Chapter Text
Pushing open the door to the chief's office, Leon and Claire are met with an uncomfortable amount of taxidermy staring back at them. Leon stumbles a bit at the sight, but he's easily dragged by a stressed looking Claire towards the chair sat behind a large oak desk. Her hands shake as she pulls out the disinfectant spray and roll of bandages Chris gave them moments ago, and Leon reaches over to give her wrist a gentle squeeze.
They take the momentary breather being in the office gives them to patch up Leon's bullet wound. He hisses as the disinfectant hits the open wound, and Claire apologizes quietly as she begins to wrap his shoulder. Trying to keep his mind off of the pain, Leon picks up a journal off the desk. He can only stomach skimming over a couple of the entries before curling his lip and tossing it aside. “The man’s sick in the head.”
"Even more reason to hurry and get Sherry," Claire says, finishing up with dressing Leon's wound. She hesitates a second, hands hovering over Leon before she's clenching her fists and walking towards a nearby door. Leon wants to ask what she's thinking, but silently follows behind her instead.
The door leads to a narrow hallway that feels like it's closing in on itself with the harsh lighting and dark colors. The taxidermy tiger displayed in there isn't helping matters any, and Leon's thankful when they reach the door on the other side.
"Score," Claire says, smiling a little when she spots a gated off office space. There's a parking pass hanging just above the desk that they could use to get out of the garage and hopefully catch up to Irons before he can hurt Sherry. She tries the handle and curses when the door doesn't budge. "Shit, seriously?"
Leon looks around the room for a key of sorts before spotting a piece of paper sitting on a nearby bookshelf. He picks it up and reads through it quickly before huffing in annoyance. “We'll need to reset the breaker to get it open,” he says, setting the page back down. "They were in the middle of fixing it when… this all happened. There's apparently spare electrical parts in the clock tower and down in the generator room. We’d probably make better time if we split up to grab them."
"What about the big asshole?"
"He can’t chase both of us while we’re on different ends of the building,” Leon says, trying to reassure both of them. “You can stay in the precinct and grab the one from the clock tower. I’ll head back down to the parking garage and grab the other one from the generator room. We’ll both meet back in here once we’ve got them. The, uh, big asshole doesn’t seem to follow us in here. We should be safe waiting.”
Claire chews her bottom lip before nodding. “Do you have your phone?”
Leon nods, pulling his phone out and waving it at Claire before pocketing it again. “Text me if you need me to make some noise to get the big guy off of you.”
“Yeah, same to you.” When Leon goes to leave, Claire speaks up again. “Hey, be careful, alright? I don’t want to have to tell Chris that something happened to you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” Leon says with a grin.
~*~
Leon can't help but feel slightly disappointed when he gets back down to the parking garage and Chris and Jill aren't at the gate. He looks out, still, with a sliver of hope that he can somehow spot them. Logically, he knows, there's no point of them waiting around for him and Claire to hopefully get out when danger seems to be lurking everywhere.
He runs a hand down his face, trying to physically dismiss the thoughts before he spirals further into a pit of worry. There's more pressing matters to worry about— like getting the hell out of there.
Leon barely has time to turn away from the gate before growling pierces the silence and he's being slammed into the hard concrete ground. An infected doberman pins him down, eyes a milky white as it snarls and tries to bite a chunk out of him. Leon's heart is in his throat as he scrambles for his knife, desperate to get the dog off of him. He finally manages to get his fingers around the handle, swinging his arm hard and plunging the knife deep into the dog's throat. Still using the momentum from the swing, Leon shoves the dog off of him and scrambles to his feet. His hands fumble for the gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans, but before he can grab it, a shot rings out from somewhere to his right. The infected dog finally stills, dead.
"Holy shit," Leon breathes out, heart still racing in his chest from the close call. He takes a quick moment to check for injuries before grabbing his knife. "I had that handled."
"Most people would say thank you," a voice says, followed by a figure appearing from the dark. Her gun is still aimed in front of her, but it isn't pointed at Leon.
"Thank you," Leon replies, wiping his knife clean on his jeans before tucking it back into his pocket. "Who are you anyway?"
The woman pulls something out of an inner pocket in her beige trench coat, flipping open a badge to reveal the letters 'FBI'. Leon finds himself sighing in relief at the sight, shoulders dropping slightly, much to the clear dismay of the agent. If the FBI is here, it means he and Claire can get out safely. Maybe even get Chris and Jill without too much problem.
"You should still keep vigilant," the agent says, nodding at his injured shoulder. "Especially with a wound like that."
Leon can't help but frown. "What exactly is going on here?" he asks. "It must be something big if FBI's been sent here."
Instead of answering, the agent turns on her heel and walks in the direction of the jail cells. "That's classified information. Now do yourself a favor, and get out of here before you get yourself any more injured."
Leon scoffs at that, quickly hurrying after her as she walks away. "Considering everything I've seen so far, I think I should get some answers," he insists.
The woman stops with a sigh, turning towards him and shooting him an unimpressed look that shows even through her dark sunglasses. "It's none of your concern."
Annoyed now, Leon pushes on. "I'm trained in weaponry, if that's your concern. I have friends in S.T.A.R.S. who've shown me tricks to use to get out of situations. I'm a trained civilian."
The agent presses her lines into a thin line, just staring at him. Eventually, she shakes her head with another sigh. “Find a way out of here and maybe then we’ll talk.” With that, she turns away and stalks off once more. This time, Leon lets her.
More infected dogs appear as Leon gets closer to the generator room. They’re quicker than the infected humans, but just as easy to take out. He’s nearly out of bullets when he finally gets his hands on the electronic part they need. He quickly pockets it before walking over to the generator and turning it on, breathing out a sigh of relief as the lights flicker on overhead.
Leon takes a moment to collect himself and count his remaining bullets. There aren't as many left as he'd like, and he briefly wonders if there's any gunpowder lying around that he can use. He has more than enough shotgun ammo to last a while if he rations it, but he can't help but wonder if his shoulder will be able to handle the recoil.
He shakes his head, vowing to just suffer in silence if it comes down to it.
Leon's nearly back to the garage when a familiar growl has him freezing in his steps. He quickly presses himself against a nearby wall and, after taking a deep breath, peers around the corner. There, not three feet in front of him, is a licker feasting on the body of a dead dog. His eyes widen and he quickly pulls his gaze away, trying his best to keep his breathing steady.
"Fuck," he curses under his breath. He squeezes his eyes shut and counts to ten before slowly making his way around the corner.
Leon's grip on his handgun is tight as he carefully makes his way down the hallway. While he doesn’t aim at the thing yet, he keeps his finger on the trigger as he steps carefully through the puddles of blood to get to the door. The thing snarls, and Leon momentarily stops, blood turning to ice in his veins. Luckily, it wasn’t snarling at him, and it scampers away down the hallway the same way Leon had just come from. Letting out the breath he didn’t know he was holding, Leon hurries the rest of the way to the elevator.
Claire isn't in the chief's office when Leon makes it back. Instantly, his heart rate skyrockets in worry, and he considers for a moment or two if he should try to find her. She can handle herself, he knows, but he’s so paranoid. There are so many monsters lurking around, and not being able to see Claire makes his anxiety feel ten times worse. He's already doing his best to tune out his worries about Chris and Jill.
Leon ends up pulling his phone out, ready to text her, when a crash so loud it shakes the building explodes nearby. He freezes and stares blankly at his lock screen of him and Chris before he forces his legs to work. He quickly shoves his phone back into his pocket and holds his shotgun in front of him, tightening his grip to repress the tremors.
The way towards the waiting room and, incidentally, the way to the main hall is blocked by a large shutter. Leon can’t help but huff, feeling like the officers’ attempts at corralling the infected made getting around the precinct infinitely more difficult. Instead, he turns towards the nearby staircase and heads up. At the top, he's met with two doors. There's some faint growling coming from behind the wooden door in front of him, so he quickly slips through the metal door on his left, wanting to avoid the zombies as much as possible.
Rain drizzles down onto him as he looks around, spotting the cause of the crash on the lower level of the roof. A helicopter sits halfway through the wall, large flames surrounding it and slowly licking across the brick. Leon rushes towards a nearby ladder, mind instantly worrying about the pilot and hoping he can save him in time.
There’s a suspicious creaking from the metal under his hands as he starts down the ladder, and he only has a moment to process what’s happening before it breaks under him, sending him crashing down. He hits the ground hard and groans in pain, having to lay there a minute before he can push himself onto his feet again. Shoving down the feeling of the ever-growing ache all over his body, he stumbles towards the fire. He has to pause as he gets closer, the intense heat of the fire grower hotter as it continues to burn.
Leon looks around in a desperate hope to find something to help put out the fire. It's burning too hot for the rain to douse it completely, but he spots a nearby lever connected to what he hopes to be the water pipes. Wishing for the best, he grabs the lever and shoves it down. It groans under the use, but thankfully starts pouring water out of a broken section of the pipes and onto the flames.
“Hello?” he calls towards the helicopter, wondering if the pilot survived. When he doesn’t hear anything, he heads towards a nearby door to see if he can look from a different angle inside the station. After wiping the water from his face, Leon pulls out his flashlight as he steps through the hallway towards where the downed helicopter is.
As he steps closer, the helicopter suddenly starts moving. Leon stops in his tracks, eyes wide as the helicopter is easily thrown out of the way like it weighs nothing, the large grey man from earlier making a reappearance. Leon fumbles for his gun, nearly dropping it in panic as he takes a shot at it as it advances towards him, but it does little to dissuade it from its steady gait. He nearly trips over his own feet as he turns back towards the door and shoves his way back onto the lower level of the roof. The thing follows behind him, loud footsteps thudding heavily against the concrete.
“What the fuck?” Leon mutters, unsure of where to go. He faces it again and takes a couple more useless shots at it. It doesn’t even stutter in its stride, completely unaffected and easily reaching him and grabbing him by the throat to lift him off the ground. Leon chokes and kicks at the thing. The edges of his vision start to blacken the longer it holds him up in the air, grip slowly tightening.
“Hey!” a shout comes from somewhere behind the large man. A couple shots ring out, catching the thing’s attention enough for him to turn to face whoever took aim at him.
It tosses Leon to the side as easily as it did the helicopter, chasing after the retreating blur of red. Leon lays there, desperately trying to catch his breath. It's is as bad as it is during an attack, and he scrambles desperately for his inhaler once more, cursing the fact he’s had to use it twice now within a couple hours. He coughs roughly afterwards, thankful for whoever found him just before the thing could crush his windpipe.
Claire's already waiting for him in the chief's office when Leon makes it back. Her eyes zero in on his throat and her face instantly contorts in worry. Leon can tell she has questions, dozens of them if her opening and closing her mouth as struggles to form any of them is any indication.
"Let's just get out of here, please," Leon begs softly before Claire can ask anything. He grabs the electronic part he left there earlier, coughing softly as he still struggles for a proper breath.
Though there's clear reluctance on her face, Claire thankfully agrees. She grabs her own electronic part and the both of them carefully slot the pieces into the panel. They have to fiddle with the wires a bit to get a current through, but the lock on the gate is soon clicking open. Claire shoots him a grin as she pushes the door open and grabbing the parking pass. As she tugs it down, the phone on the desk starts to ring.
Leon shares a confused look with Claire before she’s turning to answer it. He can’t hear what the person on the other side is saying, but with the way Claire is getting progressively angry about whatever’s being said, Leon can only guess it’s Chief Irons. She’s soon slamming the phone down in an angry huff and turning back towards Leon.
"Irons has Sherry in the orphanage."
"What the hell is he doing there?"
"I have no idea, but it doesn't matter. We have to get Sherry away from him." Claire pushes past Leon to the door and aggressively shoves it open. “I swear if that fucker has touched one hair on her head, I will murder him.”
“Don’t let Chris hear you say that,” Leon jokes lightly, hurrying alongside Claire and keeping his eyes peeled for the giant man. “Think he’s been looking for an excuse to keep you locked in one place for a while now.”
"Wouldn't surprise me," Claire says with a soft laugh. She steps into the elevator leading down to the parking garage first, letting out a nervous breath as the doors close. They stand in the quiet for a moment before she's shooting him a look. “So… how long do you plan on hiding the fact you found the engagement ring Chris was planning on giving you from me?”
Leon stares at her, eyes wide. “I… wasn’t hiding it…?”
Claire snorts. “Okay, sure.”
Leon stares down at his left hand, the ring shining slightly despite the poor lighting in the elevator. “Just didn’t think it was worth bringing up. Especially with… everything.” He chews on his bottom lip and debates on whether he should say any more when the elevator stops and the doors open.
The woman from earlier is waiting at the gate. She’s ditched whatever coat she was sporting earlier, revealing a bright red dress underneath, and listening to something in her hand and seeming agitated. She only looks up when the pair approaches.
“I hope you found a way out,” she says, tossing the device to the side with a sigh.
"Who are you?" Claire asks, eyeing the woman suspiciously as they get closer to her. "Why are you here?"
"She's FBI," Leon answers quickly for the woman, eyes flicking back and forth between the two.
"FBI?" Claire repeats with a frown. She crosses her arms as she looks the woman up and down. "Where's the rest of your crew?"
"It's a solo operation," the woman answers.
Claire raises her eyebrows in surprise. "For this?"
“Do you have a parking pass or not?” the woman asks, getting impatient. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a tyrant in here trying to kill us, and I’d like to lessen the odds.”
"Tyrant? Is that what that big grey guy is?" Leon asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion as Claire goes to insert the parking pass to lift the gate. "Are you going to give any answers now? I still don't even know your name. I'm Leon Ke— Redfield. Leon Redfield."
Claire shoots him a look, but thankfully doesn't call him out. "Claire Redfield."
The woman presses her lips into a thin line before nodding. “Alright. I did say I’d answer some questions if you got us out.” The second the gate is up, she’s walking away. Leon hurries after her, desperate for any sort of answers to the questions that are burning on the tip of his tongue. “Name’s Ada, by the way.”
“Alright, Ada. You want to explain why the FBI is here? Before tonight, nothing ever happened to warrant having government agents here,” Claire says, easily keeping up alongside Leon. “Except maybe having a corrupt as hell police chief.”
“Have you heard of the Umbrella Company?” Ada asks, ignoring Claire’s quip about Irons. “They’re a pharmaceutical company secretly making bio-weapons. They have a virus– it turns people into indestructible monsters.”
“Well… that explains a lot,” Leon says, looking over at Claire who shares a look of agreement.
"I’m here to take down one of the scientists responsible for it–- Annette Birkin.” She makes a turn towards the edge of the road and huffs. “Can’t go that way.”
“The gate over there looks unlocked,” Claire says, gesturing to a nearby alleyway. “We could probably cut through there. The orphanage is that way, anyway."
“I need to get to the sewer tunnels down there,” Ada says, gesturing to the pipes below them where the road is missing enough to reveal them. “That’s the way to Umbrella’s underground lab.”
“Sorry, but we have to get Sherry,” Claire says, already taking a step back. “C’mon, Leon.”
Leon opens and closes his mouth. He stares down at the sewer pipes, chewing roughly on his bottom lip in thought. Eventually, he turns back to Claire. “You go. I’ll help Ada.”
“Are you serious?”
“My mission is to take down Umbrella’s entire operation. We may not make it out,” Ada adds, face softening minutely before she quickly schools it away.
“Whatever it takes to save this city,” Leon says, sending Claire a pleading look before looking more firmly at Ada. "Count me in."
Claire presses her lips into a thin line, clearly displeased. “I don’t like splitting up again. It was one thing when we were in the same building…”
“We’ll be fine. I’ll be fine," Leon interrupts gently. "I can’t sit idly by while knowing there’s something I could do to help stop this.”
There’s a tension in there as Leon stares down Claire, who meets his eyes with a similarly steely gaze. “Fine,” she says eventually. “But keep your phone on you. And if anything happens to you… don’t make me be the one to have to tell Chris.”
Leon suddenly can’t meet her gaze as Claire turns on her heel and heads towards the alleyway. He swallows thickly and turns away, following after Ada as she walks towards a nearby gun shop.
“C’mon, we can cut through here.” Ada pulls out a lock pick and kneels down to start working on the lock. “It’s not too late for you to go after her. It’s going to be dangerous down there.”
“You’re stuck with me now,” Leon jokes.
Ada hums noncommittally before standing and pushing the door open. The shop in front of them is in complete disarray— shelves knocked over haphazardly and mostly picked clean. Leon manages to find some ammo for his handgun and stuffs it into his pocket. He turns towards the other side of the store to look for any more supplies when he spots a note on the counter. He reads it quickly, smiling to himself when he spots Jill’s signature at the bottom. They must’ve come here after uncuffing him and Claire.
There’s only a quick warning of “Don’t move!” before a shotgun is being aimed directly at him. He looks up, startled, only to be met with the eyes of the terrified gun shop owner. “Holy shi– Leon?”
“Hey, Kendo,” Leon greets back, still eyeing the shotgun that’s yet to leave his line of vision. “Mind putting that down?”
Kendo’s hold on the gun wavers, lowering slightly until he hears Ada behind him. He whips around, aim steady once more as he points it directly at the agent, who’s aiming her own gun at some spot behind Kendo. “Drop it!”
“We need to terminate her before she turns,” Ada responds calmly.
Leon risks a couple steps forward, spotting a young girl standing in the doorframe of what Leon assumes to be Kendo’s home. He gasps when he sees what’s become of her. “Oh, Emma…” he murmurs, heart aching.
“That’s my fucking daughter!” Kendo argues. He moves so he’s standing between Ada and Emma. “Emma, sweetie, I thought I told you to stay put.”
“Ada, leave them be,” Leon says, reaching over to gently lower Ada’s gun down. “Please.”
“Daddy?” Emma says, voice already sounding rougher than it should. Leon’s heart aches further, and Ada’s hand finally drops. “Lele?”
“Daddy’s right here, Emmie,” Kendo says, dropping the shotgun in favor of going to comfort his daughter. He kneels in front of her and holds her close, but her gaze stays on Leon. “You guys should get going. Get to safety. Find Chris and Jill. They, uh… said something about a subway.”
"Are you going?" Leon asks, ignoring Ada's questioning look in favor of the father-daughter duo.
"I can't," Kendo whispers. He stands up with Emma still in his arms, who finally tears her eyes off of Leon.
“Mommy?” Emma asks as they turn towards the house.
“Mommy’s sleeping, sweetie. Let’s go get some sleep, too, okay?” Kendo murmurs softly to his daughter. "Give us some privacy, please." With that, he closes the door behind them, and it takes everything in Leon not to chase after.
“That’s why I have to help stop this,” Leon says, turning towards Ada. He barely refrains from flinching when a gun goes off in the apartment behind them. “So that doesn’t keep happening to people like him. To her.” He flinches, this time, when another shot goes off. “Not when there’s something I can do to help stop it.”
Ada stares at him for a while before sighing softly and nodding. “Alright, then,” she says. She turns towards a nearby alleyway. “The sewer’s this way.”
~*~
The sound of a ladder being knocked down is the only thing able to pull Leon from the immense panic he feels clawing at his chest. He swallows roughly, still eyeing the now-dead alligator in fear, like it's going to jump back alive and go after him again. Slowly, Ada's words from earlier start to filter back in, and he feels his panic slowly start to morph into irritation. It's illogical considering everything going on, but he holds onto the annoyance as he climbs up the ladder onto the walkway with Ada.
He picks an argument over it with her it, knowing it's irrational and just his fear talking, but he can't stop the sharp words from leaving his lips. Ada takes it all in stride, however, with far more grace than he deserves and answering any questions he asks.
She directs him down further until they're approaching a doorway that she claims will lead them to where they need to go. He pushes it open, swallowing down his anger and promptly pausing when he spots a woman crouched over a recently deceased zombie. She's muttering to herself as she inspects the wounds made to the body, hand hovering over it like she's afraid of touching it. Leon doesn't have time to ask her anything before Ada's stepping around him, gun drawn. He quickly follows suit, eyeing the blonde scientist with suspicion.
"Annette Birkin," Ada greets, taking a couple steps towards the woman. "We're here for the G-Virus."
Annette huffs out a laugh, standing up straight to face the pair. She doesn't seem surprised to see the guns in her face, making Leon more wary of her the longer they stand there. He cautiously sniffs the air, wanting to know who he was dealing with, but the scientist just smells clinical. Even Ada, despite her best efforts of drowning her own scent in perfume, still smells strongly of alpha. The lack of any sort of scent just puts Leon on edge.
"That's not going to happen," Annette says calmly, putting her hand into her jacket pocket. Ada shouts out a warning, but Annette ignores it completely as she pulls a lighter out of her pocket and throws it on the corpse before running off. Ada shoots at her before cursing and giving chase, Leon close behind.
They reach what appears to be a dead end when Annette seemingly disappears. Ada curses, looking for any possible secret entrances that the scientist could’ve slipped through. Leon lags behind her, struggling to keep his breathing down as he starts looking around as well. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, so he struggles momentarily as his hands skim along the walls, looking for any possible openings. He opens his mouth to ask Ada something when he sees something roll on the floor between them.
“Get down!” he shouts at Ada, rushing over to her and shoving her out of the way just in time for the flash grenade to go off behind them.
Leon senses are scrambled, and he has a difficult time telling up from down. He thinks he hears Ada talking to him, but it's hard to tell from the ringing in his ears. He tries moving towards the voice, but misjudges his step and feels himself tripping over something.
Then nothing.
“Leon, oh my god,” are the first words he hears break through the fog. He can’t help but groan at the sound and something akin to relief fills the familiar voice. “Thank fuck. Can you open your eyes for me? Please?”
It takes him a minute to get his body responding like he wants it to. When he manages to peel his eyes open, Claire’s hovering over him with a worried look on her face. She manages a shaky smile when she notices he’s awake, asking him something that Leon doesn’t have the brain power to process quite yet. Noticing this, Claire helps him sit up and thankfully waits for him to speak before grilling him.
"Where…?" he asks, looking around the space in confusion. They're in some sort of break room, lockers lining two of the walls and a couple motivational posters stuck onto the grey walls. He turns his head and catches sight of a table and some chairs, pushed away like they were abandoned in a hurry. "Ada—"
"Is fine," Claire answers. She carefully pushes hair off of Leon's forehead, and he groans in pain at the touch. "Sherry's fine, too, before you ask. I can explain in a minute, but you've got a nasty head wound that I need to clean."
"Fuck, okay," Leon says, face contorting in pain as they adjust their positions enough for Claire to start cleaning and treating the wound. "How'd you even get down here? I thought the sewers were the only way to get here."
"So did I," Claire replies. She pulls the bottle of first-aid spray out of a hip pouch along with a large bandage she must've found. She apologizes quickly before she sprays carefully onto the wound. "There was an underground tunnel under the orphanage. Got into an elevator with Sherry and that weird tyrant chased after us. Thing's trying to pry the elevator open when that monster from under the station came back and tore it in half."
"What?" Leon asks, turning quickly towards Claire and cursing when his vision momentarily swims. "The tyrant's dead?"
"Yeah, but the thing that killed it isn't." Claire sighs and gently turns Leon's head to keep working. "Knocked the elevator off of its tracks and sent it crashing. I have no idea where it went after that, I got knocked out from the fall."
"What about Irons?"
"I… actually have no idea. I got to the orphanage and he started acting odd before some weird fucking thing burst out of his chest like something out of Alien. I didn't get a chance to ask Sherry anything before the tyrant started chasing us." She pauses a moment before seemingly deciding to just spit it out. "Sherry called that one monster 'dad'."
Leon blinks at that. "So… like a weird zombie? Wait, Ada said something about a G-Virus when we ran into Annette. Think it has anything to do with either monster we ran into?"
"It's not like any virus we've seen before, if it is." Claire finishes dressing the wound as best she can before she's gently squeezing Leon's shoulder. "How'd this happen?"
"I also have no idea," Leon admits. "Ada and I were chasing after Annette when she threw a flash grenade. I pushed her out of the way and caught the brunt of the flash. I think I tripped on something and knocked my head. Did you find me here?"
"Yeah. It kinda looked like you were moved here, though. Your wound is near the front of your head and I found you lying on your back. Ada might've moved you in here before taking off."
"Where is she anyway?"
"In the trash compactor with Sherry." At Leon's baffled look, Claire just shrugs. "Like I said, I got knocked out. I've no idea how either of them ended up there."
"Okay, well… let's get going, then."
The room Claire leads him to isn’t very big, but it looks down into the trash compactor she mentioned. Inside, Ada’s on the floor next to a nearly unconscious Sherry. Leon can’t hear what’s being said, but he can see Ada talking to Sherry– hopefully trying to keep her awake.
"What's wrong with Sherry?" Leon asks, brows furrowed as he glances back at Claire.
"I don't know. She was already in there when I got here the first time," Claire explains. "I could hear her mom talking to her through the intercom, but I couldn't hear what Sherry was saying. Next thing I knew, Sherry was curling on the floor in pain. Ada wasn't there, though, so she must've gotten in somehow after I left."
"Curling in pain…" Leon repeats to himself, thinking. "Shit. She could be infected." He looks towards the girl, trying to spot anything indicating if she was sick or not, but he can't make out much through the dark. "Did you get a look at her mom?"
"No, sorry."
Leon sighs softly, stepping away from the glass. "Until proven otherwise, I'm going to assume it could be Annette. Unless, of course, there's more than one scientist crazy enough to stay down here with everything going on." He bites his lip, having to force himself to walk away from the glass. "Were you able to figure out how to get down there?"
"Yeah, there's a door over here that leads to it, I think, but the stupid lock involves some chess pieces," Claire answers, gesturing to a conjoining room. "There's a couple missing, though. I saw one on my way in here, but I have no idea where the other missing two could be."
Leon blows out a breath, mentally calculating how much ammo he has left and how much he might have to use. "We should stick together. If that monster from earlier is still down here somewhere, we can both take shots at it." He takes the shotgun from around his shoulder and hands it to Claire. "Here, take this. I've been too nervous to use it with my shoulder. I have some ammo for it, too."
Claire takes it carefully before pulling out what looks like a small submachine gun. "You take this, then. I found it while we were apart."
"Sweet," Leon murmurs, grinning a little as he looks it over, earning an eye roll from Claire before she's leading him back out the door they just came through. As they walk, he can't help but blurt out the question that's been plaguing him since he first spotted the thing. "Why the hell is there a cable care this far down?"
“I have no idea,” comes Claire’s answer. “I was wondering the same thing when I first saw it. Think it has to do with what Ada said about Umbrella’s lab?”
"Maybe…" Leon can't help but shake his head in disbelief. "I never would've thought Umbrella would have a lab all the way down here. Especially without the authorities knowing. It just… doesn't make any sense."
"Considering the stuff they've been bioengineering, though, it makes sense as to why they'd want it to be so hidden," Claire replies. "Why they want to do that doesn't make any sense to me."
"Power hungry, would be my guess. Everybody's got to one up someone somehow."
"Gotta love corporate America," Claire chirps, shooting Leon a fake smile as she walks into the next room.
They both pause as the smell of sewage hits them full force, a sludge-looking river stretching out in front of them. They reluctantly drop off the walkway into the water, unable to stop the matching expressions of disgust as they do so.
"I'm going to be smelling like shit for a week," Leon complains, following after Claire as she walks towards another gated walkway for them to climb up onto. "Chris won't even touch me with a ten foot pole."
"Oh, please. I've smelled you after volleyball practice and he still stared at you like you hung the stars," Claire remarks dryly. She produces a crank out of seemingly nowhere, and Leon's too thankful to be out of the sewage water to question it. As she opens the gate, she grins at him over her shoulder. "And trust me, you smelled rank."
"Pretty sure it was because of the shorts," Leon comments with a snicker. "You didn't smell much better after practice, either."
Claire snorts at that, leaving the crank in the mechanism as they walk into the room. They're on a catwalk that overlooks what Leon can't even begin to decern with the thick layers of bioengineered material covering the walls. He and Claire exchange a look before they walk over to a nearby ladder that leads them down into the bottom waterway.
"It's getting worse," Leon comments, shining his flashlight over the strange flesh appearing material covering the walls. "We're definitely not in Kansas anymore."
Claire lets out a strained chuckle at that, carefully moving through the hip deep water. She yelps as something comes jumping out of a nearby corpse before quickly swimming away. Leon can't even find it in himself to tease her for it, equally just as startled.
"I won't be able to watch Alien again after this," Leon says, earning a quick nod from Claire in agreement. "Sorry Chris."
They make their way through the tall piles of what look to be ballooned innards piled high and oozing a foul smelling pus. Whatever it is exactly, it sets Leon's nerves into overdrive and makes him feel like he's been shrunk down into someone's intestines. The water they're wading in doesn't smell much better— sewer water mixed with decay. He'd take plain ol' sewage over this any day.
"There's a door over there," Claire says suddenly, pointing towards something over a large mound of the slimy material. Leon agrees, taking a deep breath before taking the lead, handgun held out in front of him.
They're nearly at the platform with the door when something large and disgusting pops out of the water. It roars at them, large monstrous hand swiping wide and nearly knocking Claire off her feet. Leon quickly steadies her before aiming his submachine gun at it. He lets a few shots hit before the large grotesque cyst on its shoulder pops, revealing a bloody eyeball. Hoping it works the same as last time, he aims his gun at it and shoots it. Claire follows his lead and the thing is soon collapsing back into the murky water.
"Let's move quickly before any other decide to surprise us," Leon says, urging Claire to move quicker around the downed creature. It's difficult in the water, but they manage to get through the door just in time as another of the creatures pops out from a nearby pipe.
"The first thing I'm doing once we get out of here is taking a very long, very hot shower," Leon says, allowing the brief moment to try and relax the tension in his shoulders. He rolls them back with a grimace before slumping them and forcing himself to push forward. "I've never been surrounded by so many horrible smells, and I went to a public school."
"Here I thought Chris during puberty was the worst thing I could ever smell," Claire says, pushing open a gated door. "Thankfully, you weren't as bad."
"Um… thanks? I think?" Leon responds, feeling awkward as they walk down the set of stairs in front of them. "Not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not."
"You've always naturally smelled better than him." Claire waves her hand in thought. "It's probably because you're an omega. Like Chris's scent is still comforting, obviously, but your scent is very fruity. It's nice."
"Oh, uh… thank you?" Leon replies, still confused. "I've always preferred Chris's scent, but that would make sense considering I'm dating the man." He shrugs before spotting a chess piece in one of the weird contraptions by another gated door. He pulls it out and promptly jumps as the door slams shut. "Well that answers my question as to what these are used for."
"Hey look." Claire taps his shoulder and points to something at the end of the makeshift hallway. "A flamethrower. That thing's cool as shit. Let's try to get it if we can."
Leon nods in agreement, allowing a small smile to fill his face at the prospect of getting his hands on it. "Only if you agree to share it with me."
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
It takes them far longer than either of them would like to admit before they’re making their way back up the staircase with both plugs and the flamethrower in hand. Leon decides to pocket the plugs while Claire handles the flamethrower. It took a lot of pestering, but Leon can’t deny the fondness he feels as Claire eagerly torches the creature waiting for them back out in the open area.
“Imagine the bonfires you could start with this puppy,” Claire comments, earning an eyeroll from Leon.
“Focus, you arsonist.” Leon easily dodges the swipe Claire was aiming for, snickering all the while. “I hope you remember where the other plug is because I’m blindly following you here.”
Claire hums in thought, looking around for something familiar before leading Leon in a random direction. There's a hint of a smile on her face that Leon catches despite her clear attempts at hiding it from him. It brings a small smile to Leon's own face.
"How's your breathing doing?" Claire asks after a moment. Leon shoots her a confused look. "You, uh… have bruise marks on your neck, and you looked pretty shaken earlier."
"Oh…" Leon clears his throat softly. "Yeah, I'm fine. The tyrant grabbed me by the throat. If it wasn't for Ada, I'd probably be dead." He gently rubs his throat at the thought before sighing. "I wish you didn't tell Chris about my wheezing, though. He worries enough as it is, and you know how he can get."
"I'm not arguing with you about that," Claire says quickly. "When it comes to your meds, Leon, I'm not going to sit by and let you ignore them. You need to take them more seriously."
"I do."
"Right, and you got denied from the academy just because? Not because you don't manage your meds?"
"I hate taking them, okay?!" Leon snaps, startling Claire enough that she stops in her tracks. She opens her mouth to respond, but Leon barrels on. "The amount of people that treat me with kids' gloves once they find out about either my anxiety or asthma is ridiculous and I can't stand it. Just because I get… slightly more worked up about something than the average person, or my breathing gets a little rougher when I'm running doesn't mean I can't do anything." He throws up his hands in frustration. "I'm tired of it, okay? Sorry I don't take care of them like I probably should, but I just… wish I didn't have to."
"Le—"
"Can we just not right now? Please?"
Claire snaps her mouth shut and nods. "'Course."
Thankfully, Claire does remember where the last plug is. Things are still tense between them, but they’ve known each other long enough to read each others’ nonverbal cues. When they get back to the main plug room, they bicker over solving it before finally giving up and working silently alongside each other to get the door open. Leon's always hated arguing with Claire. He’s also stubborn enough to let it continue sitting there without being resolved. It’s led to them not speaking for days when it's happened before, but they always eventually get back to being thick as thieves. Today, however, feels different.
“I’m sorry,” Leon says eventually, taking the rook plug out with an annoyed huff. “I just… hate this. I feel like I’m a walking stereotype.”
“I know,” Claire says softly, plugging in the queen plug. “You’re not. With or without Chris’s help, you have great aim with a gun. Shit, Leon, you’re doing all this despite the fact I know your heart rate is sky high. You’ve smelled like panic since the gas station.”
"Gee, thanks. You've smelled wonderful tonight, too."
"I was trying to compliment you, smartass," Claire says, rolling her eyes. She's smiling, though, so Leon counts it as a win. "How's your shoulder, by the way?"
"Worse than it looks. Can I see the paper again?"
They make quick work of the puzzle after that, getting the door open and quickly pushing their way through with minimal elbow shoving. Claire tries the handle to open the trash compactor and curses.
“Seriously? Do we need a key code for this, too?”
Leon bites the inside of his cheek as his eyes scan over the door. He spots some cables going from the panel onto the ceiling and leading to a room on the other side of the room. "Looks like it's not powered on. Cables lead to that room. It might have a back-up generator we can use to get the door open."
"It's worth a shot, c'mon."
"So bossy," Leon grumbles good-naturedly, quickly following after her.
She playfully sticks her tongue out at him as she pushes open the door. "You've had sixteen years to get used to my bossy attitude, so I don't want to hear it."
Leon grumbles under his breath, earning a snicker from Claire. They both make their way to the power panel in the far corner, inspecting it. Leon flicks a couple of the switches and raises an eyebrow when nothing seems to happen. He flicks one again and watches the arrows on the small display before grinning to himself and managing to get them both in the red area. Around them, the lights flicker on and he and Claire share a grin of excitement.
Claire's already turning back towards the door, hand reaching for the doorknob, when a large clawed hand suddenly bursts through the roof. She cries out in shock, and pain, and Leon quickly dashes forward to pull her away from the hole in the ceiling.
"Holy shit, are you okay?" Leon asks, eyes scanning her over.
"Fucker scratched my face, but I'm fine. Mostly just my pride," Claire answers, wiping the blood from the scratches on her cheek.
The hand bursts through the ceiling again, sending them scrambling in opposite directions to get away from it. Leon feels that all consuming panic crawl up his spine as flames start to build up around them. The room is small and feels claustrophobic the more the flames lick at his feet. The hand that continues reaching through the ceiling to grab at them certainly doesn’t help any.
“It’s pulling away too quickly to get a good shot at it,” Claire says, aiming her handgun at the ceiling. She barely dodges another attack. “Leon, dude, I really need you to breathe.”
“I am!” Leon snaps. He grabs his own handgun and aims at the holes in the ceiling. He coughs as the smoke invades his lungs, and black invades the edges of his vision. “It’s a little difficult right now.”
Claire curses in response, eyes still trained on the ceiling and searching for the creature the hand belongs to. It's suspiciously quiet for a moment before the large clawed hand is grabbing at the metal shutters to their left. It lets out a loud roar, tearing the shutter off its hinges and revealing the monster from before, only larger and more mutated.
"I was hoping it died!" Leon exclaims, eyes wide. He doesn't protest as Claire grabs his arm and yanks him out of the way of a swinging arm. He stumbles over his own feet as they run out the way the monster just came, hoping for something that won't leave them cornered. "You sure you heard Sherry call it dad? It doesn't even look human."
Claire doesn't answer, instead glancing over her shoulder at the thing before leading Leon towards a open area with a crane and multiple shipping containers. She jumps down to a lower platform, Leon quickly following behind.
Leon looks around at where they’ve ended up. There’s a large shipping container taking up most of the platform they’re standing on, but it’s still hooked up to the crane. He dives for a nearby control stand, pushing the large red button and getting the container off of the platform.
"What are you doing?" Claire asks, taking out the shotgun and aiming at the thing's large eye.
"We can use it to knock it off." He gestures in the direction of the dark abyss below them. "Hopefully it'll stay down there this time."
"That's crazy enough that it might actually work."
Leon manages a small smile that feels more deranged than anything, taking shots at the eye with his submachine gun. His hands are getting sweaty, so he grips harder and does his best to make every shot count. The thing roars loudly, the metal echoing the sound back louder and nastier. Leon grits his teeth and he keeps focus, not allowing his anxiety to take over when he has to protect himself and Claire.
"Why won't this thing just die?" Claire shouts at him, cursing when her gun jams. Leon can barely form words of warning before she's picked up and thrown at a nearby stack of wooden boards. She groans in pain, movements slow.
"Claire!" Leon shouts, momentarily freezing as he stares at her wide eyed. It takes the monster stumbling towards her for his feet to unstick. "Hey, ugly! Leave her alone!"
He shoots at its back, and it makes a growling noise as it spins to glare its beady eyes at him. The shake in Leon's hands is worse now, but he shoves it down as he loads another clip into his gun before taking aim at the thing. He waits until the monster is closer before he shoots a round of bullets straight into the pulsing eyeball on its shoulder. The monster stumbles, scratching at its eye as it stumbles onto one knee.
"Now!" he shouts at Claire, who's made it to the control stand. Claire promptly slams her hand on the button.
"Leon, move or else you'll go down with it!" she shouts back at him, panic written all over her face.
Leon keeps his gun aimed on the monster as he hurries across the platform to Claire. As soon as he thinks he's a safe distance away, the creature suddenly lunges for him. Its claws outstretched towards him and barely nicking him in the calf before being swung off the platform by the large shipping container.
"Fuck," Leon groans, stumbling up quickly. He ignores the pain in his leg as he hurries over to Claire to give her a quick once over. "We should be able to open the trash compactor now. I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible, if that's alright with you."
"More than. Let's go save Sherry… and Ada."