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As Chris left the valley with the two dead B.O.W.S. dangling from his teeth, he heard Night Howl’s comment on what was obviously the next logical step.
And he wasn’t wrong…
Chris hated that he wasn’t wrong.
Unfortunately for him, his stomach was currently snarling angrily in demand for nourishment and his instincts wouldn’t allow him to pass up an easy meal in the form of two bioweapons. Well… it had been a month since he’d filled his belly…
Shrugging it off, he made it just deep enough into the trees to avoid anyone being able to pick him up with a scope or binoculars before settling down for his meal.
It was disgusting, part of his brain was screaming in horror at the thought of consuming virus-ridden monster meat. Another part was eager to swallow it down as quickly as possible without choking because damnit, that was delicious! Probably would have been better barbecued, but he wasn’t about to sniff Kennedy over and filch a lighter off him now. The man always had one, claiming he never knew when he may need to set something on fire.
Both his appetite and practicality left no traces of the two B.O.W.S. behind this time. The forest had been disturbed enough by monsters; there was no need to leave traces of these two beyond their destroyed transport crates for anyone to locate and play with later. Standing back up and stretching, he noted that he didn’t appear to be distended like his first meal.
Of course…he’d been a hell of a lot smaller with the first bio-meal.
Hopefully this lack of bloating carries over to when I’m back on two legs…
He yawned and picked his way carefully between the enormous trees, mindful of making noise and his weight. It took him about five minutes to wander back to where the team was assembled. His ears perked, curious that they seemed to be settled in patiently instead of anxious or terrified. Aiming for maximum stealth, he lowered into a slow almost-crawl position and padded forward carefully, pausing just ten feet behind Kennedy before he settled down. Stretching out a paw, he ever so slightly touched the Agent’s back with a “finger” pad.
“HOLY SHIT! Damnit Chris! You’re not allowed to be a behemoth and that fucking stealthy at the same time! Shit.” A hand covered Leon’s racing heart as he whirled around to scold the enormous wolf.
Chris turned his head away and huffed out a breath.
“Oh, that’s funny huh? Asshole.” Leon rolled his eyes and shook his head. “When we get back, first thing I’m going to do after we debrief is buy the biggest newspaper I can find. Then I’m going to roll it up and beat you with it. Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at me you giant furball! I’ll wait until you fall asleep post-dinner in the woods sometime and shave just your ass bald.”
Chris snorted and got up, headed behind a particularly thick copse of American basswood trees and symbiotic undergrowth for a moment. The Squad were somewhat alarmed at Redfield’s apparent stealth, as well as the entire frame of him disappearing behind the trees followed by an concerning amount of what could have been bones snapping. Seconds later, he re-emerged on two legs, completely dressed and heading over to where his tac vest and holsters were. He gave the Squad a wide berth, skirting the edge of their positions before gearing up and snapping the closures on his vest once more with his back turned to everyone. Reaching into a zippered pocket on his black tactical pants, he withdrew two items and then his water bottle from his pack before wandering over to the tree line once more. Tundra’s head tilted as she watched until she saw his arm moving quickly, and then the Captain took a swig of water before spitting it back out.
He was brushing his teeth with a travel brush and toothpaste, much to her amusement.
Carlos raised a brow as he noticed her silent giggles and followed her sightline and snickered himself. Chris came back, raising a brow and pocketing his oral hygiene items once more.
“Just because I tasted it, doesn’t mean you have to smell it.” He commented as he took a seat on the forest floor next to Leon and Carlos.
Jill coughed a chuckle, “Very considerate.”
“You’re welcome.”
The tension had returned slowly, as Canine looked uneasy now that Redfield had rejoined the group. Lobo also seemed a tad on the twitchy side, despite Night Howl kicking him in the side of the leg from his perch on another broken log.
“Out with it.” Chris gritted, putting his earbuds back in.
“Why shouldn’t we have shot you just after you took down that other thing that looked exactly like you?” Canine went straight to the point.
“That thing was an infectious B.O.W. I am not.” Chris tilted his head to the side slightly. “Although you’re welcome to try and shoot me now. If you want the barrel of that gun shoved so far up your asshole you spit bullets.”
"....I'm good." Canine shook his head.
“Why didn’t you eat it too? You took off with the other two and just brushed your teeth like it was no big deal. What’s stopping you from taking the third one out and saving the clean up crew a lot of work?” Lobo crossed his arms, ignoring the glare he was getting from Piers.
“It, as you put it, was once a he. A human man. The other two never were, as the time of making Tyrants and their Hybrids from actual people passed a long time ago. They are now vat-grown clones developed from human genetic material, not fully grown people abducted and experimented on.”
“So you’re a monster with principles, then?” Lobo challenged.
“No, I’m a fucking Butcher doing butcher things.” Chris growled back, leaning slightly forward, eyes dark. “Next time I’ll hang back and watch you all expend your ammo and run for your lives for a while. Because I’m just nice like that, living up to expectations.”
The members of the Squad minus Piers flinched back visibly at the harsh words. Jill sat straight up and glared at them immediately.
“What? That’s a mighty strong reaction. What the fuck have you guys been on about behind my back?”
“We don’t talk about all that anymore.” Canine was tight-lipped immediately.
“And you never fucking should again, especially not after he saved your dumb asses on two separate ops now.” Nivans snarled, leveling him with a look that was murderous.
Jill raised a brow, seeing both Canine and Lobo shuffle in the seats a little away from the young man’s aggressive glare.
“I have a question.” Umber Eyes looked over at Chris, not flinching from the hardness in the storm-blue eyes that met his. “Are you still hungry, Sir? Should we go and see if there are more bioweapons in the area?”
“Yes I’m hungry. No, there are no more in the area.” Chris tapped his nose with a finger. “Now, do any of you have the balls to ask the most obvious question?” He got crickets in response, with Canine and Lobo avoiding eye contact while Tundra, Night Howl, and Umber Eyes sat quietly. “Nobody? Fine. Do I crave human flesh? Am I going to eat you too?”
“I think the answer to that is obvious. I pissed you off enough in Central Park alone to have gotten you to eat me. And you threw Nivans instead of making him into a snack…” Leon spoke softly.
“No, let him answer.” Lobo pushed. He was already in deep shit, might as well keep going when Umber Eyes groaned a warning.
“No, I neither crave human flesh, nor have any drive to consume it. Not even assholes that have less brains than the average scarecrow.”
It wasn’t lost on Jill, Carlos, Leon, and Nivans that Chris specifically pointed out the word human being inferred as something other than himself.
Leaving the discussion at that, Chris stood and waited for Jill to issue the orders. Piers frowned, partnering up with Redfield to record the coordinates for the furthest side of the valley for decontamination. The large man was courteous enough to adjust his pace so that Nivans wouldn’t have to run to keep up with him as he walked.
“Captain?” Piers began quietly. “Are you alright? Those guys are… assholes.”
“I’m fine. It’s to be expected, not everyone has worked with me and knows me. To them, I’m a monster. They aren’t wrong, but they don’t have the whole picture.”
“Respectfully, you’re not a monster, Sir.” He barely avoided slamming into Redfield when the larger man stopped and turned to him.
“Respectfully, Nivans, I am a monster. Humans don’t shift their shape entirely into something animalistic bigger than a tractor trailer and use their teeth to end the lives of other monsters. Humans don’t find the beasts from horror movies and nightmares for an early lunch in the forest either.”
Piers was silent for a moment as he looked up into the almost black irises. Just as Chris was about to turn away, he spoke up again. “That we know about. Nobody knows what exactly lives in the Appalachian Mountains, Sir. But we sure know that the mountain folk there don’t get taken like tourists do. Whose to say they don’t eat Not Deer, Mothmen, and Slewfoot, huh?”
Chris blinked.
“I mean, for that matter… there are less sightings of Yetis too these days. Maybe the locals in the Himalayans decided to take them for meat instead of pretending the critters don’t exist anymore?”
Another blink, eyes lightening in color slowly back to the normal storm-blue before a smile twitched the corner of his mouth slightly upwards.
“So, I don’t think you fit the definition of monster just by chowing down on the unfriendlies in the region, Captain.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re one of a kind, Piers?” He shook his head and turned to keep walking.
Piers just grinned and followed him, taking down the coordinates when indicated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the ride back, Chris looked genuinely sleepy and Leon noticed it first. Redfield was the last on the Osprey, and took a spot on the floor as opposed to the bench seat next to Canine that was available. Jill observed how he sat down, slightly less graceful than normal with a hand resting over his stomach. When they were in the air, she shooed Umber Eyes out of the seat closest to Redfield, switching with him.
Chris’ eyes were closed, and while he wasn’t snoring, he definitely was out like a light; his head lolled to the right slightly with limbs slack and a slight frown on full lips with a periodic twitch that indicated he was dreaming. Jill scooted her leg over as close as possible before resting the side ever so carefully against his broad shoulder. When they hit a slight rough patch of air, she felt Redfield’s head bump against the side of her thigh slightly before his heavy frame leaned a bit against the leg she kept close to him. Nose resting against the fabric of her tactical pants, she watched as he inhaled deeply a few times in his sleep before she felt a rumbling vibration travel through her body.
Leon looked over and gave her a thumbs up with a warm smile when she raised a brow and avoided moving. Leon wrote on a sheet of paper from a mini notebook that he kept in a pocket before handing the page to her carefully.
That’s the same sound he made when he accepted the rest of us and Rebecca hugged him at my place. I’m calling it the Purr of Approval.
Jill’s smile lit up the Osprey.
Chris didn’t move for the rest of his nap until he woke up when Leon tapped his opposite shoulder to rouse him ten minutes before landing. Dark eyes looked around blearily, flashing silver as he inhaled deeply before a jaw-cracking yawn came out of him once more. Giving a slight stretch, his brain recognized warmth against his shoulder and arm. He sniffed, eyes not fully focused and just let out a soft huff of breath. He didn’t move away, simply resting until it was time to disembark.
One de-con shower later, they had stowed away their cleaned weapons and headed to the briefing room once more. Chris stood at the back of the room behind the Squad once more, eyes on the carpet as Valentine and Kennedy did the bulk of the talking. At the end of the meeting before everyone was dismissed, he heard the door open and the soft footsteps of heels pacing across carpet with confidence in each step.
“We are adding a new member to our healthcare team, in light of the increase of operations that have led to a lot of dislocations and soft tissue injuries. As you all are aware, the BSAA does reimburse the cost of massage therapy and chiropractic visits for our employees that are injured on the job. It creates a lot of paperwork, and nobody likes that… so it has been decided to hire a specialist here.” The Assistant Director spoke with a warm smile, gesturing to the newcomer.
Leon’s eyes popped wide, recognizing the person in front of him.
“Considered a prodigy by her professors, our newest addition has a Doctor of Chiropractic degree, as well as her full certifications and licensing in Massage Therapy and a Masters in Kinesiology. She has recently moved to New York to start a private practice, but we were able to poach her with the lure of a full-time position here instead. As part of the new care-focused initiatives the Board is working on with Med Bay, every member of our Ops Squads are expected to have an assessment to determine if there are underlying issues from previous injuries that can be helped further. It is my pleasure to introduce to you Miss Líle Iarthar.”
All eyes including Redfield’s were watching the petite woman with a riot of curly dark brown hair pulled back into a loose half-updo surveying the room with eyes the same color blue as a Siberian Husky. Not skinny, but not absurdly curvaceous either, she was small in stature but with limbs suggesting that she could hold her own in the gym easily. A warm smile stretched full lips as they parted to speak in a soft, lilting Irish accent.
“It’s a pleasure to meet ye. I do hope that you do nae fear a visit to my office. I do nae bite, but I will pop a knot out o’ yer back faster than you can say Carter has pills. I look forward to working with all of ye to speed recovery and make daily life easier.”
“I have taken the liberty of working out a schedule for all of you to attend a first appointment with Miss Líle, it’s already in your email. Thank you for your hard work today, you are dismissed.”
They watched as the newest BSAA addition walked out of the room with the Assistant Director, talking amongst themselves quietly as they got up to head to the bullpen to retrieve their belongings once more.
Chris felt frozen, eyes tracking the movements of the petite woman through the glass wall as she went down the hallway to the elevator. His nose twitched ever so slightly, pupils dilating just the smallest degree. Leon took one look at Chris, following his gaze for a moment before his head tilted.
Interesting.