Happy belated one-year anniversary of RE Village and Happy belated Mother's Day! It kinda worked out perfectly that this chapter came out close to Mother's Day lol. So without further ado let's get into the story :)
Song Suggestion: Home by Phillip Phillips
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Resident Evil belongs to the all mighty CapCom who I am not affiliated with.
The sun was shining, the sky was a pristine blue and the deafening whirling sound of rotating blades filled the air over an otherwise empty and lonely ocean as the usual Helicopter for Hound Wolf Squad was well on it way to it's next mission site. Rose smiles to herself while looking around the helicopter for the dozenth time. It had already been 6 hours, and she was bored, but at the same time she couldn't quite lose the sense of excitement that came with this new-found sense of maturity.
"The new director is impressed with your progress, she wants you to start going with us for missions. If you're okay with it, and you do well, she said she's willing to help you enroll in public school next year,"
For once someone was actually listening to what she wanted to do and was treating her like an adult! Unlike a certain someone, The teenager thought as her gaze shifted to Chris who was sitting across from her. Could she go to school? No. Summer camp? Nope. Dance classes. Not a chance. He never let her do anything! She could barely leave the house. At least this new director person seems to get it.
Now she was going to be able to travel. She'd get to see the world and bring back cool stories to tell Summer. She's going to be so jealous. Not that Rose wanted Summer to be jealous, but If she was, then. You know. It wouldn't be the worst thing. What's the point of having all these 'powers' and 'gifts' if she's not even allowed to use them?
As these thoughts crossed Rose's mind the soundproof headset continued to irritate her as it shifted around due to being a bit too big for her. A frustrated expression crossed her face as she tried to adjust the headset for the seemingly 100th time. In her frustration, she started pulling at the strap to try and unbuckle it. It was so uncomfortable!
Upon seeing the growing frustration, Chris quickly activated his headset's mic. "Keep your headset on, the noise will damage your ears," He instructs.
Rose's frustration turned to annoyance as she pushed at buttons to try and activate her mic. It took a few tries, but eventually, she heard the small beep that announced the open channel. "It's not that loud," she rebuttals. If it was so bad, then why were they allowed to use the mics, wouldn't that pick up the same sound that the headset was blocking out anyway?
"You're gonna want to listen to him, he's right," Night howl chimes in.
"Uuugh," Rose replies while shifting to sit more dramatically in her seat.
"Your mic's still on," Chris points out.
Whoops. "I know that," Rose replies while staying in her dramatic placement.
"Sit up straight. You're going to hurt your back if we hit turbulence," Chris states while trying to keep his usual stoic expression even though his mind was screaming about how this just proves how horrible of an idea it was to bring her with.
Rose stared at Chris with an annoyed deadpan expression before poking at the buttons to turn off her mic in defiance.
"Turning your mic off doesn't turn mine off. Sit up, or you're doing laps once we land," Chris states bluntly. He wouldn't accept insubordination from any other recruit, so he sure wasn't going to accept it from her.
The warning went in one ear and out the other. Sure enough, Chris was right. They did end up hitting turbulence and the second they did, Rose hit her back against the arm of the seat and it hurt like hell. It didn't help that she fell asleep during that time too, so she wasn't aware of the change. Rose sat properly after that, but not because he was right.
By the time they found a place to land the sun was already starting to set. "Alright, Night howl, Umber eye, Lobo, work on setting up camp give us plenty of space. Canine you're with me to unpack. Rose once they're done setting up camp. Ten laps."
"What?" Rose asks annoyed.
"Did you think I was joking before? Ten laps and if the next word out of your mouth is back talking, you can make it twenty," Chris says in return.
She hated the fact that she knew he was being serious. She wanted to complain that it wasn't fair because her back hurts, but she remained quiet and stayed on the helicopter instead while the others worked.
Between unloading and setting up tents and equipment, it took a good hour before camp was set up. The three soldiers followed Chris's instructions, making sure to spread out and use plenty of space.
"Camp is set up and secure, captain," Umber eye states.
"Good, thanks. Rose, you're up," Chris says, which results in a very cranky teenager exiting the plan who starts very slowly jogging around the exterior of the camp site.
"...What a mess," Umber eye says under his breath.
"Yeah..." Chris quietly agrees with the sentiment. "I'm not sure if it's worse to bring her with us or leave her here."
"If I can speak my mind sir," Umber eye requests.
"Go ahead," Chris says while watching Rose draw out her own punishment by moving as slowly as possible in some attempt at protest.
"She's not listening to you," Umber eye says. "And we're rusty. We haven't been on field work in almost a year. It's going to be much more dangerous to bring her into an area we know is hostile when she's unwilling to follow orders. Leaving her here is just a chance that she'll possibly end up in danger if someone finds camp. Overall, her odds are better here." The second in command advises. "Just make up some McGuffin that we want her to keep an eye on while we're gone, and make it sound important, so she doesn't follow us. It's her first mission, none of us want her to see combat just yet."
Chris nods. "Alright. She'll stay here then. We'll head out at sunrise. Get some rest, I'll take first watch."
"Yes sir," Umber eye replies before taking his leave.
Chris made his way to the center of camp in the meantime and took a seat by the fire while he continued to wait and watch Rose walk around the camp, "That's 3, 7 more." he coached while working on getting two MREs open. "You'll get it over quicker if you run."
Well now she didn't want to. Rose continued her slow pacing around the outside of the camp. It took her about 30 minutes to finish her laps before she flopped to sit down next to Chris.
"Here." Chris says and offers Rose a warmed MRE packet and a spork. "Eat up, you're going to need your strength for tomorrow. After that, go to bed."
Rose grumbled as she accepted the plastic packet so she could tear open the top and start digging in to it with the spork.
"Tomorrow morning we'll be going on a scouting recon run. You'll be staying here to guard the helicopter. If they get to that, we'll be stranded here," Chris says, which caused Rose to frown while chewing her food.
She wasn't dumb, she could tell he was leaving her behind. "Fine." Rose says between bites of her meal. He was still babying her, it's not fair.
Chris and Rose finished their meals and Rose did what she was told and went to bed. Any other time she would have pointed out that her bedtime wasn't for another few hours thanks to the timezones, but the flight over had her exhausted. A few long hours on a not so comfy cot did not exactly help, but all the same 8 hours later when the sun was barely peaking over the top of the horizon.
"Rose," A nudge to her arm caused her to start waking up with a grumble as she moved to hide her face in her pillow.
"Rose, come on. Time to get up," Chris says with a bit more sternness in his tone.
A few more grumbles were heard in response but Rose eventually got up to find Chris was already geared up and ready to head out. "What time is it?" Rose asks in return.
"Time to get to work," Chris replies in return. "There's some breakfast waiting for you by the helicopter, stay in there. If someone gets into camp, you call immediately, okay?" He says as Rose got out of her cot. Once she was on her feet, he hands over a wireless long-distance radio. "Do not engage and find a place to hide."
"I could take um," Rose says with unfounded confidence.
"Don't," Chris says while pointing at her in a warning manner. "If you find trouble. Call. Stay hidden. We'll be back before sunset." He adds before moving to leave the tent and rejoin the others.
"Alright. We're expecting about a 4-hour hike going on foot, we'll be on site at around ten hundred hours," He instructs "Based on the tip this lab is still hot so be prepared, stay alert. Is everyone ready to head out?" Chris asks, receiving the usual chorus of agreement. "Lets move out."
With that out of the way, Chris reluctantly left Rose behind. Leaving her completely unsupervised in the middle of no where was nerve wracking beyond belief, making the 4-hour hike towards danger, that much more anxiety inducing. Sure enough, the 4 hours passed without so much as a peep from the radio and the lab came into view. It was the standard large concrete building with an odd selection of windows, various vents released steam from running machines and not far from it was a decently sized air field where private flights allowed for easier transportation of questionably legal goods.
Chris motions for the team to hunker down and stay hidden for now before activating his radio. "Rose, do you copy? Over."
It took a second but, eventually, there was a reply. "What? Over."
Chris heaved a tired sigh. Well, at least she was okay from the sounds of it. Probably a bit bored. "Just testing the radio. Over," He replies.
"Over and out," Rose says in return.
Chris turned off the radio once more before looking to the rest of Hound Wolf. "Okay, standard entry protocol. Canine, Lobo, get us an entry point. Umber eye, provide support from here. Night howl will go in with the goal of gathering as much data as possible, and I'll go with to provide support. Okay?"
Yes sir.
"Alright, let's get moving then," Chris states and starts leading the way to the building while Umber eye kept watch. The group of 4 eventually made their way to the side of the building where Chris, Night howl and canine stood guard as Lobo set up explosives.
"Alright, let's give them a little wake-up call and see who's home," Lobo quietly says before motioning that the group should move further away.
3.2.1.
The group heard the deafening explosion from their shelter, announcing the start of the raid. Shouts and screams filled the air, alongside thundering footsteps and the ringing fire of guns as armed guards dressed in black took their positions. Alarms joined the symphony of sounds as the raid progressed. It would have been the same as any other. Get in, clear the place out, arrest who you can, and get out. However, nothing was ever that ease as of late.
As Chris and night howl rounded another corner, they saw a man in all black wearing a matching black helmet and gas mask with red lenses. They appeared to be escorting a man in a lab coat who was holding a thick metal briefcase. It only took a few seconds for Chris to recognize this particular guard as the man who stopped by the ruins of the house, thanks to the patches on his uniform.
Just as quickly as the two came into view, they hurried to get away from the BSAA Agents.
"Hey!" Chris shouts before quickly taking chase.
"Alpha what the hell!" Night howl calls before hurrying after.
"Cover me, we can't let them get away," Chris says while trying to keep up. Right now, his options were either chase or shoot. Aiming mid-sprint was not an option if he actually wanted to hit his target.
These options quickly fell away as the soldier they were pursuing, chose for them. He stopped and took cover before firing on the quickly advancing BSAA agents. Forcing them to duck into the closest doorway for cover. "Get to the air field, I'll catch up," the soldier orders, and the scientist quickly complies.
"We're way off course," Night howl warns while taking the time to reload his own weapon.
"Trust me, this is a target worth catching. We need him alive," Chris replies while doing the same. "Provide suppressive fire, I'll move in and try to flush him out."
"Yes sir," Night howl replies with a nod. "Ready."
"Go," Chris says before making his way out. Night how did as he was told and openly fired around the area they last saw the escorting soldier, only to stop a few seconds after as it was clear that they were gone.
"Shit, we took too long," Night howl says under his breath.
"Damn it, come on. We can still catch them," Chris says and once more starts taking off in the direction the scientist went before to try and find them. As he did so, he activated his radio. "Umber Eye status report, how are we looking."
"It's not good cap, 3 choppers just left. It looks like there's 4 more. There's another just about to take off," Umber eye replies, while a quiet ping could occasionally be heard in the background. "No exterior weaponry, but hard to say what's on board,"
"Keep them grounded. Pick off who you can and buy us time," Chris orders while dodging down different paths by following the sound of distant footsteps. The opposing soldier got a head start, but it wasn't by much.
"Alright, but I do not have A-A Rounds. Once they're in the air, there's not much I can do from here," Umber eye points out.
"Lobo, knock them out of the sky," Chris says as he catches a glimpse of the figure rounding another corner towards an exit. Almost there.
"On it" Lobo replies.
Chris and Night Howl quickly exit the building as an explosion above them announced that Lobo was doing his job. It was a sound that ultimately was ignored as Chris continued to hurry after the other soldier. 5 steps away, 4 steps, 3 steps, and just as the gap was about to close the ping of metal against concrete and the rushing roar of fire got his attention just quick enough for him to stop before running into a wall of flames created by spilled gasoline.
"Hunk, hurry up," Shouted a woman from the helicopter who was holding a flare gun. A woman Chris recognized just as quickly as the soldier. Short dark hair, and consistent habit of wearing the same shade of red.
"Ada!" Chris shouts in annoyance.
The woman simply gives a sarcastic salute in Chris's direction as the soldier hurried on board and shut the door. Chris was half a second from rushing through the flames when he felt a sharp pull at the back of his Kevlar vest.
Sure enough, Night Howl had prevented any further headlong dashing into madness as he tried to fire at anything that might try and shot back to ward off attacks. "We need to fall back. It's not safe out here."
It was true, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. "Damn it!" Chris shouts before joining night howl in providing suppressive fire, so they could try and make it back into the safer cover of the building. Once they were safely inside, the nearest wall gained a new hole from Chris punching it in frustration.
"We'll get them next time, captain." Night howl replies.
"Lobo status report," Chris asks hoping for good news.
"I'm taking out what I can, but they're flying off faster than I can recharge. You know the system. It takes a good 3 minutes per shot," Lobo replies before another explosion was heard. 3 minutes would mean anything left would probably get away.
"Damn it," he says under his breath this time. "Once the sky's clear, wait for umber eye and fall in to regroup."
"Copy that," Umber eye, Lobo and Canine reply, and with that Chris turns off his radio.
"Let's see what we can find." Night Howl says before taking the lead once more, while Chris followed to provide support. "They didn't seem to know we were coming this time, so they can't have purged everything."
"We can only hope," Chris agreed while trying to recollect his temper. What the hell was she doing here? Not that he should be surprised that she'd be involved somehow. He still blamed her for the death of his teams back then, so why wouldn't she be working with the group that sent a bioweapon right to his front door.
His frustrated thoughts continued the whole remainder of the search. Before long, the 5 regrouped and continued their scrub of the various labs and testing areas of the building. Some would have various samples of the mold. Others would have samples of the virus, while some would have combinations of both. Each one filled to the brim with more data than they could ever care to collect.
"Holy hell, this place is the mother load," Lobo says while looking around at some of the different vials and crystallized body parts stored in a large glass case. "Just bagging all of this is going to take us a week..."
"We should call in and get support. Testing all of this will be a nightmare, let alone fitting it all in one commuter chopper," Canine points out.
"It gets weirder, too. From just the tests I've done in the last hour. They somehow have samples of the Louisiana mold and the village mold. It's hard to say, but I think there might be a third strain too. It might just be a contaminated sample, though."
"We'll call it in once we're back and can access the direct line to HQ," Chris agrees with a slight nod as he allows his team to do their various jobs. This sciencey part was never really his forte.
"We got a little helper back at camp, why not have her call it in?" Umber eye points out.
Chris was about to agree once more only to get cut off. "Uhh. Captain. You might want to see this before you do that," Lobo says while picking up a few sheets of paper from one of the desks.
"What is it?" Chris asks while cautiously making his way over.
"A bit of a blast from the past so to speak," Lobo says with more evident concern in his tone before handing over the selection of papers.
Chris looked over the various pages and his brows furrowed as he found pictures of the large titanic beast the group hunted down with the help of Heisenberg, along with notes about the creature's construction. Another held similar images of the draconic monster that had attacked before, and to his horror and anger, he found notes that it had been specifically designed to attack him and his family. Another page held images of a third monstrosity they'd yet to face. the crypid, lich like figure was tall and lanky with three sunken eyes and no mouth. It's thin dark hair puddled on the floor due to its length, and long spindly fingers seemed as thin and sharp as needles. Though the creature looked so frail that a light breeze might knock it over. The notes held no indicator regarding why this latest creation existed, aside from simply what would happen and what it could do. Written at the top of the page in pen among the printed text was a single word.
Medusa.
"Well, shit..." Chris whispers under his breath.
"You wouldn't happen to have a magical shield, would you?" Lobo asks in an attempt to lighten the dread they shared.
Chris shook his head before looking at a few other spare pages on the desk. the more of them were notes for various projects. it seemed this place was pretty busy. Mostly collecting data from several other sites and organizing it into a database. "You weren't joking, this place really is the mother load." Chris says, before his attention strayed once more to another sheet of paper. this time a blueprint of sorts labeled version 3.42.102 the designs showed a distantly familiar canister and notes showed it would allow for more targeted distribution of the virus to the host form.
Version update: increased spray distance and accuracy while reinforcing steel outer case. inner case remains glass due to chemical restrictions. Better marketability for arms deals due to greater durability in combat. Can increase market price for vaccine. turn enemies into allies, so long as the wielder is properly treated.
"This shit again..." Chris says while thinking back to the strange glass container from years ago. There truly would never be an end to this fight. it was a cycle that kept going and going, and each time he went around he felt that much more defeated and tired. "Night Howl, How much longer do you need?"
"For today?" Night howl asks, hoping that his leader didn't think this would be a one-day ordeal. "Probably another hour. we still need to cart back what we can."
"Alright, grab everything you can, try not to break any samples. We don't need anyone here getting infected," Chris says as he collects up the documents and starts helping with packing anything that night howl deemed worthy of bringing back.
'*'*'*'*'
Overall, the mission took about a week. It was the single most boring week that rose had ever experienced in her life. To the teenager, it wasn't much different from being at the BSAA. If anything it was worse since she had no Wi-Fi and no games and no TV to look forward to. instead it was just, finish your workbooks, stand here by the helicopter and don't run off on your own. Honestly, she didn't see why Chris was making such a big fuss over everything.
The squad had been back for a few days now and she was feeling an itch to do anything other than stare at workbooks, Rose smiled at that thought, she'd happily ditched going to class in favor of sneaking off the BSAA campus. The problem was, getting off campus. Rose winced at that thought while getting ready for the day as she checked her phone which read Friday, May 10th, 7:42 AM
Soon it would be the weekend, and she'd get to imbibe all the things she didn't have access to before. Video games, TV, sugary snacks. Everything and then some if she had any say in the matter. What better way to start off the weekend then by starting it early after all. Rose dawned her father's coat and ring before shoving her allowance into her pocket as well. It's been a while since she last got to say hi.
"Morning Rose," Emma says from her place at the table, where she was currently supervising Pier's attempt to eat his oatmeal by himself. An attempt that left the 1 and a half year old mostly covered in it rather than actually digesting it.
"Morning," Rose replies as she moves to take a seat. ugh. oatmeal. gross. "Do you want mine?" Rose asks while jokingly offering her bowl to Piers.
"Yea-sh" Piers happily says while trying to grab the bowl, more so recognizing when an item was being offered to him then the actual question.
"Rose, eat your breakfast please," Emma replies unamused.
"Fine. Fine," Rose replies as she took her bowl back and began picking at the contents. Maybe she'd pick something up to eat while she was out.
"Look at you, you've almost got it," Emma cheered as piers struggled to scoop up a new spoonful of oatmeal. Her enthusiastic smile quickly faded as the toddler ended up flinging the oatmeal at her instead.
Rose covered her mouth to try and hide her own giggling, while Piers openly laughed.
"Okay you little stinker, I think that's enough oatmeal for you," Emma says as she moves to get up and takes piers out of his high chair. "Incase i'm not done cleaning up by the time you need to leave, your lunch is on the counter," the motherly woman adds while looking at Rose. "Have a good day, learn lots of new things."
"Okay, thanks," Rose replies as she feels a slight pang of guilt but just as quickly ignores it. Once Emma closed the door to the bathroom Rose quickly got up and scooped out the remainder of the oatmeal into the trash. She put the emptied bowl in the sink and grabbed her lunch before heading to the door. Where was Chris anyways? Was he sleeping in today?
She thought on that a moment longer before deciding it probably wasn't important. She needed to focus. The earlier she left, the more time she'd have to explore and the easier it would be to get off the premise.
Rose quickly made her way through the BSAA, taking a few moments to find a place to hide and change into Chris before making her way off campus with her lunch box. She'd probably need that later after all. This was practically a rehearsed process at this point as she made her way past the guards and into town. This time, rather than go directly to the bus stop, Rose took an early turn and entered the local florist store.
"Welcome," Says an older woman from behind the counter. she seemed really old she had to be at least like. 40. "Can I help you find anything?"
"I'm just, looking for some flowers," Rose replied as Chris.
"Well, you're in the right store for that," The woman says with a slight laugh. "What's the occasion. I can make a few recommendations."
"Just visiting my father's grave is all," Rose say while avoiding eye contact.
"Oh I'm so sorry for your loss," the woman says as her previously jovial expression shifts to sympathy. "Well, did he have any flowers he liked in particular? any colors?" she asks as she grew more genuinely interested in helping rather than worrying about making a sale.
Rose exhaled while creaking a slight drumming from her lips. "Not sure, to be honest. I talked to him a few times but, I never really got to know him that well."
"I see," the woman says with continued sympathy. "Well, I think I have just the thing." She says before making her way around the counter over to a small sliding glass refrigerator door. "I'm not quite sure what your budget is, but we have these if you want a more traditional bundle. It's a bit small, but our larger bouquets tend to require some advanced notice. this one will run you $35." the woman explains before offering a small but well managed bundle of white lilies daisies, Roses and a healthy amount of baby's breath.
Rose internally screamed at the price. that was a lot of money. she could afford it, but she definitely would not have enough money for breakfast. "With taxes?" she asks in return, and the woman nods. Rose thought it over for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah, I can afford that," she replies. She said she was going to bring flowers the next time she visited, and she meant it, damn it. As the woman walked back over to the counter with the bundle of flowers, Rose fished out a twenty and two ten dollar bills, leaving two fives in her pocket. "could I get five ones for the change?" Rose requests while handing over the money.
"Sure," the woman replies, while seeming a bit confused by the request, but it wasn't really her business to ask.
With the five ones added to the collection in her pocket and the floral arrangement in hand Rose made her way to the bus stop earning a few confused stares as pedestrians passed by. It wasn't every day that one sees, a grown man carrying a colorful lunch sack covered in stickers and a bouquet of mourning flowers.
However, side eyed stares aside, Rose was able to make her way on to the bus paying the $7 toll to ride the bus to the end of the line at the graveyard. Once Rose was sure she was completely alone, she allowed herself to shift back and made her way to her father's grave.
"Hey dad," Rose says as she approached the grave. She was about to take a seat when something odd finally registered. A decent size bundle of flowers had been left on the grave already. "huh?" Rose whispers as she moves to take a seat in front of the grave. It seemed rude to move the bouquet from its place. The flowers seemed to have been there for a few days already based on the sun stained state of the paper, and yet the flowers were still fresh enough that they couldn't have been here very long.
Who else would be here, though? Rose thought this over as she placed her tiny bundle down next to the much larger collection. "Did mom visit?" Rose asks the headstone, reserving no answer. She never met her birth mom before. If she did, she didn't remember. "Hey dad? What was mom like?" Rose asks the grave. It was strange, she had talked to her father before, even though he was dead. She knew where his grave was, but she didn't know a single thing about her mom. She tried reaching out to her mom in her dreams like she would with her dad, but nothing ever came of it. Was her mom dead? Did her mom just not want her anymore?
"I wish you could talk to me here..." Rose says as she shifts to hold her legs. At least then she'd have some answers. Rose slowly opened her lunch box and started munching on the contents. A roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese, a fruit cup, some carrot sticks and a small pack of gummy candies. One by one the items were slowly eaten as rose enjoyed the cool spring breeze.
Rose packed up the trash that was left from her meal before checking the time again to find it was getting close to 2. "I should probably start heading back. Chris will notice if I'm late getting home. So it's probably better to be early." The young teenager explained to no one in particular as she got up and dusted off her jeans. "I'll try and visit again soon. I love you," Rose says before walking away to head back to the bus stop. Once again she sat and patiently waited on the bus until she got to the familiar stop from before by the flower store. from there she started walking back to the BSAA and along the way she found a place to hide and take on her disguise as Chris.
As the disguised teenager made her way back on to campus, a new thought came to mind. If anyone knew where her birth mom was, It was the BSAA. All she needed was the right clearance. Clearance that Chris probably had.
With new-found determination to find the truth, Rose hurried back into the main building. Where to start. The teenager in disguise thought while roaming the halls. She needed to get to a computer. something with access to the main database. there was no way she'd get into the evidence lockers without Chris's key card but she could get to a computer easy enough. It was a little after 4. Chris should be in the gym by now.
What better computer was there for her to use as Chris then his own laptop. She was so clever. With that thought, Rose made her way to Chris's office which was unlocked and made her way over to his desk where his laptop was waiting. "Too easy," rose says happily while closing the door behind her. She took a seat at the desk and booted it up only to frown as the screen asked for a password she didn't know. if she messed this up even once, Chris would know someone else tried logging in.
Rose stared at the screen for some time before her eyes lit up.
Please enter password or Print ID.
Well, there was only one way to tell whether this would work or not, and it was her best bet. Rose put her index finger on the scanner and sure enough the lock screen faded away, allowing her access to the full wealth of knowledge of the BSAA. After allowing herself to change back to her own form, she started digging around. It took a few minutes, since she honestly wasn't sure what she was looking for. She didn't know her birth mom's name. So, she started with her dad's name instead which returned a few results.
Dulvey, Louisiana 2017 case file.
Rose raised an eyebrow at that, it didn't have her dad's name in the title at all so, it must be in the document itself? Curiosity got the better of her as she opened the file and started reading. blah blah blah, BSAA got a call about people going missing in the area. stuff about a search and rescue. names of people that were assigned the mission. supply orders. The teenager scanned the document with a bored expression before finally getting to the portion she was looking for.
One Ethan Winters was among the survivors, alongside his wife Mia Winters, who he believed to be dead before. The victim explained he received an email from his late wife telling him to find her at the Baker farm in Dulvey, Louisiana.
That's it! That's her mom's name! Rose thought excitedly before minimizing the document and searching once more, this time for the new found name. This time she was greeted with an entire folder labeled with her birth mother's name.
Rose smiled as she clicked into the folder, selected all of the files, and right-clicked to open all of them at the same time. She wanted to learn everything she could. She happily started reading the first document, only for that smile to slowly start to fade.
7/29/17... ... ... ... Mia Winters, Female, Age 37
The survivor was found with a mild infection from the mold spores. She's currently being treated for her infection, along with PTSD and potential psychosis due to multiple years of exposure to the effects of the bioweapon that caused the incident. She pled guilty to assisting with bioweapon development and
"What?" Rose paused as the frightening name reared its head once more.
She pled guilty to assisting with bioweapon development and participation in the Eveline project. The survivor confirmed the project resulted in illegal experimentation on various subjects, including human children. She was attempting to transport Eveline to the states for safe keeping when the bioweapon lost control. The survivor has agreed that in exchange for her cooperation, she'll be granted amnesty for her past actions and safe keeping in Europe with her husband. According to her testimony, she was able to survive by appeasing the child request and agreeing to be her mother.
Rose stared at the page in horror and quickly tried to close out of the document only to find twenty more in the way. pictures of a child locked behind a glass wall. scientists standing around her doing tests and various documents and recorded videos and statements. pictures of the woman. Mia. and videos of conversations between her and BSAA investigators.
It's why mommy made me.
The documents had opened from newest to oldest, burying the newer information under the flood of older data. At the very end of it was a picture from inside a room recognized. Her room, back home. it looked different, though. Instead, there was a woman sitting at a desk with a crying baby who was missing an arm, with a tiny crystal arm resting on the desk by a pile of notes. Rose yelped as she quickly closed the file with one hand, using the other to hold her shoulder.
If you're not going to be my sister, then you can go away!
Panic started to set in as more and more started to make sense. Rose quickly closed out everything she opened before slamming the laptop shut and hurrying home, hoping that if she fell asleep, that maybe she could forget she ever learned any of this.
'*'*'*'*'
Saturday came and Rose bunkered in her room with a bag of chips and her phone. There was nothing that a little personal isolation and junk food couldn't fix. Hopefully. Rose munched on another chip while poking around at her phone to play her usual game with Summer. It was nice now that both of them could play again.
[AzureW01f] I just found another song from that band I was telling you about before. They right the best music to listen to while playing this game i swear!
[WinterRose_21] Really what did you find?
[AzureW01f] I'll send it over :)
Rose waited for Summer to send the link over before opening it so the music would play in the background.
I won't let this crush me, Even when the world is breaking. I'm ready. I'm indestructible!
What started as a quiet acoustic guitar introduction quickly grew louder as the singer shouted the last word of the opening lyrics. Drums, bass and a keyboard joined in and even some church bells, creating a powerful mixture of sound that caused the young teen to smile. In its own weird way, the confidence in the song helped her feel a little better.
"I'm indestructible," she sang with the music as she watched the video of the band playing surrounded by crazy pyrotechnics in a seemingly abandoned warehouse while the lead singer waved some kind of flag around.
Meanwhile, outside of the teen's little shelter, the rest of her family was enjoying their Saturday in their own way. Well. Piers was at least. The child was happily following Chris around the apartment and undoing any of his attempts to clean up, while Emma was sitting on the couch with her laptop trying to focus.
Emma tapped her thumb against the side of her computer while slightly bouncing one of her folded legs.
"You're worrying again," Chris says while putting away the same abandoned toy for the 5th time.
"Hm?" Emma looked up from her computer.
"You're trying not to pace," Chris says while gesturing to the bouncing leg, which quickly grew still after he pointed out its movement.
"Sorry," Emma says after closing her laptop. "I just a bit concerned, is all. I haven't seen Rose leave her room for lunch yet, and it's almost 2 o'clock." Emma points out. "And I noticed she threw away her breakfast from yesterday too, while I was taking out the trash. She hardly ate dinner last night and just went to bed..."
"Yeah, I noticed that last bit too..." Chris admits, as he watched Piers take the toy he just put away, back out of the toy box.
"Da dah, No," Peirs says with obstinate grumbles and waddled away with it. He put his toy exactly where he meant to, darn it. How was he supposed to find it again if it kept getting moved!
A defeated sigh escaped Chris. As if one rebellious child wasn't bad enough. Piers could barely complete a sentence, and yet he was still back talking! "You have work to do. Let me try talking to her. I'll try taking the kids outside for a bit of fresh air."
Emma thought it over and considered Chris's previous request to lean on him a bit more. "Alright. Yeah that would help a lot. Maybe see if she'll eat out for lunch. I have a bit of extra money coming in from this project, so we should be okay."
"It'll be fine," Chris says as he walks over, so he can lean forward enough to give Emma a peck on the forehead before making his way over to Rose's door.
"Rose," Chris says while knocking on the door. "You awake?"
"Yeah" He hears in reply.
"Alright I'm coming in," Chris says before opening the door to find the young teen curled up on her bed with her phone and a half empty bag of chips. Yeaaah that wasn't going to fly. Chris closed the door behind him. ""
"I was outside in nature for a week," Rose rebuttals. "Like nature, nature. No bathroom, nature. It was gross. I think I'm good."
"Well, I guess that means you don't want ice cream," Chris says with a shrug as he turns to face the door.
Wait ice cream? "Can you bring it back?" Rose asks hopefully, which causes Chris to stop.
"Nope, I was going to go to that burger place down the road that has soft seve. You'd have to go with," He replies.
Soft serve. "... With sprinkles?" Rose asks.
"Depends how quickly you get your shoes on," Chris replies as he moves to open the door.
Rose quickly tapped at her screen as if her life depended on it.
[WinterRose_21] BRB Getting ice cream
With that sent Rose quickly got up and hurried to the door, put her shoes on "I'll be at the car," Rose says and started making her way to the car without Chris. There would be no debate regarding her qualifications for sprinkles.
Chris chuckles a bit at this as he put his shoes on as well, picks up Piers and goes to grab his car keys from the kitchen counter. "We'll be back in an hour or two." he says before heading out and closing the door behind him.
He eventually made his way to his car as well and after making sure everyone was buckled in, the expedition for the frozen dairy treat began. Sure enough, a quick drive off BSAA property and down a few side roads lead to a gas station with a small restaurant near it. It was probably a franchise at one point that lost its brand rights, as the oddly shaped sign just read 'Burgers' now. The inside of the restaurant told the same story. Plastic booths that were probably older than Chris stood the test of time alongside plastic sealed particleboard tables that were sun bleached to the nth degree.
A few regulars were sitting, at some regular customers who'd likely order water and loiter around occupied a good third of the booths while. Chris continued to carry piers while Rose followed alongside him to the counter where a woman, who seemed like she was probably just working to have some spare change during retirement, was waiting.
"What do you want to eat?" Chris asks while looking to Rose.
"I'm not really hungry..." Rose admits. She just wanted ice cream.
"Cause you filled up on chips," Chris points out, earning a few grumbles. "Order a burger or some chicken and just pick at it at least."
"Fine," Rose reluctantly agrees. "Can I have a burger with cheese and ketchup only. No pickles," Rose asks the lady behind the counter.
"Anything else?" The woman asks while trying to hide an amused smile.
"Two medium cones with sprinkles, I'll get vanilla," Chris says before looking at Rose.
"Chocolate vanilla swirl with chocolate sprinkles please," Rose quickly replies.
The woman behind the counter rang up the requested items. "Alright, that will be $9.93," The woman says and Chris hands over a ten dollar bill from his wallet. "Take a seat, We'll bring that over. Here's your number." The lady says as she hands over a folded red piece of plastic along with his change.
Chris accepts the offered number and walks with Rose and Piers, collecting the singular plastic highchair on wheels from its place by the condiment counter, then heads over to an empty table. He stopped the wheels of the highchair before putting Piers down in it and placing their order marker at the end of the table before taking a seat opposite to rose. Okay talk about stuff. um. Oh!
"Mother's Day is coming up tomorrow," Chris says, "I was thinking we could pick something up while we're out."
"For my mom?" Rose asks with confused concern. She wasn't really sure she wanted to meet her birth mom anymore...
"Yeah. For Emma," Chris clarified upon noticing the confused tone. "Sorry, kinda figured since you call her that from time to time, that- never mind. Anyways it's coming up. Figured it might be nice to do something for her."
"Oh," Rose replies, a bit surprised. "Uh sure yeah, what do you have in mind?"
"I figured we could get a card or two and make some breakfast," Chris suggests in return. "I'll need your help with that though."
"Me?" Rose asks with continued confusion.
"Yeah, you've been helping Emma cook from time to time, I'll need your help with getting that put together," Chris replies with a sight shrug.
"I guess that's fair," Rose agrees as a slight smile starts to pull at her lips. "you're cooking is kinda weird so, probably for the best." She adds with a snicker.
"Is that a fact," Chris asks with an amused smirk.
"Yeah. Emma says you can tell someone's mood by their food and you're always grumpy," Rose points out.
"Well then," Chris says while trying to keep a straight face. This was a good segway, he didn't want to lose it being a smart aleck. "Guess I should check in with you if you're going to be helping me." he points out. "You seem a bit blue. what's going on?"
The question quickly caused rose to stop giggling to herself and start avoiding eye contact. she couldn't just tell him. if she did, she'd have to admit she broke into his computer, and she'd definitely get grounded again for that. "It's nothing. I'm just tired is all."
"You're sure?" Chris asks since he didn't quite buy it.
"Yeah, promise," Rose says and once more that lovely pang of guilt from lying kicked her in the gut.
He still didn't buy it, but forcing her to talk wasn't going to help. "Alright, let's get those groceries and get home then so you can rest. We'll need to wake up earlier than Emma."
"She wakes up before the sun," Rose points out as she started to regret agreeing to help if it meant waking up early.
"You can take a nap after," Chris points out as the woman from before walks over with a tray that had a burger and two cone held in a spiraling metal stand made from a single rod of steel.
The woman puts the tray down on the table and gives the family a slight nod. "Here you are, have a nice day," the woman says before walking away.
Rose rather quickly picks up her ice cream cone from the holder while Chris waits and picks up his after.
"eeehhh," Piers whines while reaching for one of them to share when he realized that they both had food, and he didn't.
"Should I let him try a bite?" Chris asks. After thinking it over for a moment, Rose nodded, and Chris did just that.
as soon as the food got close enough, Piers tried to take a bite. The second the ice cream touched the toddler's tongue his eyes went wide in surprise and delight only for him to quickly reach out and grab onto the soft serve itself to try and keep it from being moved away.
"Hey hey hey!" Chris says out of sheer panic from how quickly this got out of control. He still had to go to the store, and now the baby had his face and hands covered in rainbow sprinkles and sticky ice cream. Chris reached in as well to try and salvage what he could of the cone and get it away from Piers, while Rose was in tears from laughing so hard.
"I think he likes it," Rose remarks through her laughter which seemed infectious as even piers was starting to laugh.
Piers was just happy he still had two good handfuls of the new treat, and he was quick to shove his hands in his mouth to get to the rest of the treat.
Chris looked at the remains of his ice cream and started eating what was left. Family germs there was nothing that kid was exposed to that he wasn't.
The remainder of the ice cream was happily consumed along with the burger, and after a quick trip to the bathroom to wash up a very sticky and probably sugar high Piers the Trio went on their way. A quick trip to the store allowed them to pick up some basics for breakfast in bed along with a few cards. One from Rose, one from Piers that he picked out with rose's help and another from Chris.
With the outing successfully completed they made their way back to the BSAA and through the complex to the tiny apartment. Once inside Rose pretty quickly went back to her room for some peace and quiet.
Emma watched this with renewed concern before looking at Chris. "How'd it go?"
"Well. I think it went well," Chris says with a slight smile as he closed the door behind him. "We just picked up a few groceries and got some ice cream."
"That sounds nice," Emma replies while waiting for some addition to the menu besides sugar. He fed her right?
"Yeah, Piers had more than his fair share. Practically ate half of mine," Chris admits with a slight chuckle as he puts the toddler down, who immediately started messing up the apartment again.
"Chris," Emma says with concerned disbelief. That sugar to child ratio was way too high. It's a miracle the child wasn't bouncing off the walls.
"Not by choice, the kid practically inhaled it before I could get it away from him," The agent clarifies, still honestly amused by the toddler's reaction to trying ice cream for the first time. "I wanted to give him a bite, but he grabbed on to it and just breathed it in."
"You got Rose real food right?" Emma asks hoping that was taken care of at the least.
"Yeah, I was able to get her to eat a burger," Chris answers, which was a slight relief. "She'll be alright."
'*'*'*'*'
The next Morning arrived, marking the beginning of the Mother's Day festivities. Unfortunately for Rose, Chris was not joking when he said they were going to be waking up early. Chris set his alarm to go off a good 30 minutes before Emma's usual alarm. the second it started beeping, he quickly turned it off.
"Hm?" Emma grumbled while shifting to try and stay asleep.
"I forgot to turn off a timer," He quietly replies to avoid waking her any further.
"mh-k," Emma replies in her sleepy stupor which didn't register that his answer didn't make sense at all. It was a Sunday and she was going to sleep.
Chris breathed a sigh of relief. That actually worked. With that thought and after waiting a few moments to be safe. He carefully shifted to get out of bed without waking her up.
The alarm woke up Piers, who had started associating the sound of beeping in the morning with food. He was awake and Chris had his full attention. He would like to be fed now.
Chris noticed the child starting to whine while gripping at the air, motioning to be picked up, and the father complied. After picking up Piers, Chris made his way out of the bedroom as quietly as possible before putting piers down so he could go and get Rose.
"Rose, it's time to get up," Chris whispers to avoid startling the teenager. the last thing he needed was some super powered punch to the gut.
"It's too early," Rose whines. What sane person wakes up at 6:15 in the morning on a Sunday?
"Come on, you can do it, you woke up earlier during the mission," Chris coached and waited for Rose to do as she was told. once she was out of bed, he walked with her over to the kitchen and took out the ingredients that they'd need. "I'll work on the bacon and eggs if you make the pancake mix."
Eggs were easy to make but, bacon spits a lot sooo. "Deal," Rose agrees, as she was more than happy to avoid the stinging grease from the fried meat. Into a mixing bowl went four cups of pancake mix, two cups of milk and four eggs. Making the mix was the easy part. She just had to follow the instructions on the side of the box. Rose worked on stirring the mix, but it felt like trying to stir quick sand. After quickly glancing over to see if Chris was distracted, Rose loosened her grip on the whisk she was using and instead used her magnetic abilities to move the whisk while pretending to hold it.
The definitely not breaking the rules method of mixing was much easier and before she knew it the mix was ready. "All done." She says with a smile.
"Alright, find a pan, butter it and get one started," Chris states. He was splitting his attention between two pans as it was.
Rose grumbles about being tired but does what she's told. the third and final frying pan was collected, buttered and placed on the open burner next to Chris where she started up a pancake.
By the time they finished making enough for everyone, the 30 minutes Chris allotted for them was up as the master bedroom door opened once again.
"Maaaaaa" Piers happily called while hurrying over to cling to her.
"There you are," Emma says through a yawn and an amused smile as she shifts to pick up the child. It took a moment longer for her to notice the lovely mess on her kitchen counters and the pleasant smell that came with it. "And what are you two up to?" Emma asks with continued amusement.
Rose picks up the plate of pancakes. "Happy Mother's Day," She says figuring that was explanation enough.
"Aw that's so sweet. You made this?" Emma asks while pleasantly surprised. Sure she'd probably have to clean up the mess later but that was a problem for her future self.
"Yep," Rose says in response with a slight grin. Maybe she would take a nap later, but for now, this was kinda nice.
"Well it looks great, let's go dig in," Emma says before motioning for the two to follow her as she made her way over to the table, so she could put Piers down in his high chair. The surprises continued as she found that the table had already been set and a small collection of colorful envelopes were waiting on her plate. "Oh, hm I don't think I'm supposed to eat these." Emma jokes before shifting to take her seat.
"Probably wouldn't taste very good," Rose agrees as she puts her plate of pancakes down on the table while Chris carried over the bowl of eggs and plate of bacon.
Emma smiled as she opened each one and read them over. "Thank you both, I love my surprise," Emma says before leaning over to give Chris a peck on the cheek.
"Well there's one little extra surprised I figured I'd save for last," Chris admits. "We'll need to take the 31st off work," He explains while trying his best to hold a more solemn tone.
"Okay?" Emma replies with a questioning stare. Why was he trying to make this sound like bad news? She didn't want bad news, she'd had more then her fill of that for now.
"We'll need to have our stuff packed by then too, so we can move back in to the house," Chris explains as his smile finally broke through again upon hearing rose very loudly cheer.
"I get my room back!" Rose happily proclaimed. Goodbye tiny apartment, you've sucked thoroughly, and you will not be missed!
"Really?" Emma asks while hoping this wasn't a joke. It wouldn't be a very funny one if it was.
"Yep. The house will be ready by then," Chris confirms once more.
"Oh gosh. We better start packing then," Emma says as her excitement set in as well. She was grateful for the roof over her head but, still just as excited as Rose to go back to their little place on the cul-de-sac, away from the BSAA.
Ta-dah~ lots of movement plot wise, hehe. the return of Ada and Hunk who are working together. or at least for the same person. Mystery flowers and Emma's first Mother's Day! Sorry, this chapter took an extra day. Fight scenes like that are a drain to write, and this one was kind of important, so I wanted to take the time to give it the attention it needed. To accommodate the request for fluff, I added the section at the end for Mother's Day, but I think that kind of bit me in the butt because of Rose looking into Mia right before that. um. We're gonna pretend that ended up being as fluffy as I hoped for it to be.
also credit where it's due the lyrics are from Solence's song Invincible. Our lil girl is getting into the punk music haha
hopefully the longer chapter makes up for the wait. until next chapter, I hope you have a fantastic week :)
