Alpha Team

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It was a little after midnight, a time most of the building was in darkness. But several shots were ringing out in the basement level. 
“Take. That. You. Son. Of. A. Bitch.” Jill was hissing as she fired her weapon at a distant target with a picture of Wesker’s face taped to it. It had been several weeks now since Chris had aided in her escape from Africa. Several weeks of tests and evaluations to prove she was coping just fine. Of course, masking trauma was all par for the course when you were a Raccoon City survivor. What pissed her off the most, was knowing she would never get to make Wesker suffer like he had her. That’s why she was here, rather than at home, sleeping. Sleeping meant the nightmares returned. Here she would. Urn herself out until she simply collapsed from exhaustion.

Jessica was fully dressed by this point and leaning close to the bedroom mirror as she applied lipstick. “What did I do? Don’t you mean what did you do?” She purred, watching his reflection rather than turning to face Chris. “I always had my assumptions, but you’re damn near insatiable, Crissy.”

“I don’t give a damn.” Wesker growled, grabbing Rebecca’s slender shoulders and hailing her against him. “We had Jill in our grasp, the antibodies she has could have cured you!” He insisted. He had known about the regenerative properties of Valentine’s blood, but it never been a part of the grand plan. After all... why would he wish to save people he was trying to cull?

Chris stepped closer to her and leaned down. "Oh you have no idea." He hissed in her ear.  
It was in that moment that Chris lost his humanity. If he lost Jill, then nothing else mattered. 
Roughly he grabbed his "wife" by the shoulders and threw her on the bed. When he was done he found a pair of pants and left the room, not bothering to shut the door. 

"Albert..." Rebecca reached up and took his face. She kissed him deeply. "It's ok. We are so close to everything you wanted. Don't stop now. Nothing else matters." She smiled at him. "I love you so much. You know that right?"

Jessica was still shaking after Chris left. She had placed him on such high a pedestal all these years, it never entered her head he was capable of true darkness. It had taken that moment of violence to realise what they had done. Chris and Jill strived so hard to be the heroes everyone expected, no one thought they had darkness within them. The truth was, without each other, darkness was all they had.

Wesker no longer smiled. “If that were true, you wouldn’t be so willing to lay down and die from something I can fix.” He told her curtly.

Chris was waiting for Claire in the lobby. For the day and a half that it took her to get there he had simply sat on the couch near the door and stared at the wall. Any attempts to remove him or ask after his welfare were met with a deep growl.

Days later Rebecca found herself alone. Wesker had locked himself in the lab and left her to do the busy work. He wasn't responding to her messages. Not even the one confirming the pregnancy of Jessica.
"I don't understand it, Jake." She sighed, setting down a plate of food in front of her wayward son. He had shown up when she had revealed the news of her illness to him as well.

Claire saw her brother before he saw her and she felt her chest grow right at the sight of him. Something wasn’t just wrong... he was broken. “Hey...” She gently placed the bag she was carrying on the ground and crouched in front of Chris. “Sorry it took so long... basically had swim the last few miles.” She told him with a strained smile.

Jake snorted and rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You still think he cares, after all this time?” It was no secret the young man felt his father treated his mother shamefully. “He’s got his weird monsters, what else does he really need?” He asked before digging into the food.

Chris' normally bright blue eyes were so dark so had turned black. He turned them toward his sister and then down at the bag. Without a word he dug into his old gym bag and began to change where he was. Only once he had the comfort of his familiar clothes and belongings did he turn back to his sister. "The BSAA has been compromised. Somebody is on the inside." He said softly.

Jake's words stung. It hurt to be reminded yet again of Wesker's true feelings for her. "You know I could say the same about you and your super girlfriend." She snorted. "Sherry Birkin of all people. Your dad would flip his lid!" She laughed, brightening considerably. "Do you know how hard it is to keep that a secret?"

“We know.” Claire breathed, almost afraid to tell him the truth. “There... there’s talk that It’s Jill.” She confessed. “On her last mission, two Nemsis type tyrants found them. From what Sherry said, they knew exactly fly where the team were. And... it gets worse.” She was chewing on her lower lips as she struggled with the words. “Apparently Jill and Carlos went in alone, and he disappeared. Then... so did she.”

“Never asked you to.” Jake pointed out as he paused shovelling food in his mouth to gulp down a glass of water. “Super girl and I got it. We can handle the old man.”

Chris' jaw worked for several seconds and a shook his head. "No. Anyone but Jill. Keep thinking." He said through his teeth. He refused to believe it had anything to do with the woman he still loved. 

Rebecca laughed and shook head. "I'd like to see you try, sweetie. Training is one thing. Going against an enraged Wesker is something else." She shook her head. "Jake...honey...I'm proud of you. Be yourself and not who others want you to be. Screw your dad and his super soldier plans. Be happy." She reached across the table and patted him.

“Chris, she was badly injured, but was healing quickly. The room she had been left in was trashed, and... it wasn’t someone looking for something, it looked like someone had trashed it in anger.” Claire breathed. “You never let me assess her when you get her back, how do we know she was ever really the Jill we loved?”

Jake set his glass down and shared across the table at his mother. “What’s wrong?” He asked suspiciously. Even if his gut wasn’t screaming at him, something in Rebecca’s voice was alerting him to it.

Chris threw himself into the BSAA. He annulled his marriage to Jessica and kept himself busy. A year went by and he hardly even noticed. 
To the shock of everyone he'd stopped drinking completely. He stayed away from dating and women in general. Except for Claire he'd shut everyone out. 
That evening he was sitting in her kitchen, playing a card game with Leon. The two of them were good at not speaking.  Grunts and threats were enough. 

Rebecca had begun to decline rapidly the last few months. Since Wesker still seemed to be avoiding her she made her own funeral plans, asking Claire to spread her ashes over the remains of Raccoon city. 
That night she was too tired to do more than sit in her chair in the living room and stare at the coffee pot. The smell was enough. 
She'd found information on Spencer and what he had done to Wesker. She'd opened another door to Umbrella. All her lover had to do was walk through it. 
She set aside her notebook and her fingers dropped lifelessly back into her lap. There was nothing else she could do for him.

Claire sat watching them in silence for some time, her scowl growing ever deeper. A year was a long time for her usually social brother to go shutting everyone out for. It had gotten to the point where she just wanted some sort of reaction of out of him. “Leon is a daddy, Ada Wong apparently proved too much of a temptation.” She finally blurted, wanting a little payback on Leon too, he was after all the last person to see Jill.

Though Rebecca wouldn’t yet know it, Wesker had spent the last three months working tirelessly for her benefit. Jessica had come to him, whining about Chris annulling the marriage and wanting him to see his son. The woman was insufferable, and the last thing he needed was another Redfield growing to be a thorn in his side. So of course, he took the child. It was no more than a breathing Petri dish to him.

"That's a lie!" Leon snapped, though he didn't turn his head toward Claire. "The only woman I've been near is you. And trust me, I'd be thrilled if we..." 
Chris' knife slammed down in between Leon's fingers. "Blackjack." He growled. 

Rebecca had so many dreams she'd given up on. The main one was having someone simply say they loved her. She'd never even taught Jake to express love. It was far too dangerous for him. She'd done it when he was little and often hoped her actions were enough that he knew.

Claire sighed and rolled her sapphire eyes. “Not happening, Kennedy.” She remarked. “I’m not raising a kid alone while you save the world.” She leaned over the table and pulled the knife free. “What did I tell you about knives in my table?”

Jake knew. He had always known. In fact, Rebecca was the reason he was able to live Sherry as much as he did. The young man found his mother where she had slipped into unconsciousness, and lifted her almost weightless form up into his arms. It had to stop. He knew his father could put a man end to her suffering, and that was exactly where he took her. The door to his fathers office was kicked down and he activated the secret door into the lab. It was there he carefully laid Rebecca down once more and made his demands to his father.

Leon pretended to pout, poking his tongue out as Claire passed him. "One hand, Redfield. We're gambling for a recon crew. One hand doesn't win that."
"Fuck you, boy scout." Chris muttered, pulling out a cigar and lighting it. 

Becca sat on the edge of the bed, watching her lover pace like a caged animal. "We'll make him pay." She breathed, sniffing softly. "No more games. This time Redfield dies."

“Oh no you don’t.” Claire warned, plucking the cigar from his lips and stubbing it out on one of the cards laying on the table. “And for the record, neither of you are gambling anything until you tell me what exactly you need these crews for.”

“Is that a promise?” Wesker asked with a wicked grin. It couldn’t have worked out better. He couldn’t fix what Rebecca had allowed to fester away inside of her, but he could improve upon her. “He killed our boy in cold blood, and no one made him pay for that. He thinks me dead, that is not something I wish to change.”

Chris turned his gaze on Leon but said nothing to his sister. 
The blonde haired man rested a hand on Claire's arm and turned her to face him. "Your brother thinks he may have found another branch of Umbrella. Along with evidence of Wesker clones." He told her softly. 
"There's proof it may have been a dumping ground for expirements of Wesker's." Chris added. 

Rebecca chewed on her lower lip, trying to decide what route to take next. "I'll do anything you ask me to." She promised, her crimson colored eyes meeting his. "I did get a message about Blue Umbrella. Is that something I need to follow up on?"

Claire was studying Leon’s face, looking for any hint he was lying to protect her. “When do we leave?” She asked simply. Like Chris, she too didn’t look at her sibling.

Wesker snarled quietly, fining the submission from Becca was beginning to grate on his nerves. “What if I asked you to kill a child? Would you do it?” He asked icily.

"Not you. You're staying here." Chris said gruffly. He'd recovered his cigar and was chewing on the end of it. He and Leon had picked up the cards again. 
Leon didn't dare to look at Claire though he still held onto to her. His fingers slid along her arm and under her sleeve, trying to tell her he had a plan 

"Would it make you happy?" Becca looked over at him, a gentle smile on her lips. Unfortunately for him, Becca had picked up her copy's final desire to please her lover over the cost of all else.

Claire’s own gaze warned Leon he better have a damn good plan before she finally looked back to her brother. “Oh I’m sorry, you seem to be under the impression you can tell me what to do.” She snorted, having finally had enough of Chris treating her like shit this past year.

“Extremely.” Wesker commented simply. “This is not just any child, it carries the Redfield genes. I can’t allow that.”

"Blackjack." Chris said gruffly, slamming his cards down on the table. "Send the recon, Leon. We had a deal. I'll meet them there." Without a word to his sister he got up and left.
Leon pulled Claire into his lap, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I love you." He whispered. "Remember that when I tell you this next part. Okay?"

Becca nodded. "Then I'm heading there to pick it up. I'll deal with it." She promised. She got off the bed and moved to the closet, hunting through Rebecca's clothes for something she was comfortable in. 
She had begun to clean out the other woman's clothes. This clone was different. She didn't care for the lab coat or the sweaters and slacks. She didn't care for lab expirements either.

Claire didn’t lift her head from where it was tucked under her lovers chin. It had taken them a long time to get here, she didn’t want to hear that he was going away. “No promises.” She whispered.

“Just like that?” Wesker probed from where he stood in the doorway. “What if I asked you to end the Redfield bloodline completely? Including... Claire?” He asked, knowing how close the old Rebecca had been with the youngest Redfield.

"What Chris dug up...he found information about Burnside. It's legitimate. He's alive, Claire and he's not alone. There's a whole host of monsters beginning to surface in that place." He turned her to face him and was now watching her closely. "All of them have a tie to Wesker in some way or another. Not just him though..."

Becca simply shrugged. She had yet to speak to Claire. The Redfield draw was not there for her. "Why are you always asking me questions like you don't trust me?" She asked, taking on a pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt with a stylish unicorn on it. She slipped under his arm and headed for the living room to make her coffee.

Claire took a moment to digest this new information, understanding completely how it must be making Leon feel. “And Chris is going to wipe them all out?” She asked finally.

Wesker watched her move past him, still trying to decide if his decision to create her had been a sound one. “It isn’t that I don’t trust you, I know how hard it is for someone like you to break attachments though.”

Leon shook his head. "Maybe in the end. But right now he's going there looking for a rumor. I'm worried he's going to get himself killed." He went on his chest heavy with more than just worry for the people he'd come to care for. 

Those words were enough to make Rebecca feel the strange urge to call her best friend. She fished her phone out and dialed Claire's number, humming to herself.

Claire took hold of Leon, face between both slender hands, simply looking at him for the longest moment, a thumb stroking his cheek every now and then. “Leon, you have to know how much I...” Before she could tell him, her phone pierced through the tender moment.
Claire sighed quietly, and kissed the tip of his nose before leaning back to fish her phone out of her pocket. “Hello?” She asked uncertainly.

"Hey, Claire." Rebecca sounded extremely cheerful. "Is that offer for breakfast still open? I was thinking bagels. How about we meet in an hour if you can peel yourself away from Leon." She teased. She had no idea that Rebecca hadn't spoken to Claire in over a year and certainly not in a cheerful tone like this. 
Leon was watching his lover's face, his fingers still tracing circles on her arms. She looked suspicious. That certainly didn't make him feel better.

Claire’s gaze met Leon’s and the suspicion wasn’t even hidden in their depths; it was right there in the surface. Last time she and Rebecca had spoken... Claire and Leon had been living very separate lives. “That... that sounds...” She was trying to find the right words, but was clearly struggling. Something was off, she she wanted to look into it, but also had no intention of abandoning Leon to stopping her either from getting himself killed. “Where are you, Bex? I can come pick you up...”

Leon continued to pack as Claire argued with Rebecca about picking her up. He honestly hoped this would be enough of a delay to keep her from going with them. 
He didn't know what seeing Burnside again would do to her. She wasn't weak like him but still...the line was there. 
He sent a message to Chris and zipped his suitcase close. This mission wasn't going to be a good one anyway. There was a baby involved.

Claire was clearly still in some kind of mood by the time she ended her call with Rebecca. They had compromised, and were meeting somewhere. Either of them had apparently ever been before.
She stomped into the bedroom where Leon was packing and flipped down with a heavy exhale. “This doesn’t feel right.” She declared.

"None of it." Leon agreed. He shoved his suitcase off the bed and laid down beside his lover. "But that's why we always rush head long into it. Right?" He chuckled, resting his head on her shoulder. "Just fake a sudden stomach bug. I'll back you up. Even hold your hair for dramatic effect." He teased.

Becca crossed the dark office, frowning at her phone. It was all so strange to her. Like she was learning something new. "I'm driving to Eggs R We." She muttered, not even sure Wesker had heard her. "Hope I remember how to do that..." She added, fishing in her jacket for the keys.