Blue on Black

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Leon Kennedy starred at his gun as he heard the truck shudder into the drop zone. It was never going to get any easier. It didn't matter how many times he came into these towns and cleaned them out. 
It had nothing to do with the people. It was Claire Redfield. He saw her everywhere. The same scenario played out in his mind. In the end he was in her arms. Except...he wasn't. For the most part, he was alone. Until he was calling a phone number that made his chest hurt just to make the chill inside him go away. 
"Claire..." He breathed as he stepped off the truck and looked around. "Will you ever forgive me?" 

Rebecca Chambers didn't share Leon's sense of loneliness. The mousy haired woman was rather happy living alone. She'd seen far too many of her friends and loved ones die to believe in anything but science. 
At the moment she was seated on the floor of her office chewing on her pen, watching a video about the bio-experiments that had been newly discovered from Raccoon city. She didn't seem to be buying a word of it.

"We'll find him." Chris promised, his breathing slow and steady. "Maybe we can play hop on pop a few times before we send him to hell." He laughed softly. "Make him look like slug trail. Only a..." He paused to yawn. "Red one..."

"Wong...wasn't that his name?" She asked. "He was always bragging about his daughter...how she was better than everyone. Oh god...that night at the bar when he said her tits were better than mine." Molly shuddered as she began filling a plate with food. For a while she was silent as she worked. Finally she set the plate in front of Wesker and then made one for herself. 
"Have you had time to find out anything about Jake? I feel like a shit for sleeping so long. Tell me you found the apartment. Maybe Spencer left something behind?"

“That’s the plan, Red.” Jill breathed, kissing his forehead when’s she felt him growing drowsy. “You can be all kinds of hero… tomorrow.”

Wesker was still not looking at Molly as he thought about the man and his daughter. Won’t hadn’t been wrong… the girl had indeed been better than even he had believed. But with Daddy dead… she had turned to the kind of life elder Wong had never wanted for her. “He expected her to make general…” He snorted before realising Molly had asked him a question. “Not something personal, the old man would never be there. But I can tell you who took Jake… Mr Grim Rraper himself, HUNK.” He admitted.

Chris was already snoring when the nurse came in. The young woman laughed softly as she shook her head. "The doctor says you're ready to go home." She whispered to Jill. "Whenever you're ready everything is set up/ I'm jealous of your husband." She added. "Though I wish he wasn't so bossy and loud. You might want to work with him on that." 
After taking off all of Jill's leads, the woman left them alone in the...nearly silent room. Chris' snores were louder than before. 

"Fuck!" Molly slammed her fist on the table, the wine glasses trembling. She knew who Hunk was. She'd trained with him. She'd served with him. He wasn't her rival. He had risen above her when she'd refused to simply murder civilians. Hunk was a monster. He cared for nothing but the mission. 
She'd heard rumors of him after she'd been removed from her position. 
"You can't think I'm really going to just sit around while you do whatever to find Jake. I'm not a damsel in distress or anything." She added, shaking her head. "I'll do whatever I have to to get our son back."

Jill didn’t even attempt to correct the nurse. It was an easy assumption to make, and it actually felt… nice, to belong in such an easy and comfortable way. She was watching chris slumber when suddenly the memory slammed into her; Carlos. The crash. Sherry. But most of all… Nicholai. Jill was sliding from beneath Chris, lurching for the bathroom when she felt her stomach threatening to expel whatever it’s contents currently were. 

“I never claimed you were.” Wesker pointed out coolly. “However, you are also no monster, and it takes one to stop one.”

"Jill?" Leon opened the door to the room a crack and poked his head in. "Are you awake? I can come back..." He started to leave, worried by the sight of the dark room.

"Why are you saying that?" Molly asked, noting that he hadn't touched anything on his plate. "Albert...maybe it's time you gave me some answers."

"Leon?" Jill's voice sounded watery where it was calling from the bathroom. "Please... don't leave." She breathed, clearly not wanting to wake Chris.

"I'm not so certain either of us truly want that." Wesker responded, looking down into his glass. "Molly... Fifteen years is a long time. A lot has happened... None of it truly good."

"Hey..." Leon walked quietly to the bathroom, trying to make sure not to wake Chris. "I've been worried about you two. It was hard enough to find Sherry but... You and him... What happened?"

Molly got up, her food forgotten. "Albert...no matter what you have to say I will still love you." She told him firmly. "Unless you told me you don't love me anymore or never did." For a moment she stood like this before she kissed him passionately.

“You have her?” Jill asked hopefully. “There… I think there was an accident.” Her voice trailed off, again worried that she had dreamt up the whole thing. 

“I rarely lie.” Wesker breathed, resting his forehead against Molly’s. “But… your husband died… three years ago.”

"Yeah. She's fine. She's back in school. And yeah. There was an accident. She's having a hard time coping with it. Which is why I'm here. I need her to know you guys are okay."

Molly sat and listened as Wesker told his story, hating Redfield and Valentine as much as he did. She blamed them for his death and pain almost as much as she did Spencer. 
When he was done she gently unbuttoned his shirt and ran her fingers over his scars. "We will make them all pay. I promise." She breathed. "You are still my husband. Not even death can change that."

Jill was stilruggling with this information, which meant suddenly she was struggling with trusting Leon. She knew she remembered Sherry being snatched away. “Where did you find her?” She questioned. “Did Carlos tell you where we were?”

Wesker pressed a hand over Molly’s at his chest and simply held it there. His heart used to beat faster at her touch, but now… it was barely a beat every few minutes. He needed her to feel that, feel the change in him.

"Carlos brought her to me," Leon began, kneeling down beside her. "I have to admit I found that a bit strange. He was a mess though. If I didn't know better I'd have pegged him for a zombie and shot him. Sherry wanted nothing to do with him. All she would say was that he was a traitor. And yeah. He called yesterday to tell me he'd found you and when I saw you to tell you that you guys were even. Whatever that means." Leon smiled resting a hand on Jill's arm. "Sherry needs you and Chris. I'm not a family. I never will be."

Molly woke up the next morning full of mixed emotions. Wesker was right, he was no longer the man she remembered. He was more. 
She'd known he'd held back, whispering something about the monster within.
It made her hate the people he'd told her about even more. She'd help him break them once they had Jake back.

Jill shook her head, though it wasn’t immediately clear if it was in disagreement or to try and clear it. “He… he was working with Nikolai!” She suddenly hissed, as though only just coming to the realisation. “It… it’s foggy, everything leading up to the crash. But he dragged ne from the Hospital… like he wanted Nikolai to find Chris and Sherry, but not me.”

Wesker was already up and at his computer when Molly woke. He was apparently looking through surveillance footage from the area around her apartment, easily accessible once she had given up the location. There had to be a clue, something left behind, but even he knew that when dealing with Hunk that may not be possible.

"You mean the hospital Chris was in right?" Leon asked. "I read the report about that. We intercepted a crew in Paris who had it. Umbrella seems really interested in you for some reason." He laughed softly. "They also really want Chris dead. I was going to tell him we have information on Wesker but I wanted to wait until you were a little more on your feet."

Jill quickly shook her head and grabbed Leon’s arm tightly. “Don’t tell him, not yet. I feel… he has been pushing himself so hard. I know I’m not allowed to make his business mine… not anymore, but he needs to rest.”

“Would you like to see something?” Wesker asked Molly, a rather wicked smile on his lips.

Leon nodded then looked confused. "Wait...what part? You? Or Wesker? You know both of them are going to send him into work overtime. So...maybe I call him later about those and we just say I found Sherry wondering on the side of the road like a homeless kitten?" He teased. "Claire couldn't resist those."

Molly shoved back her wild red hair and pulled down the STARS t-shirt she'd stolen from her lovers drawer and joined him at the desk. His smile worried her a bit. She'd never seen him wear it before.

Jill didn't appear to be smiling. "Both. He can't know... not yet." She breathed. "But... don't trust Carlos, not right now. I..." She buried her face in her hands, feeling the worlds biggest idiot. "He's betrayed me... us. At this point I don't even know what his end game is." She groaned and let her head fall back against the wall she was leaning against. "Chris has too much going on without adding my drama to it. I know i burned that bridge trying to protect us both... But that doesn't mean I stopped caring."

Wesker rose to his feet and took Molly's hand, leading her to an innocuous looking door. At least it appeared that way until it slid open, revealing a rather clinical and modern looking elevator. He still didn't speak for a moment as they were descending, but noted her possible discomfort in wearing only his shirt. "Don't worry, we won't be running into any of the staff." He commented as the doors slid open again. They were within a small control room, banks of monitors lined up in front of several computers. "You wanted to hurt Redfield, correct?" He tapped a few keys and showed a worn out looking redheaded female slumped in a corner, her head bowed, but a blood smeared knife held in her hand. "Allow me to introduce... Redfield Jr, his baby sister, Claire."

Leon nodded. "The BSAA is a big deal. I think it's really going to change the game." He got to his feet and held out a hand for Jill. "You guys are really going somewhere. I will help in way I can." He added. "Even if Claire is...we are still family." He finished sadly.

Molly moved closer to the monitors, her eyes on the young woman. Her stomach protested what she was seeing. This Claire was a ragged purple mess. It was hard to tell the color of her hair for the dried blood. 
The screech that echoed from the room speakers was unmistakable. Even Molly had heard of these monsters.The ape-like green beast leapt down from a ledge in the room, claws out.
"Albert, what the hell!" Molly shouted, turning away to hit him on the chest. "That girl is already dead. What are you thinking?!"

Jill allowed Leon to pull her up, and instantly slid her arms around him, embracing the younger man tightly. “I’ve not given up on her. Claire is out there… I feel it in my gut, and my gut is…” she trailed off, realising that was no longer true. Her gut hadn’t warned her that Carlos was more of a snake in the grass than she had thought possible. She no longer even thought it coincidence that she had run into him so soon after her break up with Chris. 

Wesker continued to smile, watching as Claire lifted her head very slightly. “What? You think I should take away her knife? Yes… good point.” He purred, though didn’t move right away, instead watching as Claire wearily hauled herself up, barely able to even hold the knife any longer.

Leon closed his eyes a long moment, memories of Claire flooding through him. Her teaching him to dance in the rain. She'd called him a boyscout when he'd worried she'd get sick. He smiled at the memory of simply watching her as he held her in his arms. There was no one like Claire Redfield.

"Make it stop." Molly said firmly, turning back to the monitor. "That's not right." All she could think was that somewhere something like this could be happening to Jake. It made her angry.

Jill felt the same about Chris. All the little things that had made her genuinely love him. Not just find herself attracted to him, but head over heels, she hurts when hurts love him. She was thinking about him then as she stared over Leon’s shoulder at the dark room beyond the bathroom. What was it that made a Redfield so damn irresistible? “Please… just take care of Sherry for one night? I want him
To have one night asleep in a real bed wothout thinking of anyone but himself.”

“Why?” Wesker asked simply. “You wanted to hurt Redfield and Valentine, didn’t you?” He watched Claire force herself on, pressing to the corner of a wall as the creature bunting her went sprinting past. “This is it.”

Leon let them have a week and no more. Saturday morning he showed up with Sherry at their newly aquired apartment, a box of her things and looking rather rushed. Chris gave Jill a strange look but welcomed Sherry with opened arms. He acted as if Leon wasn't even there. Not that this was any kind of surprise. He blamed the other man for his sister's death. Or at least his part in it. 
"There's been another sighting." Leon said once Chris had swept past them with Sherry. "Wesker is in Alaska, there's an Umbrella lab there. He's trashing the place like a spoiled kid who didn't get what he wanted for Christmas."

Wesker had been gone for a week when Molly decided to sneak down to the cage where Claire was being kept. She knew he'd find out. They'd have to fight about that later. 
Quietly she sat down in front of the cell and slid group of herbs inside. "This isn't going to take it all away but it will take the edge off." She said gently. "I've been where you are."

Jill rubbed at her face. She definitely looked better than the last time they’d spoken, clearly the last week had been good for her too. But there was still a darkness behind her eyes. Like she was waiting for the little slice of normalcy to crack wide open and allow the her demons in the shadows in. “You’re not going alone, are you?” She hissed, glancing back to make sure Chris wasn’t too close by. 

Claire barely moved, but it was clear she had seen the offering. Her face was deeply bruised, a cut running through one eyebrow and down across her eyes before scoring into her cheek. She had several broken fingers that she had tried to set herself, and was painfully thin. She didn’t touch the herbs offered, having learned early on not to trust anything given to her in this place. In the first few weeks, when the hunger was still fresh and new… Wesker had poisoned her food with something that caused uncontrollable vomiting… yet still set loose creatures to hunt her.

Leon gave her a quick hug and headed for the door. "I have an hour to be at the airport. I'll contact you when I get back. I promised Sherry I'd send her something from Alaska." He smiled as he shut the door behind him. 
""I'm thinking of becoming an agent." Sherry said from the kitchen doorway, chewing on her thumb nail. "I want to make sure that when this BSAA thing that you two are starting gets done you have another man on the inside." She added, her eyes side. "I know he's not much help." 
"Don't need help like that." Chris grunted. "He's going to die soon anyway and I say good riddance." He waved a hand in the women's direction. "Get dressed, we're going out for steaks as soon as we get you registered for school." 
Sherry groaned. "Can't Jill teach me? High school is stupid!" She wailed, for once acting her age.
Chris smiled sadly over her head, the look in his eyes heart broken at the reminder of his sister. 

"He's not here." Molly went on, wondering just what Wesker had put this woman through. She had no doubt now that since he'd been raised by Spencer, the hell was truly monstrous. "Look...I can't set you free..." She'd brought with her rations with she pushed through the bars. "Give me a name..." She whispered. "I can't contact your brother but someone else..."

Jill smacked Chris across the back of the head when he made his comment about Leon. “That’s my best friend you’re bad mouthing, Mr ‘I can’t sleep without my bear’.” She teased, winking playfully at Sherry. “But for the record, kiddo… you don’t want me teaching you anything, trust me on that.”

Another lesson Claire had learned the hard way; give nothing away. She had made the mistake of demanding to know what had become of Steve, as she thought she heard him shouting some nights. Wesker had had something that very much resembled the young man killed in front of her. Claire shook her head very slightly, though did finally reach out with slow fingers and pick up the herbs. She had several infect wounds that Molly hadn’t even seen.

"Don't you dare make fun of Mr. Bear, woman!" Chris roared, charging across the room and grabbing Jill in his arms. He tickled under her arms and bit her neck playfully. "You're going to pay for telling a man's secrets!" He purred in her ear before nibbling on it.
Sherry hit him in the head with one of the couch cushions and he tumbled to the floor, pretending to be dead. "Oh...was that too hard?" She cried, pressing her fingers over her eyes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"What about one of those sprays from the lab? Are those better?" Molly felt like she'd missed out on so much of the technology since she'd gone into hiding. The things Wesker had shown her had left her feeling stupid and far behind. "I'm Molly by the way. But...don't mention my name to him. It will get you hurt."

Jill sighed like she had just been inconvenienced and peered down at Chris. “No, it was for the best sweetie. He was past his prime anyway, could never keep up, and as they say… it’s kinder to put the old dogs down.” She was barely concealing her smirk. “You go her the tarp from out of his disgusting truck, I’ll get the shovels.”

Claire finally looked up at the woman who seemed to be helping her. There was deep mistrust in her once bright blue eyes as they peered out from behind matted red hair. “Why?” She finally asked, though her voice was hoarse from misuse. “You’re with him…”

Sherry looked horrified but did as she was told. Chris remained perfectly still but there was a very sullen look on his face. Jill would be doing more than paying for this later.

Molly didn't answer this as she opened some more of the rations and slid them into her. "Does he give you the health spray? Will it help?" She asked again. These rations were self heating and made a rather pitiful Mac and cheese but it was better than nothing.

Once Sherry had left Jill erupted into snorts of laughter. “Oh come on! It was funny!” She gasped, falling to her knees beside Chris and then rolling round on the floor. “Poor kid didn’t even question it!”

Claire shook her head, again the movement so slight it may well have not happened. “I won’t give him the satisfaction.” She hissed, unable to resist the smell of even the rationed mac and cheese, and had unknowingly leaned a little closer to Molly. “Why? You won’t disobey him. No one here ever does.”

Chris' face broke at this and he opened his eyes. "Reminds me of the time we told Rebecca a suspect was lost in the men's locker room." He laughed until he coughed. "Remember her scream when she went on and saw Wesker's naked butt?"
"The tarp has a hole in it!" Sherry hissed, coming back inside and throwing it over Chris quickly. " Plus I didn't see any shovels in there! Oh! Claire would hate me! I'm so sorry!" She began to cry as she sat down resting her head on Chris' side.

Molly snorted at the thought. "He doesn't command me. He wouldn't dare." While she spoke she opened more rations, using her thigh to keep them out of the view of the camera. "Can you tell me about those monsters you fight? He doesn't say much. Only that I don't have to worry. But... I do."

“Oh sweetie!” Jill was regretting her little prank the moment she heard those sobs. “Don’t cry, please.:. See…he’s fine!” She insisted, pinching Chris in a rather sensitive spot. 

Claire licked at her dry lips, watching the food before returning her gaze to Molly and shrugging Bonney shoulders. “He doesn’t care about them. He’s never called them off… only waited until I kill them.”