Chapter Text
Three weeks before the events in Kijuju
Washington DC
He watched from the shadows as his prey was, surrounded by co-workers of hers. Sherry Birkin bobbed her head along with the live band, sipping at a beer. The band wasn’t the kind of music he liked, though unlike a lot of popular noise, Wesker could agree that they weren’t that bad.
Only reason he was there was because of Sherry though. Or at least to finish Birkin’s work. He had the place to work on it, just needed a sample and the easiest sample to get. Though watching the twenty-three-year-old daughter of his old friend, he was reminded of the simpler days from college.
Sherry was sitting in the back of a music club the live band wasn’t the kind of music he preferred though they weren’t that bad. She sipped at her drink as Wesker’s companion slipped up next to him. She said nothing in her mask, waiting instruction.
“Not here, as much as I would love to see you in action, my dear, we don’t need the attention.” He spoke low to his companion.
She gave a nod accepting the drink he handed her in order to fit in. He should have had her dress more appropriately, but this was a spur of the moment acquisition. It was actually something that he was more curious to see if it would work than anything. The G kept slipping through his fingers, and even a weakened strain of it would be better than nothing.
“Didn’t think you’d come out.” Wesker turned at the voice he heard it was so much like Will’s. A chestnut brown-haired man, somewhere in his twenties was walking up to a pair, a blond woman and blonde man both around his age. The blonde had piercing green eyes and wore a pale collared shirt under a dark colored vest, and skinny jeans. The woman was dressed in slight heels with black slacks and a black blazer over a red blouse.
“Really Max, you had us worried for a bit. I was almost going to call Al to see if he could go kidnap you from the office.” She draped her arm over both men’s shoulders. “Now come on, I need a drink stat! Dealing with the old farts on the Hill all day makes me glad it’s a long weekend, I don’t want to be sober until sometime Monday afternoon.” She pulled the two men with her, the trio laughing all the way to the bar.
Wesker shook his head, this was a lot like the bar that he and Annette had dragged Will to, to get him out of the lab. He caught Sherry was talking to someone at her table. He had seen the man at her office, someone that he wouldn’t have a problem getting rid of if he pestered his goddaughter much more. Instead Sherry stood, grabbing the light blue blazer she had worn over the jeans and turtle-neck sleeveless top she had worn to work. Her pale blonde hair was pinned back with a pair of black clips, keeping it out of her face. Last time he had seen her she had been taken in by Derek Simmons. He had been late by an hour to get to her after the Raccoon City incident. He had photos of course, some of his resources had gone to keeping an eye on her, mostly to know where she was if there was a G outbreak. He just hoped that her strain was still viable enough to be useful.
“Come, we’ll fetch her at her place, less of a scene.” Wesker whispered, leading his ‘pet’ out of the club. As much as he wanted to get her and get out of the States, after all the longer he was there the more of a chance the Organization would find him. Wesker didn’t want to deal with them just yet. Not until after the Uroboros was perfected. After that he could perfect Will’s project, maybe if he was lucky make it obey only him.
It won’t be Sherry that I use for that. After tonight I won’t be able to let her be free, but I can’t use her for any experiments. Anyone else is fair game. He thought striding out of the club.
Sherry paused, the club didn’t serve coffee, though she could swear she was smelling a strong bold roast. Blue eyes scanned the area trying to figure out why. Most of the time she would get hints of mint tea, rarely she had smelled a strong lavender, usually in the labs whenever she went to the CDC on errands for DSO. But this was different. It was stronger than the slight swampy scent of uninfected humans. Nothing horrible, but just enough that she was reminded she wasn’t like them anymore.
“Sherry?”
She glanced back at her co-worker. Ben wasn’t that bad, but he was annoying tonight. “What? I know I’m going to have to deal with Derek tomorrow. Don’t worry I’ll remember to have a chat with him about the rumors.” She slid her jacket on. The scent was gone, replaced by the cologne Ben wore and swamp water again. Earthy and slightly rotted, a sick joke mother nature seemed to play with her.
“That’s not what I was gonna ask Sher. You looked like something was bothering you.” Ben tipped back the light beer he was drinking. “Thought you’d wanna talk about it.”
“Just thought I smelled something off. You know I was stuck working in the archives all day, probably just dust still.” She gave a smile. “Don’t worry I’ll see you tomorrow, just don’t forget my latte this time. The pastry is fine, but if you mess with my caffeine intake, that is so unforgivable.” She gave a small grin. “They still haven’t found the fingertips of the last intern that did it.” She joked making him swallow hard, and she giggled a little to let him know she was joking.
“Hey it was Brian’s turn for coffee he cheated all of us. Sure, you don’t want me to walk you to your car?” They weren’t in the safest of areas of town after all, and out of all of the people from the office, Sherry looked the least like she could handle herself in a fight.
“Nope have a cab on the way. You know I don’t drive in DC. Too many crazies on the road, and most of them tourists.” She picked up her purse. “Night Ben.”
“See ya Sherry.”
Once outside she called for a cab and tapped a quick text to Claire wishing her good luck on the recent project, she had gotten herself into, it was some protest in the Midwest somewhere. That was another thing that Sherry made a mental note to look in on. TerraSave seemed too good, and she knew Claire wouldn’t get into anything involved with Umbrella, but it made Sherry feel better keeping tabs on her older sister. Even if they were only siblings because of the shared Hell that had been Raccoon City.
Sherry froze as she entered her apartment. It smelled like a rich bold roast coffee, something she didn’t drink. She didn’t bother turning on the light, though did slip her hand behind her to the holster nestled at the small of her back.
Derek had trained her to use the small handgun she kept there. With her past, he had thought it was a good idea for her to carry, just in case. Though he had told her that he hoped that she would never need to use a gun when not on duty. Of course, that had been before she had joined the DSO just a few months ago. Derek had been so happy about it, though Sherry had a feeling he was part of the reason she was in the division she had been placed in. Easier to keep tabs on her and cover up things if her virus went a little crazy.
“Hope you know breaking into a federal agent’s apartment is a pretty gutsy move.” Her blue eyes were scanning the shadows. She knew the layout of the apartment with her eyes closed so she didn’t need more light, than what the full moon from the balcony gave her.
“Is that the way to speak to your Godfather?” Wesker was going to try this at least with giving her a choice to come willingly. Sooner he got her away from Simmons would be a good thing in his book. Since entering the apartment, he had found the Devil Shot that she was taking, the precursor of the PG67A/W that he was taking currently to try to stabilize his condition. Unlike him, her shots seemed to be as needed, kind of like a hard candy to curb low blood sugar in an emergency.
The gun didn’t go away at those words, or the slightly accented voice. She had heard rumors that he was dead. Of course, that had been through unofficial channels. But it hadn’t been hard to know something was wrong at the BSAA. She hadn’t run into Chris, but rumors were that he had been unhinged lately, more distant. “You shouldn’t be here. I want nothing to do with Umbrella, or you. I’m not some sick science experiment.” She scowled finally seeing him, leaning against the wall near the doors to the balcony.
“Is that what you think B.O.W.s are? What have they been feeding into your mind Sherry, you used to be such a brilliant child, I had hoped you would be smarter than even your parents,” He let his voice hold the right amount of disappointment. “At least give me a chance, you wouldn’t need these anymore.” He held up the thin silver case that held her shots.
Sherry balked a moment. “Chambers says there’s no cure. The Devil Shot just managed to stabilize it enough so I didn’t become a monster like… Like Doctor Birkin.” She refused to say Dad or Father when she was talking about him. If it hadn’t been for him worrying more about the G, Sherry would have been safely at her grandparents and out of Raccoon City, far away from the nightmares that she had lived through and still had thanks to her friends dragging her to horror movies once in a while.
“I was there when he worked on it, Sherry,” Wesker said calmly. Yes, he had been there to steal it, but he had been there while Will had worked on it.
“And the reason you were his friend is the only reason why I haven’t shot you yet.” The gun stayed steadily tracked on him.
“You really think that bullets will kill me? Redfield has tried so many times, and I’m sure you heard about the little incident where his partner died.” Wesker watched the gun tremble ever so slightly. He had found her records, she was a decent shot, probably a trade-off Derek made to make her ‘useful’. “Besides, wouldn’t you rather be around someone who understands what you’re going through?”
She tightened her grip on the gun, using a two-handed hold on it. “You need to leave before I do fire. I’m not leaving with you. And next time we meet, I won’t let you walk away. This is the only time I’ll remember you as Uncle Wesker.”
He stepped closer. “You won’t shoot me Sherry. I’m the last link you have to your family. Or did you forget after the incident, even your grandparents didn’t come for you.”
She growled low, it was true, they hadn’t come for her, but she had found out after Claire had left to look for her brother, that her grandparents had died from stress related issues after seeing the news about Raccoon City’s destruction. A small part of her had always wondered if Umbrella had hired someone to take them out, so many other people had died that day as well, many of them with someone who worked for the research labs of Umbrella in Raccoon City, Sherry had always thought it had been Umbrella’s way of covering their asses and hide the truth of the incident. “You haven’t been in my life since Raccoon City, and from what Claire told me, I prefer it that way. You’re not the same man that would help me with my homework when Will and Annette were too busy in the lab.”
Wesker fought a scowl, Sherry had been sheltered of so much while they had been in the lab. It took all he had to not grab her and tell her that, after all he wanted to still try to convince her to come with him.
She heard a footstep behind her and mentally cursed. She had only smelled one scent, and it was something she had only told one other person about. Leon after he had gotten back from a mission on a cruise ship. In fact, she had made it seem like a joke, so she doubted Leon even believed her. Though since then he brought peppermint mochas when he came to see her.
Sherry was pulled back from her thoughts as an arm went around her neck, the other slender arm pulling her arm up. Sherry pulled her finger away from the trigger, her neighbors on the left side of her row home apartment had two kids, a little boy about ten, and a little girl of five, who were always coming over to her yard asking if she could make daisy chains with her. Wesker was right, she wasn’t going to fire her gun. She wasn’t going to traumatize little kids. Though she shifted her weight, stomping down with her heel at the foot of the person behind her, aiming for the top of the foot, right before it attached to the leg, just past any steel plate if they were in combat boots. It was a weak spot in any modern armor, she’d have to thank Leon if it worked. She’d probably have to buy another pair of heels, but it should buy her a few minutes.
The figure behind her had felt her shift, and countered it, dropping her while she was unbalanced. A quick move twisted her arm behind her back. Sherry had also lost her grip on her gun, which skittered on the carpet to Wesker’s foot. He knelt picking it up.
“Smith and Wesson, which of them bought this for you?” He asked as Sherry tried to get free from the figure that now was kneeling on her. The scentless woman hadn’t said anything, only reason Sherry had been able to tell it was a woman had been the slender build. “Don’t scream.” He ordered softly. “Wouldn’t want to have to be drastic.” He had thought about having Jill silence her neighbors, but it would have drawn too much attention to what he was planning far too soon.
Sherry struggled best she could giving, a muffled yelp as her arm was twisted more, nearly to the verge of popping out of the socket. She knew she’d heal she could thank the G for that, but it still hurt like hell.
“Don’t break her.” Wesker warned and the twisting eased up. Though pressure on her didn’t ease up completely. Sherry found she couldn’t wiggle her way free as her arms were secured behind her. “Now do we have to gag you?”
The woman with Wesker hauled her to a sitting position, keeping an arm around her neck just in case. She shook her head after a moment, her mind going to her neighbors. Wesker, from what she knew from Claire, could easily take out her neighbors. He probably wouldn’t hesitate at Toby and Nessa either.
“Good girl,” Wesker patted the top of her head as the woman backed off, getting a glare for it. “Secure our ride out of here.”
“What the hell are you planning?” Sherry managed not to yell, though she tested her wrists. They weren’t in cuffs.
“You’ll learn soon enough, for now we need to get going. You make a scene I’ll kill anyone who might try to help you got it? Power and security are out for the block anyway, so we’re just going to disappear. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone harm you.” Wesker knelt before her, making her look up at him. Those angered blue eyes reminded him so much of Will’s when he got annoyed. He reached over, slipping the shoes off her feet, snapping the heels off with one hand.
She watched him toss them to the side, and tried to move away, only to have him pull her closer to him. Sherry felt the needle from a syringe she hadn’t even seen him holding go into her neck. Hissing she thought about head butting him, but he caught her throat with the hand that had held the syringe after tossing it to the side. Sherry sat still, her back against the wall looking at Wesker, trying hard to keep fear from showing in her eyes as the drug started to take effect, making it hard for her to keep her eyes open.
“Sherry, you need to trust me on this. If it works, you won’t need those shots you’ve been taking anymore.” He brushed her cheek lightly, she had more features that screamed Will, though holding her like this, he could see Annette in her as well.
Her head was starting to feel sluggish. He brushed the tears that started to well up in her eyes watching her closely. When her eyes started to close, he pulled her to her feet. As much as he hated it, he did need her. Sherry’s strain of the G was stable, but handing her over to Excella, she might find a way to recreate Will’s original strain and stabilize it. slipping a jacket over Sherry’s shoulders, he snagged her keys and purse to make it look like she just hadn’t made it home. Hefting her over his shoulder, he headed out the door to where he knew Jill would be waiting.
“Shh, just sleep for now.”