Chapter Text
Another risky mission. Wesker didn’t feel assured with the corporation , the new virus was still adjusting to his body and that was certainly not a pleasant experience. However he was still expected to partake in the corporation’s more formal and far more dangerous side of the job, that being negotiations with potential investors, or rivals, depending on how the initial meetings proceeded.
The dimly lit bar they had agreed upon to transfer documentation about the mutation and the chronological process of the virus’ effect on the subject, didn’t quite feel like the righteous place to safely and smoothly continue the purchase. The atmosphere reeked of crime and sinfulness and Wesker had an uneasy feeling about it. If it were up to him, they wouldn’t be selling the precious data they sacrificed so much for in the first place but it was painfully true that the project needed funds. Selling patents and biological research was one way to get easy money.
However there was one sidestep they had taken to make sure that their rivals were left empty-handed. The documents were slightly altered, a milligram less of each chemical element was enough to change the intricate formulas of the virus. A slight devoidment of mentioning a singular side-effect was enough to kill the subject in a way that wouldn’t be suspicious.
The corporation was seeking out perfection and the thing about perfection was that it must be scarce, otherwise it becomes the regular and loses value in the retrospect of perfection not having imperfection to compare and outshine. That was the reason for the whole risk. They were no fools, especially not Wesker. He knew that he would be the first man to suffer the consequences in case the enemy found out about their little ploy behavior but he was no means weak and if things went astray he was the best choice to defend himself and umbrella.
He had already ordered a couple of drinks when it hit him — the pounding headache. What was that supposed to be? Wesker surely hadn’t had that much to drink and any other reason didn’t seem possible. The enemy negotiator had unfortunately creeped up next to him on the barstool just at that moment. Wesker tried to get a good look at the guy but his vision went blurry, the music suddenly became unbearably loud and the lights shined too bright in his eyes, even through the sunglasses.
The man ordered a whiskey and put it on Wesker’s tab, a fucking dickhead. But Wesker couldn’t object, he was too busy trying to focus on his breathing and make the place stop shaking in his vision.
Wesker took off his leather jacket trying to ventilate his body, there was definitely something bad going on, he needed to call for help but he couldn’t reach for his phone as it was in the jacket’s pocket which he had thrown over the chair. Before he could concentrate on making a move the man spoke out, clearly neither unfamiliar nor surprised with Wesker’s current condition.
The drinks had been laced. Wesker's brain was finally able to piece together the two and two. The other side had betrayed their part of the deal just like they had and now he was going to experience their wraith firsthand, he needed to act and he needed to act fast.
“ Place the suitcase under my stool and I’ll put what you want under yours, then take your stuff and leave. No complications. Just like we agreed.”
Wesker said the last sentences with much more ferocity to enunciate that he was aware of what was happening and that there would be consequences in case of betrayal which happened to be going on. However his plan was short lived as the guy smirked, drawing his hand to move his coat outwards, revealing an all familiar silver glint of a revolver. Wesker was not scared, he could beat this human even in this drugged state, the bigger concern laid on staying discreet in a place packed with mortals who would behave unpredictably in case of seeing his true form. The remaining bit of his somewhat calm demeanor got destroyed as the man threw out sentences quick and direct:
“There is no money. The virus can’t help. You’re a dead man, Doctor Wesker.”
He was right, Albert found himself unable to summon Uroboros, his ultimate but only weapon, the headache became worse, he had realized that without any sort of defense and being completely alone he had zero chance of survival. He needed to do something fast. There was no use in trying to contact anyone as they would be simply too slow and he would be dead in a blink of an eye.
Wesker looked around the bar searching for anything that would get him out of this situation. The barman was probably a bad choice as he seemed to be working with the perpetrator and he had disappeared somewhere to the back anyway. It was late, the place was almost empty, only a few lingering customers had been scattered around the place, just one sitting in the bar area.
Wesker’s thoughts were racing, trying to make the most of the scarce time he had left before he had to surrender and be killed off in an alley somewhere, that is if they didn’t torture him for information first. Oh yeah, what was he thinking, they would definitely do that.
The man sitting two seats from him had a gun, an old style model. He had noticed it peaking from his holster when he first walked in and sat down. It was easy to keep notes of these kinds of things when he was not poisoned out of his mind. There was no time to overthink it too much as the enemy had already snatched away the documentation and now was motioning disoriented Wesker with a flicker of his gun to get up and going.
Wesker cleared his head and took a final deep breath, there was only one chance to survive and he had to try it no matter how stupid it sounded.
“I don’t think so.” He smirked back with his best confident look, knowing inside that he was betting on a one in a million chance. He got up and snatched the suitcase full of research papers back.
“Did you really think I would come here all alone, unprotected and vulnerable?” Yes, yes he did, because he was an utter fool, a stubborn mule and an egotistical maniac but that was not important right now. Wesker spoke out as loud as possible, getting the attention of the man who appeared to be accidentally sitting next to the underground terrorist organization members, enjoying or at least trying to enjoy his drink.
“My bodyguard here—“ he pointed at the stranger, who looked righteously surprised at the sudden accusation. “—will blow your head straight off at any funny business, do you understand? Your petty guns will do nothing against his power and the Umbrella will make sure to slowly and painfully gut every single one of your organization’s members until you realize the consequence of betraying our contract.”
Wesker tried to make the situation clearer for the awestruck man and shot a pleading glance in his direction, practically begging for him to play along.
The perpetrator was taken aback, not having accounted for fighting off another person along with Wesker. He was given a straightforward order— knock out poisoned Wesker and bring him to the base. There was no mention of a bodyguard, had the Umbrella corporation expected this attack all along?
He looked at the supposed ‘bodyguard’ . It was an older man probably far over his middle ages but still with a big build and quite a height. Hard to fight off if it came to pure physical strength alone, plus considering whatever virus power he might have going on, according to Wesker’s words.
Just as he focused his vision on the man’s face he was met with a gun pointed at his face.
“Get lost quick now, don’t make me use my powers(?) if ya don’t want to meet your makers down under, scum!” His words were carefully chosen, trying to not disclose the fact that up until now he had never even spoken to either of them and the only ‘power’ he was considered to have was chugging a gallon of beer at once.
Wesker sighed a quiet breath of relief, thanking everything that he considered meaningful for this stranger sent into his life. He watched as the enemy raised his hands up in the air, surrendering and backing off slowly to the exit, until he was gone.
Wesker sat down again, effects of the drug wearing off due to adrenaline, this was closer than he expected it to ever be. The barman made his way back, however when Wesker looked at him it was clearly another guy. So the previous one had escaped too. The stranger ordered another round for both of them and downed his drink immediately, Wesker was for obvious reasons hesitant and instead opted for a much anticipated conversation and a deserved explanation.
“Thank you, you truly just saved my life right now. If there is anything I can do for you just tell me please.” he had gotten insanely lucky, the most people would brush him off as a lunatic and mind their own business or call the police but it seemed like this guy had seen trouble before and knew that the police would end up doing nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The man just laughed it off — “ya never know what will happen to you random tuesday.”
Wesker just let out an exasperated sigh of exhaustion, quietly chuckling at the ridiculousness of their situation and shaking his head a little.
“To be completely honest with ya I am curious about the job I’ve accidentally landed myself and also in desperate need of a drive so if yer in the position to drive I would be hella thankful- err..”
“It’s Albert, nice to meet you? I guess?” Wesker let out another nervous laugh. “ And I think I can manage to drive, it's the least I can do.” A quick drive was nothing compared to the favour the other man had done.
The man extended his hand : “The name’s Caleb, happy I could help.”
They made their way outside, it was dark already, the huge bar sign, displaying the location’s name, being the only thing providing the light. Wesker was certainly never coming back to this place ever again, so he didn’t bother to read the sign. He was glad to have made it out into fresh air, which he was now breathing in greedily.
Wesker guided Caleb towards his expensive collection model parked nearby, courtesy of working a questionable job, he could see Caleb’s eyes visibly widening from the unexpected or rather unfamiliar luxury. Wesker opened the passenger door for him in a polite manner and tossed the unsold documents in the backseat.
‘‘I work for an organization, we create sorts of biological research and then sell them for money for more experiments, sometimes things go wrong, we mingle with tough crowds as you can probably tell.’’ He had taken off to the road and even though he hadn’t expressed it out loud Caleb was definitely thrilled by the speed they were casually going by, avoiding any other cars that crossed their way.
When they made their way onto the main highway, Caleb told him where to drop him off, Wesker wondered if he had made the right call to tell him about what the academy does, surely disclosing minimal information to this random citizen wouldn’t put the Umbrella at much risk, he did just save him from a massive tragedy for the entire organization.
“I see, I see but I have a question, if ya don’t mind me askin’, why were you meeting this dangerous individual with no way to protect yourself ? And’ya mentioned something about ‘powers’?’’
Caleb seemed to be smarter than he appeared at first glance, had Wesker made a mistake by sharing the information in the first place? But giving a second thought a mention of powers would definitely stick out to any regular human too and his question wasn’t unnatural in any way.
“I can’t tell you much but technically, I did come protected, they just played really dirty and drugged me, I couldn’t even move properly. Plus our clients are mostly burnt out sportsmen, not dangerous people ’’
Wesker worded his sentences in a way that would make Caleb believe that the power he was talking about was physical and mentioned biological research was in reality some sort of steroids.
“Haha I get it, confidential information, I asked ya because I myself sell some nice custom weaponry and wouldn’t say no to a good deal with that company of yer’s”
Ah it was all clear now, there was nothing to worry about, just a business man trying to find himself a deal. Working his entire life in dangerous professions and places made Wesker overly paranoid about every single little detail and that made it hard for him to have meaningful interactions with people outside his small range of trusted individuals, perhaps he needed to loosen up a bit. Did being saved by a random stranger repair his trust in humanity? He smiled softly both at Caleb’s sentence and his own thoughts.
With the speed they were going in at empty streets, they would surely be at their destination in around 5-10 minutes. Wesker stopped at a red light. Suddenly a delicious smell coming from a nearby fast food restaurant hit his nose, making him realise that he was really hungry.
“ Well Caleb, why don’t you give me your business card, I’ll make sure to get myself something nice for protection, I’ve definitely learned my lesson.”
“ I ain’t no businessman, I build them myself, but I’ll give ya my number if ya want, for a special deal.” Caleb actually winked at him and handed him a crumbled paper with his number on to Wesker. He couldn’t help himself from taking it and smiling at Caleb’s joke. Maybe this night wasn’t too bad, Albert again laughed at that thought internally.
“Hey, I’m really starving would you mind if we stopped at this drive thru and quickly got something to eat?’’ Wesker asked suddenly. Surely he could’ve gotten food after he dropped Caleb off but for some reason he offered Caleb to eat with him. Maybe the man was hungry as well and getting food in the middle of the night alone would be bothersome, that was all.
Caleb agreed without missing a beat and he swiftly swerved his car from the road into McDonald's drive thru.
“What do you want to eat? it’s on me. For saving my life.” The atmosphere around them was light, both of them chuckling at the same time. “I’ll take a cheeseburger, thanks. I never would’ve guessed someone with yer build eats this junk but I guess escapin’ death deserves a little prize’’ Caleb laughed out, trailing his hand up and down in the air motioning to Wesker’s body.
The compliment caught Wesker off guard, so Caleb had been looking at him? Under normal circumstances Albert always observed the people around him too, in case he had to fight with them, that’s why he had noticed the muscles on Caleb himself. Well it did make sense, turns out he is a weapon wielder. It was possible Caleb had made the observation because he connected the whole steroid thing Wesker had planted in his mind back to him. But was it possible that Caleb was sizing him up? Either in one sense or another? There it went again the overthinking, just get the food, drop this poor man off and go on about your life, what was up with him, he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Thankfully he didn’t have to answer Caleb, as the car standing in front of them finally moved to the second window and they could order now.
“Good evening, welcome to Mcdonald’s what can I get for you?” The exhausted worker swiftly called out the memorized line. For some reason the queue was filled with cars even though it was midnight. Wesker remembered that today some kind of a festival was taking place around later in the night, that explained it, it also meant that the main road towards the station where he had to drop Caleb off would be way too overcrowded and they would have to stand in the traffic for who knows how long, that thought irritated Wesker way less than it should have. “I’ll take 2 double cheeseburger menus please.’’
Soon enough both of them were holding burgers in their hands, they had decided to park the car in a nearby secluded field because Wesker explained that the traffic from the festival made it annoying to drive through the city and Caleb said he had nothing else planned anyway.
Albert drew back the roof of his convertible and moonlight dropped into the car. He looked up to watch the stars and adjusted his seat back to rest his back as he sipped on his cola, choking hazard, he knew, but it was too romantic of an opportunity to miss out on.
“ Damn, this is pretty nice” Caleb also pulled back his seat and looked at the stars shining.
“I would never imagine this kind of luck would fall on me” He continued. Okay calling it luck was an overestimation, it was a 10 dollar meal and a 20 minute drive not much, Albert thought. “To have the man I was ordered to kidnap, offer himself on a golden platter to me and even buy me a meal.”
It took him some time to process what Caleb had just said. Albert’s heart dropped down to his stomach. He should have seen the signs before: the gun, the convenience, the quick understanding, then the questions, the job, the observations, the distractions. This was all planned before, Wesker figured it out in the final second. Before he could call out Uroboros, he felt something hard hitting his head and he lost consciousness.