Riley Davis stood in the empty hallway of the HCF labs listening to the silence. Even the experiments were quiet. It was disconcerting in a way. All day long and for most of the night this place was alive with workers and soldiers. Things were being loaded into planes under Albert Wesker's direction, including bio-weapons and a rather dazzling display of weaponry. Scientists, including himself and Miranda Harley were hard at work trying to make sure everything was under control and ready.

He'd just finished the last of the Hunter control program. It was now around three in the morning and yet he couldn't sleep. He was awake as ever. He put his hands in his lab coat pockets and turned to the dark hallway.

A month had passed and everything was ready to make the trip to Rockfort island. The only one who didn't seem excited about it was Miranda. The dark haired woman avoided the subject at any cost. He was not the only one to notice it. Despite being extremely busy Wesker had been watching the dark haired woman. Riley wouldn't admit to it under threat of torture but he'd often caught their leader watching Miranda instead of working on the task at hand. Though it wasn't like it took him long to catch up.

Robert Jacks seemed to be avoiding everyone. Most of all Wesker. He noticed nothing. He brooded and loaded weapons, lifting machinery that shouldn't have been possible for a single man. That was another matter. Riley was beginning to suspect things, as he was sure Jacks had already . He wasn't sure what it was but Wesker's refusal to speak of things wasn't helping matters either. It was too much.

"You shouldn't be up so late." Wesker's voice came from the darkness, washing over the shorter man like a black hole. It was so easy to get sucked into the tone and pitch. It commanded obedience.

Riley turned toward the sound, fighting the urge to swallow deeply. How typical that would have been. Something like a cat and mouse scenario. "Sorry, Sir." He said softly, feigning a yawn. "I was finishing the Hunter project. Looks like they're all ready to go now. All I need is clearance to finish the mechanical work and the detectors will be ready as well."

The other man nodded, now the one to stare into the darkness of the hallway. "Alexia's virus will change things for all of us, Davis. In an extremely good way. I hope I can count on you." Wesker was standing almost stiffly, a strange smile on his face. Riley entertained the brief idea that his commander was going to do something crazy. Something that might very seal their fates.
Another thing that bothered him was the way he had said he hoped he could be counted on. Counted on for what? A sliver of ice ran along his back and dug claws of warning into his thoughts. "Wesker, I'm worried about Miranda. I don't think she should come with us on this mission."

Wesker nodded thoughtfully. "She won't stand for it if she is told no." He said darkly. Behind his shades his snake like eyes were resting on the only open doorway. The room where Miranda was lying on the bed, sleeping peacefully, at least for the moment.

"Her nightmares are getting worse." Riley whispered, referring to a night nearly two weeks ago that she had woken almost the entire facility screaming Wesker's name. Riley and Jacks had been certain their leader was killing her. "Maybe you should tell her that Sherry isn't coming. She might very well stay behind then."

Wesker's laugh was cold. "I seriously doubt that. Besides, Harley was of some use to me the last time. What if I need her again? She is useless to me that far away."

There was more to it and they both knew it. Riley knew better than to point that out, however. Score one for him. The younger man didn't have to say anything else to know the conversation was over. Things had changed in the brief month since Sherry had been brought back to them. He didn't know what it was but everything was different. It was almost as if there small group was preparing for something big. An inevitable finality. Riley Davis hated finalities.

(666)

"Bingo!" Miranda Harley was doing it again. Uno meant nothing to her. Not even 'Go Fish' was safe from her infernal yelling of the word.

"Aunt M!" Sherry wailed, copying Riley Davis as she placed a hand on her forehead. "You don't yell that when you win go fish!"

Miranda pretended to be be very upset at this and tossed her remaining cards on the pile. "You're all a bunch of party poopers." She muttered, pushing to her feet.

Not far away from where the wayward group sat enjoying a moment or two away from work, Wesker leaned back in his chair. He was trying for a moment or two of silence but it wasn't working as well as he'd hoped. Sherry was a constant noise maker and despite the blood proof he'd finally received from Riley it was hard to believe she carried his genes. Not even Miranda made so much fuss.

Speaking of Harley...Her hair had gotten longer. It tumbled down her back in a gentle mass of curls. She'd let it dry in the air again. Before he could get lost in a place he had no time for he turned his thoughts toward the upcoming mission.

"Too bad Alexia didn't die in that lab accident." Miranda said as she sat on the edge of his desk, effectively shattering his thought pattern. It rather surprised him that she'd put it that way. She wasn't usually so passionate about death of any sort. However, the note of bitterness was there and he only wished he could ask her why. He knew very well that she wouldn't tell him. Neither of them divulged in their family histories though in Miss Harley's case this was a tragedy indeed. Miranda leaned over the map of Rockfort Island he kept on his desk, looking over it with a deep frown. "Mr. Spencer must not have been thinking straight when he built this one. It has no point to it. Not nearly enough puzzles and traps to throw people off."

"Indeed." Wesker said darkly. "However, Ms. Harley, Alexander Ashford designed the base."

Miranda nodded. "So this is where Alexia is hiding out at?"

"I believe so. There have been rumors of her being seen in the mansion on the hill. Though..." He paused, tapping his chin in thought.

"You don't find them entirely true." Miranda finished for him. She'd come to know some of Wesker's thoughts simply by watching his face. He rarely believed anything, which was why she'd begun to worry about the other things he was bound to wondering about.

The enigmatic man shook his head as a way to confirm her words. "Alfred Ashford, as I'm sure you remember, didn't have an elevator that went all the way to the top. I wouldn't put it past him to do anything. However, we still need to make sure."

"The planes are ready, Captain." Robert Jacks stopped a few feet from the desk, his eyes straight ahead. It was the most he'd said to the other man in months.

The tension was so thick it could have been cut with a knife though Wesker was the only one who didn't seem to notice. "Good. We'll leave first thing in the morning. You have my list of commandos and bio-weapons." He got to his feet, passing the other man without a word. "Riley. I want surveillance on Rockfort. Find out where they've been keeping the majority of the T-virus. We'll strike there first." Miranda opened her mouth to suggest that Sherry go with them. That was as far as she got. Wesker's large fingers rested over her lips and he shook his head. He didn't even have to speak. She also knew better than to do so. "Children should be seen. Never heard or dragged halfway around the world to get under foot."

"Hey!" Sherry protested, not nearly as shy as she'd used to be either. "I would not get underfoot and I am not a child! I helped..." Three sets of eyes shot toward the young blond as she spoke, Miranda frantically shaking her head. All that needed to be done was to whisper a Redfield name and Wesker's lost his temper. Wisely Sherry closed her mouth and went back to shuffling cards. Riley bent to help her, pretending not to see that Wesker was still glowering at them.

"She's a child." Miranda said gently. "She just doesn't want to be left alone. Surely you can see that."

"That's exactly why she's not going." Wesker said firmly. "Pack your things, Ms. Harley and make it quick. We're leaving two hours before dawn."

(666)

Robert Jacks had been avoiding everyone for good reason. He'd been spending most of his time searching through paperwork in the basement rooms, hoping to find something that would reveal his past. Surely Wesker would have kept some information if he'd used a virus. He'd have to. But then again, this wasn't exactly Umbrella. He'd even been combing through the records he and Riley had stolen whenever the compound was quiet. He'd found nothing. It was as if he didn't even exist. And lately he was beginning to wonder if it weren't true.

However, a trip to Rockfort Island would change things. Davis had informed him that Umbrella sent a good deal of their backup records to that area. While the others searched for Alexia, he'd have a different goal in mind. After all, what Wesker didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

(666)

That night the group, excluding Miranda and Sherry, finished their preparations for attacking Rockfort Island. While Wesker mapped the exact coordinates, Riley and Jacks did a little planning of their own.

After the Raccoon city incident sneaking around and heading off on ones own wouldn't be so easy. Especially since the Captain had insisted they'd all wear tracking devices. He'd left no one out, not even Miranda. They could only hope for a proper distraction and the bet that Alexia wasn't going to be so easy to find.