Chapter Text
“What… exactly is this made of?”
Wesker grimaced, holding up a vial of grey liquid to inspect it through the fluorescent lighting of William’s lab. It looked suspicious , to say the least. And the fact that it was one of William’s creations didn’t help quell Wesker’s suspicions.
William had invited Wesker to his lab on the STARS captain’s day off to ‘test something out’. Apparently, he had managed to create somewhat of an enhancer that would hypothetically boost the senses and other skills of a person. The problem was that he needed to test it out, but he didn’t want to waste it on one of the test subjects they had on hand. Not only would it be a waste to give something this ‘revolutionary’ (William’s words) to a mere test subject, but technically this was more of a side project than anything official, and so Umbrella wouldn’t let him use any of them anyway. And so, who was the first to come to William’s mind to test out a combat enhancing mixture? The faux-captain of a special police force, of course.
“Among other things, cat DNA.” William nodded, arms crossed confidently over his chest.
“Cat DNA.”
Wesker reiterated, staring him down with an incredulous look behind his sunglasses. Sensing his suspicion, William uncrossed his arms with a huff, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around Wesker’s shoulder.
“I already told you, Albert, this composition is entirely safe. It would be a waste of time to tell you exactly everything in it. You would agree if you saw the list.” He held out an explanatory hand, as if it were obvious. “All it’s going to do is enhance your senses and reflexes. Like a–”
“–A cat.” Wesker scoffed, using his other hand to free himself from William’s grasp. Though, he trusted William’s expertise enough not to question him further about the safety of the liquid. Spending years in a lab with him did that to someone, whether he liked it or not. “Ridiculous. Why must this be ingested and not injected? It would be more efficient that way.”
“It’s not ridiculous. ” William rolled his eyes, glaring at the other man, clearly offended by the insult to his craft. “And yes, I know injection would be faster. But this one has to take effect over time, it can’t happen too fast,
lest there be… side effects.”
“Where did you even manage to get cat DNA?” Wesker sighed, already exhausted by William’s character. It was a miracle he had managed to put up with him for so many years. “Did you take it off the streets? Steal it from a shelter?”
“Heavens, no,” William laughed in disbelief. “Annette and I got Sherry a cat for her birthday.”
Wesker’s eyes widened, hidden behind his shaded glasses. “You bought your daughter a cat just to use its DNA for an experiment?” He didn’t really feel all that bad for the cat, or for Sherry, more so shocked at the circumstances.
He knew William was eccentric, and perhaps a bit maniacal when it came to his biotechnology. But he didn’t even think he would do something like that. He glanced over at the photograph of the Birkin family sitting on his desk. It was difficult to tell, sometimes, where William’s loyalties with his family lied.
“Calm down, the cat is fine. Though, I didn’t think you would see it as a big deal.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “I used its fur to make this serum. I had the idea after realizing just how much cats shed.”
“So, this is– what, made from carpet fur?” Wesker shook the vial for emphasis, growing more unwilling to test out the concoction the longer William tried to convince him.
“If all you are going to do is complain and whine, Albert, I don’t need you in my lab to do it.” William huffed sternly, making a move to take the vial out of Wesker’s hand. “I will just find another willing participant. One who will be grateful for something as… revolutionary as this.”
Wesker dodged William’s swiping hand, reluctant to give the vial back to him even after his complaints. A part of him was intrigued by the possible benefits that William proposed the serum to have. Cat-like reflexes and senses would be nice to have. They would certainly make him an even more impressive captain than he already is. He could already see the admiration on his subordinates’ faces. He thrived in it, the confirmation of how much greater of a human he is than everybody else.
“I’ll take it.”
He scoffed, straightening his glasses and pulling the cork off of the vial with his other hand. William huffed in exasperation, but a slight smirk of victory graced his lips for a moment. Wesker did his best to ignore it, lest he smash the glass vial against William’s face just to wipe that stupid look off of his face.
The liquid smelt unfamiliar, however it wasn’t unpleasant. It must’ve been a completely new composition that William came up with while Wesker was out of the lab.
“Great, so-” William began to speak again, but Wesker was honestly tired of listening to him at that point. He was as much of an engineer as William, he didn’t need him to constantly explain the most basic things to him, like how to ingest an elixir.
Tilting his head back and bringing the glass up to his lips, he gulped down the contents of the vial in one go. The taste was even stranger than the scent, tasting sharp and stinging his tongue at first, transitioning into an almost sweet aftertaste once he had swallowed it all back. It only made him question the contents of the liquid even more. He turned to look at William to ask him again what he had made this out of, when he noticed William’s agape mouth and wide eyes. Not what someone wants to see after drinking an unknown concoction made by that person.
“ What?” Wesker’s eyes narrowed, his tone conveying a sense of threatening. What he said earlier about trusting William? That was out the window.
“You- I told you not to take it so fast!” William brought his hand up to his face, holding it in frustration.
“You didn’t bother stopping me as I was drinking it?” Wesker hissed, tossing the vial with more force than needed at William, who barely managed to catch it. To be fair, this could be considered a fault on Wesker’s pride’s behalf, but, again, that very pride would not let him admit that out loud.
“I told you earlier, and I thought you’d be smart enough to remember.”
“No, what you said is that it ‘couldn’t be injected’, nothing about ingesting it too fast.”
“Okay, okay, no it’s fine.” William paced, setting the empty vial down onto his desk. “You drank it, so it will take a while for it to absorb into your bloodstream. This is fine. This is how I engineered it.”
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more so than Wesker.
“What are the side-effects, exactly?” Wesker’s cold tone was calm, yet it made William freeze in his crazed pacing.
“Well- You see-“ William cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with him. Even though Wesker’s eyes were shrouded by sunglasses, his murderous, icy glare pierced through them. “You might… take on more characteristics of a cat.”
“Are you…” Wesker sighed in irritation, rubbing his temples. “So, what, I’m going to start purring and licking myself?”
“You could say that…”
”I should’ve never trusted you. You’re as irrational and reckless as ever. This was a waste of time, as always.”
Oddly enough, instead of cowering at Wesker’s tone or trying to defend himself, he nodded, ushering Wesker toward the door. “You’ll be fine. Just- you might want to take a few days off of work.”
He would’ve been more suspicious about William’s behaviour and words, but frankly, Wesker was far too annoyed and irritated by the other man to spend more time questioning him. And, he really did need to take a few days off of work, as fast as possible. There was no way in hell he was going to be caught acting like a cat in front of anyone.
—
The second he made it back to the department, he went to Chief Irons’ office. Not as much as to request time off, but inform Irons that he was going to take time off.
Irons didn’t put up a fight, approving his ‘request’ and dismissing him within the minute. Wesker still didn’t know if Irons knew about his affiliation with Umbrella, but he knew damn well that the cowardly pig that sat in the chief’s seat was undeniably scared of him. It was half the reason he managed to get so many STARS missions approved. He could see the sheer fear in Irons’ eyes when Wesker so much as walked into the same room as him.
“Have a good evening, Chief.” He turned to face Irons as he was halfway out of the doorway, nodding politely. “And careful getting home, the forecast says there’s going to be a storm tonight.”
With that, he left the room and shut the door behind him, barely managing to keep the slight amused smirk off of his face before leaving his office. He didn’t doubt the idea that Irons was the type of man to jump when lightning struck or thunder sounded.
He didn’t savour his power over the chief or amusing thoughts for too long after walking away, however. He barely managed to walk down to the end of the hallway when something started to feel… weird.
He stopped abruptly, suddenly feeling incredibly lightheaded. Leaning against the wall, his breathing began to feel more constricted. Fortunately, there was nobody around at that moment to see him like that, but there was no telling who could come up or down those stairs or around the corner.
It had been around half an hour since his visit with William. Was it taking effect already? And so suddenly? He silently cursed William again for forgoing these symptoms too.
Fighting to stay upright, he pushed himself off of the wall and toward the staircase. The only place he could think of to stay hidden was the storage room upstairs. Painstakingly, he pulled himself up the stairs, panting as he reached the top. He wrenched the storage room door open, throwing himself inside and slumping against the door.
He glanced at his hand in the dimly lit room, seeing it shake uncontrollably. He hated it. Whatever was happening, it made him feel so weak. He’d never felt so uncontrollably helpless. If anyone were to find him in this state, he’d kill them on the spot.
He thought about another man he’d like to kill right at that moment. A certain scientist with blonde hair and a crazed look in his eye. He cursed his name before losing consciousness, slumping against the door.