Thicker than Water

First topic message reminder :

Alex Chambers stood on the helicopter landing pad his fingers pressed to his forehead to block out the morning sun. He was dancing from one foot to the other, unable to hide his excitement.
"I see them!" He shouted back to his mother, who was standing near the entrance with a medical team. None of them knew what kind of shape their heroes would return to them in but Alex didn't seem to care. Already he was hopping up and down waving at the chopper as it drew closer. He cheered when Chris Redfield waved to him and repeated the action when Jill Valentine did the same. But as the helicopter touched down his smile began to fade. Not everyone he'd hoped to see was stepping out.
"What happened?" Rebecca Chambers soon came to stand beside her son, her lips set in a thin line as she looked from Chris to Jill. "Where is Parker?" She'd done her best to keep herself from saying this man's name first but she couldn't seem to help herself. "Where's Jessica?" She added, hoping this would make for a decent cover up.

Sophie reacted as she had before, placing her hands over his and closing her eyes. "Get your hands off me, Wesker." She whispered back, gritting her teeth. "I'm not afraid of you and I don't want you."

Wesker smiled thinly and slowly let his hands fall away from her. "Not to worry... You say Violet reminds you of yourself... She will mature very quickly, I shall simply have her instead." He purred, though it was clear that the statement was meant as a threat.

Sophie didn't respond to this, choosing to keep her silence as she marched out of the lab. She was very aware that she was going to get lost, but it was better than saying something that would damn her one way or the other.

Wesker's laughter would follow Sophie down the hallway. He enjoyed finding people's buttons almost as much as he enjoyed pushing them.

"Mr. Wesker." Sophie had been gone only a short time when one of his men came to the lab, holding out a file that was much thinner than it should have been. "This is everything I could find on Sophie Larsen. It goes back about five years. Then there is nothing. I can't even find a birth certificate."

"Five years?" Wesker growled, snatching the file from the other man's hand. "That's not possible. Look harder!" He commanded. "It shouldn't be that difficult!"

"There's nothing. It's like she dropped out of the sky." The man whispered, all but cringing in his fear of being struck by Albert Wesker. "Like she...woke up at a bar and started working there..."

Wesker couldn't help but smile a little. "An angel, who fell to earth... And sided with the dregs of humanity." He mused.

"An angel with all those tattoos?" The man asked, shaking his head. "I wouldn't think so but..." He gingerly took the folder back from Wesker and thumbed to the last few pages. "She did used to have blonde hair." He said, showing Wesker the first set of pictures of a seventeen year old with blonde hair and vivid blue eyes.

Wesker didn't like it one little bit. Those eyes, while the face was framed by that blonde hair... It was all too familiar. "She knew about Umbrella... Search their records, start with anyone who was born in Raccoon City."

"I thought the only ones left were STARS." The man said, clearly not wanting to search for something he might not have seen before. "And...and you, of course."

The look Wesker gave the. Man for questioning him should have been warning enough. "That is simply proof that thinking is not your string suit! I assume you already know what I do to people who fail to meet my expectations?"

The man was running before Wesker had even got the entire sentence out. It was no more than an hour that he was back, handing the taller man everything he'd found on Sherry Birkin. Some of it had even been taken from the US government's computers. "You were right." He whispered, his hands shaking. "She's...she's...a Birkin from Raccoon city."

This amused Wesker no end. "Well, well, who would have thought dear William's pathetic offspring would grow to be so..." He let the sentence die off, now merely smiling to himself as he rubbed his chin. "No wonder she feels empathy towards that little monster..."

"Should we lock her down in the lower levels?" The man asked. "She's already been returned to the room you designated but...I'm sure I speak for more than myself when I say it would be safer if she was locked in a holding tank of some sort."

"More than yourself?" Wesker all but snarled. "Tell me, who else thinks my guest should be treated like she was nothing more than a Valentine?!"

The man was stuttering now, clearly about to simply pass out onto the floor. "N-no one...s-sir...I was j-just saying..."

"Then 'just say' goodbye." Wesker barked, pulling his gun and planting a bullet in the other man's temple before he even had time to plead for his life.

Alex woke to the sound of a gunshot, his senses instantly screaming for him to run. He'd been dreaming he was home with his mother and Parker. But the sound was a harsh reminder that he would never go home again.

Wesker simply stepped over the body, leaving it for someone else to clean up. He calmly pushed his gun back in its holster, then left the lab. This new information about Sophie was like a new toy a child would long to play with.

Alex opened his door and prepared to make a run for it. Instead he slammed into Wesker and the two of them went tumbling in different directions. "Watch where you're going!" He shouted, before he'd even looked up.

"I am not the one bursting out into the hallway." Wesker told his son, the news about Sophie leaving him in a rather good mood. "What's the rush, anyway?"

Alex sat up and rubbed at his forehead, a defeated sigh escaping. "I was trying to make a break for it." He confessed. "Not that I had any idea where I was going."

"I hope you weren't so weak as to go running off to look for your little girlfriend?" Wesker replied, having already picked himself up.

"Not that it's any of your business." Alex snapped, suddenly cross. "But I was actually going to look for Miss Sophie. I heard a gunshot and I got worried about her. And don't try to tell me that's not who you brought from the school. I'm not stupid no matter what you think."

"I brought her here just for you." Wesker confirmed. "She told me you had always been her favourite, that nothing would make her happier than being here to take care of you." He lied.

"Seeing as you brought her here before me, I find that one a bit hard to believe." Alex snorted, getting to his feet and crossing his arms as his father might have. "Never mind the fact that she liked Violet more than me. I've told you what would make me happy. And since it is clear I'm not getting it..." He sighed, an image of Parker's face crossing his mind. The last thing he'd said to his adopted father was something terrible. He could never take it back. He would never be able to tell the other man he loved him. "I'm sorry." He whispered finally. "I have no right to speak to you that way. I...I am grateful that you saved my life." He lifted his head again and offered Wesker a tiny smile. "Thank you."

That surprised Wesker, evident in the way his brow arched slightly. "Then you understand, everything I do, is merely to keep you safe, to better your life?" Wesker asked. "However, despite giving you anything you desire, I cannot give you the girl back." He added, just to make sure Alex understood this.

"Then...can you give me Parker back?" Alex whispered, closing his eyes as the image of his adopted father's fate washed over him. All he could think of was that he had drove the other man to this conclusion. "Can you...use my blood to bring him back?"

Wesker shook his head. "It wouldn't be Parker, you know that. It would be no more than a mindless, hungry, monster."