be exposed, but what more would that cost you? All of your itsy-bitsy secrets you've been burying for years and years and yeaaars," she said with a laugh.

"I'd end up in a cutesy rehab center and get bailed out in a few years. You, though. How many war crimes have you committed? You might be UN sanctioned, but you work with a competitor of mine," she pointed out while the director remained silent. "And it's going to be hard to keep people from panicking if they find out about why you exist now, wouldn't it? How many more strands and variants will go on the market once more people find out it's possible? Goodness, whatever would the UN think if they found out you're taking bribes from another company that does the exact same FUCKING thing," she threatened, her sweet tone gradually replaced with a harsher, aggressive one. Another creak of wood suggested she got up as she cleared her throat.

Again, the director was silent.

"That's what I was hoping to hear," she said in a saccharine tone as she snapped her fingers. "Charles, James, we're leaving. I think we've reached an understanding."

Chris' frown remained as he listened to all of these accusations, and upon hearing the woman snap, he shifted to get up and walk away, so he didn't get caught listening to the conversation. That was a lot to consider. How much of what she was saying was true? She certainly got the director to shut up, which was not an easy task. As he rounded the corner of the hallway back towards the break room, he heard the clicking of heels against the tile floor behind him. He was a safe enough distance away at this point, so he slowed down to see if she was who he thought she was.

The steps moved with purpose until they come to a stop. "Ew. A meathead," the voice said with disgust. Hearing it caused Chris to turn and look. Sure enough, it was the blond woman from the elevator. "Both of you. Do your jobs please," she said giving her palm a small golf clap like pat. The two guards walked forward.

"Fifty-foot distance. Now," the one said, clearly just wanting to get this over with.

Chris put up his hands and backed off. Based on the threats he heard, he'd listen. The last thing he needed was to be the reason that the BSAA became public knowledge. He made his way back to the break room and only then did the woman walks past and re-enter the elevator.

"Soooo," Night Howl said quietly. The team lead waited until the elevator doors closed all the way and the lights above it signaled that it was moving.

"We might have a problem," Chris admitted in a quiet whisper.

"Great, what else is new..." Canine replied with a sigh.

'*'*'*'*'

The debrief period went by pretty quickly. The Romanian missions usually went smoothly, which resulted in quicker release periods. He looked at the clock that read 5:30 pm. The sun was still up as well. This was a rare treat but even then, he didn't feel like he could enjoy it fully as the woman's words replayed in his head. He knew it was weird that the BSAA suddenly started working with Umbrella... What were they up to...? The worst part of it was, if he was going to find out, he'd have to keep following orders and snoop around in the background.

He thought about this as he breathed out a cloud of smoke, then tossed the dead filter of a cigarette out the window onto the highway. This habit of his was getting worse.

Before long he made it back to the garage, parked, and found himself in front of a familiar door. It was earlier than normal, but he was still hungry. After adjusting the bag on his shoulder, he knocked. The usual response could be heard, Duke barking and Emma telling him his silent command with chatter in the background... Wait, chatter in the background?

Emma opened the door and smiled. "Oh, hey Chris. Come on in." She stepped aside so he can enter to found Chelsea, Jack, and their three kids sitting at a neatly set table.

"Ah, it looks like now is a bad time," Chris said, which Chelsea waved off.

"Nonsense. Come on in, we're just about to have a meal and catch up," she replied with a somewhat mischievous smile. I'm getting to the bottom of this, the motherly woman thought with some level of annoyance. She had not forgotten her conversation with Emma back in December, and to say she was curious would be an understatement.

"My friend!" Summer exclaimed, getting up from her seat and running over to the door. She takes Chris' hand and gave it a slight tug to try and coax him to enter the apartment. "Come on, you can sit next to me," she offered, as personable as always.

Well, this was probably unavoidable. He usually got in late, so he failed to consider that she might already have plans.

"It's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to," Emma affirmed as she took Summer's hand to keep her in the apartment.

Chris thought it over for a second. "I have a few minutes," he replied.

"Yay!" Summer cheered and hurried back to her seat then patted the one next to her to signal for Chris to sit there. Chris placed his bag down by the door and walked over to take the seat to the right of Summer. Meanwhile, Emma closed the door and went to the kitchen to get an extra plate, glass of water, and a set of silverware. She placed it in front of Chris before taking her seat at the head of the table, to his right. On the table was a classic Sunday dinner of a roast, mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy.

"How was your trip?" Emma asked with a sheepish smile.

Chris smiled back at that and chuckles as he starts to relax thanks to the continued routine. "It was work." His tone adds the extra context that it was probably pretty stressful.

"I feel that," Jack replied with a laugh. "So, what do you do?" he asked as he starts serving up Summer's plate while Emma helped Maurie with hers since Chelsea had her hands full with Annie.

Chris paused at the question. How did he even answer that without getting into trouble...? "I'm afraid that's classified."

The answer got Jack and Chelsea's attention pretty quickly. "Oh, so secret agent sorta stuff. Cool, cool," Jack said to move on, though he already knew this topic that wouldn't be dropped so easily.

"Uh huh... and how long have you been doing that?" Chelsea asked, then casts a quick 'you're kidding me right' look at Emma.

"... It's classified," Chris said again before taking a sip of water. Please stop asking.

"Right," Chelsea said in an unamused tone. So far, she was not impressed. "Then what can you tell us about yourself?" she asked as Emma served herself now that everyone else had been served.

The question caused Chris to falter slightly. That was broad. What did she want to know?

"Well, he's decent at poker," Emma said with a snicker to try to cover for him.

"And you cheat," he pointed out in return with an amused smirk.

"It was one time, and I didn't know," Emma replied, pouting slightly.

"So, which is it? Was it one time or did you not know? Because you had clearly played before then," Chris pointed out, accepting the new topic. Thank you, Emma.

Oh crap. "Slip of the tongue," she answered then took a sip of her drink.

"You play?" Jack asked with a smile and Chris nodded.

"Every once in a while, with a few friends," Chris confirmed. This Jack guy didn't seem so bad, but Chelsea was starting to seem intimidating.

"Maybe I can get you at my table some time. We could use some new blood," Jack suggested with a grin. "It's the one time I'm not outnumbered by the ladies of the house."

Chris gave a short chuckle of sympathy at the joke. All the same, that did seem rough. Jack went on for a good while on different tips and tricks, as Emma quietly listened and nodded. Chelsea gave Emma a look in a silent attempt to say 'That won't work forever,' but after that, the dinner went along without a hiccup. They all talked, told jokes, and laughed until their plates were empty, and their stomachs were full.

'*'*'*'*'

Time continued to pass, and the weeks flew by. Chris' home routine went on as always. Sunday would arrive and Emma would drop off lunches. He'd work during the day, sleep at night, and on Thursdays after work, Emma would stop by for self-defense training. Before long, Saturday was quickly approaching and the final day of the month tolled.

Emma smiled while packing a backpack with plates, glasses, silverware and a large tablecloth to keep the more delicate items safely packed and secure. "There we go. That should be enough," she quietly mused to herself before shouldering the bag and putting Duke on his leash.

Once that was taken care of, she opened the door to find the others waiting for her in the hallway.

"Ah, Emma dear, good to see you," Mrs. Russo said with an excited smile. She and Marco were both carrying decent size picnic baskets.

"You have the plates and blanket right?" Bastion asked as he adjusted his hold on a cooler.

"Yep, I packed enough for the five of us," Emma confirmed as she closed the door behind her. Duke patiently sat and waited for permission to go down the stairs.

"Excellent," Marco said with a nod. "Though, speaking of five, where is Chris?" he asked, confused, before looking at Bastion. "You remembered to let him know about the picnic, yes?"

"Me?" Bastion asked with now matching confusion. "Uh. No, I thought Emma was going to tell him, since she sees him more often than I do."

"Oh dear..." Emma said with a frown. "Nope. Sorry, I figured the Russos told him since it was their idea."

"I suppose we should have mentioned it," Mrs. Russo agreed with a nod. "One second," she added before heading over to Chris' door and knocking on it.

Before long Chris answered. "Mrs. Russo, what can I do for you?" he asked before noticing everyone in the hallway. "Is something wrong?" Apartment meetings were rare now that the whole break-in issue had been resolved.

"We were all just about to go on a picnic and realized we didn't really communicate properly on who was going to make sure you received the invitation to go with us," the woman explained with an apologetic smile. "Would you like to come with? We were just about to head out."

"Oh," he replied with a conflicted expression. Well, at least nothing was wrong. He had kind of hoped to work on some catch-up paperwork. He was still behind from those mini mission sprints a few months ago... "Sure, let me get my shoes," he said in response. A bit of fresh air never hurt. He walked over to where he left his sneakers and put them on before heading back to the door.

"Did you need me to bring anything?" he asked since everyone seems to be carrying something.

"Could you carry Anna's basket? It's too heavy for her," Marco requested and Mrs. Russo waved him off.

"I'll be fine my love. You worry too much," she said in return, but all the same, she allowed Chris to take the basket as her husband requested.

"I don't mind," Chris confirmed as he adjusted his hold. "So where are we heading?"

"Just down the street to the park," Bastion answered as the group headed down the stairs and out to the sidewalk.

It was a perfect early summer day. A few sparse fluffy white clouds dotted the bright blue sky, and a cool breeze kept the warmth of the sun from being too overbearing, yet was gentle enough not to be a future nuisance for the picnic blanket.

"So, what has everyone been up to?" Bastion asked as they walked down the street. "It's been a while since we all got together, and last time it was a pretty short gathering since we all wanted to get some rest."

"Work," Chris and Emma said at the same time, which caused the two to look at each other before snickering.

"Well, okay then. Hello stereo," Bastion said, amused. "So, the right side of the hall houses the workaholics."

"Bastion, you work weekends. You're the biggest workaholic of us all," Emma pointed out with continued amusement.

"Tips are good on the weekend, though, and my wardrobe doesn't pay rent," Bastion said with a laugh.

"That is unfortunate," Emma replied, shaking her head and smiling.

"Truly," Bastion agrees. "What about you, guy?" he asked while looking at the Russos.

"Oh, not much. Mostly just relaxing and enjoying retirement. Spending time with the grand babies and such," the woman replied fondly.

"Plenty of reading and football when it's on," Marco chimed in.

"You mean soccer?" the nail tech teased, earning him a hard stare.

"Football," Marco corrected. "Even the British who speak English know it's football. It's football."

"Okay," Bastion said with a chuckle. Easy entertainment.

Chris smiled as he listened to everyone talk. He was kind of glad that he agreed to come. He hadn't realized it at the time, but he kind of needed the break. The group continued to chat as they made their way into the park and walked around looking for a place to set up. The park was rather busy thanks to the pristine weather, so this was a task in and of itself. Eventually, they were successful in finding a place to settle in.

"This looks like a nice spot. A bit of shade next to the sunshine," Mrs. Russo said as she stood by a large oak tree and motioned for Emma to come over. "Here, Emma, I'll help with setting up the blanket."

"All right," Emma agreed and put her backpack down by the base of the tree, then put down Duke's leash as well. The well-trained dog contently laid down and waited.

"Thank you dear," Mrs. Russo said, accepting the large tablecloth. The women each held two corners and fluffed out the cloth, so they could lay it down. "And there we go. We're ready to unpack the food. I hope everyone is hungry," Mrs. Russo added, clearly excited to have everyone together for a meal.

"Starved," her husband replied as he put down the basket on one corner of the large cloth. Chris saw this and did the same with the basket he'd been tasked with carrying and put it down on a different corner.

"I figured it's too early for alcohol, so I packed some soda instead. I hope that's all right," Bastion mentioned as he set the small cooler on a third corner.

"Not a problem at all," Ms. Russo confirmed and got to work setting out the food, while Emma put out plates, silverware, and glasses for everyone. The blanket was covered with dishes containing farro salad, a mixture of pears and cheese, piadina with lettuce, tomato, ham, and mozzarella to put inside, and at the center of the picnic was a neatly prepared layered torta.

Everyone took a seat once everything was set up and Duke crawled forward to eye the pile of thinly sliced ham with great interest.

"This all looks amazing. Thanks so much for putting this together," Bastion appreciatively said as he looked over the selection of food.

Chris nodded in agreement. "Thanks for inviting me."

Mrs. Russo was the first to serve herself. "It's my pleasure. Honestly, I've been wanting to go on a picnic like this for some time, and food tastes better when shared with good company," she said before a thought came to mind. "Oh! Before we get too comfortable, we should take a picture," she suggested, putting down her plate so she could get up. "We hardly ever get to spend time together as a group during the day. It would be nice to have a picture of everyone."

"I don't see why not," Chris agreed with a shrug.

"That sounds great, I'd love a copy if you can send it to me," Bastion replied.

"Same, I can put it on my fridge," Emma said with a smile.

"My love, how are you going to be in the picture?" Marco pointed out, which causes the woman to frown.

"Oh..." She hadn't thought of that. "I'll just ask someone else to take the picture. Hold on a second." She hurried off to find someone, which took a few minutes, but she eventually returned with a kind stranger who agreed to help.

"All right everyone, sit close together," the stranger instructed while adjusting the phone so everyone would fit in the frame. "Smile, and... there," they said before walking over to offer the phone back to Mrs. Russo. "Here you go."

"Thanks so much," she said as she accepted her phone back. The stranger gave a parting wave and went back to what they were doing.

"He's drooling," Mr. Russo pointed out to the group while gesturing to the dog, who was making a rather effective begging face. "The poor pup. We might as well give him a little bit," he suggests and looked to Emma for permission.

"Well. Hm. I don't know. Ham usually has a lot of salt in it... It's not good for dogs," Emma said, thinking it over... "He could maybe have some mozzarella, if you want to give him something."

"Fair enough," the man replied while putting together a sandwich with the piadina and prepared ingredients. As he did so, he broke off some mozzarella from a slice and tossed it over to Duke, who happily ate the treat. "That's a good boy," Mr. Russo said with a laugh before looking at his wife. "We should get a dog."

"No," Anna quickly cut that idea off. "I've raised how many children with you? I know well enough who will be taking care of training the dog."

Marco shrugged in response. Oh well. He tried.

Emma tried not to laugh at that and focused on serving herself from the collection of food. "Well, if you want to play with Duke after this, I'm sure he'd appreciate the time to run around," she offered as a consolation.

"Sure, why not," Macro agreed with a nod before taking a bite of his sandwich.

The group enjoyed some peaceful time outside as they ate their meals. Birds chirping, the soft rustling of leaves in the trees as they sway in the warm summer air. Even though the park was in the middle of a very full and busy city it always managed to maintain that sense of peace that came with being in nature. Well, most of it.

"Bee," Emma said, terrified, quickly moving away from the blanket. "Nope, nope no, no no no," she cried, dodging around the bug with a yelp.

Chris managed to keep any chuckling to himself, while Bastion openly laughed at the display. "Emma, relax. It's more afraid of you than you are of it," the nail tech said with a smirk.

"I've made it this far in my life without being stung by a bee, and I'd like to continue that streak, thank you very much," Emma said, frowning while looking around. Where did it go...

Duke saw his human hurrying around and quickly made his way over and play bowed to show he was ready to run.

"Looks like he wants to run around too," Marco said while shifting to get up. "Come on, it will be a good distraction from the bugs."

Emma nodded, embarrassed at that point, but went with it. "That should be okay so long as he keeps his leash on," she agreed, looking at the dog. "Zoomies?" she asked, which caused the dog to run around even more excitedly before hurrying out to the field. Zoomies was his favorite game!

Emma and Marco hurried after the dog, who happily ran around the field, dodging between them, getting close, but not too close, so he didn't get caught. While they played with the pup, Mrs. Russo packed away the remaining food with Bastion while Chris stacked the dishes off to the side of the large cloth.

"That was good. I could use a nap," Bastion admitted with a content chuckle.

"Go ahead then, dear. I don't think any of us are in a rush," Ms. Russo said in return.

The nail tech thought it over for a second before shifting to lay down on the cleared space and resting his eyes. Chris smiled to himself as he looked around at the group, then leaned back to relax against the base of the tree and rest his eyes as well. A few minutes wouldn't hurt.

Those few minutes passed, and the thundering sound of paws comes into ear shot caused Chris to open his eyes and find Duke was now sitting next to him, still very ready to take off if need be. Emma was on her way over as well and she stopped in front of the two, while Mr. Russo returned to sit next to his wife.

"Well, looks like you've been marked as base," Emma said with a laugh.

"Pardon?" Chris asked with amused confusion.

"Duke usually does this when he wants to stop playing. He finds a spot he thinks is safe then just kind of stops and assumes this ready position in case he changes his mind," Emma explained while looking at Duke, who had moved from a ready position to a more relaxed one. "I don't think I've ever seen him pick a person for that."

"Well, that's pretty high praise then," Bastion said with a smirk while continuing to relax with his eyes shut.

"Yeah, suppose there's a first time for everything," Emma confirmed as she sat and pet the tired dog. "Maybe it's because we're outside."

"Maybe," Chris agreed with a shrug.

The second-floor residents continued to enjoy their restful time together. Occasionally someone brought up small talk, but it always returned to a calm and comfortable silence as everyone simply enjoyed each other's company and the time away from the stress of their usual daily lives.


Welp new arc new antagonist X'D this one is FUN lmao. I'm kinda taking a logic leap here but the BSAA was working with Umbrella in RE7 and in RE8 they had their own bioweapons. like... come on of course they're taking bribes. You can't tell me that's not what the series was hinting at. So I figured I'd play with that idea and involve a more shameless villain. they know what they're doing they don't care if people find out because if they do then they're taking the whole 'secret curtain' down with them on a public stage for the world to see. On one hand, I love her cause Girl Boss energy but at the same time. She's trouble. I'm more than happy to take name suggestions for her cause I have no idea what to call her lmao.