Evil in REsidence

[Albert Wesker]

Wesker's surveying of the distant horizon swiftly proved fruitless. His vision was still swimming, his head still aching and pounding. One hand gently massaged his temples, gloved fingertips softly kneading at the sickly, pallid flesh. His teeth were clenched firmly behind a tight, grim scowl. But...he had an idea. Anything he could desire. His free hand held up at his side, palm up, as his mental focus turned to a simple task.

Minutes later, the summoning process was complete. The glow of the rainbow substance diminished, fading away and leaving behind a pair of binoculars in his upheld hand. "How convenient." The hand at his temple came down, pulling his sunglasses off, and the binoculars were raised to his eyes. Peering through the magnification devices, he again scanned the distant horizon. It was still hard to make out much detail, even with this level of aid. The featureless distance made it difficult to judge, but it looked like several miles at the least, to whatever they were. Some kind of archways, perhaps? Markers of some kind of passageway. From this distance, details couldn't be made out, but they were landmarks, which gave him something to aim for when he set out to explore more closely.

"Quack!"

His focus was interrupted, and drawn back to the area immediately near him. The binoculars lowered, as he turned to look back over his shoulder. "Ducks?" There was the faintest note of confusion in his voice, as his eyes flicked over the scene at hand. The fountain there...was it different? His brow furrowed, eyes squinting in consternation at this sudden change. The binoculars in his hand were stored away in an interior pocket of his coat. "What is the meaning of this..." He took his sunglasses in both hands, gently sliding them back into place over his eyes. There was no sign of life in this fountain just minutes before. Plant and waterfowl, it had been empty of both. It as incredibly bizarre, to say the least.

......

Slowly, Wesker paced around the fountain. A dozen paces away from it, sweeping around it in a lazy arc. "Still the same charming personality as ever, I see," he commented. There was a faint smirk plastered on his face, overriding the grim, pained scowl. As awful as he felt, the chance to finally get his revenge on the likes of Ada Wong was enough to soothe every lingering ache and pain, even if it was only temporarily. "I didn't believe it, at first...when I was told that I could have anything I desired upon my arrival here." His arms shifted, one hand coming up and lightly tapping at the edge of his temple with one finger. "But even thoughts in the back of my mind, that I'd given up on...seem to find an answer, without even actively thinking about them." He continued his slow, lazy circuit of the fountain, shaded eyes watching the woman as she slowly clambered out of the fountain.

Ada's expression was as hard to read, as ever. Say what you would about her, but she was skilled about keeping her thoughts masked. She remained unperturbed as she touched down on the smooth, featureless white 'ground' of this place. "You'll have to be a little more specific. I've got no idea what you're talking about."

"Playing dumb doesn't become you, miss Wong." Wesker's posture had shifted, arms hanging loosely at his sides. One hand was held limp, at ease and relaxed. The other, however...on the far side, away from the object of his frustrations, was curled into an ugly, clawed fashion, fingertips drawn up and nearly facing his palm. Ready to lash out, like a wild animal. "Your little betrayal during the incident in Spain set me back quite a long while. I was still able to get my hands on the sample of Las Plagas I needed...and the one you provided was not without its uses. But the delays you and your little organization caused..." His expression shifted, with an alarming suddenness to an icy-cold scowl, any trace of amusement or geniality gone in an instant. "...was extremely bothersome."

There was only the barest flicker of recognition and surprise on the woman's face before her neutral mask of indifference return. "You've got quite an imagination, Albert..."

Wesker let out a harsh bark of laughter. "Didn't I just tell you not to play dumb? Your little antics cost me far more resources and time than you could know. Five years...time that could have been better spent analyzing and perfecting the composition of Uroburos!" His teeth bared in a snarl now. Dark, black veins pulsed on his face, his pale, graying skin suddenly seeming even more pale. Behind his sunglasses, a dim glow of red glimmered. "Forced to compromise, and begin my work with an inferior sample...not the master plaga I required. Forced ot splice and manipulate later, working backwards to make the already completed work compatible with the sample of the master plaga when I finally acquired it, lest we lose all our work and have to start from scratch."

"Even the intervention of that damnable B.S.A.A.!" There was venom in his voice now, and both hands had curled into fists, clenching so hard the leather of his gloves strained and groaned in protest. "The delays in my plan lead to its complete failure! Lead to my..." His voice faltered, and there was a stagger in his posture. A wordless grunt, as of his breath catching, or of extreme pain, and he fell back half a pace, a hand lifting to clutch at his heart, the other going to his head. Damn it all...he was still too weak for this. Too weak to fully exploit his powers and demolish this miserable, wretched little creature.

Ada's expression remained uneffected by the sudden onslaught of information. If she had had any reaction to it at all, she didn't show it. "Your what, Albert?"

"My death!" he snarled in response. "Do you have any idea of the agony...of being bested at every turn by someone who has been a thorn in your side for YEARS, miss Wong? To have your plans dismantled by a pair of bumbling fools with more luck than actual sense?" His breathing was calming and his posture corrected, more by sheer force of will than anything. "To have your entire ambition and life's work amount to naught, and be burned to nothing in the fires of the earth itself?" He finally stopped pacing, turning to face Ada directly. "It has left me extremely...irritated. And as I said, this place has a habit of giving me exactly what I desire. One of the key aspects of all of my troubles and all of my failings, here to be broken and made to pay for her interference." A smirk returned to his face, as his eyes lifted to the sky. "I suppose I should thank you after all, Omni."