30 A Peaceful Day

Claire smells really nice. Her perfume seemed to be a combination of lilac and jasmine. Her wavy hair was tied into a ponytail, accentuating her fair neck. She wore a red shirt and blue jeans with brown boots. This was the first time I met her in person and I instantly liked her. Although she was my third favorite woman in Resident Evil, after Jill Valentine and Ada Wong.

A minute later, she released her hand and looked at my face properly while wiping her wet eyes, "I'm Claire, your mother's little sister."

"Yes, aunt Claire. Mom told many things about you, and uncle Chris also mentioned you several times after we met," answered me. Then, I recalled what Chris and I discussed earlier before we take the plane from New York to Kansas City, Missouri.

Chris told me to not mention anything about my power around Claire, as she was too worrisome sometimes. I also understand where he came from. My power will be envied by a lot of people that want it. If someone sets an eye on me, it doesn't matter even if they couldn't take my power as long as they could dissect my body. Just like several mutants in the X-Men history. Chris also knew that sooner or later, I would operate solo without them. Her mind would never rest in peace as long as she knew her family will be in constant danger and alone.

"Right, I seem to have something to talk with your dear uncle." Her eyes suddenly turned cold, making even me gulp. She stood and looked behind me, at Chris who was hiding behind Barry.

"Alright, Sis. I know it was partially my fault, but you don't have to be this angry..." Chris was kinda nervous and sweaty.

"Angry? I'm not just angry... I'm furious!" She walked slowly while cracking her fingers. "First, you never answer my call. Second, you take a vacation without telling to me. And third, I told you to instantly take a flight from France to America, but you just have to stay there." She pulled Chris's ear and continued barraging him multiple complaints. Poor Chris... He didn't even have a chance to explain himself to her.

We gained a lot of attention from our surroundings. The passerby glanced in our direction, wondering what was happening. Barry couldn't stand the gaze from them and told the two siblings to continue their talk elsewhere. Claire realized that she was the center of their attention and turned red from embarrasment. She took my hand and led us toward the car she brought.

Inside the car, Claire sat at the backseat with me, and Barry was driving while next to him Chris was still rubbing his ear. Claire told me a lot of things about how the three siblings, mom, Claire, and Chris lived.

Mom dropped out of school after my grandparents passed away in order to pay for my Uncle's and Aunt's education. Claire said that she had a job as a staff in a hotel at Raccoon City. Because they originally lived in Kansas City, they were forced to be separated for a while. But, Mom would make time to visit them every weekend, though. The weird thing about mom's job was that sometimes she would travel out of the state, saying it was part of her duty. Making me guessing if she actually worked in a hotel.

Mom kept working in Raccoon City until Chris finally graduated and entered a police academy. It was at the same time that Claire also graduated from high school and decided to enter a University in New York through her scholarship. Mom was furious about his decision, saying that being a policeman was a dangerous job whatsoever. They kept bickering for months until she reluctantly gave up and just let him do whatever he wants. And that was when Chris told her that he got transferred into special forces, S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Team) in Raccoon City. Then she stopped talking with him for another few months and returned to Kansas City, marrying Dad a year later.

The thing is, Mom's and Claire's temperament was completely the same. So, now that mom wasn't around, Claire was the one that took her role to educate the Redfield men. I now truly understand why Chris told me to never tell her about my ability. My back suddenly turned cold whenever I thought about the bleak future.

Not long after, the Car, a white 1995 Ford Bronco, stopped at a tall building, southwest of the city. It was the apartment where I lived with my parents. It has been a long time since I'm home. I ran to the stairs while reminiscing about the past. It was still the same, the dark green paint and brown carpet on the corridors. The smell of cigar mixed with oil, it was caused by the residents who lived here. They were kinda, peculiar.

Our place was on the second floor. Dad pick it on purpose when he knew Mom was pregnant with me. Just for safety. After I was born, Mom suddenly got weak and got sick very often. I never knew why, so I might have to ask about that later on. She had to retire early and spent her time resting at home with me.

"Calm down, Edward. Watch where you're going," said Claire, being worried about me tripping on the stairs.

"It's okay Claire. He's a healthy devil, falling once in a while is normal," said Barry.

"Do you want me to push you down?" answered Claire without expression. Barry was startled and sweat could be seen dripping from his forehead. Chris chuckled and put his hand on Barry's shoulder while nodding. His face was shouting, 'Now you understand how I feel '

We arrived in front of the door of my home, Claire took out a key and opened the locked door. Everything inside was just the same as I remembered. The house was decorated with luxurious and beautiful furniture. Since Mom never went outside that much, her hobby turned into decorating the house. There was almost nothing empty on the wall. Painting, photograph, cabinets, bookshelves every kind of furniture. The family sofa was placed near the wall, facing the TV. In between was a small desk where Dad's leg used to hang on.

On the right side were the kitchen and bathroom while the left side was my room and my parents' room. Further inside was Dad's old office where he usually stays at during his leave or when he got home. I saw several boxes stacked near the sofa, it was our luggage from Africa. Marvin, Dad's colleague who I met at Congo, promised me that he would take care of our belongings when we went home, and here they are. I didn't open or moved them yet as I was too tired from the long flight home.

"Just rest for today, Edward. Tomorrow, we'll visit Vanessa and Victor, your parents' graveyard," said Claire. Mervin also took care of my parents' bodies and using his connection, brought them home to have a proper funeral. We were supposed to attend the funeral, but the damn Genma had just to attack that day.

I looked at the small calendar that seemed new on the desk. Claire and Chris occasionally take turns in cleaning the house when Mom and Dad decided to take a long vacation, looking for the so-called lost civilization, Wakanda. It was my mom's life long dream, so when Dad quit his job as a Federal Agent, we started the long trips across the world.

Today was August, 15th. There was still a month left until the tragedy that would befall Raccoon City happen. Since Claire was still living in a dormitory, I couldn't go with her yet. I was also curious if I get another quest if I go to Raccoon City. The reward from clearing a quest was really tempting, and also I could get experience points from it to further level me up. For now, I need to prepare and find out how to minimize the threat and casualty caused by it.

On the game, the survivability rate of the event was almost reaching 0%. Except for the main characters from the game, all citizens which were more than 100.000 people was killed. The speed of the spreading T-Virus was just too much to contain, forcing the city to be locked down by the government and eventually decided to use a nuclear missile to obliterate it.

While I walked into my room and get to bed, I keep thinking of every possible scenario to help my cause.

"But who would be sane enough to help me?"

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"Motherfucker! Did they think I was delusional!?"

Nick Fury was flipping in rage in his office. He just returned from visiting the X Mansion where Charles Xavier preside. Right now he was accompanied by agent Maria Hill and Phil Coulson. They were discussing the information that they got from Scott Summers, the Cyclops.

"He said there was a kid with a superpower, helping them defeat the monsters? How am I going to process that!?" said Nick Fury, while rubbing his forehead. He didn't believe the information that Scott mentioned at all and thought it was his way to hide something else. Defeating that many monsters were an impossible feat for someone like the kid's age, it was just too unimaginable. However, the nature of his job prevents him to dismiss it either. That was why he asked Phil to do some investigation, and now here they are standing in the office. He continued, "How's the investigation going?"

"We got several recording about him, you might be blown after watching it. And also, Dante seemed to be involved with him as they were seen together as well," said Phil while giving Nick a USB Drive, Stark Industries new invention.

"Dante? The damn coated bastard?" Nick Fury recognize that name instantly. They met several times in the past ten years while Dante was hunting demons, and they had a bad relationship. Really bad. Nick ignored it after taking a deep breath and looked over the videos on the computer.

"Shit..." the recording showed almost all of Edward's feat during the event. Nick was being speechless after he was done watching everything. Maria Hill then interrupts his lamentation.

"After Phil told me about it, I did some investigation as well about the kid in the video." She gave placed several papers on the desk and continued, "turns out, his name is Edward Kavka, one of our agent's son."

"Kavka? Sounds familiar." Nick furrowed his brows.

"Victor Kavka, the one who quit after the Hydra incident, three years ago," replied Maria.

"Fuck... Now it's getting more complicated. How was Victor doing since then?" asked Nick, feeling guilty? The Hydra incident three years ago was caused by Victor's investigation which leads to finding a scattered trail of Hydra inside S.H.I.E.L.D. With his fellow agents, he asked for permission to purge the whole institution from the cockroaches that were hiding. However, his pleas were rejected, time after time, resulting in his team's dissatisfaction, and then together, they resigned.

"Unfortunately, he passed away during his trip along with his wife. Leaving the poor kid as an orphan" answered Maria Hill with a solemn face.

"What? Why am I hearing this now! Is it related to his information about the hidden Hydra members?"

"Unfortunately, No. Mervin purposely hides it from us out of disappointment. I also accidentally found out on the day of their funeral two days ago from one of my acquaintances."

Phil then said what was on his mind all this time, "We should've helped him to push his investigation further three years ago."

"I know. But it was too dangerous, one wrong move and the whole institution would crumble instantly." Nick didn't intervene on purpose. The scale of the case just too huge, it could lead to the disassembly of the whole institution. he continued, " I don't want to shout, 'SHIELD! DIASSEMBLE!. That's too depressing."

"So? Where's the kid? I need to talk to him." Nick Fury walked out of the office.

"Isn't it too soon?" Maria tried to deny Nick's plan.

"There's no such thing as 'too soon'. Only 'too late'."

Thus Nick was on his way to recruit the future Avenger Member.

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