The bonds of family

Claire Redfield was sat at her desk, chewing on her pen as she stared at the faded photo in a battered frame. She had just gotten back from Rio on business and she had already thrown herself into another case. The photo she kept safe was taken such a long time ago, Sherry was still just a little girl in it, and Leon... Well he was no different. They had all been so happy when they made it out of Raccoon City, despite everything that had happened. It was years later and Claire still sometimes woke with nightmares of that place, and her time spent at Rockfort Island. She had barely spoken of it to Leon when she had made it home, but she figured Chris probably told him everything anyway. That was when she had drifted apart from the people she called family. They all seemed to have their mission and she had always just been 'Chris Redfield's baby sister'. Claire was much like her brother, in the aspect that she just wanted to help people. A shame Chris thought she was still that nineteen year old student. They still spoke on the phone often, had dinner together at the holidays, but pinning big brother down long enough for anything more seemed harder work than finding all traces of Umbrella and making them disappear for good. The young woman shook her head to try and clear the melancholy away, then pushed the dark red hair from her eyes. "Come on Claire..." She scolded herself, laughing quietly when she thought of the fun her friends had made in the past when she talked to herself.

Claire's phone jangled loudly, probably barely bringing her of her depressed thoughts. On the other line was a young woman she probably didn't want to talk to. She and Ramona Briggs had been at war for quite some time. 
Miss Briggs was a scientist for TerraSave. And as always she was calling to gloat that her company had found a better, faster cure for the T-virus.

Claire saw the caller ID on her phone and groaned loudly even as she answered. "Hello, Ramona. This really isn't a good time, I have a lot of work to be doing right now." She muttered, making it quite clear she wasn't in the mood to even fake being nice.

"What kind of work? The kind that makes your brother look like a hero? Seriously?" Ramona snorted. The little dark haired woman sat back in her seat and crossed her hands behind her head. "So...you're telling me you don't want to know that Leon Kennedy ran across Albert Wesker a few days ago and didn't even know it? Or the I just paid Ada Wong a big sum of money for a virus sample you guys were looking for?" She laughed softly.

There was a long pause on Claire's end of the line, her sapphire gaze fixed on the photo on her desk again. Leon never told her anything, why was it filling her with dread to think something could have happened, but didn't? What was worse, was this feeling she got overtime that woman's name came up. Ada Wong. "You called just to tell me this?" Claire finally asked. "Leon's business has nothing to do with me."

The long pause was better than the bitter words she and Claire had had before. Ramona couldn't help the wicked grin that escaped her as she propped her high heeled boots up on her desk. This was one of the best days she'd had in a while. "Oh sure it does. It says here that you were the last person he called." She purred. "Right before the tower lost signal anyway."

Claire closed her eyes as she tried to maintain her cool. "What is it you think you know, Ramona?" She asked thinly. "Leon doesn't call me about business." She added, almost telling the other woman it was all pleasure.

"All about that pleasure then...I get it..." Ramona  purred. "Ada said something similar. Wesker was right. That boy is a rounder. Listen the reason I'm calling is simple. I have the sample we were all playing the field for and I'm willing to deal. My new strain will help BSAA soldiers deal with the Las Plagas virus as well. You cant afford to turn me down this time, Redfield."

"Why are you telling me this?" Claire asked wearily. "Ramona, I'll tell you what I always do, I have nothing to do with the BSAA. You want to make a deal, talk to Chris. It's not like you haven't been itching to anyway."

"All right. I see where this is going. You don't want what I'm offering. I'll call The other guys. That's fine. Chris is far too busy pouting over his old teammate to listen to me anyway. He's a worthless hack these days. You're not far behind him lately, you know." Ramona hissed into the phone, slamming it down before the other woman had time to respond.

Claire sighed heavily and slipped her phone into the pocket of her well worn jeans. "Have a nice day to you too." She murmured, taking Ramona's call as a sign she should probably just call it a day and try to get some sleep. As she was packing her work up to take home, all Claire could seem to think about was calling Leon, but she didn't want to let Ramona get to her like this.

Ramona smiled as she pushed away from the desk and placed her boots on the floor. It had been a very long week and she deserved a rest. Out maneuvering not only the Redfield siblings but Albert Wesker too had been no easy task. It had nearly been yanked out from under her. If not for Ada Wong it would have. Thank goodness for her grandfather's money. Oswell E. Spencer had alot of it and she knew how to put it to good use. Everyone responded to money. 
The slender woman gave a wide yawn and turned the light off in the labs. "Like fish in a barrel." She purred. 

Leon S. Kennedy tried not to feel like such a failure. He had not been entirely successful in his mission and he was kicking himself for it. He wanted nothing more than to crawl in a hole somewhere and sleep until he was dead. As it was, he lay staring at his cell phone. His mind was on calling Claire. He wondered just how disappointed she would be. She'd probably tell him to shake it off and just let it go but he couldn't. Not knowing that Ada was still alive. The worst part was...He couldn't even tell Claire the truth.

"It went well then, I take it?" One of Ramona's colleagues was waiting for her in the hallway outside. Logan Rees was leaning lazily again the wall, some of his dark hair falling into his eyes as he smiled down at Ramona. "You never smile like that unless you just got something you wanted."

Claire was sat in her car now, the keys in the ignition but she hadn't yet turned them. Her phone was in her hand and before she knew it she had hit the speed dial for Leon's number. Sometimes she felt like an annoying to kid sister to him too, always checking he was okay.

"Of course." Ramona frowned feeling like he'd been listening in."I get everything I want." she murmured. "get the labs ready. It will be here soon." She kept walking, ignoring Logan. He didn't interest her.

"Hello?" Leon's voice sounded as depressed as he felt. He couldn't even lift his head off the pillow. A part of him was sure this waso yet another call from Ada, mocking him for not getting to the virus before she did.

"How long have I been here? You don't think the labs are always ready?" Logan snorted as he pushed away from the wall to watch Ramona stalk off.

"Hey..." Claire's own voice sounded forced, like she was again putting on a brave face. "Ramona was hassling me again... She told me about the sample." Claire hadn't been lying when she had told Ramona she and Leon rarely talked business. Usually.

Ramona shook her head, rolling her eyes at Logan. "You never seem to understand the stakes." She said darkly. "We are playing against some major hitters and we can't afford for even one thing to go wrong. if it does, I will personally kill you. Do we understand each other?" She paused half way down the hall and turned to look at him over her shoulder. "I'm going to the Spencer Estate to give him the good news myself. You've got things here. Right?"

Leon's sigh was filled with defeat. "Then you know about Ada?" He asked softly. "I'm sorry I screwed it up. Chris probably told you his crew tore me a new one on the loss of that sample, huh?"

"We run just fine without you, princess." Logan snorted, now walking in the opposite direction. "Go run to the old man, if you need to feel useful." He added with a wave of his hand.

"I haven't spoken to Chris." Claire confessed softly. "I was worried about you, not the sample."

"You sound jealous." Ramona snapped, heading in the direction of the helicopter bay. She wasn't to know by the time she got there her grandfather was already marked to be a headman.  

"Yeah well. I'm not going to keep millions of people alive. I'm not the important." Leon sighed yet again. "Anyway...How are you? How are things where you are? You holding up your brother's new company pretty well? That's got to be exciting. Saving the world with him."

Claire's initial reply was a heavy sigh. "Yeah... Him and Jill get to run around taking down the bad guys... I get a desk and buttload of paperwork." She lamented after some moments. "Just like you... You get to be a hero. No one ever puts faith in a glorified secretary."

The first thing Ramona noticed when she stepped off the plane was the absolute silence. The mansion was usually bustling with people. At the very least there was someone to greet her. No one had even answered her hails to land on the roof top. This left her stomach churning and her heart pounding. It only grew worse as she pushed open the doors to the communication room to find it completely empty. 

"I'm sure Chris has something planned for you. Trust me. It's not all it's cracked up to be. I'd rather have avoided the last go round if I could have." Leon said, laughing ever so slightly. Leave it to Claire to make him feel better.

Spencer would notice little of any of this. As always he was lost in his own thoughts, immortality being the thing that consumed him even as he withered and died.

"And avoid meeting your girlfriend Ada? I don't think so." Claire scoffed. "Or maybe you're just getting old, boy scout." she teased.

The thunderstorm hit about the time Ramona discovered the first body. It had come out of the locker it was stuffed into. She recognized her grandfather's nurse. The woman who rarely left his side. The first crack of lightning had her grabbing for her gun as the nurse turned over and began reaching for her ankle with the familiar moan. 

The phone call would be interrupted by a call from Chris. Leon heard the incoming call and was almost glad for it. He didn't want to talk about Ada. He already felt like he had alot to answer for to Claire even if nothing had happened between himself and the spy.

Ramona wasn't alone with the infected nurse. Yellow eyes were watching her on a security feed with a smile. "I little late, but at least she is here." He purred.

Claire almost wanted to simply reject the call. It was beginning to feel like Chris wanted her to put her life on hold overtime he called. "Sorry Leon..." she finally sighed. "It's Chris, he'll just keep calling if I don't answer. We should get lunch next time you're in town or something."

"Great. Looks like somebody left party favors." Ramona muttered, kicking away the nurse before shooting her between the eyes. The noise brought more staff stumbling into the hallway. "Oh come on. These aren't all for me." She snorted. 

"Yeah. Call me." Leon muttered, hanging up before she could say anything more.
"You're not going to believe this." Chris said as soon as Claire answered. "The Spencer Estate is over run with zombies and we found your little friend Ramona's plane here. You're missing all the fun, kiddo."

"A lady never scoffs at a gift." Wesker's cool voice remarked from somewhere in the shadows where Ramona couldn't see.

Claire felt even worse than before she had called Leon. "You'd think I would be used to it by now." Claire snapped without meaning to.

Ramona turned toward the familiar purr, her shin barking against the edge of an ornate table. She held her gun out in front of her, her teeth barred. "Figures you'd show up. Still sore about the loss of Las Plagas? Damn that double crossing Ada Wong, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, pausing as an undead moan sounded nearby. "It'll get better, kiddo. I'm just trying to keep you...Jill, over there...safe. You two are all I have. I can't lose my family. Listen...contact Barry. Let him know what's happening here. I'll call back...shit...crimson....Jill, watch it!" That shouted in her ear, her brother hung up.

"You truly did think you had outdone me, didn't you?" Weeks mused, stepping forward until the barrel of Ramona's gun was pressed to his solid chest.

Claire snarled a string of obscenities at the dead line, then tossed her phone roughly into the glove box, as though it would cut her off from the world that way. The red head angrilly started her car and tore out of the parking lot with all the care she usually drove with.

Ramona's heart thundered loudly in her chest. She was sure Wesker could hear it. "I did." She said firmly, taking off the safety of her gun. Her eyes never left her reflection, flinching only slightly when lightning revealed her pale face in his dark glasses.

"Oh? And I just happened to be here?" Weeks mused darkly. "Grand daddy hasn't heard from you in a very long time, and we both just come knocking on the same day?" He clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Little Ramen... You should know better."

"You're nothing but a test tube product to prolong Spencer's life and you know it." Ramona said thinly. Like Wesker she knew she was nothing special. Oswell had adopted her for her genes. They were superior to most and her intelligence had been up to par for him. He had used it to create his perfect specimen. Now she was only kept around because she continued to create viruses that made money. "I think that's why you're here. You found out his secret and you're pissed off."