#but sometimes Wesker gets distracted by him

[tiredsurvivoronmain]

Xeno!Wesker AU (WIP)

[lilmoonbunny]

Wesker with a university student s/o

No specified age.

Drives you there every day in his super fancy car that attracts everyone’s attention and has them whispering about you and him. If he can’t take you and you can’t get there yourself, you’re not going. He doesn’t trust anybody else to take you there safely. He just doesn’t trust anybody with you.

Loves when you kiss his cheek whilst leaving. He might not be big on physical affection, especially not in public, but he knows people there want you, and he needs wants them to know you’re his.

Nearly everyone knows who Albert Wesker is, and news about your relationship with him spreads around your class quickly. People question you, some ignore you, some hate you for it, but you just ignore them. He loves you and you love him, why should other people and their opinions matter?

Wesker is incredibly proud of you for pursuing your dreams/dream career and will help in anyway he can, even if he did insist that he can support both of you.

Let’s you sit with him in his office and study/work whilst he works. Sometimes he’ll get distracted by you, but he’ll never tell you that. He just loves you.

If anyone harasses or bothers you, he won’t hesitate to threaten them or the University. He has both the money and power to ruin anyone’s life and isn’t afraid to do so if it means you’re okay.

Dated someone in your class who now won’t leave you alone? Don’t worry, he’s got this. You don’t even have to tell him to, and you won’t even know what happened, only that your ex is too afraid to look at you now for some reason.

Tutor being unfair towards you? He’ll deal with it.

Nothing bad will happen to you with him caring for you.

Low-key has access to the University’s surveillance to make sure everything is okay with you, and nothing will happen, but nobody else knows.

Doesn’t like when you go out without him after classes, but he won’t stop you. He just worries about you and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you which is why he watches over you and is ready to rescue you at any point.

Takes you for lunch whenever he can and if he can’t do lunch, you two will be having breakfast. He just wants to make sure you’re taken care of and ready to work!

Nobody dares bother you after learning of your relationship as they know the risks of doing so. Wesker has a reputation, and it isn’t exactly a good one.

People tried befriending you to get closer to him, but you knew and told him. He was quick to comfort you the best he could if it bothered you.

Will try comfort you if you’re overwhelmed and forces you to take breaks.

“There’s no point overworking yourself, Dearheart. Your work won’t be the best it can be if you’re stressing.”

Takes baths with you and gives you a massage when you’re stressed.

Worried about deadlines? Don’t worry, he can extend them for you if you absolutely need him to do so.

Insists you move in with him rather than living in university accommodation. Says it’ll be easier and cheaper for you, but really, he just wants you with him and he doesn’t trust your roommates.

Throws you a fancy graduation party once you finish and asks you to marry him once you’re both home.

[cho-aaacho]

(HC) How to make Albert Wesker Blushes

Masterlist I Archive of Our Own

Calling him by his pet name in public.

Awwwww, he'll be embarrassed and look so adorable with his rosy cheeks!

Gazing at his face while he talks with someone, maybe when he talks with his coworkers. He will be distracted by you and exhale to calm himself.

Holding his hand when he gets mad and gazing at him without expression, I'm sure he'll giggle and realize that anger doesn't solve anything.

Give him a small kiss on the cheek while he was working behind the computer; he would groan as if in pain and massage his temples.

Blow in his ear from behind, pinch his cheeks, or say corny things before bed.

Making a cute breakfast like cat-shaped bread and milk in a cute Godzilla glass.

If you make him a handmade bracelet with cat and Godzilla beads as a pattern, he will smile shyly at himself whenever he looks at it while typing on his computer.

Changed his wallpaper with a candid photo of him with a caption like...

Al-nyan Whiskas eating ice cream (*❛‿❛*)

Al-nyan Whiskas sleeping on the couch (⁠=⁠^⁠･⁠ｪ⁠･⁠^⁠=⁠) 

Al-nyan Whiskas, get ready to the office (⁠っ⁠.⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)⁠っ 

This is Al-nyan Whiskas; he doesn't bite. \⁠(⁠๑⁠╹⁠◡⁠╹⁠๑⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♬

Making him a lunch box in a cute bento box, and sometimes using a pastel-colored bento box.

Chris will be laughing at him, and Albert will get embarrassed.

Chris : Hahaha, what this time? A bread with a dog shape?

Oh, shut up, Chris!?

He can't be angry at you because everything you do to him always makes him smile, even corny things.

Albert: Sweetheart, my love for you is unchanging. I don't need anything else because you have made me complete.

Now, you're the one who blushes.

A/N : I don't know if everyone loves this, haha. But I still have two drafted fanfictions and am about to upload them soon, so I wrote this to refresh my brain. Thank you for reading! 〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜

[unnerving-presence]

hey how do you think stars wesker would react to an s/o who's SUPER affectionate and kinda clingy?

-🐺 nope this is not me no siree what are you talking about

i love stars wesker hes so skrunkly poo

not proofread

Honestly? Wesker doesn’t mind too much. He’s pretty tolerant of your clinginess and doesn’t have much of a problem with it as long as the other S.T.A.R.S. members don’t find out he’s getting soft. If Chris ever found out it might as well be the end of his career..

Though he was averse to it at first, Wesker thinks it’s quite sweet if you go into his office just so you can sit on his lap and take a short nap. It’s especially cute when you snuggle up to him in your sleep. Smiles a little every time you do it. Always makes sure you lock his office door before sleeping. He refuses to let anybody see him in such a position.

Finds your touch to be a stress reliever of sorts and finds it adorable that you want to give him so much love. He’s not exactly sure why they are, but your face kisses are his favorites. There’s just something about seeing that warm smile on your face after you kiss him that makes him happy. It makes it just a little bit easier to get through the day knowing there’s someone who cares about him so much. It truly warms his heart.

You are unfortunately a big distraction for him when it comes to his work. He really does love you, but he needs to get these reports done and you kissing all over his face isn’t helping him focus.. Sometimes even your mere presence is a distraction to him. How dare you be so cute..

While giving affection back isn’t the first thing on his mind when you want to give him love, he will occasionally step out of his comfort zone to let you know he appreciates all you do. Small pats on your back whenever you’re sitting on his lap, a hand on your waist whenever you’re at his side, and even a gentle caress of your face to let you know he cares. As time goes on, he does these a bit more and tends to be a bit bolder about it around other people. If he can get away with it, he’ll do it.

He can’t help smiling when you give so much affection to the point that you start squealing because of how much you care for him. He has to admit, it is quite adorable when you hold him a bit tighter with that cute little smile of yours. It makes his day.

He’s so used to you being around him that he’ll start.. missing you if you need to leave to go do something. He hates that he’s feeling such things when he has important work to do, but you’ve gotten to him more than he’d like to admit. You make his feelings confusing sometimes.

Even if he unfortunately won’t let you be so affectionate around others, it doesn’t mean he won’t let you cling to his side when you don’t need to do some other task for the day. It often gets the others wondering why you’re with him all the time. It gets to the point where they question why you’re even in his office for more than 10 minutes at a time and Wesker soon has to start making excuses as to not cause gossip between the others. It probably ends up happening anyways though. Damn you, Chris!

[l0sercat]

wesker for the nsfw alphabet plss

Y'all the amount of requests I have rn are crazy and I'm so fucking tired so I'm going to be slow to update and just do he asks I feel like doing so I dnt burn out. Hope y'all understand :')

Albert Wesker NSFW alphabet

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

There is aftercare if he has been rough. He will prepare a bath and get you whatever you need.

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He loves his eyes. They are just so cool and makes his look intimidating. And they always seem to make you shiver when they pierce you. He loves you ass. That's all I need to say.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He doesn't like messes so he prefers to cum in you. Also because he wants to breed you..

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

You came to his work wearing a small skirt and it got him really distracted and hard. So when you left and he could slip away he jerked off. The image of you in that short tight skirt plagued his mind and he moaned our your name.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Hardly has experience but what he lacks in experience he makes up in confidence.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

Cowgirl but he's still dominant. Or doggy style. I can't pick 😮‍💨

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

He more serious. What's so funny about sex?

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

It's all nice and trimmed. What else did you expect a bush? No not from this god. Nothing is messy or sloppy. It perfect.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

He can be romantic. It usually is but sometimes it's not. He can be really sweet and gentle. It's kinda rare.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

He hardly masturbates he just doesn't feel the need to.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

He likes gags. Especially gag rings.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

The bedroom. You guys have privacy and it's easier to breed you.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Seeing you all dolled up for him. Seeing you in your best clothing and hanging onto his arm it's gets him going.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Share you. You are his and his alone.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

He prefers to give. He just loves tasting you and having your juices coat his face.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

It's depends. Most of the time the speed is n between fast and slow.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He doesn't really like them. You don't have them that often. He prefers proper sex so he can properly breed you.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He doesn't take a lot of risks and he's okay to experiment as long as it's not too risky or bad.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He can last for hours. With uroboros he has so much stamina.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He does not own toys he doesn't need to. He will never bring the into the bedroom. He has himself and his tentacles so toys are not needed.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He likes to tease but doesn't do it a lot

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

He grunts a lot and here and there he moans. If your sucking him off and catch him off guard he'll whine.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

He likes to be edged. Idk why but I feel like he'd just love you to tease him back and try to take control.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

He's 8 inches long and 3 inches thick.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

It's not that high. But when he's horny oh boy...

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He waits till you fall asleep then he'll fall asleep a little after.

[supervillain-smut]

Albert Wesker with a doting and loving S/O who has a strong habit of over working themselves?

Idk it's just been on my mind recently lmao

{Fluff- Fem or GN Reader?}

I hope you enjoy it! I certainly enjoyed writing it!

"Hey Albert, would you like a coffee? Maybe a relaxing tea? I can call Dr. Birkin for you if you need that data he has at the lab?"

"Y/N..."

"Or what about your suit, does it need ironing?"

"Y/N."

"Oh no wait, you already have a coffee, did you have breakfast before you came here?"

"Y/N!" "Yes, Albert?" "I don't need anything, thank you, except you finally getting off your feet, possibly getting some sleep. That would make me happy." Albert spoke in a flat tone.

"Well, I'm glad you care about me so much, but I'd rather you didn't have to distract yourself from your work, and I know you like it, too." You hopped up on the counter facing him. He had just emerged from the basement where you weren't allowed to be since all his classified work was being done there, so when he did emerge, usually it was from a lack of everything. Food, water, caffeine, and the most difficult to get him to replenish, is sleep.

That being said, when you had him, you spoiled him and doted on him endlessly, which he loved most of the time, but recently you'd been picking up his bad habit of not sleeping to do so, and he was beginning to worry.

He smirked and stood in front of you, between your legs dangling off the counter, and faked a yawn. You followed seconds later with a real one of your own. "As I thought." You pouted at his trick. "Now, go to bed, please. It does me no good if we're both sleep-deprived." He began to walk back to the basement door, and you had to think quickly about how to drag him down with you.

"Only if you do, too." Albert stopped dead in his tracks. "What?" You crossed your arms and smirked. "I'll only go to bed if you do, too. As you said, it does no one any good if we're sleep-deprived. That includes you." You couldn't see his eyes past his sunglasses, but the internal struggle was obvious as his weight shifted towards the basement, back to you, back and forth before he sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose and dumping the contents of his mug down the sink.

He stood in front of you for a moment that felt like hours, making you a little nervous; was he upset with you? The answer was obviously 'no', but sometimes you couldn't tell. At least until he scooped you off of the counter, leaving you to cling to him like a koala as he marched both of you upstairs. Your hand toyed with the hair at the base of his neck as you rested your head on his shoulder, beaming with victory as your body registered the path to the bedroom.

You felt the softness of your pillows and blankets as he set you down, sitting at the edge of the bed to remove his shoes and blazer, setting his sunglasses down on the nightstand as he settled in beside you, those icy blue eyes staring back at you fondly before he pulled you towards him so he could spoon you. You shifted so your back was flush against his chest and sighed in contentment as he kissed your shoulder before settling in for your nap.

[tearsoftime0086]

Uhhhh so while I'm distracting myself from finishing my fic, here's a ton of random headcanons for a steve burnside lives au and what would happen after they get off the island (aka writing notes that i will never get to bc holy heck does wesker not having t-veronica change things)

The fact that steve's not vaccinated nor inoculated means that they do a data scrape for potential cures of the Antarctica facility before they blow it up (I'm thinking the explosives come from the contingency plan alexander had)

Chris showed up on the island with a two seat fighter jet. Steve and Claire get some sleepy snuggles in the back seat

Why didn't wesker show up in the intermediary? Uhh good question - probs bc to him steve's still a walking b.o.w and much more difficult to retrieve

Chris, claire, and steve debrief a little on the way back for alibi matching, what to reveal/hide. Obvs the main topic is how much they tell about steve's t-veronica. There's a lot of physical signs, so it's a tough situation

They land somewhere in australia for a few days to get their bearings. Claire gets in contact with Leon, who's INSISTENT they don't get USSTRATCOM too involved. He's still feeling guilty over how everything with sherry went

Meanwhile Steve's still rattled over the whole thing and is even more unnerved when the injuries heal over (except the veins) - the three of them talk about sherry and jill, but steve's starting to be more convinced he needs some kind of serious help

(As for how this all actually resolves??? That is a problem for future me, or anyone else who's reading this post haha)

They eventually land back in the states, and claire meets up with sherry. They confide in each other and the topic of steve comes up. He ends up tagging along next time, to when sherry inconspiciously mentions that he looks like a derpy version of leon. Steve's irked until he does finally see a picture of leon and has to be like "wow you're right. This guy's handsome as hell"

Sherry and him connect over their shared infection woes, so he becomes the "derpy uncle" of their little family

Chris doubles his energy with Jill on founding the BSAA and amassing their trusted contacts with the additional pressure of someday getting steve fully stable. Although the two started on rough footing, chris grows fond of him (obvs playing the big bro role to claire once they start formally being in a relationship)

Speaking of the relationship, claire finds steve clamming up about a lot of it once they're back. He thinks there'll never be a "normal way to say it" bc well.. everything. They work it out eventually, get that dinner, watch that movie

Steve grows out of a lot of his edgelord tendencies, esp since the virus makes him realize how big the whole bioterrorism business is. Probs a few scary scrapes w being an active controller of a t virus strain. Still says a lot of loud, half -thought out things tho

He probably lands in a role as like a civilian consultant for the bsaa. Works with rebecca on research. Claire feels tense sometimes that both chris and steve are so intricately tied to the bsaa and their line of duty, but understands why they do it.

Lots of impromptu dates and catch-ups as they all travel a lot (esp claire for terrasave). It's tough sometimes, but they're happy and they always make it work

Anyway this concludes my denial of code veronica's ending. Thank you to anyone who makes it this far lol

[theonlyadawong]

i am immediately wondering why/how ada is infected tbh because you’re right that she’s a queen for never being infected but also she’s a spy she wouldn’t have been caught + she’s not working for them like luis or krauser so how did it even happen? i hope it’s for a good reason at least

While I am very sad that she doesn't get to keep her virus free streak, I can already see how this opens lots of new doors for seperate ways, as Ada's most obvious trait is self preservation, so seeing her do whatever necessary to kill the plaga will be very exciting.

Also! Canon has shown us multiple times that Ada is not infallible, and that she does overestimate her own abilities sometimes which leads to her being caught (Ada getting knocked into the garbage by Annette in re2r is a big one), so it doesn't surprise me that she would be infected. And when you factor in how much is on her mind during this time (Wesker, Luis, Leon, Ashley, Los Illuminados) you can see how she might have gotten distracted long enough to get caught.

An important thing to note that has me all kinds of giddy, is that we have already seen all of Ada and Leon's interactions, meaning we know she chose not to tell him about her infection the entire way through. And if we factor in Ada's self-preservation, we can deduce that if she really felt she needed Leon to help her, she would have asked, no question. But she didn't need him, so she didn't tell him.

[leadxxr]

Sidknee and Dweet hcs? 🥺

@bamsidsuperbitch

Dwight would actually literally die for Sidney in a trial. He would take a mori if it meant she didn't have to and he will not argue on the subject whatsoever so don't even try

obvi we know that dweet was a virgin before her

Dwight loves when Sidney falls asleep on his chest, and as a force of habit (his insomnia / night terrors aside ) often times he finds himself staying up to watch her sleep because he's paranoid in the Fog and wants to know for certain that she's safe - the survivors get the eerie feeling they're being watched sometimes

Even when Dwight holds her hand, he still blushes like a fucking high schooler

Any time Sid is cold, he gives her his dino hoodie and Sidney probably loves the scent just because it smells like him <3

Sidney tries to get him to stop biting his nails so often when he's anxious, slowly taking his hand in hers as a distraction when she notices it

Dwight probably got into a fight with like David or Felix or someone due to them talking some kind of way about Sidney being way out of Dwight's league etc etc. I imagine even a punch or two were thrown (we've seen Dweet punch wesker in his mori, so I don't find it too terribly far fetched that he would throw a punch at David even though that is NOT a fight he would win) He wants to defend her honor at every turn

Anytime he comes across luxurious offerings in a trial such as terrormisu or escape cakes (in a less literal sense ofc), he saves it for her so she can always have the first bite <3

[midori-laboratories]

Ashes In The Fall - Chapter 13: The Road Less Taken I

Book 2 of the Calendula Chronicles

Resident evil, Wesker X OC

Story Summary: Marigold Ashford escaped the mansion, only to face new incarceration with a familiar jailor. She may yet have to make a deal with the devil, if she can unearth what this Faustian bargain would cost her.

There is always something left to lose.

Chapter summary: Marigold and Wesker leave the remote lab.

One phone call to HCF later, and Marigold found herself riding shotgun in the same van that brought her to this place. This time she was able to take a good look at it- tinted windows, back loaded up with fiberglass crates. The van seemed to ride high and light over the rough country back road, so she had to assume they were mostly riding empty.

HCF hadn’t known, although they were hearing suspicious chatter over the police bands. Their agents in the field had been alerted. Umbrella themselves barely knew, and the blood was on their hands; it had not yet even had the chance to dry after Birkin had smeared their operatives across the walls.

In a terse voice, Wesker told her that they were headed to a temporary field office outside of Raccoon City, but it would take a few hours. She nodded. “We’re somewhere in the Appalachians, right.” She felt him shift in surprise and decided not to prod him. This…couldn’t be an easy moment. Instead, she said, “I can triangulate where I am with a few fixed points. It’s not an innate thing, and only…sometimes. It’s not a precise science, but,” she hesitated. Then, “this never seemed an optimal location to stage an escape from.” Marigold looked down at her hands. Wherever they were going, she could at least start wearing shoes again. It seemed like such a small thing, especially now.

She reached down to crack the window open. Small enclosed spaces like this were still a lot to handle - the memory of her panic the last time she had been in here was still fresh, even with the tension…handled. Marigold paused. “There’s no crank,” she said, almost to herself. Wesker snorted amusement and pressed the automatic window button from his side to get her window. She flinched back from it, then stilled in an attempt to mask her irritation. After a moment she relaxed, leaning into the airflow towards fresh air.

“They started phasing them out a few years ago. This is a newer vehicle,” he responded, more to the wave of irritation flowing towards him than anything she has said.

They rode on for a while. It would be close to dark before they arrived at the field office. Marigold started to nod off, then jerked awake with a start. Oh my god, a man’s voice echoed in her head. It’s found me.

“Pull over.”

Wesker hesitated. “We need to keep moving.”

“I doubt he has long, and I have no idea if this will transmit to you. Pull over if you don’t want to drive into a tree.” Without further argument, she fumbled with the window and closed it again. The wind would only be a distraction. The van had barely slowed to a halt when she let her head fall forward, and reached out -

______________

______________

Matthew Shafer, operations engineer in the NEST, had had the good luck to be in a secure area when the infected had started to tear through the NEST facility. Their vaccines had failed. Whatever strain of T-virus they carried was so much worse.

He had the very, very bad luck to be sealed from the surface. Normally, that might be fine. But now?

And…something had begun to tear through the research level. Something monstrous. Below a certain level of the facility, people at least had an inkling of what the Birkins were really doing down here. Their needs were highly specific, and the team needed to meet them. Precisely. Accurately. Without fail.

When systems were acting outside parameters, he would send off a report to head office to make sure everything that could be done, would be done, to keep things stable. That was his job. And yet not one week after filing his report, gunfire had been heard below, and the NEST had quickly become a living hell.

That thing was now hunting anyone who was left. He had lost radio contact with maintenance on that level hours ago. and his door was the first in the corridor from the stairs on the next level up. Suddenly the steel-reinforced door didn’t seem like nearly enough to hold out for when rescue came.

If rescue came at all. Given how Arklay had been written off, Matthew suddenly found himself envying the stream of no-shows and transfers that had been hemorrhaging from Raccoon City over the past few months.

The door buckled as the creature outside hit the frame. Matthew had already backed into the far corner of the room, pressing hard into the far wall. Oh my god. This is it. Radio reports from downstairs suggested that gunfire only annoyed the creature, at worst. Help me. Help me.

A soft pressure in his mind, like a thin blanket. Then a soft, feminine voice in his head. I think it’s going to get in.

Matthew seemed to go slack. He didn’t care if this meant he was going crazy. At least he wasn’t trapped in here alone. Somehow, the logic felt immutable. “G is loose. I…oh noooo.” The door buckled again with a screaming sound. One more hit would take it off its hinges. The desk in from of the door would buy him approximately three seconds. The gun in his hand would likely buy him another 10 seconds of cowering miserably in his office before getting torn apart.

There’s an easy way and a hard way to go. The voice whispered. The easy way is in your hand. The hard way will come for you if you wait for it.

“The water treatment plant. Something was wrong with it. All of the waste from the research - it’s not getting cleared from the drinking water.” Matthew Shafer said with increasing numbness. That had been the crux of his report. It felt important. It felt like meaningless trivia. It meant nothing in the face of the end, bashing at his door with primal rage.

It would get through.

He was going to die in here. He looked at the gun. Useless against anything carrying the G-Virus. But he could spare himself a horrible death, and spare others the violence his reanimation would inevitably carry.

Hurry, the voice sighed.

The door crashed open, exploding off its hinges. A hideous parody of William Birkin peered through at him.

In the end, it really was the easy choice.

______________

______________

— then pulled back, wheezing. The after-image of Matthew’s last moments, the behemoth ducking through the shattered doorframe, burned in her mind’s eye. She turned towards the driver's seat and pushed the image at Wesker. The hiss of breath told her that he’d received it.

The van sat idling at the side of the dirt road. Wesker sat, staring at her, rigid. She hadn’t pushed a directive at him before, she realized. Whether he realized what had happened, what she had done, was a coin toss.

Did any of that come through before that last part, she asked. Wesker shook his head, temporarily rendered mute. The last time he had seen Birkin, the man had been pledging to make the virus even stronger. It seemed that G had become far too strong, too volatile, to handle.

For her part, Marigold seemed momentarily relieved. “Closed circuit. Thank goodness for small miracles.” She tipped her head back and reached for a bottle of water in the center console. The movement was oddly sedate. Reaching that far drained her, still. Something about the G-Virus was amplifying the strength of the signal...“I didn’t think any of mine were left in Raccoon. There are - always were - different grades of exposure - he must have got a small one at some point that built up.” She looked at Wesker, suddenly calm. “It’s started. Someone contaminated a wastewater plant days ago. It’s in the town.”

���You’re sure of this?”

“He told me. He didn’t understand what was happening.”

Wesker took this in, compartmentalized it, and assessed. They were still a couple of hours from the field office. It would take some time to mobilize before anyone could move in. HCF would evacuate anyone non-critical now that they had the advance warning. William had overplayed his hand in spectacular fashion.

There was still work to do.

Shifting the van back into drive, they continued west, into the setting sun.

Towards Raccoon City.

[unnerving-presence]

Pls I want to just be soft on him and hold him and love him but I know ALBERT WESKER would not let me!! I just wanna take care of him </3 love him so much

i think for affection when it comes to receiving wesker doesn’t show how he feels too often depending on the situation.

sometimes he will reciprocate those affections if you’re both alone at home, though they won’t be as.. extravagant. mainly just smaller touches as i like to think his love language is just doing things for you so you’ll really have to catch on to the things he does. it’s usually most noticeable when you get gifts or a specific type of food you told him you’ve been craving.

at work or any other public space his tolerance for affection is few and far between. he won’t exactly push you away or be rude or anything but he will usually deny your advances simply because he needs to do his work more than anything. that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you there or that he exactly hates the smaller touches, just anything over the top that would distract him. holding his arm or calling him pet names doesn’t really bother him while full on hugging him and kissing his neck will probably get you a slightly impatient sigh before you are briefly pulled off of him (gently of course)

as said before though in a more private setting he’s a bit more at ease as he’s not focused on working. he acts similarly though, but that’s just how he is. he was never one for lots of affection or big speeches of love. enough for him was what he was already doing, which seemed to be working out for him anyways

probably feels a bit out of place for him when you start doing things for him rather than the opposite.. like stop that’s his job..

quickly leaves his mind though cause he loves the attention and you’re practically begging to feed his ego at this point

[fonulyn]

If you're still taking prompts can you do chris/leon no zombies au where its Leon's first day at rpd and he so desperately wants to impress the hot STARS officer?

"Hey Chris, wait up!"

Hearing Jill's voice from the end of the hallway automatically made Chris look over his shoulder and slow down his steps. As she approached he looked back down at the folder in his hands, one he'd been reluctantly flipping through, trying to figure out a way to get rid of it somehow. Wesker had deliberately saddled him with the paperwork because he'd known how much he'd hate it, Chris was sure of that.

"What's up?" he asked as soon as Jill caught up with him, giving her a sideways glance as she fell in step next to him.

"You won't believe this," she said, with the kind of grin she only got when she was up to something. She looked downright elated, like she would burst if she didn't get to say what was on her mind. "Remember the new rookie that started here two weeks ago?"

Chris frowned a little. "Leo something?" He'd only seen the guy in passing, although he had meant to go introduce himself and actually get to know him, but he'd just been so distracted by this case and he ...probably would've forgotten his own head somewhere if it wasn't attached to him.

"Leon," Jill corrected, with a small headshake. "C'mon, he joined us for lunch the day before yesterday and you barely said a word to him. You really this swamped by the case?" She peeked at the folder curiously, before looking back up at him.

"You know how I get," Chris said, with a slight grimace. "I know I've been rude to him. I'll go say hi sometime."

"You should," Jill said, and the grin was suddenly back. "He just broke your record at the shooting range."

Immediately Chris froze in his tracks. He turned to look at Jill from huge eyes, mouth open in shock. "He what!?" Chris had thought his record had been downright impossible to break, it had been his for over a year and a lot of people - including Jill, who was good - had tried to break it to no avail. And now some rookie..?

"Broke. Your. Record." Jill enunciated, her grin widening a notch.

The grin disappeared the next second as Chris pushed the folder against her chest, letting go of it immediately so she had no other choice but to grab it so it wouldn't drop down onto the floor. "What? Chris! Hey!" She looked after him as he turned on his heels and rushed down the corridor. "This is your case!"

"Yeah yeah!" he called from the door, before bursting through it.

Jill stood there in silence for a second, staring at the closed door. Then she huffed out a laugh. "The rookie is so going to owe me."

*

Chris didn't really have a plan when he stormed down to the shooting range. Was he going to congratulate the guy or try to break the record again? He had no idea. Mostly he just wanted to see this newcomer who was apparently such a good shot that he managed to do that.

There was no one else at the shooting range and it wasn't hard for Chris to find Leon, even though he'd only met the man a couple of times before. Now that he was there, the wind kind of died out of his sails and he wasn't sure what to say, and gradually he slowed down until he stopped a few paces away from Leon.

There was a short bout of silence before Chris cleared his throat. "Hey," he said, and immediately cursed himself for sounding so lame. Except it only lasted for a second, before Leon looked up and Chris saw the prettiest blue eyes he'd ever seen in his entire life. It made all words die in his throat and he just stared, a little dumbly probably.

"Hi, Chris," Leon said, smiling, and that just... made things worse. It lightened up his entire face, making him even more attractive, and Chris had no idea how to deal with that.

"Hey," Chris said, again.

There was a short pause, before Leon laughed. "Okay, I heard from multiple sources how suave you are," he said teasingly, amusement dancing in his eyes. He wasn't exactly very subtle about how he let his gaze linger on Chris' arms, clearly checking him out. "If this is it, then I don't know, I might be a little disappointed."

"A little disap--" Chris started, but then he finally managed to shake himself out of the surprised stupor he'd fallen into. Laughing he shook his head, even rolled his eyes a little. "I didn't realize you wanted suave." He nodded towards the score card on the table, arching an eyebrow. "I heard you broke the record."

Leon just gave him a shrug and a grin. "I did pretty well."

"Pretty well?" Chris echoed, huffing out in amusement. "It's an unbreakable record! Not even though I promised that whoever breaks it gets my--" He let himself trail off. He had jokingly promised his guitar to whoever broke the record, as everyone knew it was his prized possession and he'd never part with it.

Yet he had seen the way Leon was checking him out. And if he was honest with himself, he hadn't met anyone quite this attractive before. He was curious, he really wanted to get to know Leon better - or at all, really - and maybe there was a way he could...

"Gets your..?" Leon prompted, after a short bout of silence.

Chris met his eyes straight, his grin a little cocky. "Gets a date. With me."

At that, Leon looked impressed. "Are you asking me out?"

"If you're interested, then yes," Chris replied without hesitation. "Would you want to go grab coffee with me?" He let his interest be shown, too, just to make sure they were both on the same page when it came to the mutual attraction.

"I would love to," Leon said. Then his smile morphed into a bit of a grimace, and he went on with a chuckle. "But I guess I need to..." He grabbed the score card off the table, handing it over to Chris. "I have a confession to make."

Frowning, Chris grabbed the paper. He looked down at it, squinted the numbers scribbled down, and it took a moment to compute. "But this..." he drawled, looking up into those stupidly gorgeous blue eyes, he was rapidly getting way too into them, damnit. "This isn't better than mine?" It was good, more than good, but it was still two points short of the record.

Leon grinned, a touch embarrassed, perhaps. "It's not."

"So you..."

"Got Jill to help me get you down here," Leon admitted, "so I could say hi and introduce myself properly. You've been so busy ever since I got here, and I didn't want to impose, but you seem really cool and really hot and--" He cut himself off, huffing a little. "See? I babble."

For a second Chris considered this. He was a little confused, a little surprised, but most of all kind of flattered that Leon had wanted to talk to him one-on-one this badly. So he decided that what the hell, he had nothing to lose.

"Alright," he said.

"Alright?" Leon asked, surprised.

"Alright," Chris repeated with a grin. "Coffee?"

It took Leon maybe a second to mirror the smile. "Coffee."

[ivy-loves-chocolate]

Note: this was a commission I got from a supporter on ko-fi. I hope that you’ll read it with the same enjoyment I had while writing it. If you want to commission or support me check the pinned post or the hyperlink, you’ll find all the details there. If you have questions, my DM is open 🤗. Also, your comments are always welcomed.

Promt: Wesker forgets about the reader’s birthday.

Pairing: Wesker x F!Reader

Word count: 2K

Type: fluff.

Wesker placed the samples with care on the table, starting his day as usual. He’s been spending his last few years, stuck in the lab researching all over again in order to achieve the wanted results. Since Uroborus is a high importance plan, he’s very meticulous about his schedule, respecting every minute precisely. Not a minute early, not a minute late. The only thing that he tries to put outside his schedule is you because he doesn’t like limiting the time he spends with his sweetheart. He cares so much about you that over the years he sees you as his equal, so he plans to inject you with the progenitor virus, a weaker strand because he can’t risk killing you. Because of this, he wants to do it on a special day, but the many opportunities that arrived didn’t fit in his schedule. The greatest gift he ever received was the power he got after breaking the confines of humanity, so he wants you to experience the same joy. Wesker kept thinking about it but he would get distracted by his work, so his present would always be in the planning stage. He doesn’t want to do it suddenly, he wants to introduce the idea slowly to you because he respects your boundaries.

Once you earned his respect, Wesker can be a very carrying partner, human even. He knows every little detail about his sweetheart, from her birthday to what she last ate. It can seem creepy when you put it like this, but this is nothing more than a lover who deeply cares about his partner and seeks to make her happy. Wesker is not the greatest at showing it though because of his work life. He has little to no time to show his affection. He still shows you that he is there for you, but not as much as he wants, making him more frustrated. Sometimes when he comes home from work he is so tired he barely sees you, let alone talk with you. He either collapses on the couch or bed and falls asleep as you talk with him because he is just too exhausted to carry the conversation. This doesn’t sit right with him because he gives all of his attention and energy to his work and doesn’t have any left for the only person that matters to him, making him wonder if it’s all worth it.

The relationship didn’t have a great start, since you expected Albert to be with you at least 8 hours a day but you’re lucky if you catch him once a week. He’s not the type to express himself and constantly expects others to read his mind, so you two would end up fighting. You have mistaken the lack of presence as rudeness and indifference, basing your reasoning on all the rumors you heard until you realized they were all stupid. Wesker proved to be the contrary, talking so nicely to you and not belittling you at all even if you piss him off. The amount of respect this man offered you even from the beginning is astonishing. He was so transparent with you and with all he does and he had so much patience until you understood. He was just a working man with probably burnout syndrome, so you took the responsibility to take care of him.

His phone buzzed since he started his work. Calls, messages, idiots without brains, as he calls them, needed help doing their job. When he had enough he picked up his phone and started to scroll down through notifications. Some of these people make him curse like a sailor, especially the one who texted him the most. As useful as Excella is in helping with his projects, as annoying she can be. Hundreds of messages and calls, some related to work some not. A particular question caught his attention.

“Do you think y/n would like this?” A picture of a purse was attached. Excella can’t stand you for obvious reasons, but out of respect for Albert, she tries to be friends with you. Still, why would Excella buy something for you out of the blue?

“Is something special today?” He thought.

The horrifying grimace when the realization hit cannot be described. Today is indeed a special day, your birthday. To be honest, he doesn’t care about birthdays. He despises them because they are a reminder of our mortality, but he knows how much you care about such occasions. Every year you got him something even if he insisted not to buy anything for him. Seeing you care and how much you enjoy receiving gifts he changed his mindset. Usually, he would give you something common, just as others would, but then he began to put more effort until there wasn’t anything material in this world to give. That’s how the progenitor virus gift arises in his head. However, he’s been so caught up with his research on Uroborus that he completely forgot to make the preparations. You don’t feel the days pass when you’re stuck in a lab all the time. He puts the phone aside, grabs his coat, and rushes out of the building ignoring the people that are trying to talk with him. If not the virus, he will have to find something common.

He’s not a fan of last minutes gifts but he has no choice. The guilt crushed him further as he remember he hasn’t talked with you all day. The ride to the jewels store felt like ages, even if it was relatively close. Luck was on his side since he found the store open.

None of the jewelry in front of him caught his attention because it wasn’t something he hopes of giving you. He already buried you in gold. You have the finest, unique, and expensive jewels in the world. He wouldn’t have been injected you in a lab of course. He wanted a special place for your rebirth. All of his ideas were put on paper, but probably got lost in the pile of reports. All he wanted was to see you smile on the most important day of your life, perhaps looking at him with the same eyes as his. He wanted to make you feel as you were the center of his universe, his queen, but he failed miserably. Maybe if he had gotten any outstanding results today he wouldn’t be so upset, but it was just another ordinary day. The lady tried talking with him but he was lost in his thoughts. Knowing it’s late and that you’re waiting for him, he bought a pearl necklace and left in hurry. On his way home he tried thinking of what to say, what excuse would be the best but he concluded that all of them were outdated.

Before opening the door, he hid the small package in the inner pocket of his coat. That lady was in hurry to close the store and didn't want to wrap the necklace if gift wrap. Wesker will remember that.

“I’m home!” He shouted once he entered. He may screw up, but he is not a man who runs away from conflict or a man who doesn’t own his mistakes.

“I thought you’d spend the night in your lab.” She said while giving him a peck on his cheek. “You need a vacation dear, you’ll be worn out before your time”

You were so carrying with him, so kind, but he couldn’t enjoy it. He didn’t deserve your kindness.

“There is something I need to tell you.”

“About?” You were starting to get worried. He left in hurry this morning and you didn’t hear anything from him all day. Excella told you briefly about him, but she talked more about the purse she bought for you which was more for her taste, not yours. Judging by his face you realized he had something on his mind, but you would never think it was because he forgot about your birthday. You expected him to talk about an outbreak rather than your forgotten birthday. To your surprise, he started apologizing.

“I was so caught up in my work I-“ he considers apologies a waste of time since we could do better things with our mortality and limited time, but for a reason, humans care about these.

“It’s alright my love.” You caress his face as a reassuring sign. “I understand.” You’re not upset at him. He genuinely cares about you and you can’t judge him, not after all the good things he has done for you. And besides, you know he doesn’t fully mean it, but you appreciate that he still does it for the sake of your feelings.

You began to caress his cheeks, to place small kisses all over his face. You see him rarely so you make sure to show him how much you love him as well. You hug him and he instantly hugged you back. After a while, you broke the hug and lead him to the couch so you can talk about each other’s day. He’s thankful you both moved on.

Eventually, you two got more comfortable. You let all your weight fall over his body as his strong arms were wrapped around your torso. His big hands were caressing your back while you found your peace in that small, almost suffocating, clasp. You almost fell asleep when a gentle squeeze woke you.

“I almost forgot.” He said, almost whispering, before handing you your gift. “It’s not what I had planned, but I hope you’ll find it enjoyable.”

Hazily, you took the small box Albert handled to you. It was a normal, jewelry box with the logo of the store on it. Inside there was a beautiful, shiny pearl necklace. Your delicate fingers touched the pearls with care, feeling their gritty texture and small bumps here and there. It weighs heavy in your hands. You fell in love instantly with the accessory. Seeing how happy you are, Albert offered to put it at your neck. Its elegance enhanced your natural beauty. It looks like it was made solely for you, like an extension of your body.

“I bet it was a lot.” You said with a somehow sorrow in your voice. You don’t want Albert to spend heavy money on you, because it’s his presence that you enjoy and value the most.

“Don’t worry about it, I like spending money on you.” And it was true, he loves dressing you in the most expensive clothing to flatter your body. You’re a goddess to him. Not to mention it strokes his ego to know that he’s able to provide such beautiful things to you. “At least this is what I can do.”

“And it’s perfect this way.” You can see him relax a little.

“I’ll make it up to you, I just need some time.” Time, mortality, death. Once again he was reminded of his plan that was supposed to fix humanity's greatest flaw, and his expression suddenly changed. That didn’t get past Y/N’s attention.

“Albert sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, some problems I need to solve.”

“Are they urgent?”

“Yes, very.”

“I’m sure they can wait until tomorrow.”

He scanned your body carefully. You weren’t getting any younger. Time left its mark on you. Not in an unpleasant way, but still noticeable.

“There something I need to tell you.” He said while sitting on the edge of the bed, watching you how you admire your new necklace. In the lights of the vanity mirror the pearls shine brighter, being more appealing than before making it impossible to take your eyes off them.

“What is it?” You said while gazing at your own reflection.

He choose his words carefully, but no matter how he put them, it could scare you. It’s not the time or the place. He doesn’t want to ruin your happiness. His actual surprise might not sit well with you, but it’s not your choice after all. If he considers it the best option for you he will do it regardless of your opinion. Still, this day came out better than he expected.

“Maybe tomorrow.”

Tags: @xx-sectumsempra-xx @residentzero2028 @heisentitties (dm if you wanna be in the tag list)

[whimsywispsblog]

Nothing More

A/N: Hello Wispies, how have y'all been? So, I finally completed my first Chrisandra (Chris x Cassandra) ficlet! It is quite short and really dramatic, but I hope you like it!

"So, how's our little Cassie doing?" Emily asked, taking a big bite off her sandwich. Chris raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his awfully cold coffee, trying not to spit the bitter liquid.

"Who the hell is Cassie?"

"Cassandra Demitrescu, of course," Emily gave a deadpanned expression, her lips slowly curling into a smirk, making a few crumbs of bread fall off. "Your...uh...midnight tryst?"

"She's not a midnight tryst, Em. She is just an asset for the intel on the inner workings of the Village and Miranda." Chris rubbed his forehead, slightly irritated.

"Sure." Emily mused, wiping her mouth with a tissue, swallowing down a chuckle that (fortunately) did not go unnoticed by Chris.

Maybe he should have let someone younger from his squad handle the asset. Cassandra Demitrescu. Daughter of Alcina Demitrescu. A dangerous biological weapon walking freely, killing several "preys" who were just innocent ignorant people. And she dreadfully reminded him of Jessica Sherawat, a triple agent. Jessica could hardly keep her hands off him. She was really irritating and petty. She was either dumb enough not to see that he wasn't interested, or she purposefully ignored the signs. He never knew which. Of course, compared to Cassandra, Jessica was a little less annoying. And stupid. Or more like naive.

The two of them engaged in a fight just near the exit of the castle. She was strong and difficult to kill, especially with the mutated insects. But Chris was able to keep up with her games until she took him over with her insects and brute strength. And just as she was about to kill Chris, Cassandra immediately dropped her sickle and rushed to grab a packet of granola that must have fallen off during their duel. Instead of killing her, Chris decided to try and get her to give him more information for a chocolate or a granola bar (Not like he could have killed her anyway. She might be a little distracted, but she could definitely overpower him easily).

A part of him felt awful about manipulating and rattling with her naivete. Still, another part of him knew that she was an uncontrollable and vicious bioweapon. They would always meet up at the Fort, past midnight on days when her mother was at the meeting. To her, it was her moment of freedom (and a chance to initiate a...ahem...a hush-hush intimacy with the handsome outsider). But Chris always tried to dissuade her approaches, at most giving her a peck on the cheek or on her hand. To Cassandra, that was enough for her. After centuries, she was being courted by a handsome gentleman. But Chris- he was stuck in a moral dilemma. Yesterday, they got the information that Miranda has indeed set her eyes on young Rose. They were in their final stages of setting up the cameras to monitor the situation before jumping to conclusions. The fortress was the last place. The squad intentionally left that for the Captain. How kind!

Just as he was ready to step out into the harsh Northern winds, the notification ring of his phone buzzed. There were only 4 contacts (besides his squad) that were never muted: Jill, Claire, Barry and Ethan. And the message was from Jill, a voice message.

"Hey, Chris! So, a little update for you. It seems Ada Wong is liked Connections. We're not sure how. Right now, we're trying to track her down, and we're calling in her little puppy, Leon. Also, I will be leaving for Paris today, there's some intel that we'd like to investigate, and Claire is there too, so hopefully, we'll get to catch up." The voice message ended with her usual goodbyes and see you soon.

Ada Wong. That one name that infuriates him (after Albert Wesker, of course). Although he did know that it was Carla's game and not Ada, after the BSAA received a drive with all the proof from an 'Anonymous Wellwisher' (AW = Ada Wong! Get it?!), he still found it difficult to not blame Ada for it. His fists clenched as he started reminiscing about the Lanshiang incident...Piers...Finn.

-

The inner wall of the fortress echoed the soft sounds of metal clanking and Chris' grunts. There was something about the frosty air and the quietness. Chris enjoyed the languid atmosphere. It was something he craved since the BSAA was formed. Maybe before that. Even sleep was tormenting- somehow, he could hear the snarl of the BOWs, and sometimes he could even feel the icky touch of the creatures. The smell- good lord. That sickening smell haunted him to no end. It was there in everything- even in his favourite burger and fries. But this day, there was something different about it. Or maybe he needed this- some time away from BSAA, away from civilisation and his mission. Just rejuvenate with nature's kisses. The wintery smell and the icy air was just perfect IF...If the sounds of the gravel crunching as someone walked- no, not walked, instead hopped towards him wasn't there. He knew exactly who it was- Cassandra Demitrescu.

"Chris! What are you doing here?" The girl giggled as she buried her face in Chris's shoulder, enjoying the feeling of the harsh fabric on her skin and his scent, of course. Chris gave a soft smile, patting her head a few times. It was only then that Cassandra noticed his gear. "Why are you wearing that funny thing? Are you going on a killing spree?" She giggled once more.

"No. I was just out on a walk before leaving for home."

"Will you come back?" Cassandra asked with her puppy dog eyes.

"Probably. Soon." He smiled.

"Will you stay then? When you come back?"

Chris shook his head with a neutral expression while Cassandra looked down sadly. Her sad face increased Chris' guilt. Ever since he and Cassandra started talking, he learned many things about her. One of the most important: She just wanted a normal life. A human life. Not in the castle, not with her sisters and mother, not in the Village. She wanted to experience a normal human life, and she got it from her time with Chris. It was short, yes, but to her, it was an adventure of a lifetime. A wish fulfilled, but at a terrible cost of having her trust and heart broken eventually. In this situation, he was the heartless monster, and she was an innocent girl who knew nothing outside of her castle.

"So...this is where it all ends?" Cassandra asked, her voice soft and low. Chris placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Yes. But I am glad to have had spent some time with you, Cassandra." He meant it. He truly did. As much as he could feel his inner voice breaking and howling, there wasn't any other way. Or the only other way was killing her, which Chris did not want to do. She didn't deserve that kind of heartbreak. Not today.

"Then...If you did like it, why don't you stay? I can talk to Mother-"

"I have a job and family back home. I am sorry."

"Bring them here! Stay here!"

"I cannot, Cassandra. I have other commitments." Cassandra's eyes teared up as her lips quivered uncontrollably.

"More important than me?" She whispered, pulling her hood back on. Chris nodded softly, whispering, 'Yes'.

"Maybe I shouldn't have met you," Cassandra said, clutching her dress. "Bela was right. Look at me. I was a fool to believe that this would..." She looked up at Chris, the tears trailing down her cheeks. Chris tried to wipe off the tears, but the girl pushed his hand away, turning her face away. "Just go, Chris."

"I am sorry, Cassandra."

"I don't want your apology." She said finally, bursting into a swarm of flies, flying away from the place. Chris stayed alone in the empty corridor, replaying the moment in his head. Cassandra's tears.

"Damn, Captain, you just broke her heart!" Lobo chuckled, unaware of Chris' growing sorrow.

"Yeah." That was all he said, and that was enough for Lobo to get the hint that his Captain had been, unfortunately, emotionally compromised by their enemy.

Little did Cassandra know that not only was that her last time meeting Chris, but it was her last week alive. Chris knew that she needed to be killed, and she knew that whatever was said and done, Chris cannot stay here in the Village because, unlike for her, this wasn't his home. But that never stopped her sad tears from falling, her soft gasps turning into audible whimpers and mewls, as she held the chocolate wrappers that Chris had given her close to her chest.

Her sobs got louder and louder as she collapsed onto her bed, crying harder and harder. Cassandra could have killed him then and there. She was powerful, and she knew it. She could take down Chris without much trouble. Or maybe even force him to live with her and abandon his home. But Cassandra loved him. Or maybe cared for him too much. She really did. And that is why she chose to let him go.

In a way, Chris, too, let her go. He could have taken her and given her the 'human life' she craved for. But knowing the BSAA, they would first imprison her. Then run several tormenting experiments on her, as if she hadn't lived through enough already. She would have been used as a weapon, and they'd make her do all the dirty work. And lastly, she'd be killed off once her purpose is served. It wasn't worth it, and that would have made her more miserable. In this, atleast she is at home. She has a family. Her death is inevitable, but she wouldn't die alone or in some unknown lands. And she was his mission. Nothing more.

"Nothing more," He muttered, walking towards the safehouse.

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Happy Throwback Thursday! A day for great memories (wink!)

Wednesday was a brilliant day for me! Nothing in particular happened but I had a long list of things to do and I did them all! Lists of ‘Things To Do’: some people hate them, some people swear by them. I have been known to procrastinate (probably why my eyesight is going) but – yesterday – I was like a man possessed. Tick, tick, tick! What a feeling of satisfaction!

Those of you that are self-employed and work from home, you know how hard it is to motivate yourself sometimes! You wander from room to room, looking for excuses to get out of work, looking for things to eat, looking for distractions. I know! I’ve been there (many times!) But, some days, you’ve got to grab your own lapels (or anything you like) and straighten yourself out! “Look, you lazy git” it will begin. “You’ve got a job to do, now bloody do it!” And then you grab a huge bag of crisps and start another Netflix box set!

The bank holiday weekend is approaching but, where I teach, they don’t observe bank holidays, so I will be working on the Monday. Good thing I enjoy my job! Nevertheless, after a weekend with Lady Wesker and my brother, I will be in good spirits. It’s going to be funny on Sunday if my brother decides to come down to the Mi-Soul event at Shoosh! He looks like me, so loads of people are going to be greeting him as Lindsay and will be mightily confused when he says, “No, I’m not Lindsay.” Poor bugger! Hopefully, he’ll have his camera with him? He takes amazing photos! I will definitely have my camera and my mobile with me, so nobody is safe! Now I just need to decide what outrageous shirt to wear, if I can get it past my lockdown belly!

My beautiful friend, The Temptress Of Tottenham, Theresa Tee Mills is in a high state of excitement! Her favourite reggae singer Carroll Thompson is coming to Dicey Reilly’s Edmonton on Saturday, October 2nd. She would LOVE to go with a fellow Carroll Thompson fan, so please contact her direct ASAP. That one is going to be busy!

Extra hour on Saturday, so ‘The A-Z Of Mi-Soul Music’ starts at midday. My executive producer this week is Moany Em (Emma Peters) and she has done a superb job of choosing acts and songs.

Have a throbbing and thrusting Thursday (with hopefully a few thrills through your thoroughfare?) I love you all. My ambition is to get to 100 reviews for ‘Whatever Makes Them Dance’ (90 so far) and 40 reviews of ‘Keep It Fun’ by the end of the year, so please read and review at least one of them. I thank you.

[rainythefox]

Nightfall (CH.15)

Synopsis: Pre-Resident Evil 1, slight-AU/Canon Divergence. Claire Redfield comes home to visit her  brother Chris for the holidays but gets caught up in a dangerous game of  cat and mouse with Albert Wesker, the Captain of STARS, after stumbling  upon dark secrets. She can’t call the law; Wesker is the law, and she  can’t tell Chris. She is trapped…Claire/Wesker & Slight Chris/Jill (There’s Wesker & William Bromance too lol). Rated M for smut, language, violence, adult content.

AO3 Link

Chapter 15:Infatuation

Claire was awake when she heard Chris getting ready for work, but she stayed in bed. She didn’t join him for breakfast or a cup of coffee. She didn’t see him off. She just turned over on her side, away from her door where the hallway light creeped through underneath. She had endured a near sleepless night of tosses and turns, the aches in her muscles a stinging reminder of what she had done.

She must’ve fallen asleep for a couple of hours because she awoke to sunshine peeking through the curtains. The sun was out, reflecting off the snow that blanketed the city. Claire got out of bed and did her usual morning ritual: dressing, brushing her teeth, hopelessly trying to come up with a way to escape her grim situation. Funny how that last one had snuck into her daily routine. Her new normal apparently.

Claire made herself toast and orange juice for breakfast but barely touched it. She tried distracting herself with the newspaper, but there wasn’t anything interesting to read in Raccoon Times.

Umbrella Corporation opens new distribution center, creates 600 new jobs

Mayor Warren promises more funding for local orphanage

Kite Bros. expands Downtown travel with new subway tunnel

Clock Tower Plaza puts up traditional Raccoon City Christmas Tree

Even though Chris left her his truck again, she didn’t want to go anywhere. Where would she go? See a friend and potentially drag them into her situation? Try and get help from someone else that was under Wesker’s boot or on his payroll? Raccoon City seemed like an illusion now, a cesspool of collusion and extortion. As though the rose-colored glasses she had once viewed the city in were ripped from her eyes to expose all of the red flags and blood she couldn’t see before.

Besides, she felt bad for the fight she had with her brother last night. Despite Chris overstepping boundaries with his overprotective nature, he was just concerned for her. He knew she was hiding something and was worried. The Redfield siblings only had each other, for nearly nine years now. Chris had sacrificed time and time again for her, to make sure they could stay together, to make sure she could go to college, always making sure she had what she needed over himself. Even when Chris’s behavior got him discharged more than once, he always put her first.

He knew she could take care of herself. He made sure he taught her all he could. Most brothers were protective of their sisters, but Claire wondered if Chris’s...excessiveness was perhaps a form of PTSD from what happened to their parents. Stepping into that guardian role, he went right into the Air Force, just like their parents. He abandoned a normal future to ensure hers, to keep them together, and to somehow get closer to the parents they had lost.

That was why it was hard to stay mad at him. Even if this time he unmindfully didn’t know the danger he was putting them in with his good, albeit intemperate, intentions.

Claire decided she would apologize when Chris got home that evening. And so, she spent the day trying to be productive, to keep her mind from wandering. She studied for a while, and then cleaned the house for a bit, blasting Queen at high volume. However, no matter what she did, she couldn’t keep herself from thinking about not only her situation, but the man that now had her literally pinned under him. She worried what his next scheme for her would be. But she’d be lying to herself if she denied the excitement that also thrummed through her veins. The strange mix made her queasy.

By the time it started getting dark, Claire realized she had wasted most of her day deep in thought, trying to make sense of it all, plotting for a way out, and maybe spending more time than she’d care to admit thinking about what happened between her and Wesker.

Chris would be home soon, so she started dinner. While cooking, she turned on the television to keep her mind focused, but after a few channel changes, a local news station caught her attention with a caption that filled her lungs with ice.

“Raccoon University professor missing, linked to drugging and sexual assault of multiple students.”

Claire turned up the volume, perturbed, because she just knew which professor they were talking about…

“-ow long has this been going on, Alyssa?” asked the anchor.

The news reporter, a pretty, bob-cut blonde, was quick to answer while standing out in the cold in front of Raccoon University, wearing a white coat and a red suit. “I’m being told this may have been happening for over a year now. The RPD are keeping the victims’ identities under wraps at this time, but I do know there are at least four. Dr. Simon Lowery has been missing for a little over 24 hours, having fled after trying to drug a female student at the open house last night. We have yet to get a statement from his wife, but police are saying she had no idea of his behavior. We’ve heard the same testimonies from colleagues. This is one of those -”

Claire clicked the remote. The TV went black, silent. She stared at the screen, a shocked reflection looking back at her. The news story rubbed her wrong. Lowery was a bad man, she knew that much. He would’ve killed her over those documents, would’ve strangled her in the snow when they fought to keep her quiet over stealing whatever it was she had stolen. But not once did she get the feeling he was like that.

She’d bet money that the news story over Lowery was made up to cover up what really happened. She wasn’t sure if Wesker came up with the story or if it was any of his numerous pawns. Didn’t matter. It proved what she already knew, just like the other day when the news covered that Finley guy’s supposed “suicide” in his car. Just as Wesker had told her before, their fates were whatever he decided. Not just their deaths but their legacies, tainting and twisting them, dismantling and disgracing them, like a true god of death.

The city would never know what really happened to Finley and Lowery, whether they deserved their fates or not.

Claire shook out of her thoughts, a chill running over her as she recalled Finley’s head exploding, blood spraying all over the snow. Why had fate led her down that very same path that day?

A smoky, tangy smell pervaded her nostrils. Dinner was burning! Cursing, she raced into the kitchen to save it. The pork chops were burned on one side but other than that, the rest of dinner turned out okay.

Chris came in not long after she had finished cooking, silently walking over to her spot on the couch as she read a book. The couch shifted when he sat down, and so she looked up from the pages. Still in STARS uniform, her older brother scratched the back of his head, uncomfortable but presenting her an apologetic smile. It was hard to stay mad at him with a puppy-dog face like that.

“Hey…”

“Hey,” she mimicked.

“I’m sorry, Sis. About last night. I clearly went overboard. It’s been eating at me all day.”

“Chris, it’s -”

“Let me finish,” he pleaded. “I know you’re an adult. I know you can kick anyone’s ass. I’m overprotective because of what happened to Mom and Dad.”

She sighed. “I know.”

“But that’s no excuse to act the way I did. I trust you, Claire. And I believe in you. But I get so...obsessed with making sure you’re safe and-and fine that my stupid brain can’t see anything else! I let it get the better of me too much. So, from now on, I’ll work hard to keep myself from going overboard and to trust you more. N-Not that I haven’t trusted you! You’ve never given me a reason to doubt you. It’s stupid of me to act like you have. We’ve always had that unspoken pact that we can tell each other anything and it will always stand.”

Claire shifted uncomfortably in her spot. “A-Always.”

“I love you, Sis. I’m really sorry.”

The Redfield siblings were both stubborn and proud, and so sometimes it was Chris who apologized first and sometimes it was Claire. Although Chris usually gave in before she did. Despite that, this was still pretty soon for Chris to give in, as big as a fight they had. Claire wondered if something happened at work that made Chris come to his senses faster. Maybe Jill talked to him? Wouldn’t be the first time. She was her brother’s best friend, after all.

She decided it wasn’t important for now. She had been ready to apologize to her brother when he got home, and here he was apologizing as well. She was ready to put the whole fight behind them and move on...as best as she could in her predicament anyway. At least Chris had seemingly given up pushing her for answers. What a lucky break! Jill must’ve really lined him out.

Claire hugged Chris. “I’m sorry too, Bro. Love you!”

His strong arms wrapped around her and squeezed hard. For years growing up, it had been the safest feeling in the world. She always cherished it. Soon they pulled away, and got up to eat dinner.

William paced, flipping through pages, catching important details and logging them away at a rate far faster than the average person. Wesker leaned against the wall, dressed in his STARS attire, watching him pace a trench in front of him. Always calm, always collected. How did he do it?!

The cable car shuddered, flicking the light overhead as it rose to the surface. He hated taking this hunk of junk! Normally, he didn’t have to, but they were meeting Irons in the sewers. Perfect place to find the slimy rat.

“No! Goddamn it, no! Why? They said Sheena Island was strictly testing and experimentation! That old bastard is moving my Hunter research there without my consent, and now the Tyrants? Mass production on a prototype? Even if they perfect the Epsilon strain, it’s nowhere near ready for cloning!”

“Are you truly all that surprised?” Wesker asked.

“No, I just…” William sighed. “It’s shit like this that tells me Spencer has no plans to put me on the executive board! If I don’t get in there, we’ll never be able to fulfill our plans! And there’s no way in hell I’m bartering the G-Virus for that spot. It’s my legacy, mine to completely control. He’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers!”

“Best not tempt fate, old friend.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“At any rate, your tantrum is premature. With those numbers, the Sheena Island facility won’t be operable for any kind of mass production until August at the earliest. The research team on the Epsilon strain knows that the T-002 will be obsolete by the time it is finished. More than likely a new model is being developed and that will be the one they intend to manufacture. We have time to take this knowledge and use it to our advantage later.”

Birkin snorted. Lately Al’s “optimism” gave him anxiety. "Don’t you think we have our fingers in too many pies already? And toes at this rate. We’re wearing ourselves thin, Al. With too many enemies waiting for us to screw up.”

It was a reasonable concern. Sheena Island’s true motives were still mostly top-secret for now, going by this information sent by Alex. Roth must’ve bought this information from this other cohort of his, and was probably trying to haggle deals with Mueller, Lowery, and Bard. As well as Crawford and Finley. William made a mental note to thank Alex for this later. Wesker may have been a member of the Umbrella Intelligence Division as well, but he meticulously watched his dealings, aware of Spencer’s tabs on him. Alex didn’t have this problem, and so was their go-to source of anything they weren’t privy to.

His partner scowled. “That is such an absurd idiom. Regardless, we are committed at this point. Roth still has our stolen data and the plans for Sheena Island directly affects our goals. You admitted it yourself.”

The cable car shook and screeched, sliding to a halt. The light above the door turned green, and the robotic female voice told them to watch their step and have a good day. No, he would certainly not have a good day! He was having to deal with this and was about to meet a big rat in a stinky sewer. Didn’t the stupid voice know that? How insensitive!

“Yeah, I know. Guess we better be careful how we handle this.”

Wesker and William exited the cable car and walked side by side through the sewer facility. There weren’t many workers, but they all gave them a wide berth, keeping their heads down.

Wesker chuckled to himself, but William heard it over the water pumps and machinery.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just acknowledging that your prolonged bout of paranoia has made us change places. I’m usually the one telling you we need to be careful.”

They were both ruthless and ambitious, but Wesker had more patience and control. And although his back-and-forth stints of paranoia did make him more cautious, Will still hadn’t developed the patience or control that his partner had always had.

If only you knew why...what he’s making me do…

William frowned, rubbing his shoulder and quickly cleared his throat. “Well, no wonder you're so optimistic lately, taking after me. Like a little ball of sunshine!"

His partner didn’t respond to that, and William hoped it wasn’t because he had caught his nervous tic. In case he did, he quickly changed the subject. “So, did you get the kind of reaction out of Ada you were expecting?”

“More or less. I’m still annoyed by how you handled it though.”

“Look, you asked me to bring Claire up in a way to get a reaction from Ada to see if your suspicions were right and I did just that! You’re welcome, by the way!”

They reached the monitor room where they were meeting with Chief Irons. William entered first, and the Chief immediately noticed him, an Umbrella mercenary on each side of him. His pudgy eyes squinted testily and he opened his mouth to start his usual complaining. That is, until Wesker entered right behind him. His mouth quickly snapped shut. Ah, the benefits of having Al around!

Irons glanced around the room, his usual air of arrogance belittled and squashed like a bug. But there was nowhere to run in this room, nothing to protect him. He was at their mercy, but the tough-as-nails Irons wouldn’t be one to break so easily.

He half-laughed, half-snorted, attempting to cover his discomfort. “Now this must be a special occasion if you're both here. Rumor has it when you two are together, someone's going to die...or wish they would."

"Well, funny thing about rumors, Brian," William smirked. "There’s always some truth to them."

It was fun seeing the color drain from his face only to completely flush red like a cherry. He glared their way, fists forming tightly at his sides. "Oh yeah? And how exactly am I on you two assholes' shit list today? Considering all I do is cover your goddamn tracks and provide you with security all hours of every fucking day. Wait, don't tell me, you two have a rehearsed good cop, bad cop routine just for me?" He laughed. "No thanks."

Will nudged Albert. "Damn it, he guessed it! Wait, am I bad cop this time? I forget?"

"I'm always bad cop."

"No fair! We should take turns!"

Irons rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Just get to the point of why I'm here. If we're negotiating new deals, it's a bad time. I'm a busy man, after all."

"Funny you should mention that, Chief," Wesker sneered. "We're done negotiating with you."

The Umbrella mercs pulled their guns on the Chief. Irons froze on the spot, eyes bulging and going to the trained weapons, and this time he turned a bit green.

“Listen, Albert...let’s not get too hasty. Let’s talk like gentlemen. I-I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

His resolve was cracking slowly, but William wouldn’t count the bastard out just yet. Irons had grown complacent in his position, taking advantage of anything he could get his grubby hands on. William and Wesker had allowed much of this behavior to slide in the knowledge that Irons would eventually get himself into a bind. And that’s where he was now.

“Of course, Brian. I am a sophisticated man, after all. Take a seat.”

The Chief of Police looked relieved at that and pulled out a chair and sat down. The Umbrella mercenaries stood at his back, guns still aimed to the back of his head. William and Albert sat down across from him.

William slid a sealed yellow envelope across the table to Irons. “Open it and take a good, hard look, Brian.”

Irons wiped his mustache, a little sweat forming on his brow. He slowly opened the envelope and sifted through the contents. Each page he flipped through he grew a shade whiter, until he was pasty like a ghost.

“What the fuck is this?”

William leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. “Oh, I don’t know. You tell us.”

Irons trembled in his chair, both from anger and fear. He flushed again, one fat fist crinkling a page and he quickly stood. “You fucking bastards!”

One merc’s gun barrel pressed into Irons’ skull and he quickly remembered his place. He slowly sat down. He sure was sweating a lot now!

“You put yourself in this situation, Brian,” Wesker stated. “You know I keep tabs on you and yet you got sloppy. Arrogant, too, thinking you’d be able to set me up.”

“Your sick fantasies with the mayor’s daughter will be released to the public. Your replacement has already been chosen. You will die,” William continued.

“No! No, please! We can come to an agreement!”

“There are no more agreements to come to, Brian,” Wesker growled. “Just two choices. You can die like William so eloquently stated or you can sell the remainder of your pathetic soul to our cause.”

And unsurprisingly, the Chief went with the option that kept his sorry ass alive. “Deal! You got it!”

“And just so we’re clear. That -” William motioned to the envelope. “- never goes away. This is your last chance. Next time...well...there won’t be a next time. Just you dead and your dirty secrets exposed for all to see. Never forget how replaceable you are, Brian.”

Irons slowly nodded, guarded. “And exactly what are you two going to want me to do for your “cause”?”

“You will still perform your normal duties for Umbrella, and only report to me,” Wesker explained. “But if William and I tell you to do something, you do it. Even if it goes against your orders from Umbrella.”

“Fine.”

“William will be taking over as your handler. You should thank him. It was my intention to kill you tonight and he convinced me otherwise. If he asks you to perform in the circus, I expect you to clap your flippers and balance that ball without any disinclination. Do I make myself clear?”

Irons ground his jaw and stiffly nodded. “You always do, Albert.”

William sat up a little straighter, a haughty grin spreading. Albert’s protectiveness of him always gave him a feeling of empowerment, feeding his ego, and made a darker part of himself more bold, more ambitious.

“Don’t worry, Brian,” Will said with a fake, friendly smile. “You do a good job and stay on my good side, I always pay really well, way more than Al does.” He added a postscript after seeing the Chief’s interested grin. “Get on my bad side, however, and you’ll be my newest experiment...just ask Lowery.”

The Police Chief’s relief was short-lived. The mention of Lowery’s name struck something in him. He scowled, stiffening once more, looking between the two partners in crime.

“So you two were behind what happened at the university?”

“Oh yes,” William bragged. “Which is partly how we found out about your little attempt to set up Albert.”

“Which brings us to our next order of business, Brian,” Albert added. “Who was with you when you met up with Aaron Roth?”

Irons shook his head, hands on the table, still aware of the guns at his back. “Look, Lowery and Bard paid me to keep their business dealings hush-hush. I think they were trying to coerce Mueller into selling key information on his project in exchange for getting some crucial research going down on some island.”

Will sighed. “Don’t make Al repeat himself, ya idiot.” He snapped his fingers. “His name? Who is he?”

“S-Some bigshot from Europe who works on this island. He’s partners with Roth, buying and selling research within Umbrella and other companies. Goes by Stefan Bennett, but I couldn’t tell you if that’s his real name or not.”

When Will glanced at Al, a subtle flex in his shoulder was all he needed to read him. Bennett wasn't anyone known to them.

"Where are they hiding out?"

Irons shrugged. "Don't know. I'm only being paid for their meetings. Bennett will be at Bard’s annual Christmas party. I don't know if Roth will be there. He acted like he had other plans."

Like selling my research, the bastard...

"Then I suppose a meeting with Nathaniel Bard is in order," Wesker announced, sunglasses glinting under the fluorescents as he looked to William with a dark grin.

William returned his partner's smirk. "Yeah...It's party time."

(photo by IsmaelUchihaSan)

It was the perfect day for Jill to be off, or not have her shift until the evening anyway. Late morning, while Chris was stuck at the RPD, the girls enjoyed a light brunch and lattes at a quaint coffee shop before doing some last minute Christmas shopping.

Claire always enjoyed hanging out with the older woman. They had a lot in common and Claire was always learning something new with her company. She often found herself wondering if her oaf of a brother would ever romantically ask Jill out. It seemed like everyone could see it but them. Then again, perhaps they didn’t pursue their feelings because of their careers. Claire didn’t know the policies of STARS, but there might be restrictions there.

The two of them picked up Claire’s gift she had bought for Chris and took it over to Jill’s house. The box was tall and rectangular, about the size of a small adult. Though bulky, it wasn’t as heavy as it looked, and with each of them on one end, was able to carry it easily into the home.

They were greeted by Jill’s overly affectionate golden retriever, Bella. Claire flopped onto the floor to properly greet the fluffy, blond dog. Jill giggled at the sight.

“Hell of a guard dog, ain’t she?” Jill joked. “She’ll lick you to death.”

Better than getting my throat ripped out by Wesker’s dog…

Claire pushed aside that unpleasant memory and stood back up. Hard to believe that was only a few days ago. Her hand was already a lot better, but her ankle still hurt like a bitch.

They carried the box into Jill’s other bedroom that doubled as an office and home gym. The STARS Alpha member’s house was a three bedroom, two bath. She assumed the third bedroom was a guest room, but Claire wasn’t sure. Chris’s house was a bit bigger, with three bathrooms. They had their own in their bedrooms and then the guest bathroom in the hallway.

“Thanks for keeping this here for a bit, Jill.”

“No problem. I guess my home is the popular choice to hide gifts. Chris has yours here as well. I’m just waiting for Barry to ask to keep the girls’ gifts here, as if they don’t have enough space in that big house of theirs.”

“Well, you know how Moira is. She gets into everything. They can’t hide any gifts from her! She’s gonna be a handful as a teenager!”

They laughed and returned to the living room, Bella trailing behind them. Jill fetched them some water and the girls took a load off on the sofas.

“The punching bag was a good thought,” Jill declared. “I know Chris has been wanting one.”

Claire nodded, smiling as she watched Bella carry around her favorite plush duck toy. “Yeah. He’s been really wanting to start bulking up more. Although when we were playing on his guitar last night, I realized he needs a new toolkit for it. So I might have to go pick up one of those as well.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you play too. Why haven’t I got to see you play yet? I’ve watched Chris lots of times.”

Claire shrugged. “I guess we just never think about it when I'm visiting.” The Redfield siblings didn’t mind playing guitar in front of others, but they cherished playing together, reciting notes and melodies their father had played for them when they were young. “Chris told me you played piano? I need to see that!”

Claire didn’t get the piano at all. That was entirely different from the guitar.

Jill softly laughed. “Yeah. It’s ingrained from childhood. Had the meanest instructor ever. Chris jokes that playing the piano won’t ever do me any good, and suggests I learn something else.”

“He’s just jealous,” Claire joked.

Jill laughed at that. “He totally is. You know, I’m happy you two reconciled so quickly. Chris can be so stubborn sometimes.”

“He can be, but I’m not one to talk. Whatever you said to him, it must’ve worked. So thank you for that. I know he’s just trying to look out for me, but it gets old. I’m an adult and can take care of myself.”

The older woman furrowed her brows and shook her head. “It wasn’t me.”

“Huh? It wasn’t?”

“No, it was the Captain.”

Her heart flipped, twisting her lungs to where she choked on air before she could take a drink of her water. It took all in Claire’s power to keep a straight face and feign something catching in her throat. “I’m sorry?”

“The fight you two had upset Chris a lot, affected his performance when we were doing some training. I guess Wesker picked up on it. Apparently, they took a long lunch together, and the Captain helped Chris get his head straight. At least, that’s what Chris told me later.”

Claire was completely freaked out by that information but hid it, wiping her suddenly clammy hands on her pants. She drank half of her water in one gulp and squeezed the bottle so hard it crumpled in the middle.

“O-Oh, I figured it was you.”

“Not this time,” Jill answered. “But it wasn’t without a lack of trying. He just didn’t listen. Not until he had gone too far anyway, the ass. At least Wesker got through to him.”

“Yeah…” she cleared her throat and stood up. “Well, I should get going. I don’t want to take up all of your free time and I have some studying to do. Thanks for helping me pick that up and letting me hide it here.”

It was partially true. Claire didn’t want to take up all of Jill’s day off before she had to go in for night shift. But mostly the recent news had unsettled her and she needed to gather her thoughts on the matter.

Jill smiled, nodding as she patted Bella on the head as the retriever’s big brown eyes stared up at Claire with that duck still in her mouth, tail thumping hard on the hardwood floor.

“No problem, Claire.”

“Stay safe tonight, Jill.”

“You’re not on the schedule...again.”

Ada sighed, crossing her arms and looking at the guard like he was stupid. He was. “I know that. But that won’t matter. William will still see me.”

The guard shifted uncomfortably, studying her suspiciously and then glancing at his list again. “Dr. Birkin is an extremely busy man. He’s been doing important tests all day and asked me to not allow anyone but Mrs. Dr. Birkin and Dr. Wesker entry. I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“I’m here on behalf of Albert. He’s busy at the police department currently. Just give him a ring and you’ll see.”

The guard hesitated, thinking and unsure. Clearly, he was scared to disturb his boss in the middle of his important work.

Ada smiled flirtatiously at him. “C’mon, Johnny. Help a girl out? It’s important.” She winked.

Johnny sighed. “Oh, alright.” He put a hand to his headset. “Dr. Birkin? I’m sorry to bother you, but Ms. Wong insists on seeing you. She says she’s here on behalf of Dr. Wesker.”

The spy didn’t miss how the camera up in the corner of the hallway turned down their way, aiming the attached machine gun right on their faces, blinking red light a far deadlier version of Candid Camera.

“Yes, sir. I understand. Will do,” Johnny said into his headpiece. He nodded at Ada and stepped aside. “You may enter. But please, keep it short. He has much to do.”

Ada waved him off. “Thanks, Johnny.”

She went through the automatic door, was sprayed down again, and strolled through the large, multi-room laboratory. She turned a corner, saw bright yellow and outstretched arms, and, on reflex, kicked the thing away from her.

“Ow!” came a muffled voice.

“Will, you idiot. Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Ada snapped.

The mad scientist pulled the hazmat suit’s helmet off, waddling over to the nearby safety station to strip it off and hang it up.

“I think that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to scaring you!” William laughed.

Ada crossed her arms, glaring at him. “You didn’t scare me. You didn’t even startle me. You mildly annoyed me.”

“Ugh, you sound like Al. One day I will scare him. It’s on my bucket list. It might get me killed, but imma do it!”

The spy shook her head. “I don’t know about you sometimes.”

Birkin seemed extra...quirky today. He had an extra bounce in his step, grinning, humming as he left the safety station to his main desk. That’s when Ada noticed numerous empty energy drink cans and half a cup of cold, forgotten black coffee.

“How many of these have you had?” He did kind of look like one of those zombies Ada had seen being dissected in the Arklay lab, pale skin and dark circles under his eyes.

“Uhh…” he pondered, counting on his fingers as he twitched and quivered restlessly. “Five? I think?” He flopped down in his chair, shifting it side to side.

Ada leaned against his desk, glancing at the disorganized paperwork strewn about. Her sharp eyes caught many interesting and familiar things: G-Virus, Plant 43, Hunter Beta, Cerberus, NE-Alpha parasite, Lisa Trevor, T-Virus Epsilon. Then her eyes caught the interesting things that she had only seen once and was curious to find out more, now with associated words that intrigued her further: Prototype Virus, Project W, eugenics research, Progenitor, Ndipaya.

She had only a few seconds of absorbing these words before William snatched up the two papers that had anything on it. She watched him open his safe and put them inside, only accessible with a scan of his hand.

Ada acted like none of it interested her. “Five, huh? And how long have you been up, exactly? You look like shit. You smell like shit.”

William lifted his shirt and smelled. “I don’t know, when did Al and I go talk with Irons?"

“That was yesterday morning.”

“Oh...shit. Well, it’s been over 24 hours then.”

“I can tell.”

“So, how’d it go with Mueller?”

“As well as you’d expect. I’ve already relayed the info to Albert. Mueller won’t be a problem. In fact, he’s willing to help if it gets rid of Roth. I guess he feels scammed by the trade.”

William smirked, still swiveling slightly side to side in his chair. “I bet he does. Well, with Lowery no longer having a tongue and Irons and Bard put in their places, looks like we might be able to wrap this up by Christmas!”

Ada rapped her nails on the desk, frowning. “Albert told me the plan. Look, between you and me, I gotta ask...what’s the deal with him and Claire?”

Will chuckled. “What’s wrong? You jealous?”

“In your dreams. It’s just that...I mean, I don’t know the girl,” she lied. “But I thought he was just using her to get to Roth. Why have a fling with her? He doesn’t do that...at least not with just anyone.”

“You sure are a curious little kitty,” William half-joked, half-warned, leaning back in his chair. “What are you hoping to use this knowledge for?”

Ugh, she hated when he was an asshole. Then again, he was protecting Albert and so she should’ve known better. The spy sighed. “Fine. I’m just a little worried about Claire, alright? Can you blame me?”

She knew how Wesker worked. Claire was in way over her head. Didn’t matter how smart and strong she was. Despite being his type, she was still different than most and he did seem to have some kind of soft spot for her. And that is what both bothered and intrigued Ada.

“It’s not like you to worry about others like that. And I can blame you, actually. You got yourself tangled with Al. That’s on you.”

Ada bit her tongue. This wasn’t about her. “And poor Claire got tangled out of her control. C’mon, Will. I’ve helped you two a lot recently. Throw me a bone here. I deserve something in return.”

Will kept a straight face, thinking it over. Ada glared at him. Finally, the Golgotha creator grinned widely and leaned forward. Ada recognized the child-like delight, and knew he was about to spill the beans.

“Alright, alright! I think he has feelings for her.”

Ada laughed skeptically. “Whatever, Will! Tell me for real.”

She had to admit, she had thought something similar a few days ago when she spied Wesker nearly pinning Claire against his car. But she soon dismissed it. He definitely liked her and was attracted to her…but had feelings for her?! That was a little hard to believe.

“I do! He is obsessed, I’m telling you. The girl would’ve been dead a long time now had it been anyone else. He’s given her more chances than I’ve ever seen. He had the chance to pop her brother in the back without anyone knowing and didn’t do it! I don’t think he knows it himself, or he purposely keeps himself in denial, but...there’s something about her.”

Ada frowned, thinking it over. William had a point. All of Claire’s stunts to try and fight Albert should have ended with her dead a long time ago. And how her brother had been getting suspicious and snooping around, well, it should have ended the same with him by now.

“You think she reminds him of Anezka?” Ada asked.

Was that her name? Ada couldn’t really remember. She wasn’t around back then and had only heard all the different stories when she came here a couple of years ago.

“Nah...I mean they’re both redheads and feisty, but I don’t think that’s it. Anna jilted him, and besides being a little touchy over it, he’s moved on.”

“Is that really what happened?”

William shrugged. “I guess? No one really knows...not even Al.”

Ada wished she had been a fly on that wall when Anezka was still around. So many rumors and gossip about what happened. She practically disappeared, as though she was only a dream. But Albert remembered...resentfully. Ada knew him well enough that it wasn’t just his ego that got hurt. He actually had cared for her, and he hated that he did.

“Well, Albert’s given Claire all these chances to let her live. You think he will let her go when Roth is dealt with, as he has promised her?”

William scowled, leaning back in his chair. “What do you think?”

The double agent had no idea why, but her heart sank a little. As if she was hoping for something she knew better of. And here she thought her line of work had snuffed out all remaining optimism in her life.

“He won’t kill her. I guarantee it,” William boasted. “As obsessed and possessive he already is of her, she’s stuck. There will be conditions he gives her. I’m sure you know what those would be.”

“You sound happy about that,” Ada pointed out.

He shrugged, but the slight upcurve of his lips gave him away. “I like the girl. Sherry adores her. She’s proven to be quite resourceful and clever. She’ll be handy to have around. Besides, if Al actually has feelings for her, I gotta see where it goes! The geneticist in me really hopes he knocks her up.”

It may have sounded like a dark joke, but Ada knew the lunatic genius was dead serious. “I’m really disturbed by how obsessed you are with your best friend’s love and sex life.”

“I’m just looking out for him!”

Ada would never understand Wesker and William’s relationship. One of life’s greatest mysteries. But what was also another mystery still was why Wesker had feelings for Claire.

Was she the next Anezka?

She parked right down the road. It was already nearly dark, but at least the temperature hadn’t dropped too much. Claire stuck to the recently salted sidewalks, hands stuffed in her parka. Her heart pounded in her throat, and her mind raced with what he could want this time.

Wesker called her while she was waiting for Chris to get off work, summoning her to his house for an “important discussion”. She was anxious for two reasons. One, the last time she saw Wesker just a couple nights ago, they had sex. And two, after learning from Jill that Wesker was the one who dealt with Chris, she wasn’t sure what that meant for her or her brother.

She was queasy, butterflies in her stomach, but she wasn’t about to lose her cool. More than anything, she feared her body would betray her once more, a dark excitement coursing through her blood.

Upon reaching Wesker’s house, Claire spotted a vehicle she didn’t recognize in his driveway. She didn’t get too close to it, but it looked like a ruby-colored Porsche Boxster. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not about not being alone with the STARS Captain, but she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell anyway.

After a minute of silence, anticipation eating at her, the door opened. Her heart skipped when those familiar grey-blue eyes and dark smirk greeted her. Her stomach twisted, but Claire couldn’t tell whether it was from disgust or excitement.

“Good evening, Claire,” he purred. He stepped aside to allow her entry. “Please do come in. I don’t want you catching a cold.”

She rolled her eyes and stepped inside. “Thanks.”

He shut the door while she looked around. Odin padded over and sniffed her, docked tail wagging slightly. But she didn’t see anyone who could’ve owned the car outside.

Wesker’s hands brushed up her back. The bad thing was Claire realized she didn’t blench this time. No, this time she shivered in pleasure. She inwardly scolded herself as he took her coat off to hang by the door.

“We have much to discuss, dear heart,” he said, one muscular arm locking around her waist and pulling her deeper inside the house.

That’s when the younger Redfield saw a familiar face come into the living room from the kitchen, carrying a full glass of red wine. She nearly blurted Ada’s name, surprised, but quickly bit her tongue, hiding any reaction. Wesker didn’t know that she and Ada had already met personally. And it needed to stay that way.

“I sure hope you weren’t saving that malbec wine for a special occasion, Albert. I helped myself,” Ada said. When her eyes landed on Claire, she was the perfect actress. There was no recognition, no subtle signs given to Claire. “Is this her?”

“The one and only,” Wesker affirmed.

Ada took a long sip of her wine and sat it down on a coaster on the center table before walking over to them. Wesker stepped away while the double agent looked Claire over, one arm crossed and one hand on her chin as she thought. She walked around Claire and even grabbed her arms and lifted them and spun her around.

“Hmm...Yes, I can definitely work with this.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Claire grumbled. Ada spun her around again and grabbed at her hair. “Hey! What’s the big idea?!”

“Hold still, hun.”

Ada withdrew a tailor tape measurer. She measured Claire’s waist, chest, and height, even her arms and legs. Afterwards, she yanked Claire’s ponytail out and felt through her tresses.

“What are you doing?” Claire snapped.

“Taking measurements,” Ada replied. “Trying to figure out what to do with your hair.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain later,” Wesker stated. His Doberman sat at his side, head cocked curiously as Ada got handsy with her measurements.

“Okay, finished,” Ada announced, rolling up her tape and putting it in her pocket. She retrieved her wine and took another drink. “I’ll have something ready by tomorrow.”

“What ready?” Claire demanded. “What’s going on?”

Wesker’s lips barely curled upward. “Oh, where are my manners? Claire, this is an associate of mine, Ada Wong. She originally was to pick you up at the university. Ada, you know Claire, I’ve told you all about her.”

The Eurasian beauty dipped her head. “Charmed.” Still completely in character, although Claire now saw something subtle in her eyes as she stared at Claire. Perhaps a warning? Or just acknowledgement?

“You too...I guess,” Claire said.

Wesker chuckled, catching their attention. “You do not have to pretend to be strangers on my account, ladies. I know you’re well acquainted.”

Claire ground her jaw, glaring at him. Ada didn’t even flinch, expressionless. Taking another sip of her wine, she shrugged.

“Can’t pull the wool over your eyes, can I Albert?”

“Oh come now, Ada, don’t be that way,” Wesker teased. He obviously sensed something from her that Claire didn’t. He stepped around the agent’s back and, besides her tensing barely, she didn’t look disconcerted. “You knew the risks when you decided to meet Claire behind my back.”

Ada didn’t say anything to that. Wesker’s dark grin grew a bit more.

“I’m quite curious of your intentions. You’re not the jealous type. And you’re not one to have concern for others. So why so curious about Claire? I know this has nothing to do with what Sergei asked of you.”

Jealous type? Claire glanced between them, not sure what kind of undertones she was reading here. She was missing something, that’s for sure. She could only infer that Wesker was gauging Ada for something.

“I was just curious what you saw in her, I guess,” Ada dismissed calmly.

Cool under pressure. Just like the man testing her.

“And did you figure it out?”

Ada’s eyes locked with Claire’s. “I think so.”

Wesker’s soft chuckle told them he didn’t believe her one bit. “You and William should give up trying to find something that isn’t there.”

Ada didn’t have to say anything. Her smile told it all. She was pleased somehow, as though she read deeper into Wesker’s words somehow. Claire wished she would tell her the secret. And also shake this weird feeling in her chest.

“Am I going to get filled in here on why she needed to take my measurements?” Claire grumbled.

“Yes, my apologies,” Wesker admitted, his full attention on her now, and the younger woman regretted saying anything. “Ada, you may go now. I’ll fill Claire in…” He smirked.

Oh god. Did he just…? Her stomach pitched and rolled. She knew what would happen once Ada left them alone. In his house. It was an instant body verses mind battle.

Ada shrugged and walked away. Claire never wanted someone to stay and leave all at once before. But the Eurasian woman plopped down on one of the leather sofas instead, resuming drinking her wine. Odin left his master’s side to plant himself in front of her, as if expecting Ada to give him attention now that she was sitting down. Claire released a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

Wesker scowled. “Or…make yourself at home.”

“I will,” Ada answered nonchalantly. “I’m not about to let this delicious wine go to waste.” She made a show of swishing the red liquid around in her glass. The wine complimented her burgundy fingernails.

Claire caught the agent’s honey brown eyes as she looked right at her while sipping from her lipstick-stained glass, a coded message for her. You’re welcome…

Claire swallowed mixed feelings and glared at the STARS Captain. “So what exactly are you making me do this time?”

“Relax dear heart, it’s nothing you’re a stranger to. We’re going to attend a party.”

His stereotypical college girl jab aside, it sounded easy enough. But Claire knew better. Whatever kind of party it was, with Wesker involved, there would be danger, deception, and death at every angle…

Claire stared at the mirror, stunned. She wasn’t one to get dressed up, not this fancy anyway. Her red-brown hair was pulled up into messy curls with a few tresses hanging around her face. She had more make-up on than what she was used to. The jade-colored halter dress complimented her hair, eyes, and heels. She was only in the shoes for less than half an hour and her feet were already cramping. How did women wear these things all day?

The two assistants Ada had helping her with Claire were finally finished and departed from the big, spotless, and up-to-date bathroom. They were in Wesker’s living quarters in NEST. The younger Redfield tried not to think about what happened the last time she was here. Wesker and William awaited them in the very same room where she and Wesker fornicated, only having arrived a bit ago while Claire was still being made over.

Ada looked her over one last time, one final judgment for approval. Claire didn’t say anything. She really wanted out of this bathroom, but at the same time, she wasn’t ready for the next step.

Apparently, the crooked STARS Captain had meticulously planned tonight. Chris and Jill were working graveyard shifts while he was off and Claire had to tell her brother that she might would have to stay the night at William’s house babysitting Sherry if her parents had to work all night. All the chess pieces were in place so far. Bard’s Christmas party would last well into the night, and depending on how it played out, they might be there awhile. She could only hope nothing went wrong and would get to return home tonight.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Claire. There’s no doubt about that,” Ada said finally.

“T-Thanks.” She wasn’t expecting a compliment from the older woman.

She looked in the mirror again, distracted. This was a little too much for her, but she had to blend in with the other guests at the party.

“I won’t be surprised if Albert takes you home with him tonight after the party.”

Claire blushed, taken off guard, a near panic in her chest only broken by blood rushing like electricity through her veins. She turned to the double agent, holding her breath. Ada sounded so sure as she looked Claire over. As if she knew something the younger Redfield didn’t. Surely, Ada didn’t know…

“I know what happened between you two,” Ada admitted, reading her mind.

“He,” Claire started to blame her captor, but stopped. Could she honestly say it knowing she had decided to do it? Wesker may have manipulated her into wanting to, but she still chose it all her own, no matter how much she wanted to deny it.

“He what?”

She shook her head. “…Nothing.”

“I told you he always gets what he wants, didn’t I? He’ll make you want it, too. That tongue of his is far more deadly than any weapon he has on him. You have no idea how way in over your head you are, Claire.”

The college student glared at the Eurasian beauty. Was she serious right now?! “You’ve got it all wrong! It was just a one time fling. And as far as the rest of my situation goes, I think I’ve been doing pretty damn good considering!”

Ada sighed. “You’re clever, strong, and resourceful. You’ve handled yourself impressively this past week, but that’s partly why Albert’s so infatuated with you.”

Claire frowned, not sure what to say to that.

“Albert’s hardwired to manipulate and take advantage of anyone and anything he can. You give him an inch and he’ll hook his claws so deep in you, there’s no escape. You gave him way more than that.”

“So what? I’m trapped forever now? Is that what you’re saying?” Dread seized in her chest.

Ada looked to the door, as if suddenly paranoid Wesker and William could be listening in and slightly lowered her voice. “I don’t know. Look…yes, he’s using you to take care of Roth in exchange for your freedom, but William and I suspect that Albert may have developed…”

“What?” Claire urged when the agent trailed off.

Ada quickly shook her head, frowning. “Never mind. Just…keep your head. Do what you must to get Roth where Albert wants him for you and your brother’s freedom. Albert’s got a soft spot for you, he’ll likely keep his word if you’re good. As far as this affair is concerned, I cannot help you. That’s your business. My only advice is that you be careful.”

Soft spot? Where the hell was she getting that? There was nothing soft about that man. Then again, she and William, two people who knew Wesker best, kept saying that, so it had to be true to some degree.

Claire wanted to tell Ada that there wasn’t an “affair”. It was a one time slip up, a mistake, it wouldn’t happen ever again. But she couldn’t even believe herself, so there was no way she would convince the double agent.

“Ok…thank you, Ada. For everything.”

Ada exhaled through a small frown. “Don’t thank me just yet…” She turned, walking for the door and motioning for the younger Redfield to follow her. “C’mon, we have a party to get to.”

Claire inhaled deeply, gathering herself, and followed her out of the bathroom. They came into the den, where Wesker and William sat across from each other on the leather sofas talking. They were dressed in posh black suits. Claire berated herself for goggling Wesker. The bastard was so damn attractive anyway, but that suit was hot! She couldn’t believe how much it actually affected her seeing him in that outfit.

The men noticed them and stood up, but their eyes immediately went to Claire. She suddently felt exposed. William’s jaw dropped and he ogled too. The smirk that slowly grew on Wesker’s face as he took off his sunglasses to look Claire over was wicked. More so, it was hungry. He popped William’s mouth shut without taking his eyes off of Claire and closed in like a predator about to sink its teeth into its coveted prey. His eyes entrapped her, an instant, breath-taking spell, and then she was hungry too, felt it spreading through every inch of her body like wildfire.

Ada was right…Wesker would be taking her home with him tonight. And nothing was going to stop him.