Reconsider Having a Good Time - TinyChubbyBird - Biohazard (2024)

Chapter Text

╰┈➤

When you woke, Leon was gone, having taken the feeling of warmth and safety with him. After rubbing the sleep from your eyes and generally making yourself look a bit more presentable now that you had restored some of your energy, you went to see how Luis’ research was coming along. The smell of Leon’s all too familiar pasta filled your nose, immediately making your stomach grumble in anticipation. You felt like you hadn’t eaten a decent, warm meal in… too long. It was about time.

“Buenos días,” Luis greeted you, glasses nearly sliding off the tip of his nose. The empty cup and plate on the table he was working on told you he’d already helped himself, and you grimaced a little because, as the host, you should have been the one to offer him something to eat and drink.

“It’s not actually morning, is it?” you half-joked. Naps usually left you utterly confused and panicked, wondering how much time had passed and what day it was. There had been many instances in which you had shot out of bed, thinking it was already the next day.

“It’s not noon yet,” Luis said. “So, actually, it still is morning time. Besides, buenos días doesn’t necessarily mean ‘good morning.’ The literal translation would be ‘good days.’”

“Oh.” You scratched your head. “Right. Uh, where’s Leon?”

Luis fixated his gaze back on the microscope sample he was examining. “He wanted to take care of some business. You should eat something, maybe take a bath.”

Business? That could range from “super dangerous and secret agent stuff” to “buying last minute groceries after only just noticing something important was missing from the fridge.” You hoped it was the latter.

Noticing your frown, Luis took off his glasses and gloves to take a break. “He left about half an hour ago, told me to make sure you eat something.” He gestured over to the pots Leon had prepared, one filled with noodles, the other with the pasta sauce.

You sighed, but nodded. “Yeah, okay. I am pretty hungry…”

“That’s only to be expected,” Luis said, while you took a plate and filled it. “From what I’ve gathered so far, I can tell this was never meant to serve as a bioweapon of any kind. It's affecting your body similarly to a sudden growth spurt of sorts, hence the cravings, soreness, mood swings and exhaustion. It’s not a virus or any other type of parasitic organism, it’s actually more like a vaccine than anything else.”

You frowned, grabbing a fork and sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would a vaccine give me… that?” You gestured towards your tail.

Luis watched it flick from side to side for a moment, obviously itching to examine it more closely but holding back. “I don’t think it was supposed to, hence the stabilizer he gave you. From the looks of it, he was trying to create a serum that would strengthen a person’s body and immune system. I would even go as far as to say it’s really close to shielding a person from the effects of the T-Virus, perhaps even the G-Virus.”

Your eyes widened, both because you hadn’t been sure just how much Luis knew about Leon’s work and what was out there, and because immunity to something like the T- and G-Virus was something you’d never thought would be possible. You knew only of what Leon dared to tell you, obviously leaving out most of the horrific details, but from his experience alone those two had sounded incredibly dangerous and practically impossible to completely cure. “Wait, so, if it isn't like any of the usual stuff Leon has to deal with, does that mean it isn't contagious?”

“I highly doubt it,” Luis shook his head. “First off, if I'm right, he wouldn't make the early version of his project contagious, especially if it isn't even finished yet. You’re not showing any of the usual symptoms for transmittable diseases, and since it isn’t bacteria nor a virus, it should not be able to spread to anybody else you come into contact with. He'll want to perfect it first. But when he accomplishes what he wants… he might make it able to spread—easier that way than secretly or forcefully injecting billions of people, no?”

That was worrisome, but if Luis was correct about the current version of Erebos flowing through your veins, you could at least relax and stop worrying about infecting Leon and anyone else close to you. Remembering the food in front of you, you forced yourself to start eating. The topic wasn’t exactly helping in making you hungry, but once the flavor set in you were practically shoveling it into your mouth as if you were starving.

“Pretty good, eh?” Luis grinned as he watched you. “I wasn’t sure if Prince Charming could actually cook or not. I was surprised.”

You swallowed. “He keeps insisting that pasta—or, well, spaghetti bolognese—is the only thing he can make. That’s not true at all; his lasagna is to die for, but for some reason he’s super self-conscious about it.” Meaning he only made it if you specifically asked him for it.

Luis chuckled. “I’m curious—how did you two meet?”

“We first got to know each other at the police academy,” you started. “We just kind of… clicked. He was kind, passionate about his beliefs and eager to help. He was also pretty funny, and um… very cute, too. I realized at some point that the police career wasn’t really for me though, so we ended up parting ways. We didn’t see each other again for a long time, until about two years ago when we met at the grocery store. We started talking again, and… well, here we are now.”

You smiled as you thought back to your coincidental meeting with Leon at the grocery store. He’d looked very different then—while his general looks had been the same, it had been obvious that his mental health was at an all-time low. His hands had been shaking a lot more, and while you never mentioned it to him, you were able to smell the alcohol in his sweat. While he still worked the same stressful and traumatizing job, compared to back then he was doing a lot better now. He looked healthier, smiled a lot more, and he ate healthier too. And, of course, no more alcohol.

“Sounds like something straight out of a romance book,” Luis said, his gray eyes warm. “I’m happy for you both. I’m glad Leon found someone that makes him happy.”

You ducked your head—the thought that you were a big reason for Leon’s happiness seemed so unreal, but it was nice. “Thanks. I’m glad he’s doing better too.” Clearing your throat, your eyes briefly wandered down to Luis’ hands, more specifically the ring finger on his left hand. Hoping you weren’t being too nosy, you asked, “What about you? Anyone special in your life?”

Luis sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his head, looking away. “Well… There was a guy some time ago, but not anymore.”

You waited, hoping he might elaborate, but Luis didn’t seem comfortable talking about it further so you didn’t push. “Well, I hope things work out for you one way or another.”

He nodded, giving you a small smile. “Gracias. Me too.” After a little while in which your plate grew more and more empty, he began shuffling his feet nervously, then cleared his throat. “Funny story, but, hah, when I first met Leon in Valdelobos, I had a bit of a crush on him.” He wasn’t making eye-contact, but his gaze kept flickering to your face as if to gauge your reaction.

You stared at him for a moment, then chortled. “He’s pretty difficult not to fall for, huh?”

Luis let out a relieved breath, shoulders sagging a little as he chuckled. “Absolutely. It’s like… he has this air around him that makes you want to become a better person. He’s just so…” He frowned, making some weird hand movements, struggling to come up with the right words to describe Leon. Luis looked at you then, smiling helplessly. “You know?”

You nodded sagely. “Oh, yeah, I get what you mean. He’s just… Leon.” You sighed dreamily, smiling when Luis did too.

And then he suddenly raised his hands. “Ah, but, just to clarify; I don’t have feelings for him anymore. It was just a little crush. And, well, obviously he’s still as handsome and charming as ever, but I’ve gotten over him a long time ago. I was talking about someone else entirely earlier—no need to worry. In case you were worried.”

You set down your fork and reached over to pat Luis’ arm reassuringly. “Hey, it’s all good. Thanks for telling me, and for clarifying. I totally understand.”

The Spaniard gave you a wide, genuine smile, eyes crinkling at the corners—it kind of made you realize just how handsome Luis was himself. Not that you hadn’t noticed at all before, you’d just been a bit preoccupied with your own chaotic thoughts and feelings. You couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like for Leon and Luis if they had ended up together at some point. They certainly would have made an interesting pair, for sure. The thought only made you smile more.

Luis cleared his throat, rummaging around in one of his pockets and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. “I need a smoke. Do you mind?”

“No, but—” You quickly got up and opened one of the kitchen windows. “Do it here, please.”

While Luis got comfortable and lit his cigarette, the smoke thankfully carried outside and away by the gentle breeze, you cleared your plate and put it by the sink. “I hope Leon’s not getting into any trouble right now. I kind of have a bad feeling, but I’m probably just being paranoid.”

╰┈➤

Leon was currently staring at one of the longest nameplates for a doctor he had ever seen, and that was saying something.

Dr. Adrien Anguis Aurelius Barnaby

“His friends often refer to him as Triple A Barnaby,” one of the medical receptionists told him when she’d noticed his dumbfounded stare. They probably got those a lot.

Anyway, Leon just knew that a name like that meant trouble. He decided to be patient and wait for his turn like a normal patient, to avoid any suspicion and unnecessary attention. There were six people waiting in the room with him, three of which were in their seventies or eighties, one was a middle aged man who looked about ready to pass out at any moment, while the other two was a mother with her daughter, who was sitting in the children’s corner and playing with the colorful bead maze. The little girl was blonde and bright-eyed, and Leon couldn’t help but be reminded of Sherry and Ashley.

When his name was finally called, Dr. Barnaby was already waiting for him in the small examination room. When you had told Leon that Dr. Barnaby was still young, Leon hadn’t expected him to look like he was still in his mid twenties. His skin was the same tanned shade as Luis’, hair a black and curly mess that barely covered his ears. There was a curious, single silver streak near the front, and Leon wondered whether it was genetic, dyed or if it stemmed from an excessive amount of stress.

Dr. Barnaby looked up, his eyes big and chocolate brown behind a nerdy pair of glasses, giving Leon a smile in greeting—Leon briefly took note of the dimples in his cheeks. “Mr. Kennedy, yes? Please, take a seat.”

Now, Leon knew looks could be deceiving as hell, but this guy really did not look like an evil scientist or anything akin to that. Part of him hoped that maybe Dr. Barnaby had been completely unaware of what he’d done to you, but another part (the traumatized one) doubted that the young doctor was actually as innocent as he looked.

Leon swallowed down his usual go-to line of “I’d rather stand, thanks,” and sat his ass down on one of the chairs. He crossed his arms, wondering how he should go about questioning this guy. He did a quick sweep of the room, taking in the decor and the medical equipment, potential weapons and escape routes. Then his gaze settled on a framed picture next to the computer desktop; it showed Dr. Barnaby in casual clothes, together with two children, one little boy and one little girl, and one woman that looked slightly older than the doctor. They were all smiling widely, and judging by how much they resembled each other, Leon guessed they were all family—siblings, perhaps?

Dr. Barnaby went through some stuff on his computer, clicking and typing quicker than Leon on a tight deadline, asking Leon the basic questions he asked every patient at the beginning of an examination. Leon took note of the small tremor in his hands—barely noticeable, but definitely there—and the dark circles underneath his eyes. Sleep deprivation? Too much caffeine?

“So, Mr. Kennedy, what brings you here today? How can I help you?”

Leon hesitated for a moment longer, then said, as casually as possible, “I was hoping you could tell me more about what was in that flu vaccine you gave to my friend.” He decided not to mention that you were in a relationship—it was irrelevant and the less this guy knew, the better.

Dr. Barnaby’s smile froze, yet he visibly did his best to appear nonchalant. “The same as in any vaccine I give out to my patients, I would assume. I’m not sure what you might be referring to, Mr. Kennedy. Are you generally distrustful of vaccines?” His tone was almost hopeful, as if he wanted Leon to be just another anti-vax soccer mom.

“No,” Leon said calmly. “Just this one. My friend is dealing with some very unusual and extreme symptoms.” He leaned forward slowly. “I was hoping you could explain what Project Erebos is.”

Dr. Barnaby’s eyes widened ever so slightly, his hand starting to nervously fiddle with his wristwatch. “I’m sorry about your friend’s condition, but I’m afraid you’re suspecting the wrong person. I simply gave them the flu shot like everyone else. The vaccine has been tested and approved—it’s safe. Whatever you’re implying, I assure you, it has nothing to do with me. Perhaps you could bring them along and I could have a look at them?”

Leon smiled wryly. “I was hoping you could do a house visit, actually.”

The young doctor chuckled nervously. “Ah, my schedule is pretty busy, sadly.” He kept playing with his watch, his gaze wandering over to the window next to his desk. “Why not make another appointment for your friend? I’d be happy to have a look and see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

His words were kind, but fell flat. Leon could tell when someone was simply saying something for the sake of saving their own skin, to avoid conflict. If Leon left this office now, there was a fat chance Dr. Barnaby would simply make a run for it. The guy was hiding something, that was for certain.

“I wasn’t really asking,” Leon reminded him. “If you actually care about your patients, it would be in your best interest to come with me.”

Dr. Barnaby went silent for a long moment, his right leg bouncing nervously as his eyes wandered from the window down to his wristwatch, then over to Leon. He visibly swallowed, then forced a smile. “I am very sorry, Mr. Kennedy, but I’m afraid you’ll have to leave now.”

Leon’s instincts kicked in before his mind could catch up with what was happening, his hand already reaching for the gun he’d tucked away. One moment they were still sitting across from each other, and the next the window shattered and a thick cloud of smoke erupted, engulfing the entire room and forcing Leon to cough and squint his eyes. He already knew what he’d find once the smoke was cleared, but he still let out a curse when Dr. Barnaby was gone. He was pretty sure he’d heard him climb out the window, so he quickly went over to look outside.

“Guess we’re doing it the hard way,” he sighed, watching Dr. Barnaby’s quickly retreating figure. The guy was tearing off his white doctor’s robe and carelessly throwing it aside, making himself blend in better with the public.

Leon climbed out the window easily to go after him, just as one of the medical assistants threw open the door to check what was going on, yelling out questions and curses that went completely ignored.

Dr. Barnaby was surprisingly quick on his feet (must be the young age, Leon thought enviously), but Leon was trained. He’d run from zombified dogs, lickers, tyrants, and he’d chased people and monsters down in areas with much more difficult terrain, like mud and swamps.

But right as he was about to reach out and catch the young doctor by his shirt collar, something slammed against Leon’s side, making him stumble. It wasn’t all that heavy, but enough to push him slightly off course, enough for Dr. Barnaby to weasel out of his reach once again. When Leon turned his head to see what it was, gun drawn and ready, he spotted several flying drones that were following him. One was headed right for his head and he barely managed to duck out of the way.

Dr. Barnaby was running right into a shopping district, and Leon nearly lost sight of him in the large crowd, his eyes locked onto that curly mop of hair and blue shirt. The drones kept following him a while longer, but either the crowd was confusing their sensors, or whoever was controlling them actually didn’t want to risk hurting the nearby civilians, because they dispersed soon after, and Leon had quickly tucked his gun away and out of sight.

He bumped into several people in his hurry, breathless apologies leaving his lips. He watched the doctor rush into a building, some large clothes shop, and quickly followed suit, only to freeze and look around in confusion when the young man had seemingly disappeared into thin air. He looked to the left—mannequins, some people shopping around—then right—more people, changing cubicles, a staircase leading to an upstairs area—then ahead—several rows of clothes dedicated to all different ages and genders, and somewhere in the middle was the cashier sorting out some things at their desk.

A little overwhelmed, Leon went for the first most obvious option and slowly walked over to the changing rooms. A few were occupied, but while this was an emergency, he wasn’t about to rip open every drawn curtain and potentially expose some poor bastard’s body to the rest of the shop. So he carefully scanned the feet that were visibly, trying to remember what Dr. Barnaby’s shoes had looked like.

And then an older woman’s voice tore Leon away from his inspection; “Oh, Dr. Barnaby! What a pleasant surprise to see you here!”

Bingo, Leon thought triumphantly, quickly spotting the woman in question.

“If you’re looking for new pants, dear, my wife owns a pair like these. Apparently, they’re quite comfortable.” She was on the left side of the shop (dammit), looking down at something, or rather, someone, hiding behind one of the clothing racks that were displaying different trousers.

Realizing his hiding spot was revealed, Dr. Barnaby quickly shot up, his expression a mixture between panicked and sheepish. “S— Sorry, Mrs. Zevlor, I’m in a bit of a hurry, actually—” He gave her a nervous smile, then scrambled away, Leon quickly rushing after him. They ran through the shop until they reached the second entrance on the other side, then out and back onto the busy streets.

It didn’t take much longer until Leon noticed that the doctor was running out of breath, getting slower and clumsier. He could barely put up a fight when Leon grabbed his arm and pulled him into a nearby photo booth to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

Dr. Barnaby slumped into the seat, back pressed against the wall and long legs sprawled out. He tried to kick the older man away, but having expected this, Leon easily grabbed him by the ankle with one hand, then put his other hand on the doctor’s collarbone, the pressure keeping him still. Dr. Barnaby looked up at him with wide brown eyes, his glasses askew and dark hair sticking to his sweaty forehead.

“Talk,” Leon ordered, voice low. “Now.”

The doctor’s eyes went pleading and desperate. “I can’t.” At Leon’s scowl, he let out a panicked breath, his gaze flittering around for a moment, and then he lifted up his arms. He did this slowly and carefully, as if to show Leon he wasn’t about to do something dumb. Leon kept his hold on the doctor, keeping a stern eye on him, yet letting his hands reach out to him until Dr. Barnaby’s long fingers were on his shoulders.

Startled, Leon realized the other man was trying to pull him closer.

“What are you doing.” It was more of a warning than a question.

Please, Dr. Barnaby mouthed, eyes like those of a sad puppy.

This was all rather suspicious, and Leon didn’t quite know how to feel, but he sighed and leaned in closer, and closer still, until Dr. Barnaby’s mouth was right next to his ear. Faintly, Leon noticed that the younger male smelled of rosemary.

“He might be listening,” the doctor whispered, barely audible despite their current position. “I don’t know if I’m bugged. I can’t tell you anything like this—he might hurt my siblings. Please.”

The doctor let go of Leon’s shoulders, so he leaned back, taking in Dr. Barnaby’s expression and body language for any sign of deceit, conflicted upon finding none. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t as twisted and evil as his paranoia had expected him to be. Leon let out a small breath, then took in the doctor’s clothes, trying to discern where the potential bugs might be. He took off Dr. Barnaby’s wristwatch first, then patted him down from head to toe, feeling along all of his pockets, even inspecting the socks, which had little dog patterns on them.

The young man watched him do all this with furrowed brows and confused eyes, not offering any resistance. “You could take me out to dinner first,” he mumbled, voice barely above a whisper. It was the usual line, one that Leon had heard and said himself more times than he could count, but something about Dr. Barnaby’s tone and expression told him he was only partially joking.

Leon grimaced. “I’m old enough to be your dad, kid. Besides, I’m already taken.”

“Oh.” Dr. Barnaby cleared his throat, looking flustered. “Sorry. Forget I said anything, then.”

Leon grunted in agreement.

Beginning his inspection, Leon took a closer look at Dr. Barnaby’s watch, realizing it had a touchscreen—it was an AppleWatch. The drones had come out of seemingly nowhere, yet Leon could recall seeing the young doctor fiddling with it as soon as Leon had voiced his suspicions. There must have been a panic button or something on that thing, something to alert whoever the doctor was working for, hence the flying drones.

In the end, the only potential bugs were the doctor’s smartwatch and phone. His clothes were clean, as far as Leon could tell, and his wallet didn’t have anything other than money, cards and more pictures of his family. Seeing this, Dr. Barnaby sighed. “At least take out the SD card before you destroy my phone,” he whispered defeatedly.

╰┈➤

When Leon still hadn’t returned after two hours, you couldn’t help but fear the worst.

Had he tried to go after the one responsible for Project Erebos by himself? You wouldn’t put it past him. What better way to protect you than locking you out of the main quest entirely? Leon had the experience and skills to do things himself, you knew that, but he was still only human—there was always room for error, and there would always be things out there that even Leon couldn’t see coming or handle by himself.

Looking over your shoulder and down at the floor where your unwanted tail kept restlessly twitching from side to side, you came to a decision. Possibly a stupid one, but you simply couldn’t sit still any longer.

You stood up. “I’m going out,” you told Luis, who was back to doing his… scientist activities.

He looked up at you from behind his glasses, which sat dangerously low on the tip of his nose, and frowned. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” you huffed out. “Tail and dangerous stalker be damned, if Leon is doing what I think he’s doing, I can’t just stay here and twiddle my thumbs.”

Luis bit his lip, hesitating, before moving away from his microscope. “He said he was going to talk to the doctor that vaccinated you.”

You stared at him. “He told you?”

The man averted his gaze and chuckled nervously. “Sí, before he left.” Swallowing down the first few things that came to mind—Why did he tell you, but not me? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?—you took a deep breath. The smile left his face, replaced by something deeply sincere. “If you’re going out there, let me come with you.”

You frowned. “Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed here and…” You waved your hand at the equipment and samples spread out on the table in front of you.

Luis snorted and shook his head. “I’m afraid there’s little left I can do, at least not in such a short amount of time. I’d rather come with you and make sure you’re both okay. Can’t hurt to have someone watch your back, eh?”

You hesitated, conflicted. “What if it gets really dangerous? As in, potentially getting attacked by a maniac or B.O.Ws?”

Luis smirked, then pulled out a handgun that must have been tucked into the waistband of his pants. “Not to brag, but I’m pretty good with weapons myself.”

Despite your initial worry and frustration, Luis’ words and the thought of not having to go through this alone brought some warmth to your chest. You weren’t helpless, but the more help you and Leon had, the better.

“Yeah, okay,” you nodded, giving the Spaniard a small yet genuine smile, before sighing. “I just… I don’t know where to even start.”

Would he still be at the doctor’s office? It wasn’t that far away, and if Dr. Barnaby was innocent, the conversation surely wouldn’t take that long. Something must have happened, and Leon was most likely somewhere else now. Did he find out where your stalker was located? Did he get attacked? Was he being held hostage right now?

You let out a frustrated breath, then pulled out your phone as an idea struck you. Leon had given you the contact number for Ingrid Hunnigan, in case of an emergency. You didn’t like the idea of bothering her in case Leon was fine and you were just overreacting, but perhaps involving her in this would be beneficial. From what he’d told you, Hunnigan was dependable, trustworthy and very skilled in finding important and often hidden information quickly.

If anyone would be able to track Leon’s current location, it would be her.

Your finger hovered over the call button, but before you could press it, Luis’ own phone got a notification, making you both look at each other with furrowed brows. The Spaniard put his gun back to where it was before and pulled his phone out to unlock the screen, eyes widening in what you assumed was recognition and surprise.

“La mujer de rojo,” he muttered to himself with a small, disbelieving chuckle. “Of course she’d know my new number.”

You tilted your head to the side, but before you could ask, Luis took a breath and met your gaze once again. “I know someone who can help. She said she’s waiting for us near the, uh… Merchant’s Pick store?”

You ended up taking Luis’ car, which was an old, red mini cooper. Small, yet very charming. Luis kept it relatively clean and the inside smelled like tobacco and vanilla. A CD mix was playing with old songs from David Bowie and Queen, plus some flamenco songs mixed in between every now and then.

After stopping by the shop and getting out, Luis opted to hang back and watch the exchange from afar. As soon as the woman came into view, recognition hit you like a truck. “You’re Ada, right? I remember you from the bar…”

Her brown eyes flickered down to your tail for only a second before meeting your gaze, her lips pulling into a smile. “That’s right. I assume Leon told you about me?”

You nodded. “Yeah, you could say that.” Even if she weren’t Leon’s ex-lover, you would still feel tense around her, knowing her line of work and past actions. On the other hand though, without her, Leon might not even be alive today.

“Good, that makes things easier.” She turned and grabbed a bag that was placed on the ground next to her feet, pulling out what looked like… an old bomber jacket? She held it up for you to see and you took in the details, confused yet curious. It looked big and heavy, made out of actual leather, and the inside looked soft and warm.

“What’s this?” you asked.

Ada’s smile grew a bit more sincere. “Did Leon tell you anything about Valdelobos?”

Valdelobos… Valdelobos… You wracked your brain. “The village in Spain? Los Illuminados?” you asked hesitantly.

“The very same,” Ada nodded. “Leon lost his jacket during his stay there. I thought maybe he’d want it back.” She held it out to you encouragingly. “Go on, put it on.”

Your fingers itched to reach out and take it, to hold it close to your face and find out whether it still smelled like Leon, even after being separated from its wearer for so long, yet you hesitated. “Why would you give this back now?”

She inclined her head towards the Merchant’s store. “The owner of this shop? He was in Valdelobos too.” Her eyes shortly wandered over to where Luis stood with a knowing glimmer, which told of many stories that went unsaid as she continued, “I assume he kept it over the years, I just happened to see it and bought it back. It could be seen as a… peace offering.”

Her expression and tone seemed genuine, so you finally relented and took the jacket from her, feeling the texture of its fabric beneath your fingers. From what Leon had told you, the case in Valdelobos happened several years ago, and while you could tell the jacket was old, it was obvious that it’s been washed, stitched and kept safe with the utmost care and expertise.

It was a bit big on you, but very comfortable and warm, just like you had expected. You wondered if Leon would be happy to have it back.

You cleared your throat, remembering why you were here, anxiety coming back full force. “Um, thank you. I’ll give it back to him. But, uh, first I gotta know where he is. He could be in trouble.”

Ada smirked. “Isn’t he always?”

╰┈➤

Leon was in trouble, though that really wasn’t anything new to him, it was just really f*cking inconvenient. He’d contacted Hunnigan to let her know about his location and if he wouldn’t respond to her messages or calls for more than two hours, she could start working her magic and maybe send some backup. Her response had been a little lengthy and clearly worried, urging him to take proper precautions and proper equipment, to not go alone, but Leon skimmed through most of it. It was only important for him to make sure Hunnigan knew about his situation.

Dr. Barnaby turned out to be not as useless as Leon had initially thought, yet also not as useful as he’d hoped. While the young doctor didn’t know the name of the man he was taking orders from, nor the motive, he knew about a warehouse where he collected the serum injections for his clinic. The warehouse had decent security, and the few boxes containing the serum were both safe for rocky transports and somewhat inconspicuous. They required a password to open, which would change every few hours. Dr. Barnaby’s smartwatch apparently had some modifications, one of them being an application that would provide Barnaby with the new codes whenever he required them.

Thinking ahead, Leon had taken the doctor’s watch along with him, vaguely remembering the wristbands with different authority classes required to access certain areas in the underground Umbrella facility back in Raccoon City. Kind of funny how high-tech that stuff looked and felt back then.

Leon had taken two samples from one of the boxes; one for Luis, and one as official proof for an official investigation done in official labs.

But before he could investigate further or leave entirely, there was a slight shift in the air, a barely noticeable breeze brushing over his skin. Leon had only about a second to register the shift as a possible threat with no time to react before a warm body pressed up against his back rather aggressively, strong hands wrapping around his wrists as he was being pushed forward and across the closed lid of the box. Now, Leon wasn’t weak, nor was he inexperienced, meaning it was really f*cking embarrassing he found himself completely and utterly restrained and at the mercy of whoever the f*ck was glued to his back.

“Do you have a habit of snooping where you’re not supposed to?” It was the voice of a man, low and dangerous and right next to Leon’s ear.

“Perhaps,” he pressed out. “Do you have a habit of inappropriately touching and restraining strangers?”

A warm puff of air blew across his ear in what he assumed was an amused exhale.

“Not usually,” he said, copying Leon’s non-committal tone. “But…” He leaned further across his back until Leon caught a glimpse of the man’s face, which was mostly obscured by the shadows of his hood. “You’re not a complete stranger to me. I know who you are, Mr. Kennedy. I know who you work for, and that your presence here can only mean trouble. What would you have me do, hm?”

Leon grunted as his arms were pulled behind his back in a wristlock he’d learned back in early 1998 when he went through police academy training.

He knew how to use it, and he knew how to break out of it. Usually. But Leon found he couldn’t move his arms at all, nor could he get a good angle for a strong kick backwards, or a stomp downwards on the stranger’s foot. All that wriggling just… made things more awkward.

“I don’t know,” he huffed out, annoyed at his own helplessness. “You could’ve gone about this in many different normal ways, not… whatever the f*ck this is supposed to be.”

“You mean less efficient ways,” the man corrected him. “You can’t move, can you? I would call that pretty efficient.”

“You’re also grinding against my ass. I’d say that’s less efficient and just plain weird.”

“Oh.” To his surprise, the other man took a small step back so he was no longer glued to Leon’s entire backside. “Apologies.”

The cold leather of the man’s gloves squeaked as he tightened his grip while one of his hands let go of Leon’s wrists, and Leon begrudgingly realized this guy could apparently easily hold him down with just one hand.

“Anyway,” he sighed, and Leon could feel a tiny uncomfortable sting as a needle entered the skin of his upper arm, “I’m afraid I’ll have to take you with me now. We’ll talk more later. Gute Nacht, Mr. Kennedy.”

As if on cue, every muscle in Leon’s body sagged against his will, the claws of sleep dragging at his eyelids and pulling him under, and he passed out.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Upon waking up, Leon’s immediate first thought was “I hope they didn’t inject me with anything weird,” and his second immediate thought was “Damn, this chair is comfortable.” Of course, his hands were tightly bound together and the comfortable chair was his prison. Leon’s gun and knife weren’t on him anymore, he could tell almost immediately from the missing, familiar weights he kept on him almost all times. Even though he knew he could handle himself without a weapon, it brought him a sense of comfort to know they were within reach whenever he needed them.

“I admire you, you know?”

The same voice from earlier, only now it wasn’t directly next to his ear, made Leon open his bleary eyes and look around. The room looked expensive—every piece of furniture looked like it was made out of mahogany or some other high quality wood, even the walls and floor, and the goddamn carpet. Leon had expected a basem*nt, maybe another warehouse, maybe even one of those underground facilities crazy scientists seemed to love so much. Not this.

“I’ve heard and read a lot about you, Mr. Kennedy. If things had gone a little differently, perhaps I would have joined your line of work instead. Perhaps we would have even worked together at some point.”

Leon’s gaze was drawn away from the weird paintings on the wall and towards his kidnapper. The darker corner of the room felt as if a time traveler had broken into a Victorian mansion and started living there; three widescreen PC monitors and keyboards were on a table, plus a small laptop, each screen showing something different. At that table sat the hooded stranger, typing away on one of the keyboards before turning around.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Leon could see the man’s small smile. “You seem to attract bad luck, and yet you’re always lucky enough to survive it.”

Unbidden, his words made Leon think of Raccoon City, how lucky he’d been to arrive late to the hell the city had turned into. Blinking the memories away, his gaze focused as he realized the man was taking off his hood.

The man who presumably blackmailed and paid Dr. Barnaby to inject his homemade serum into unsuspecting patients, the man who had been stalking you—

“Evan Voigt.”

He was older than on that picture Hunnigan had put in the file, but it was unmistakably him. Black hair framing his face, Asian features and dark brown eyes, bordering on black. Some pieces fell into place in Leon’s head, and that feeling of “hold on, I’m starting to get it…” started to settle in.

The man’s smile sharpened slightly. Those dark eyes started to glow an unnerving amber color, making Leon wonder if the reason why he hadn’t stood a chance against his restraints earlier was because the other man had inhuman strength. “So you’ve heard about me.”

“I have,” Leon agreed. “I read a report about what happened in that German village.”

Voigt flinched and his smile immediately soured, before disappearing entirely. “I see. I didn’t realize there even existed any reports at all. I’ve been trying to go public about it several times, and yet no one listened. They either thought I’d made it all up, or, I suppose, they were paid or otherwise convinced to stay silent.” A wave of sympathy washed through Leon at those words, once again reminded of Raccoon City, how the whole incident had been covered up, and everyone the government had found who’d known the truth had been convinced to stay silent one way or another.

“What exactly happened?” Leon found himself asking.

Voigt seemed reluctant to answer. “How much do you know? You said you’ve read a report.”

Leon took a breath, trying to recall the information from the report. “I know about the couple that showed up with a camper and how they started doing experiments through self-made sweeteners, then keeping watch on the affected people through free health check-ups. I assume they chose Althöllbach because it was so small and secluded, but what I want to know is why they did it at all, and how it was all covered up afterwards.”

Voigt scoffed, then sighed and leaned back in his seat. “The Thatchers’ ideas weren’t good enough for Umbrella back in the day, so they left and started doing their own thing. They didn’t want to create a virus, thinking it would be too uncontrolled and dangerous—which is about the only agreeable thing they’ve ever spat out. So, instead, they created a drug and put it inside the sweetener powder. The people were supposed to mutate in more controlled ways, but of course, the effects weren’t quite what was intended. People became ill, addicted to the sweeteners, and that addiction drove them mad—made them delusional. The whole project was a failure, and the Thatchers panicked and ran away. The few people that weren’t affected by the drug called 112—or, well, 911. But the people that ended up coming weren’t there to help, they wanted to observe and test and keep it all under wraps. I still don’t know whether it was the German government, or if the people from the bio-weapons black market somehow got wind of all this and wanted samples and data to sell. Whoever it was did everything in their power to keep it all a secret, silencing anyone who dared to utter a word, even years later.”

“But not you,” Leon noted.

“Not me,” Voigt confirmed with a nod. “They must have lost track of me when I went to live with my father. And then, well…” He trailed off for a moment, eyes glazing over as he seemed to remember something. Shaking his head, he said, “I gave up eventually and turned to a more… productive use of my time.”

When Leon opened his mouth to make a retort, Voigt held up a hand and wagged his finger. “Ah-ah. Before you say anything, I did start off with honest work. I was on my way to becoming a doctor. But then my path derailed in a cruelly ironic way, and I found myself working for a man that had his hands in everything, including Umbrella, the very organization responsible for so much grief and destruction.”

“Who?” asked Leon.

His face twisted into a confusing mixture of contempt, begrudging respect and… fear. “Albert Wesker. I didn’t contribute much to his… projects.” More contempt. “We met by chance—or, at least, that’s what I was led to believe. I agreed to work for him so I could learn more about Umbrella’s creations, and then I ended up saving Mr. Wesker from the consequences of his own actions and god complex, a.k.a. a vulcano, so he owed me—still does. He funds my experiments and gives me the help I need to develop Erebos.”

“Wesker is still alive?” It probably wasn’t the most relevant question to ask, but Leon couldn’t help but remember Ada’s words at the Blue Bar, how she’d spoken about rumors of Wesker still somehow being alive somewhere. He wondered if she ever got the answer she was looking for, or if maybe, just this once, Leon knew something she didn’t.

Leon also wondered how Chris would react to the news. He probably wouldn’t take it well.

“He is,” Voigt confirmed, making Leon’s stomach drop even further. “Though nowadays he is as dangerous as a declawed cat, compared to what he used to be like. He can still bite, but he’s old, and even he could barely survive a volcano. If it weren’t for me, he would be dead. He’s… retired, so to speak.”

Retired. Leon wondered how that felt. Part of him was envious.

“You didn’t get this from me, of course,” Voigt said, pushing himself out of his office chair. “He always liked to work from the dark, but even more so now. One thing we have in common, I suppose.”

Leon looked around, trying to find a clock. More than two hours must have already passed, right? Hunnigan was probably already working on getting help, but Leon couldn’t count on it. Evan Voigt seemed like someone who was good at masking his location, and with him apparently knowing so much about Leon and his line of work, he would probably want to keep him hidden as well.

Until Leon would find some sort of opening or opportunity, his best chance was to stall for time. Keep him talking.

“So why inject innocent people with that serum? Why cause them to mutate?”

“Project Erebos is not and was never meant to be another bioweapon. It’s meant to be the cure for everything, to keep the world safe from Umbrella’s abominations and all the creations inspired by them. It’s still in its testing phase, and when it became evident that I couldn’t keep testing on myself, Mr. Wesker suggested I should get it out there and see how it would affect different people. It’s not lethal, though it did hospitalize some people.” He frowned, before his lips suddenly pulled into an awed smile. “None of them, however, showed the same symptoms as your partner. People’s bodies had treated Erebos the same way it would do to any other illness, by fighting and rejecting it and gaining resistance to its effects. Your partner’s body, however, embraced it. Erebos became part of them, but it was still imperfect. I managed to stabilize them the first time, but that didn’t stop the mutations, so I had to stabilize them again with another, improved dosage.”

Leon forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to force his anger back down. “They never wanted nor consented to be part of your sick project, Voigt. They’re scared, and their body will never be the same again. What happened in Althöllbach was beyond messed up and I’m sorry you lost so much because of it, I’m sorry those people never got the help they deserved, but it doesn’t excuse your actions. It doesn’t give you the right to live out your fantasy of curing the world by forcefully injecting them with your unfinished and dangerous version of a vaccine. You’re no better than the people you’re working against, and it sounds like you’re letting Wesker influence you—”

“You have no idea!” Voigt snapped. “What you’ve seen is the worst that can happen. But your partner is still human, are they not? They’re still the same as before, just with some modifications. One would even call them improvements. Here, let me show you—”

He turned around and typed something into his computer, pulling up a video on one of his monitors. He then stalked towards Leon and forcefully yet easily pulled him closer towards the desk so he could watch, chair loudly scraping across the wooden floor.

The video was drone footage, Leon realized. It was recorded late at night, yet he could recognize the surroundings pretty easily.

Your home.

Leon watched as your front door opened and you stepped out, looking down at your phone, then up at the drone as it got closer to you. Even from here, Leon could tell you were tired and scared. Was this footage from when you’d disappeared until early in the morning after Luis had arrived?

“Watch,” Voigt reminded him.

So Leon watched as you ran after the drone, progressively getting faster and faster, yet you never seemed to exhaust yourself. Vaguely, he remembered watching you run through the rain at the animal shelter’s parking lot, and how fast you’d been then. Eventually, the drone led you to a high fence, and Leon watched you attempt to jump over it several times, each attempt impressive in its own way. The fence had to be ten feet at least, and yet you’d nearly flown over it in one jump entirely.

“Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to take a closer look at all the changes and improvements Erebos has caused.” Voigt paused the video, then moved the mouse cursor to click on something else. It was live security cam footage, showing two very familiar people, one dragging a tail after them and— Was that his old jacket?

A wave of relief washed over him upon seeing you, before it was immediately replaced by fear. You were here. You came for him. You were going to get hurt. You could get killed.

“This is why I brought you here,” Voigt continued. “I was hoping you might attract some visitors. I’m glad I was right.”

When you broke in loudly through the front doors of whatever this place was, Leon could tell you were seething. The security camera footage got a good shot of your face, and even slightly pixelated, it was clear you were at your wit’s end. Leon couldn’t blame you with everything that had been going on the past few weeks.

Luis was with you, and the way he stuck by your side reminded Leon immediately of the mines in Valdelobos, when he and Luis had fought their way through the hive to get back to the surface. It had been nice not to work alone, to have someone to talk to and make the trauma less heavy by sharing it. Luis’ lighthearted commentary had helped Leon just as much as his gun, it had just taken a while for Leon to let himself enjoy it, to look past his distrust of the former Umbrella member, but also his fear of losing another person he cared about to something horrible.

Knowing he’d come along to cover you and get his Sancho out of trouble made Leon smile.

According to Voigt’s clear distaste towards Umbrella and its creations, it was unlikely he would have any B.O.W. creatures running around, so security wasn’t exactly concerning. Still, no doubt it had been a while since you last had to fight someone, and even despite your angry determination, Leon could see you hesitate when the first security guards came into view.

Leon jumped slightly when Voigt spoke up next to him, talking into his earpiece, “Permission to use lethal force is not granted. I want both of them alive.”

He relaxed the slightest amount, but remembered that there were fates worse than death. While Voigt didn’t seem like a particularly malicious person, he wasn’t exactly mentally stable and had already crossed several moral boundaries—it was too early to tell whether he would be above using torture.

╰┈➤

Just how Ada had known about this place, you didn’t dare ask. She worked in mysterious ways, that much was clear, even without Leon’s stories about her. But, really, a big yet normal looking house at the edge of the city? Who would even think to investigate that? It didn’t stick out in any way whatsoever. The menacing aura emanating from it had been purely coming from your knowledge that Leon was possibly being held captive inside somewhere.

While the normal parts of the house were completely silent, you felt like you were being watched. Obviously, someone lived here, yet no one cared about your break-in, which was weird and suspicious.

The house was bigger on the inside than it had looked on the outside, with an elevator leading further underground. While outwardly unremarkable, the interior was expensively furnished, teetering on the line of feeling like a museum and being just plain creepy. The wooden floors and antique looking furniture made it appear more warm, yet it felt cold, as if no one was truly living in it. The eerie silence didn’t help either, with the occasional squeak or creak of wood only adding to your jumpiness. When you checked your phone, you weren't surprised to see you had no service.

"Smells like my abuela’s house,” Luis commented drily. “Though I doubt we’ll be welcomed in the same way.”

“Yeah,” you agreed with both statements. “How big do you think this is?”

“Who knows? Bad guys and their lairs always work in strange yet predictable ways. I’m willing to bet that we’ll run into some obstacles before we get to Leon.”

You frowned. “Like what?”

Footsteps came echoing through the empty halls, and you both froze.

“Mierda.” Luis quickly tried a nearby door, only to find it locked. “I thought maybe this guy wouldn’t have walking security.”

Five security guards came into view, all of them armed, yet none were holding a gun. Instead, three of them were holding batons while the other two held tasers. Not optimal, but at least they weren’t out for blood. You and Luis quickly ducked around a nearby corner and out of sight.

“Gracias a Dios,” Luis muttered. “Looks like they’re all human. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

You turned to him with wide eyes. “What did you think they were gonna be?”

The Spaniard just gave you a pained look, which said enough all by itself. In hindsight, it had been a little naive of you to just take human guards for granted. Given Leon’s line of work and what had happened to your body, you should have assumed to encounter the worst in this strange place, like Luis.

The guards were searching the area, meaning whoever owned this place knew you were here and that it wasn’t as abandoned as it looked, while Luis tried another door, almost falling into the room when it surprisingly opened. He didn’t even get to open his mouth before you quickly rushed inside, pulling him along by his arm.

It looked like a study, dusty and rather small. It was a dead end, but it would give you some time to come up with some sort of plan.

“Okay, so, killing is clearly out of the question,” you said, looking for something heavy to block the door with while Luis held it closed in case the guards had heard you. “Not that I was looking forward to killing anything or anyone, but…”

“It could have been a necessity,” Luis finished for you, and you nodded with a sigh.

You carried a bookshelf and set it down in front of the door, shivering when a spider nearly skittered across your hand as it got startled by the movements. “That probably won’t hold long,” you huffed.

“You kidding?” Luis knocked a hand against the shelf. “That thing looks heavy.”

It hadn’t felt heavy, but maybe that just came from the adrenaline.

With the door successfully blocked, you put your hands on your hips and looked around. The desk, while exceptionally dusty, had clearly been used some time ago. There were empty cans of energy drinks on the surface and several folders and books, some of them opened. The wall next to the desk was littered with slightly crumpled documents and post-it notes.

One folder lay open on the desk, so you took a peek. The writing was slanted and a little rushed, but decipherable, though the dates on it were completely smudged. It read:

The longer I work on Erebos, the more paranoid I become. I already installed the best security I could afford, plus I’ve got some guards on call if there’s an intruder, but none of it would be enough to stop people like Ms. Wong from entering. A.W. suggested I should give his idea a try, and while I am strongly against it… it might be my only option.

Update: After many weeks, I’ve finally figured it out. In the end, I could only “recycle” the body of Hana Kurose, which I hope will be enough. I don’t wish to do this whole procedure ever again. Just looking at her fills me with guilt and shame, but I cannot deny her usefulness.

Well, that was… ominous. What did this person mean with “recycle the body”?

Walking closer to the pages on the wall, you squinted as you tried to read the messy, rushed handwriting to no avail. This was like the scribble of a doctor’s note. You turned towards the Spaniard, “Luis, can you read this?”

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), he could, though he had to squint pretty hard (you were pretty sure that it was because he’d left his reading glasses at your place). “Ehh, something about… Oh.” He went a little pale, eyes widening as he looked at every post-it note that was attached to a related document.

“What is it?”

He bit his lip, then sighed. “These are all names of ex-Umbrella members and how they eventually vanished or died. See?” He tapped his finger against one of them. “There’s me.”

It took a second for his words to sink in.

You froze, staring at him. “You… used to work for Umbrella?”

Luis turned around to meet your gaze, holding it with evident difficulty. “Sí. I quit after a while and went back to Spain, but…” He sighed again. “I hadn’t learned my lesson yet. Was stupid enough to work for the leader of a cult that worshiped parasites. Crazy, eh?”

Another set of dots connected in your brain, and you hesitantly asked, “You were in Valdelobos too?”

He nodded. “It’s a long story though. Sancho and I can tell you all about it later.” He shot you a brief smile, before returning his attention to the notes on the wall.

While this information painted Luis in a completely new light, it made sense. There had been some hints dropped along the way, and with how excited Luis had been about your condition, well… Leon did mention that he had prior experience with bioweapons. It didn’t change anything, though. Whatever Luis had done was in the past and he clearly wasn’t proud of it. If he were a bad person, Leon wouldn’t count him as a friend. It was clear he trusted Luis.

“Alright. Well, do you think whoever made those notes wants the remaining Umbrella members dead?”

“Most of them already are. I’m one of the lucky few, but only because the US President’s daughter and Agent Kennedy put in a good word for me. I pay my penance by finding weaknesses and cures for bioweapons, so people like Leon have an easier time dealing with them, and less civilians get hurt.” Luis lightly scratched his stubbled jaw in thought. “But this guy seems to really have it out for some of these people. Especially those two.”

He tapped a finger against the names Eckart and Lillian Thatcher.

“From what’s written here, this seemed pretty personal, more than all the others. I’d say he dealt with them himself.”

You frowned. “Okay, so, what? He killed those two, but only kept a record of all the other former employees?”

Luis pursed his lips. “Looks like it. Maybe he just wanted to keep track of everyone for his own peace of mind. I’m guessing something really bad happened to him or some of his loved ones to make him this obsessed, and maybe those two are responsible. I can’t say I blame him.”

“Yeah.” You thought of Leon, how he would still frequently wake up from nightmares in a cold sweat and wide, unseeing eyes. How long it would often take to get him back to bed, if at all—sometimes he’d just stay up and start his day, even though it was still a few hours until dawn. How he’d curl into you, rarely asking for comfort, as if it was something so precious he couldn’t possibly deserve, yet still clearly yearning for it. Those few silent tears that would sometimes escape from him, unacknowledged and clearly unwanted, no matter how many times you’d gently remind him that it is okay, he’s only human, it’s good to cry, just let it out, we don’t even have to talk about it.

Umbrella hadn’t taken anything from you, but it had taken everything from Leon, and still continued to do so even after it dissolved.

You took a deep breath and slowly let it back out. “I don’t blame him either.”

Suddenly, a loud crack came from the door, the thick mahogany wood torn apart by something you couldn’t see. The shelf you’d pushed in front of it shook and shuddered, then fell over with a loud bang, whirling up dust and dirt. You and Luis quickly moved further away, watching in horror as the rest of the door was ripped apart as if made out of polystyrene foam.

A sickly pale face came into view, and a slender, female figure stepped through the broken door, kicking the shelf back as if it weighed nothing. Her arms were held out stiffly on her sides, your stomach dropping at the sight of sharp blades shaped like the front legs of a praying mantis protruding out from both of them, moving and folding as if they were just extensions for her limbs. It was like her arms were replaced with synthetic ones, with no flesh and bone to make space for the blades and who knew what else she was hiding in them. She was wearing a black tank top, black loose pants, and something that looked like a choker, which had a small, steadily glowing LED.

It was hard to see the details of her face, but her eyes looked unnaturally pale, staring blanky at you and Luis. Her hair was bright gray, basically white, barely reaching her cheekbones as it fell messily around her face and over her eyes. It looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while. When she moved, it seemed mechanical, almost like her entire body had been hollowed out and replaced with machinery.

“Ay dios mío,” Luis breathed next to you. “I spoke too soon.”

You shifted nervously, unsure on what to do. “Is she—”

She swung at you, fast and without hesitation. You didn’t think, didn’t have time to think, but you automatically shoved Luis out of the way before he could get hit. Before the blade could sink into your skin, she stopped moving entirely—you couldn’t see nor hear her even breathing.

Was this Hana Kurose?

Was she even alive anymore? Was she still human?

Her eyes moved, staring directly at your face, completely unblinking. This close, you could see a small, red light coming from somewhere inside her pupils. Shivering, you wondered if she had small cameras inside her eye sockets, or if her eyes were entirely synthetic. The green light on her choker started to blink, then changed to yellow. Her— its? —head twitched to the side.

“Use of lethal force not permitted,” it was a genderless and completely robotic voice, coming from the device on her— its— choker. She— it— straightened, mantis blades folding back into its arms as it stepped back. “Follow.”

It turned around mechanically and stepped back through the broken door, then waited for you to follow. You wondered what it would do if you stayed put, but…

You looked over at Luis, who was pressing himself against the wall with wide eyes—he seemed both intrigued and terrified at the same time.

“It’s risky, but our only lead so far,” he said before you could ask. “Maybe ‘she’ will lead us to Leon.”

Neither of you moved for a few seconds, the figure still waiting.

“After you,” Luis whispered.

You gave him an exasperated look, stepping past him and towards the broken door. “How kind of you.”

The walking corpse led you through the halls, past the security guards, then started messing with an old grandfather clock that had stopped ticking. She opened it up and awkwardly seemed to fiddle with something, then a part of the wall next to the clock moved forward before sliding open.

“Oh,” you breathed. “Secret entrance. We would’ve never found this by ourselves.”

The newly revealed room that came into view was dark, save for the light of several computer monitors, yet it was clearly bigger than the study from earlier. An uneasy feeling settled in your gut, adding to your already existing anxiety and worry. The door closed behind you as soon as you, Luis and the undead woman had entered the room, the sense of dread intensifying now that your only known path of escape was gone. Since this place was underground, there weren’t any windows. The only way out was up through the one elevator you’d used to enter.

“How nice of you to drop by.” That eerily familiar voice was close, right behind you. Your tail went rigid, all the hair on your body standing on end as a cold shiver ran through you. The voice spoke your name, slowly, the syllables dripping from his lips like thick poison. You didn’t want to turn around, fearing to meet those glowing eyes in the dark like you had back in the alleyway.

“And you as well, Dr. Luis Serra Navarro. How very, very fortunate for me.”

A puff of warm air brushed against your left ear as the man exhaled and strode past you, casual and confident, taking the sweet scent like that of a fruity energy drink with him, stopping and turning around once he stood in front of you at an arm’s length of distance away. He looked tired, yet he was smiling, and even without directly looking at his face you could see the eerie amber glow of his eyes as he kept studying your face. He was wearing all black with a long dark, hooded coat that made him look like someone dressing up as a vampire hunter, the only colorful thing was his azure turtleneck.

“You must have questions,” he said. “Don’t worry; this time, I intend to answer them.”

His eyes then wandered over to Luis, and his expression darkened, smile turning into more of a sneer. “And you, Dr. Serra. I’m surprised Mr. Kennedy has taken such a liking to you, knowing what you did. I wouldn’t be so forgiving. But now isn’t the time for that—I’ll deal with you later.”

Luis stared at the man with wide eyes, recognition written across his face. “Evan?”

The stranger didn’t respond immediately, but there was something hanging in the air between them, heavy with history.

He lifted his right arm and tapped something on his wrist, and you flinched when the undead woman’s head suddenly jerked upward, as if alert. “Take Dr. Serra to the storage room. Lock the door and guard it.”

You glanced over, seeing the light on her collar blink yellow, then switch to green, blinking twice in quick succession. “Understood.”

She grabbed Luis’ arm and roughly dragged him along to another, smaller door on the right. Luis stuttered out protests and Spanish curses, trying to yank free from her grip to no avail, head turning to throw you a worried look, though his eyes kept flitting over to the other man in a questioning and pleading manner. You took one step towards him out of instinct, hands itching to cling onto him and keep him close. You didn’t want to be separated, not knowing whether you would find him again, not knowing what this man had planned for him, not knowing what he was planning on doing to you.

“You really shouldn’t worry about him,” the man tutted, his arm stopping you from following them. “He isn’t someone you should trust in the first place. You have no idea what he’s done.”

“f*ck you,” you hissed.

You quickly sidestepped him and rushed after Luis, reaching out to him. A strong arm firmly wrapped around your stomach, pressing you back against a solid chest and keeping you in place while the man’s other hand held a knife to your throat.

“Come now, behave. I won’t kill him. I simply wanted us to be undisturbed for a little while so we can have a nice little chat. I’m the one responsible for all of this, after all.” His boot stepped on your tail before you could figure out a way to stab him in the ass with it, making you wince. “Behave, ask your questions, and you’ll get your treats. I’m not as unreasonable as you may think.”

You watched as Luis and the undead woman disappeared from your view, the door closing behind them. Part of you wanted to struggle free of the man’s grip and run after them, but… You still didn’t know where Leon was, and you did have questions. This was your chance to learn more about what this guy had done to you and why, and if there was a way to get rid of it. Perhaps Luis would find a way out of this predicament if you gave him enough time. As long as you kept this guy occupied, he would leave the Spaniard alone.

“Fine,” you pressed out, reluctantly. “We’ll talk.”

He hummed approvingly, then swiftly let go of you, knife clicking shut.

“Good. First, allow me to run a few tests and take some samples. I’d like a closer look.”

You grimaced at the prospect of having this guy examine you in any way, tail quickly flicking away as soon as he lifted his boot. You turned to face him and from this distance, you noticed that he was wearing small, black tunnel earrings, and despite his turtleneck covering most of it, you could still see inky black tattoos covering parts of his throat and neck.

“Before you do anything, I want to know what you did with her.” You pointed towards the door Luis had disappeared through, needing to know if this was truly related to what the notes from earlier were talking about.

He blinked, then shifted, looking mildly uncomfortable. Walking towards a darker corner of the room, he pulled an examination table on wheels to the center, then kicked his foot against something so it wouldn’t roll away.

“I was in need of some reliable security. The guards you’ve seen outside are usually unnecessary since I keep low, and, admittedly, they wouldn’t be very effective against people like you or Kennedy.” He started to prepare the table, pulling a medical tray unit next to it and sorting through the medical tools. The sight made you nervous. “Bioweapons, like lickers, were completely out of the question. The risk of infection would be too high, and the only way to control them would be via Type-4 Plaga, which I am not willing to submit myself to. I could’ve probably come up with another way to control them, but still, the risks were too high, and I’ve never been fond of Umbrella’s creations. Then Mr. Wesker suggested I start experimenting on the corpses of former Umbrella employees, the ones we could get our hands on anyway. Eventually, I figured out a way to keep the corpses from decaying and the brain functional. Controlled by electrical impulses from a small machine I have implanted into the skull, their body is functional, yet completely dead. No virus, just a remotely controlled corpse that can receive and execute commands. It’s still a… work in progress, but it’ll suffice for now.”

You swallowed, your mouth and throat feeling incredibly dry all of a sudden. “Is there more than one?” The notes said that Hana was the only one, but maybe he tried the same thing again later on.

He nodded. “Yeah, but only one is functional. The others failed.”

“You also gave her weapons.”

“You mean her blades? She already had those.” He still wouldn’t meet your eyes. “Kurose used to work for Mr. Wesker, do the dirty work and such. She lost her arms, so he had them replaced, had me design them. When she was killed in Africa, Mr. Wesker froze her body because it was ‘too valuable’ to get rid of.”

Your sharp nails dug into the palms of your hands as you tried and failed to stay calm. “Do you plan on doing the same to Luis?”

He didn’t reply, but there was the slightest hesitation in his movements. You let yourself be guided towards the examination table and sat down, feeling cold all over.

This guy was sick. Sure, Luis had done awful things in the past, though you didn’t know the details, but people could change, and clearly, Luis had already changed for the better. He was making up for his past, and Leon trusted him. Leon had a kind and caring heart, but he didn’t befriend just anyone. Luis didn’t deserve this horrible fate. You didn’t know any of the other people that this guy had turned into his own personal security, but using dead people’s bodies this way was just… wrong. So very, very wrong and horrible. He didn’t seem proud of it, at least.

But, if there was some history between them, perhaps he wouldn’t go through with it. Part of you wondered if this was the man Luis had mentioned when you’d asked him about his relationship status.

Your voice sounded weak when you asked, “Where’s Leon?”

He pulled off his coat and black leather gloves, revealing more of his tight turtleneck, then put on a pair of medical gloves, the rubber loudly snapping into place which made you flinch. “I’ll tell you after the examination. All you need to know is that he’s safe and unharmed.”

You didn’t know if he was telling the truth, but his words seemed sincere enough, and you relaxed just a little.

“How’s your tail? Is it uncomfortable to sit like this?” You shook your head, feeling small as he stood closely in front of you, his legs nearly touching your own. “You may call me Evan, by the way.”

You didn’t want to, but then again, you didn’t really care. You just wanted to be far away and never hear from him again.

Evan put one hand on your jaw to keep your head still, reaching with the other for a small flashlight. His grip was gentle, yet firm. He probably wouldn’t even feel it if you tried to resist. He turned your head from side to side slowly, closely examining your eyes, shining light into them from different angles.

“You can see better than before, can’t you?” It sounded like a rhetorical question, so you didn’t reply. Your eyesight had improved, and from what you’d noticed they adjusted to the dark much quicker than before too. He seemed to know the answer already, making you wonder whether his own eyes were the same. They had stopped glowing at some point, reverting to their original dark brown.

Before you could ask about them, he suddenly pushed his thumb between your lips and carefully pulled your jaw down, as if to examine your teeth.

“Hmm,” he hummed. “Curious. Are those new?”

His thumb was still in your mouth, it would be awkward to talk like this, so you just made an affirmative sound. This position was really weird. Kind of… charged, in all the wrong ways, which made you shift uncomfortably.

“Your old ones fell out? Ah, I see it. The molars stayed the same, but all the others came in slightly sharper and stronger than before.” Once he was satisfied, he pulled his thumb out of your mouth, wiping your spit on a towel before he collected a saliva sample, just like Luis had done.

“What else has changed?”

You lifted your hands to show your nails. He took your hands into one of his, the other holding the flashlight once more as he examined them. “Ah, so they also fell out and regrew. Have you tried cutting them yet?”

You nodded. The nails had gotten too long at one point, and you didn’t want to tear anything (or anyone) apart with them by accident.

“Was it any different? Were they tougher to cut?”

“Yeah,” you admitted.

He then took a blood and tissue sample, same as Luis had done, and then moved on to examine your tail. You had to lift up your shirt and jacket a little for him to do this, but thankfully, you could keep your pants on. You wouldn’t have taken them off if he asked anyway—you shuddered at the mere thought.

You did shiver when his cold, gloved fingers touched your lower back, following your spine to the base of your tail. “It almost seems like your tailbone shifted… moving higher up. Usually, it would be lower down and curl inward, but… hmmm.”

His thumb pressed against the skin underneath your tail, as if to search for the tailbone, before doing the same above, once again feeling along your spine.

“It did shift. What did that feel like? Did it hurt?”

You remembered breaking out into a cold sweat, aching all over, the pain in your lower back intensifying, and then… “It did. And then I passed out for… a little while. And woke up with a tail.”

Evan hummed, then proceeded to talk in complicated medical terms you didn’t understand. Either he was good at bullsh*tting, or he actually had a Ph.D of some sort. The little bits and pieces you could understand could roughly be translated to “your body was trying to protect you from the pain,” and “it needed to stop some functions to focus all of its attention on growing a tail in a short amount of time, which would need a lot of energy and… other stuff.” It sort of made sense, but then again, you couldn’t understand everything he was muttering about. Luis probably would.

A notification sound made Evan finally let go of your tail, just as he had started to examine the sharp tip. The samples he’d taken from you had all been put into some sort of machine, and whatever it had been doing for the past few minutes was apparently done now. He went to his computer monitors and looked at whatever the machine just spat out about your samples, which looked like a bunch of medical nonsense from where you were sitting.

He nodded to himself. “This is pretty much what I was expecting. Very good.”

You chewed on your lower lip, then asked, “So, is there a way to undo it?”

Evan snorted, noticed your scathing glare, then quickly cleared his throat. “Why would you want to? Erebos is part of you now, and you’re better for it. I’d say it’s an improvement, anyone would be lucky to have it.”

You counted to ten while taking a deep breath, before slowly exhaling. “I have a goddamn tail, Evan. I can’t go out like this in public—I already got a few weird looks on my way here. Once people realize that it’s not a costume, they’ll freak out. I can’t go to work like this. Not to mention what the f*ck my dentist is gonna think once he sees my teeth! And don’t even f*cking get me started on how I very much did not consent to be part of your sick little project. I have every reason to want to undo this, I don’t care if I can see better in the dark, have better balance than ever, or rip and tear stuff to shreds with my nails and teeth. I don’t need this sh*t, and I didn’t want it either.”

He sighed, as if you were being difficult, taking off his medical gloves and throwing them into a small bin next to his table. “It’s not just visible physical aspects, you know? Erebos helps your body overcome substance addictions, but most importantly, it’s making you immune to bioweapons. You cannot get infected by any Umbrella related creation that operates through viral or bacterial infections. Hell, you won’t even have to worry about getting the flu anymore! Don’t you get it? Erebos is the cure. Once I have perfected it, it might even cure cancer, it might cure absolutely everything.”

He pulled something from his pocket, swiftly moving to stand in front of you once more. You didn’t know what to say, but you opened your mouth anyway. Before any sound could leave your throat, however, Evan had taken hold of your wrist and sliced your hand open with his karambit pocket knife.

“What the f*ck!” you exclaimed, ripping your hand away and out of his grip.

“Look,” he breathed, eyes glowing and completely fixated on the palm of your hand.

You had the violent and rather feral urge to bite off his nose, but grit your teeth and followed his gaze instead, looking down at your hand.

There wasn’t a cut. There wasn’t even any blood.

But you’d felt it—Evan had definitely sliced your skin open. His knife was sharp, he didn’t even have to press very hard, but he had, and—

“Self-healing,” he mouthed. “I knew Erebos could do it, but to see it up close on another person… Remarkable.”

f*ck.

You were still seething, and Evan was definitely still in the wrong, but…

But being able to heal so quickly was… it was pretty f*cking cool, though also definitely freaky.

“I should mention that the earliest version of Erebos was made to perfectly match my own DNA and blood type. It took several tries and injections, and one time I had to let Mr. Wesker work on a stabilizer because my fever was too high, but it worked. Eventually, it worked, and it did exactly what I’d hoped it would, and more. It completely exceeded my expectations.” Evan lifted his own arm and pulled the sleeve of his coat away, exposing his underarm. With his other hand, he drew a long red line through the flesh with his knife, slicing it open the same way he had done to your palm. You wanted to look away, yet you were transfixed by the sight of the wound immediately stitching itself closed. By the time he’d put away his knife, there wasn’t a single trace left that would indicate he had ever been wounded in the first place. “But I realized that I would have to make it suitable for everyone else too, so when Mr. Wesker suggested non-official public testing, I did it because I couldn’t think of any other solution. Everyone else’s body tried to reject it, and they ended up getting hospitalized.You were the first to accept Erebos, I only had to lower your fever with a stabilizer. If I keep working on it, I can make it available to the public, and no one will ever have to worry about B.O.W. outbreaks ever again. It’s going to change the world for the better.”

“Okay, but… So… you’ve also injected yourself with Erebos, right? But then, why didn’t you grow a tail?” Had his early version really been that different? He’d said it was only compatible with his own body at first, so maybe it wouldn’t have caused mutations at all? But then, what the f*ck was up with his eyes?

Evan smiled in a weirdly sympathetic manner, tilting his head to the side. “I may not have grown a tail, but Erebos did cause my body to mutate and change. The eyes were rather… unique—an addition from Mr. Wesker when he made the stabilizer. He probably thought it was funny.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “No matter, what’s done is done. I’ve grown accustomed to it, and there are ways to hide the effects from the public.”

You glowered. “Good for you.”

He tilted his head the other way and folded his arms, looking deep in thought. “... Hm.” His eyes wandered to your tail, watching it aggressively swish side to side for a long moment. “Doesn’t it remind you a little of a xenomorph tail?”

You blinked. “Yeah. I was— Leon said the same thing.”

He nodded, slowly.

“I have a proposal,” he proclaimed suddenly. “I’m not stupid, I know you and Kennedy don’t agree with my methods and will do anything in your power to apprehend me. But how about we make a deal?”

“What deal?” you relented.

“I concentrate on finding a solution for your tail problem,” he inclined his head towards it, “you and Kennedy can leave. In return, while I work on a solution, I’ll be left alone.”

You narrowed your eyes, feeling less scared and more annoyed by the minute. “What about Luis?”

There was a sliver of vulnerability in his eyes which he quickly blinked away. “Non-negotiable.”

“So, let me get this straight.” You got up from the examination table, forcing Evan to take a step back to give you some space. “There isn’t a way to get Erebos out of my system, and even if there is, you’re not going to look into it because it’s so amazing and you want me to keep it. So instead, you’re gonna try to find a way for me to hide my tail, which isn’t guaranteed to work, and in return, me and Leon leave Luis behind and wait for you to send your tail-cure to us through UPS or whatever. We don’t arrest you during all that time, and when we get your package, you already f*cked off to some deserted island where we’ll never find you and finish your project and ‘cure’ the entire world? And Luis will be your undead slave?”

“You sure have a way with words,” Evan remarked dryly.

“Well, that’s what you meant, isn’t it? Doesn’t sound very appealing to me. If I can heal that fast, maybe I can just chop my own tail off.” You really didn’t want to, and you probably wouldn’t be able to do it by yourself, but the spite you felt made it sound more appealing than accepting Evan’s deal.

He paled a little at that. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Your tail is an extension of your spine.”

“Oh, so Erebos can’t repair bones and nerve damage? Figures.”

“It probably could, but—” Evan shook his head, cutting himself off. “Irrelevant. Am I understanding correctly that you don’t agree to the deal’s terms?”

You opened your mouth, then hesitated. Yes, the deal did sound very unappealing. It wasn’t promising, there was no guarantee that Evan would even work on a cure for your tail, or that he would find one at all. And you wouldn’t just leave Luis behind to be turned into an undead puppet for this crazy asshole—if that was actually what he planned on doing to him.

But what was the alternative? How would you three get out of here? How would you live the rest of your life with a tail? There was no way to hide it, unless you opted to always wear a coat and hope it would cover it enough to not be noticeable (which was kind of impossible—the tail was long and about as thick as your wrist, not small by any means). Maybe Leon could find a surgeon experienced enough to perhaps surgically remove your tail, and you could hope that Erebos would heal the damage the removal would cause so it wouldn’t negatively affect you.

Maybe Luis would be able to think of a solution? He seemed knowledgeable and reliable enough, but… he didn’t know Erebos as well as Evan did.

Suddenly, a very familiar voice rang from further behind you, “I also have a proposal for you, and you’re so not gonna like it.”

You turned around, heart fluttering and lips immediately pulling up into a grin. “Leon!”

His face was serious as he aimed his gun at Evan, and you could tell he was just as pissed off as you were, but as soon as his eyes met yours, his gaze softened and he breathed out your name like an answered prayer. “He didn’t try anything weird, right? This guy can be kinda touchy…”

Evan sighed loudly and muttered something in Korean that sounded too exasperated not to include a few curse words.

You shrugged, deciding not to tell Leon about all the uncomfortable tail touching and weird teeth examination. That wasn’t relevant right now.

“Wait, what did he do to you?” you asked. “What happened, anyway?”

Leon shrugged too. “Long story. I’ll tell you later, okay?” His gaze focused back on Evan, brows furrowing into a scowl. “For now, let’s tell him our terms and conditions.”

“Are you sure this is what you want to do, Mr. Kennedy?” You looked back, just in time to see Evan cracking his neck, his eyelids fluttering halfway closed as he did so, the light in his eyes beginning to glow brighter. “I was, and still am, fully willing to let the both of you go. This doesn’t have to end in violence.”

“How about you go f*ck yourself,” Leon snapped. “We’re not going anywhere, not without Luis, and not without you in handcuffs.”

Evan scoffed. “Handcuffs won’t be enough to hold me, but you can certainly try.”

“Are you guys done? I feel like I’m third wheeling.” Your tone was light, yet your body was rigid as you slowly stepped backwards and away from the dark haired man.

╰┈➤

Leon was cranky and sore all over from being tied to that damn chair for what had to be several hours at the very least. It had taken a long while to free his arms from the binds, and even longer to find his gear that Voigt had taken from him while he was unconscious. When he’d heard your voice, so clearly on edge and teetering between anger and fear, Leon’s own anxiety had spiked.

He needed you to be okay, no matter what.

Evan Voigt was a tragic figure, that much was clear. The Thatchers had robbed him of his childhood, mother, and home. He had the motivation to do good, to help the world and keep the people safe from experiencing the same fate as him. But he’d made the wrong choice one too many times—working for Wesker, saving his life after he’d nearly succeeded in infecting the whole world with Uroboros, then working together on Erebos to fundamentally change the human body.

And now Erebos was coursing through you, had changed your life and your body. Voigt had stalked you, scared you, eagerly using you as his guinea pig while simultaneously talking about how Luis of all people was a bad person.

Leon has dealt with worse people than Voigt, but this was personal.

He watched, tense, as you slowly backed away and out of the line of fire, your long tail twisting and twitching from side to side in anticipation. Voigt seemed calm, but even from this distance, Leon could tell the other man was just as tense. Leon got knocked around and choked enough times by now to know that when it came to a fight between him and a B.O.W. or otherwise physically enhanced being, he had to be smart about it.

“Go on, then, Mr. Kennedy,” Voigt sighed, spreading his arms slightly. “Shoot me.”

“No,” Leon said. It was apparent that Wesker had influenced Voigt in more ways than one, and maybe there was a way to snap him out of it and realize he’d gone down the wrong path, but… If he couldn’t, Voigt would have to be dealt with somehow. And then they would have to look for Wesker.

“Is this really what you want? Is this how you wanted to help the world?”

Voigt lowered his arms, frowning. “What do you mean? I’ve already told you—”

“You have, yes,” Leon interrupted. “But what did your plan look like before you started working with Wesker? Did you plan on creating a cure that would simultaneously physically enhance humans and change their bodies?”

Voigt hesitated, frowning, his eyes looking off to the side. “Well… no. I just wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be another outbreak anywhere that would destroy people’s lives. I wanted Umbrella and all of its footprints to disappear completely, for its creations to lose their value because they didn’t have the desired effects anymore. The— The physical enhancements were just sort of a byproduct. I experimented on myself, and Mr. Wesker made some suggestions, yeah, but if it weren’t for him, I would probably be dead by now.”

He scowled suddenly. “Don’t take me for a fool. I know what Mr. Wesker tried to accomplish with Uroboros. The world is overpopulated, yes, but his creation was just another abomination made to make people suffer and turn himself into the god of a new world order. I’m not doing anything like that! I’m trying to help humanity become stronger, so creations like Uroboros wouldn’t even be a threat to begin with!”

“That’s a really good idea,” you joined in, “but forcefully injecting people with a potentially dangerous serum that’s making them mutate against their will isn’t really that different, if you think about it. I’m sure there’s other scientists who used to work for Umbrella that also wanted to help humanity and hoped to cure cancer and all that, but they got roped into making bioweapons instead and lost themselves along the way.”

“I wasn’t roped into anything!” Voigt denied, getting defensive. “This is the only way I can make a difference! Mr. Wesker isn’t even contributing that much, he just… he’s just funding everything and provides me with data from his own projects so I could learn from them and do better. He owes me. He isn’t… I’m not… I wouldn’t be stupid enough to let him manipulate me.”

His eyes, which were switching back and forth between dark brown and bright amber, flickered over to your tail, as if seeing it for the first time. He visibly swallowed. “This is what I wanted.” He wasn’t even really talking to you or Leon anymore. You turned your head, meeting Leon’s gaze with an anxious frown, unsure of what to do or say next.

“This is what I’ve been working on for years,” Voigt said, his tone gaining back some confidence. He looked up, expression dark and resolute as he stared at Leon. “And I will finish it.”

So, Leon pulled the trigger, aiming at Voigt’s left leg.

People always expected to be shot in the chest, shoulder, often even the head. Dodging bullets like they did in the Matrix movies was impossible (unless your name was Albert Wesker, according to Chris), but it was possible to make bullets miss you by moving around a lot. Legs weren’t easy to hit, but if people expected you to shoot their upper body parts… Well…

Voigt grunted. It wasn’t exactly a pained cry or anything like that, but his discomfort was clear. His eyes darkened, and then they flashed a bright amber when he looked up from the small hole in his thigh, jaw clenching.

Leon saw you moving before anything else.

Voigt was suddenly right in front of him when Leon hadn’t even blinked, fist raised and teeth bared in something akin to a snarl. Before Leon could even react, you were also there, already throwing yourself between them and at the other man. Your fingers, your claws, were gripping Voigt’s clothes so tightly he could see them tear, maybe even sinking into Voigt’s flesh, if his pained noises were any indicator.

He tried to push you away, but you clung to him like a cat, only using the momentum of Voigt’s movements to throw yourself on his back. You fumbled to get your hands free of the fabric of Voigt’s clothes, instead moving one arm across Voigt’s throat in a headlock, while the other tried to find purchase in his hair, scratching red lines all over the man’s forehead as he struggled to try and throw you off.

Leon was too stunned to act at first, but then he couldn’t really do anything but watch, unable to shoot while you were on him.

Voigt staggered several feet away, gripping your arms pretty hard, then managed to throw you over his shoulder and to the ground. When he lifted his leg to either kick or stomp on you, you moved away, then buried your claws deeply into his calf. Leon could see some blood soaking through the fabric of his pants, and Voigt let out a growl, seeping with frustration and pain.

“You fight dirty,” he pressed out. “Fine, I can do that too.”

He bent over, then reached out and grabbed you by your neck. Your tail lashed out, swiping Voigt across the head. He flinched, but didn’t let go, only reaching out with his other hand to grab your tail before it could whack him again.

Leon shot him in the back of his shoulder, creating a hole in his blue turtleneck. Voigt grunted out a frustrated “Verdammte Scheiße,” body jolting slightly from the impact. He did let go of you, but seemed way too unbothered by a bullet penetrating his shoulder. Leon should know—he still had a scar from when his own shoulder got shot. That sh*t hurt.

“You are starting to piss me off, Kennedy,” Voigt growled. He shook out his leg, the one you were still clinging onto, and Leon watched, alarmed, as your claws detached from the other man’s calves and you got thrown several feet away.

Again, Voigt was in front of him before he could react, knocking the gun out of his hands and making it clatter to the ground somewhere to his right. sh*t, he thought, barely dodging a punch aimed directly at his nose. Leon was good at hand-to-hand combat, better even with knives, but Voigt was clearly stronger than him—unnaturally so. Leon wouldn’t stand a chance for very long, and it already seemed like the guy was just playing with him.

“I thought you’d understand.” Voigt’s voice suddenly came from behind, next to Leon’s right ear, a sweet, fruity-candy like scent shortly wafting over him. If he could move this fast, why hadn’t he killed, or at least immobilized Leon already? Was this fun to him, or was he hesitating?

Leon’s hand had already automatically moved to the hilt of his knife and he quickly pulled it free, stabbing it backwards in a reverse grip—he didn’t expect to hit anything, just to get Voigt away from him. Voigt dodged, giving Leon just a bit more breathing room. When Voigt grabbed Leon’s wrist to keep the knife still, Leon managed to pull him closer with his restricted arm, then kicked him in the stomach. It probably didn’t hurt if not even bullets had the desired effect, but Voigt did let go of Leon’s wrist and staggered backwards just a little.

He hunched over a little from the strong kick, some dirt from Leon’s boot now sticking to his turtleneck. He glared and quickly wiped it away, then stood upright. “You’ve suffered a great deal ever since Raccoon City, and you’ve seen plenty other people suffer. I thought you’d understand why I have to complete Erebos.”

Leon scoffed. “Wanting to help people I can understand, but all that crazy scientist stuff isn’t really my area.”

Voigt sighed, and then there was a strong hand around Leon’s throat, squeezing his airways and blood vessels shut as he was being lifted a few inches off the ground. Why does this always happen, Leon heard himself thinking absently. First it was the Tyrant in Raccoon City, then Mendez, then Saddler (eugh, tentacles), then Jason, and then Glenn. How does this keep happening?

Leon kicked and struggled and practically clawed at the hand around his throat, but Voigt didn’t even flinch. Until he did, his face contorting into an expression of discomfort as he bent over and gripped his left leg, dropping Leon in the process. You were right behind him to soften his fall, helping him back up quickly.

“Are you okay?” Your voice was shaking with emotion, though Leon couldn’t tell whether it was from fear, anger, worry, or a mixture of all three.

“Happens all the time,” Leon coughed out, then realized how bad that sounded. “I’m fine,” he added, quickly and unconvincingly.

You didn’t look convinced at all and Leon couldn’t blame you.

He heard something small clatter to the ground. Voigt jerked backwards, and something else fell to the ground and rolled away. He looked down and saw the two bullets that had been shot into the other man’s flesh, now freed.

“Damn,” he heard you whisper, your voice laced with a mixture between awe and horror. “His body pushes out objects so it can regenerate properly.”

Leon saw you glancing down at your hand. He raised an eyebrow, “Can yours do that too?”

You shrugged. “I— I don’t know yet. Maybe.”

Leon squinted at you. “Yet?”

You opened your mouth, but before you could reply, a notification sound rang from Voigt’s smartwatch. The younger man was still breathing deeply yet unevenly—apparently, ejecting bullets from your body wasn’t a very comfortable nor painless sensation—but he lifted his hand so he could look at the small screen. He paled, then frowned, his now dimmed, brown eyes flickering over to you and Leon as if unsure whether to answer it in front of an audience.

He tapped on the screen and cleared his throat. “Mr. Wesker.”

“Evan,” a deep voice answered. “I see you have guests over.”

Faintly, Leon wondered why it sounded so familiar—he’d only ever seen one picture of Albert Wesker before, but never had he heard the man’s voice.

Voigt’s gaze went over to his computer monitors. “You’re— You’re watching, sir?”

“I am,” Wesker confirmed, unconcerned with the implications that alone held. “And I must say, I’m not very impressed. You’re aware that leaving Leon Kennedy alive will endanger your life’s work?”

Leon heard you shifting closer to his side.

Voigt swallowed. “I… I am aware.”

“And yet you are still hesitating.” There was a small pause, and when Wesker spoke again, his voice had taken on a more low and sympathetic tone, “I understand that you’ve only taken the lives of the people directly responsible for your mother’s death, but I must say, I’m a little disappointed. I see myself in you, Evan, but I guess I was wrong to assume you would do anything for your project.”

Voigt was visibly hurt by this—he seemed a lot younger all of a sudden, like a little boy in trouble as he was actively trying to make himself smaller in every way, as if Wesker was standing right in front of him. “What are you saying, Mr. Wesker? What— What should I… do?”

“You won’t have to do anything; I have already sent something that will help.” All the color drained from Voigt’s face at those words. “I’ll leave it up to you what to do next, it’s your project, after all. I’d just hate to see it all go to waste.” A little sound implied that Wesker had ended the call, and Voigt deflated even more.

This was direct confirmation that Wesker was more involved in Erebos’ development than Voigt had wanted to admit.

Leon wasn’t sure whether Wesker’s words would have their intended effect, but there was a lot more pressure on Voigt now. The whole conversation had been humiliating and humbling and he was clearly upset by it.

“This isn’t Wesker’s project,” you spoke up suddenly, voice firm yet gentle. “You should have the final say. He’s trying to influence your decisions, Evan!”

Voigt’s frown deepened, his gaze downcast and unseeing as it fixated on nothing in particular. Before your words could even hope to reach him, there was an alert coming from Voigt’s computer, and when the man himself didn’t react more than flinch, Leon quickly went over to have a look. The alert came from Voigt’s security cameras, detecting an intruding presence that wasn’t part of his system.

Was this the ‘help’ that Wesker had sent? Leon’s mouth went dry as he wondered just what Wesker categorized as help, though he already had a small inkling. He didn’t like this inkling at all. He quickly went to retrieve his gun he’d dropped earlier, checking how many bullets it had left.

There was a strange sound coming from outside the room, then a clatter and… the sound of claws scratching across the floor and walls. The hair on Leon’s arms and neck stood on end—It wasn’t a licker, was it? No, it sounded smaller… But it was coming from—

“sh*t.” Leon looked up, pointing his gun towards the same spot. “It’s in the vents.”

You looked up too. “This room has vents?”

As if on cue, the vent burst open, the lid falling off and clattering to the ground dramatically. There was ball of black fur on the vent lid, a cat, bigger than a basket ball, and as it moved it focused glowing green eyes onto Leon.

“Are glowing eyes a new trend in the bioweapon community?” you whispered nervously, forcing your voice to sound light, yet it was tight with anxiety.

“I wouldn’t know, they don’t seem to like me very much.”

The longer Leon stared at the thing, the less it looked like a cat. It’s fur was too spiky, the eyes too uncanny, the ears too long, the claws too large, its mouth too wide and the tail was moving in all the wrong ways. It made a weird noise at the back of its throat, an eerie combination of clicking and hissing, both of which sounded entirely unnatural. Its eyes never strayed from Leon, which could not mean anything good.

“Evan,” you whisper-hissed, “what the f*ck is that thing?!”

Leon dared to glance over to the other man, who had gone a lot more pale all of a sudden. “I— I don’t know. It looks like one of Mr. Wesker’s cats, but…”

Despite everything, Leon couldn’t help asking, “Wesker has cats?”

“Six,” Voigt confirmed numbly, and Leon’s eyebrows went up. “I gave him the first one while he was recovering from the Vulcano Incident. He grew really fond of it and decided to adopt more. Which is why this doesn’t make any sense—he wouldn’t do this to them!”

The hissing furball suddenly shuddered, then twitched, and then there were two.

“It can divide itself into more?!” You sounded horrified.

And then both furballs lunged at Leon with the speed of a licker and just as much lethality, maws wide open with too many sharp teeth to count. His training and muscle memory kicked in and he threw himself back while aiming, shooting both furballs mid-air before he could hit the ground.

Ever since Leon first had to shoot a zombie, he’d learned rather quickly that the head was their only weak spot. Shooting them in the heart did nothing—they didn’t need any of their other organs to function. This seemed to be a theme for most monsters Leon had faced over the years; there were some exceptions, of course, but even a tyrant, whose most obvious weakness was its exposed heart, could not recover from its brain being destroyed.

So when Leon shot those weird cat creatures in the head point-blank and nothing happened, that awful, cold feeling of dread started to claw at Leon’s insides.

The impact of the bullets threw them off course, making them fall to the ground close to his feet. But that was all—no visible damage to the body, no blood, no reaction that indicated they were even in pain.

“Leon!” You were by his side immediately, grabbing him by the arms and pulling him away from the creatures until he got to his feet. Damn, his back hurt already.

The furballs were already up again too, shaking out their spiky fur before lunging again. Leon shot one, then froze when he saw the other impaled by your tail. It was still moving as if trying to break free, but it was stuck—the sharp tip of your tail had gone all the way through.

“Eugh!” you exclaimed, disgusted. The furball was dripping inky black blood, and then its entire body just melted and dripped to the floor with a disgusting squelching sound. Every dark spot on the ground moved towards each other, forming into one big blob of black mass which then took on its former appearance once more.

You backed away slowly. “What the f*ck.”

Leon started to back away too. “You can say that again.”

The other furball screeched, and Leon turned his head to look at it, just in time to see it parting into two again. Could it do this indefinitely? Was there even a way to harm it if it was just weird sentient goo?

“Watch out!” He blinked and you were in front of him, catching a furball mid-air with your hand before throwing it to the other side of the room where it slammed against the wall with a wet splat. The creature that had previously been impaled by your tail split into two as well, and then three snarling furry monsters were attacking you all at once. No, not you; they were jumping towards Leon, but you stood in their way.

Terrified, Leon fired several shots, but the little f*ckers dodged most of them, and the ones that hit didn’t deter them in the slightest.

“Don’t you,” you grabbed one by the tail, hurling it around like a weapon and hitting another, “f*cking,” you slammed the one you were holding to the floor, then raised your foot and stomped on its head, which exploded into a puddle of inky goo, “touch him!”

All of the furballs split apart at the same time—now there were eight, and all of their glowing green eyes were staring at the both of you. At some point during all of this, Voigt had disappeared. Leon wondered whether he’d used this opportunity to escape.

Leon wanted to tell you to get out of here, now, but before he could open his mouth, you already beat him to it; “Stay back, I got this!”

And he didn’t have a choice anyway, because all eight furballs started moving at once, screeching and hissing as they attacked from different angles. Bullets seemed to do jack sh*t to them, but Leon used every opportunity to shoot them in the head anyway until he ran out, the dreaded click of an empty magazine making his stomach drop.

As he started to run through his options, he watched, wide-eyed, as you caught the little f*ckers before they could even put a scratch on either of you, gripping them so tightly their inky blood started to dribble all over your hands. As you kicked one away like a professional soccer player, another slipped past you and jumped right at Leon’s face. He quickly reached up with both hands to catch it and guard himself, but then it stopped right in front of his nose and got pulled in the opposite direction—you’d managed to catch it by its long tail before ripping it in half with your bare hands, stabbing another with your tail while you weren’t even looking.

Leon stared at you as you kept fighting all eight of them off by yourself, noticing how you weren’t even breaking a sweat. You looked pissed off, but also focused, the expression on your face similar to when you were really in the zone while gaming or reading.

And with a start, Leon realized that you could handle yourself. You didn’t need protecting.

In fact, somewhere along the way the roles had reversed, and now Leon was the one being protected.

He stared and watched, mesmerized by how quickly and fluidly you moved, how strong your punches and kicks were, how easily you tore these things to shreds with your claw-like nails—

“They just—” You grunted, kicking two furballs in one go. “They just won’t stop!”

Leon blinked, then shook his head to focus.

You were right, and it was making Leon anxious—just how much longer could you keep this up? What could Leon do to help you? What if these creatures would divide again and again until they would have to fight off hundreds of them?

“¡Oye!”

Leon’s anxious thoughts screeched to a halt at that familiar voice and he turned his head, and so did you and all the creatures. There stood Luis, together with Voigt. Both of them were carrying different, heavy looking things, and Leon prayed to whoever was listening that whatever it was, it would get rid of this beast.

“Luis!” you called, relief palpable.

Even from this distance, Leon could see Luis wink, and he couldn’t help but fondly roll his eyes.

Voigt called your name to catch your attention. “Think you can throw them all in here?” He heaved the thing he was carrying to his front and set it down—it was some sort of big box, and Leon’s arms and back ached from the mere thought of carrying it.

You blinked, visibly surprised at Voigt’s sudden willingness to help and work together with Luis. “I can, but they’re not gonna stay put,” you replied.

“It’s some sort of liquid thing, no?” Luis said. “Try squishing them all together, maybe they’ll combine!”

You opened your mouth to retort, but then paused and thought about it. “You know what, that sounds so terrible it just might work.”

While Voigt and Luis set everything up, Leon got to work and started taunting the little beasts to get their attention once again. He went back to using his knife—he did have more bullets, but they didn’t seem to do anything and he didn’t want to accidentally shoot you. Knives were faster anyway.

The furballs didn’t seem interested in the newcomers and just kept trying to attack Leon, which was a bit strange, but at least Luis would be safe this way.

You kept up the same pace and tactic as before, now also trying to somehow squish the gooey things back together into one entity, but they just scratched and bit your hands until you had to drop them.

“I have a stupid idea,” you said. “I don’t know if it’s a good one.”

“Worth a try,” Leon encouraged.

“Don’t laugh if it doesn’t work,” you warned him.

If he weren’t fighting off a snarling cat-monster snapping its jaws at him right now, Leon would give you an offended look. “Babe, I’d never.”

You sighed, and Leon couldn’t tell whether it was fond or exasperated. And then you impaled every gooey creature one by one with your tail, all of them stuck together like a f*cked up BBQ skewer. You shuddered—apparently the feeling of them melting and dripping all over your tail wasn’t pleasant.

“Quick, over here!” Luis called from the other side of the room, waving you over.

The melting furballs started merging, glowing eyes and open maws melting into each other and disappearing slowly with distorted, blood chilling meowing, garbled by its own dripping body mass. You stiffly hurried over to where Voigt and Luis were waiting with the open box and Leon followed, keeping a watchful eye on your tail.

The black goo started to slowly slide downwards, towards the tip of your tail, tendrils growing out of itself as if it was reaching out towards the ground.

As soon as you came close, Voigt reached out and buried his hands inside the gooey mass to pull it off your tail, the dangerous growling and yowling coming from it making him squirm, yet he kept a tight grip and a brave face.

“Joder, it’s so slimy.” Luis’ nose wrinkled in disgust as he watched. Only now did Leon notice the big canister next to him, which was connected to the box via tube, and the box was actually a big, sturdy looking case.

Voigt shoved the goo into the case—thankfully, it all wanted to stay together now so that not even a single drop was left on you, him, or the floor. He quickly closed the lid as it started to screech at him, thrashing around.

“Now!”

The Spaniard quickly turned the valve on the canister and there was a quiet hissing sound as whatever was in there got poured into the case. A bit of what looked like cold mist leaked out from the connection points, and Leon finally realized what it was.

“Liquid nitrogen?”

“Sí,” Luis nodded. “It probably won’t kill it, but it should freeze it completely.”

You shuddered and shook out your tail as best as you could, even though there was no goo left on it anymore. “I f*cking hope so. That creature would be an absolute pain in the ass if it ever got loose in public.”

Leon hesitantly reached out towards you, his chest filling with warmth when you immediately stepped closer towards him until you could lean into his side. He rubbed your arms comfortingly, relieved you were still in one piece. The cuts and bitemarks on your skin were already healed, and he felt himself relax some more.

“Why did it only attack Leon, by the way?” you asked, once the creature inside the box had fallen completely silent. “Like, it only attacked me because I was in the way, and it kind of ignored you guys too…”

Voigt looked thoughtful. “I suppose Wesker must have trained it somehow, or he found some other way to control it. Kennedy was the biggest threat here, so they were supposed to get rid of him first. At least that’s my theory.”

“And since when are you two working together?” You pointed first at Luis, then at Voigt, which prompted them to glance at each other for a short, uncomfortable moment.

“We had a little talk while you and Sancho were occupied,” Luis said.

Before he could explain further, Voigt interrupted him, “He gave me something to think about. Besides, we had bigger problems to deal with.”

Giving Leon a quick squeeze before stepping away, you crossed your arms. “So, what happens now?”

All eyes were on Voigt, who visibly tensed. He looked at his smartwatch, then sighed and pressed a button before standing up, picking up the big case by its handle and pulling out the tube that connected it to the canister. “While I need to rethink the choices I’ve made thus far, whether to continue Erebos and work together with Mr. Wesker, I don’t intend on doing so in prison. Nor do I intend on working for the government, even if that would get me pardoned.”

Leon frowned, his hand reaching towards his holster, before remembering that he hadn’t reloaded his gun yet. “Meaning…?”

Voigt smiled sympathetically. “I’m afraid this is goodbye.”

╰┈➤

All your hair stood on end, and then the door that Luis and Hana had gone through earlier burst open.

What now?!

That same dead woman from earlier was standing in the doorway, her pale eyes flicking to Luis, then you, then Leon. The red light inside her pupils glowed brighter as her stance changed from stiffly upright to balanced and ready to throw down. Her arms opened up with a mechanical click, synthetic panels sliding to the side so her mantis blades could fold out.

You threw a withering, warning glare towards Evan. “Don’t you dare—”

His expression didn’t change, smile almost apologetic. And then he broke into a sprint towards the exit, faster than any normal human. You were moving to go after him, but Hana intercepted you, blocking the path and slicing a blade across your chest. You barely stopped in time for the sharp edge to miss you by half an inch. Trying to sidestep her didn’t work, and Evan was already out of sight. You let out a frustrated noise, accepting that you had to get rid of Hana (or, well, her corpse) if you ever wanted to get out of here at all.

Her head twitched, eyelids fluttering, and then— “Restrictions overwritten. Use of lethal force permitted.”

“sh*t—” You could barely register the corpses’ words before it swung at you again, this time faster and more precise than before. It cut through your shirt, slicing a red line along your stomach. It healed almost immediately, but Hana didn’t give you time to process what was happening. You stumbled backwards to dodge its attacks, hoping Leon and Luis were out of the way.

Had Evan remotely permitted Hana to kill all of you? Or was this Wesker guy interfering again somehow?

A shot echoed through the room, and it must have hit something because Hana flinched and staggered slightly, giving you a second to breathe. Luis was holding the handgun that he’d shown to you earlier, aiming it at her head. Leon was done reloading his own gun and did the same.

Hana whirled around to face them. “Priority target selected.”

She lunged at Leon.

f*ck.

Both men shot at her, Leon moving out of the way to dodge her attacks and keep distance between himself and her. The shots hit, but her skull must have been enhanced in some way to make it sturdier and keep the brain safe, or whatever was left in there. You could faintly hear some dull thud echoing whenever a bullet hit her head, as if it was hitting metal or something similar.

You ran towards Hana and jumped on her back, hoping to throw off her aim and balance—you didn’t know what else to do.

The corpse staggered some more, gripping your arms and trying to throw you off by violently moving its upper body around. It stumbled backwards into a wall, making your breath hitch, then deliberately threw itself backwards several times to crash you against it. The air got completely knocked out of your lungs, your head was spinning and your back ached, but you tried to tighten your grip.

You’re pretty sure you heard the wall crack.

A few shots were fired and Hana fell to her knees—apparently, the shots were aimed at her legs this time. Exhausted and dizzy, you tumbled to the ground next to her. Hana’s wide, empty eyes stared at you for a very long second, then her head shot up and her eyes locked onto something else.

“Self-repair completed.”

She was on her feet quicker than you could blink and you struggled to follow, apparently slowly reaching your limit, even with Erebos’ enhancements.

Hana took a few more shots to the head as she charged at Leon once again, staggered a little, her blade barely missing Leon’s throat, instead lodging it deeply into Leon’s right thigh, making him cry out.

The sound made your blood run cold, then hot.

Hana pulled her mantis blade out of his leg and Leon fell to the ground, dropping his gun as he clutched his wound, face contorting in pain. Luis called his name in a panic, firing several more shots, then ran out of bullets and threw his gun instead.

Before Hana could move another dead muscle, you were on her. The force with which you’d thrown yourself at her threw the both of you to the ground a few feet away from Leon, and you faintly registered Luis running over to help him.

You sat on Hana’s back and gripped her hair, pulling her head back, then slamming it forward and into the floor. Then you did it again, and again, and again, and again. Then something gave and there was a loud, sickening CRACK, and Hana’s entire body went limp.

For a short moment, you felt a sense of satisfaction flow through you. Then your stomach lurched violently, the sight of her cracked open skull and limp body underneath you, the smell of blood and decay and whatever liquid was pumping through her undead body to keep it fresh sinking in, and you hurriedly crawled off her to empty your stomach further away.

Heaving and trembling, you eventually wiped the sleeve of your shirt over your mouth. This was necessary, you tried too soothe yourself, breathing in deeply, then slowly back out. She nearly killed Leon. She was already dead, and now she can finally rest for good.

You nearly choked on your own spit. “sh*t.” Leon!

You pushed yourself up, tripping over your own shaking feet as you hurried to Leon’s side. Luis had guided him to lean against the wall, carefully assessing the wound while Leon did his best to hold still and breathe.

You kneeled down next to him, gingerly taking his hand into yours. He gripped onto you immediately, his palm sweaty and fingers trembling.

“He’ll be okay,” Luis said. “The blade missed the main artery. From what I can tell, it only cut through muscle, and not all the way through either.”

A bit of tension left your shoulders at that. Leon will be okay.

“We gotta get out of here and call an ambulance,” you decided.

“You go first, I’ll have a quick look around the lab.” Luis got up and went over to the examination table, going through Evan’s tools before throwing a roll of gauze over to you. “Put that on him to stem the bleeding!”

Your hands were trembling, making the whole process more difficult and slower than you’d like, biting your lip in guilt whenever Leon flinched or sucked in a hissing breath through his teeth.

“What are you looking for, exactly?” you asked the Spaniard, trying to calm your nerves.

“Anything regarding his research.” You glanced towards him, seeing him accessing Evan’s many computers. “Mierda, it’s all password protected. Just go, I’ll figure something out!”

You hesitated, not wanting to leave Luis behind, but Leon really needed medical attention. “Fine, okay. But don’t be too long, alright?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve been in much scarier places than this,” he reassured you with a smile full of false bravado, yet his words were genuine.

When you turned back to Leon, he was already looking at you, blinking slowly as his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. “I dropped my gun somewhere…”

“Right.” You’d nearly completely forgotten. After handing it back to him, he clicked the safety on and carefully put it back into the holster.

You contemplated your options for a moment, then let out a breath. “I’ll carry you,” you said. “Are you ready?”

He frowned. “I’m heavy.”

You rolled your eyes, albeit fond. “Duh, you’re a fully grown healthy man with biceps nearly as big as my head.” And strong thighs that could easily crush my skull. Eugh, too soon. You gave him a small smile, “Trust me, okay? I won’t drop you.”

He didn’t look fully convinced, his frown deepening with worry, but he didn’t physically stop you when you put your arm behind his knees and the other around his back. Taking in a deep breath and praying, for once, that Erebos won’t fail you, you pushed yourself up.

Leon’s body left the floor as you lifted him, his arms quickly wrapping around your neck with a pained gasp.

You were carrying him.

You were carrying your big, strong boyfriend.

Bridal style.

Your arms were aching a little, and so was your lower back, but it wasn’t as bad as you’d expected. “You’re not that heavy.”

Leon stared at you with his big blue eyes in something like wonder, lips parted in surprise. His face looked a little flushed, and you hoped it wasn’t a fever.

“Luis, we’re leaving!” you called.

“I’ll be there in five minutes!” he called back

You watched him searching through Evan’s desk for a moment, then reluctantly turned to leave. You wondered whether the security guards would still be walking around. That would be the icing on today’s horrendous cake.

As you cautiously walked through the dim corridors, straining your ears to listen to any footsteps, breathing or movements, you eventually concluded that they must have left the building at some point. You didn’t know why Evan would send them away—maybe he just didn’t think he’d need them anymore, or maybe he didn’t actually want to keep you locked in here. Maybe he just wanted to buy himself more time to escape, but wouldn’t the guards have kept you busy even longer? Maybe he was worried they’d get hurt?

You shook your head—no use wondering about all that.

“I wanted to ask earlier,” Leon suddenly spoke up, voice rough and quiet. “Where did you get that jacket?”

You looked down at yourself—you’d honestly completely forgotten all about it. Thankfully, it seemed to have gotten out of the whole ordeal unharmed.

“I may or may not have gotten it from your ex.”

Leon gaped at you. “Ada had my jacket this whole time?!”

You snorted, then laughed. “No, no. Apparently, she got it from a merchant who was also in Valdelobos back then. Ring any bell?”

Leon sighed, smiling slightly as he leaned his head against your collarbone, his hair tickling your skin. “It does. Unbelievable. When and why did she give it to you?”

You hummed. “I don’t know how she knew, but she contacted Luis to help us find you. When we met, she gave me your jacket, said it was some sort of peace offering.”

Leon was quiet for a second, then let out a slow breath. “That’s Ada for you.”

A small part in your heart stung with jealousy, but you took a deep breath and pushed it away—there was no need to feel that way, and now really wasn’t a good time anyway.

“She works in mysterious ways, huh?” you joked distractedly as you looked around, hoping you were even going the right way.

“Always,” Leon sighed, tone clearly exasperated yet also reluctantly fond. He shifted a little, then audibly winced. “Are you okay? I can try walking—”

“Don’t you even think about it, Kennedy,” you interrupted him. “You’re not walking a single step with that wound, got it? I’m perfectly fine.”

Finally, you could see the room with the elevator, praying that nothing happened to make it stop working. This place probably had emergency stairs somewhere, and while you absolutely would carry Leon to the top of Mount Everest if you had to, you would rather use the elevator while you had the option.

There was a low rumble when you pressed the button, indicating it was going down—Evan must have used it to get out.

With nothing else left to do other than wait, you adjusted your grip and leaned your back against a wall. You glanced down at Leon, gently squeezing him. “You okay?”

He moved his head back to look up at you—his eyes were tired and his jaw slightly clenched from the pain, but you already knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth. “I’m fine. I’ve had worse than this.” His gaze softened. “It could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for you. You did really great back there.”

His genuine tone and warm smile made your cheeks flush and heart clench with affection, but you bit your lip and shook your head. “I— I could have done better, I was hesitating too much—”

“No, I mean it,” Leon interrupted gently. “Thank you. Seriously.”

You couldn’t help but smile, albeit a little wobbly.

Then you cleared your throat, looking away from his eyes. “By the way, did you know that I’m not actually contagious?”

Leon was silent for a long moment, and your face grew even hotter as you waited for some form of response.

His arm that was wrapped around your front shifted, and then his hand was on your jaw, not pulling or pressing, just holding it and letting his thumb run over your skin until you looked at him again.

He was smiling. Well, it was more of a smirk, really.

“That’s really good to know.”

You closed your eyes as you met him halfway, not wanting to put too much strain on him while he was injured. His lips were slightly chapped but still soft, and a wave of relief and love washed over and through you, prompting you to let out a sigh. Leon tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss further, his hand wandering to cup the side of your head, his fingers lightly touching your ear.

There was a ding as the elevator arrived, and you reluctantly pulled back, adjusting your grip on him once more. Leon’s smirk was still there, though it had softened considerably.

“Gracias a Dios, I thought I’d never find it.” You looked up to see Luis quickly walking towards you both, shaking his head.

“There you are,” you breathed, relieved. “Got lost too, huh?”

“We were lost?” Leon asked, which you skillfully ignored.

“Ehh, I wouldn’t quite call it that,” Luis denied, moving his hand as if to wave away your words. “Just a little… overwhelmed.”

You nodded. “You were lost.”

“I was lost,” he sighed.

Leon snorted. “Not anymore. Let’s get the f*ck out of here already.”

Right. The elevator.

“So, did you find anything?” you asked as the elevator doors closed and the lift started moving.

Luis scrunched up his nose in dissatisfaction. “Not much. He must have triggered something to remotely wipe all data from his computers. Even if I took the hardware with me, it wouldn’t do anything. I took pictures of some documents I found lying around, but most of them are more like diary entries to track his research progress without any important details.”

You gave him a sympathetic look. “That sucks.”

“Assuming the whole place doesn’t blow up once we leave,” Leon piped in, “I’m sure Hunnigan will send a team to sweep the entire area and recover anything of use.”

He nudged Luis’ arm with his shoe. “Besides,” he continued, suddenly smug, “I retrieved two Erebos samples earlier. I’m guessing you want one, right, amigo?”

Luis gaped at him. “¿Qué? Of course I want one! How on earth did you—”

Leon snorted gently and fished around in one of his pockets, pulling out a little vial.

Luis took it with careful hands, looking at it as if it were liquid gold. “Muchas gracias, Leon. With this, I could potentially figure something out.” He nodded towards your tail.

“You’re welcome,” Leon said, still looking very pleased with himself.

You couldn’t help it and pressed a loud kiss to Leon’s forehead. “You’re so cool and reliable.”

Leon cleared his throat, his ears looking a little red. “I try.”

“But really, how did you get your hands on that?”

“Uhh…”

Once you were outside, Leon’s phone suddenly blew up with notifications. He grimaced as he pulled it out of his pocket, meeting your eyes and mouthing ‘It’s Hunnigan’ as if she could hear him somehow. The phone call that followed consisted mostly of Leon apologizing, reassuring Hunnigan that he was fine, grunting and humming along as he obediently listened to her lengthy lecture, and then summarized what happened.

“She already sent a helicopter our way,” he said once the call ended. “Complete with a med team and all. You both good with flying?”

You and Luis looked at each other.

“Ehh,” he said, shifting nervously. “Totally fine. Wouldn’t leave your side after all this.”

“Yeah, same here. Totally fine.” Totally not afraid of heights or anything.

Leon looked between you both, then huffed out a laugh. “You guys don’t have to come along. I’ll be fine—”

“No!” You both said in unison. Again, you and Luis stared at each other, then promptly burst out laughing.

“No, no, you’re not getting rid of us that easy, Sancho,” Luis insisted after calming down.

You were about to heartily agree, but then a thought struck you, making your stomach twist with unease. “I just hope they won’t mind my tail.”

Leon squeezed you gently. “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

The helicopter arrived soon after, and you felt better once Leon was lying down and cared for by actual professionals. His pants were, tragically, a lost cause now. But his leg wasn’t, and that was about some of the best news you’d gotten all day. He would make a full recovery in about a month if he rested appropriately, maybe a bit longer. He’d definitely have to use crutches for a while to move around.

The helicopter was bigger than you’d expected, with enough space to carry the med team, you, Leon and Luis. While two people were treating Leon’s wound, Luis sat down next to you, clutching onto his seat so hard his knuckles turned white, making you realize you’d been subconsciously doing the same.

“The things I do for this guy,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” you agreed.

Still, you wouldn’t have it any other way, especially not after everything that had just happened. It was clear that Luis felt the same.

You bit your lip. There was still something you wanted to ask, but you weren’t sure whether it would make Luis uncomfortable. Scratch that, it would definitely make him uncomfortable. But—

“You want to know about me and Evan, correct?”

You gaped at him, then guiltily closed your mouth.

Luis just shrugged, “It’s only to be expected.” He let out a heavy sigh. “It’s in the past. We met years after what transpired in Spain; he was interested in biology and somehow knew about some of my work and me being a biologist. I was happy to help. We were similar in a lot of ways, but Evan could be pretty… intense. After he opened up to me about his past, I knew I had to tell him about mine.”

You frowned. “What did he tell you?”

Luis shifted uncomfortably. “It’s not really my place to say, but… Because of something two ex-Umbrella employees did, the village he grew up in turned into a nightmare. He only survived because his mother, who was also infected, told him to run away and get help. I think she just didn’t want her son to see her suffer anymore.” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, after hearing all that, it was clear to me that he deserved to know about my past actions. I was… scared, of course. So I waited a few days, then a few weeks, until I finally realized there was no such thing as ‘the right moment.’ Before I could tell him, however, he’d already found out, and he… Let’s just say he didn’t take it well. Things ended on a pretty bad note, and I haven’t heard from him since. Until today, that is.”

Jesus Christ.

You didn’t really know what to say to that. “I’m… so sorry, Luis.” You hesitantly reached out and gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. God, you were bad at this.

Remembering Evan’s notes you’d found before Hana first showed up, you asked, “So… When we were in that room with all the documents, did you not recognize his handwriting at all?”

Luis moved his head from side to side in an uncertain way. “I mean, it looked really familiar, but it’s been a few years since we parted ways and I really didn’t expect Evan of all people to be behind all this. Although…” He looked at you with gray, guilty eyes. “After seeing all those notes about people from Umbrella, I did get a really bad feeling. I just… didn’t want to think about it at the moment.”

You nodded. “I think I understand. It’s okay.”

The back of your neck tingled uncomfortably and you looked up, noticing some people glancing at your tail and whispering to each other. You put your foot over it and pulled it closer to you, but it was already too late.

f*ck, you thought, heart pounding. They’re gonna lock me away for sure. Once the government finds out, they’ll force me into a lab for testing. Maybe they’ll train me to become a super agent or something.

“It’ll be okay,” Luis whispered to you, apparently noticing the stares as well. “Trust Leon to handle it.”

You couldn't help but lean into him slightly, seeking comfort. Luis hesitated for a second, then wrapped his arm around you. It hadn’t been long since you first met, but this whole adventure had made you become more attached to him than you’d expected.

“Like I said,” he continued quietly, rubbing your arm comfortingly, “I used to work for Umbrella, then later for Los Illuminados. I have done unforgivable things and should be considered a criminal. I was a criminal, but Leon got me pardoned. If it weren’t for him and Ashley, I’d either be dead or locked away somewhere. What I mean is; if I get to walk free, so will you. Okay?”

You didn’t know how it would be possible, but you were exhausted, and you really just wanted to believe in a happy ending. So you let out a long breath, then nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Luis.”

“Anytime.”

You put your head on his shoulder, chuckling quietly when he let out a small, surprised noise before ultimately shifting into a more comfortable position. Leon was looking over at you both with a tired smile, gaze incredibly fond, which you returned.

Hours later after the sun had gone down, you were finally back home.

After you’d all eaten the rest of Leon’s pasta, Leon, using his new crutches, immediately went for the bathroom to wash off any remaining sweat, dirt and blood. When Luis started packing his things and dragged them towards your front door, you tiredly stopped him.

“You can sleep on the couch,” you said.

“I wouldn’t want to impose—”

You shook your head with a smile and gently took his suitcase from him. “You’re not. I’d feel better if you stayed.”

Luis fell asleep while waiting for his turn to use the bathroom. You woke him, then placed a blanket and a bigger pillow on the couch for him to use while he showered.

Leon was already in bed by the time you’d finished washing yourself, but when you carefully lifted the blanket to lie down next to him, his arm immediately wrapped around your waist to pull you closer. His soft lips pressed against the corner of your mouth and when you turned your head to meet him fully, his kisses turned hot and needy despite his obvious exhaustion. His lips parted and you immediately did the same to let his tongue enter your mouth, feeling a bolt of arousal shoot through your body despite everything.

After a little while, you pulled back to catch your breath, putting a finger against his lips when he chased after you. He blinked slowly, then moved away with a sheepish grimace. “I’m sorry.”

You shook your head. “No, it’s— It’s okay. I’m just a bit overwhelmed, is all.”

Leon untangled himself from you to lie on his back, rubbing a hand across his face. You mourned the loss of his touch and warmth, but you were also glad to have some breathing room.

“Sorry to ask, but, um…” You hesitated, then huffed out a little laugh—it was funny how you and Leon had been intimate several times now and yet you’d still get embarrassed about some things. Once you pulled yourself together, you met Leon’s patient and mildly intrigued gaze. “What exactly got you so horny all of a sudden?”

His lips pulled into a short, surprised grin, the words apparently having the same effect on him as they had on you. Then he looked up at the ceiling, frowning as he mulled them over. “It’s been building ever since we had that talk after Luis took those samples from you. I just really wished I could comfort you somehow and make you feel better, because words just don’t cut it sometimes. And then, when I saw you fight Voigt and those weird, slimy furballs… The way you carried me so easily…” Leon bit his lip and closed his eyes, then quickly cleared his throat and guiltily met your gaze. “I’m not gonna lie, sweetheart. That was really hot.”

“Oh.”

“Mh-hmm.”

You stared at each other for a long moment. Even in the dark (though you probably had your newly acquired nocturnal vision to thank for), you could see the desire in Leon’s eyes, his pupils blown wide. If the blanket wasn’t covering the lower half of his body…

But he wasn’t pushing you. He never did.

He was waiting for you to make the first move, to take the lead, and you knew that whatever you’d decide on, he would be okay with it.

His words and gaze alone had been enough to make your insides feel hot and your breathing to pick up speed alongside your heart, but…

“Luis is sleeping in the living room,” you whispered regrettably. “Plus, we literally just took a shower. Not to mention your injury and that we just went through some pretty traumatic events. I think I need a little time to process it all.”

Leon nodded. “You’re right.” He visibly hesitated for a moment, then slowly moved one of his hands closer to you. Smiling, you put your own hand on top of his, letting him hold onto it.

You thought it over for another moment. “But…” Looking up, you met his gaze once more. “If I feel better tomorrow, then maybe…”

“You don’t need to force yourself because of me,” Leon murmured.

You shook your head. “I’m not. I… Look, it’s not like I don’t want to. I just… I don’t think I can right now. But if we’re still in the mood tomorrow and I feel better by then, maybe then we could, you know…”

His lips pulled into a warm smile, eyes crinkling at the corners while his hand gently squeezed yours. “Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart. We go at your pace.”

Some weight you weren’t even aware of lifted from your chest. “Cool. I mean, okay, yeah. Thanks, Leon.”

He shifted closer and you immediately opened your arms for him. One arm wrapped around your stomach, the other went somewhere underneath the pillow while Leon put his head on your chest and one of his legs went over yours. He loved to be held like this the most, and honestly, you loved it too—that way, you could play with his hair. It made you feel more protective of him, yet at the same time, you also felt protected.

“Don’t thank me; that’s just common decency.”

“Not for everyone,” you sighed. “But let’s not go there right now.”

He hummed in sympathetic agreement. His thumb drew comforting circles into your ribs, making your muscles go lax.

Leon fell asleep five minutes later; his gentle breathing and occasional snore was like a lullaby to you at this point, helping you in joining his dream not long after.

╰┈➤

As someone who loved watching movies in his freetime, something Leon couldn’t help but notice was how some movies with a happy ending often failed to show the aftermath.

The ‘happily ever after’ would not forever and always be perfect, horror victims would need years of therapy with no guarantee for a full recovery, and just because Godzilla defeated the more problematic kaiju, the damages caused by the fight would take years to repair and many people would have lost their loved ones—not to mention the lasting trauma, both physical and mental.

Thankfully, this time it wasn’t a city-wide disaster, but even a private matter would leave its footprints.

Dr. Adrien Anguis Aurelius Barnaby (holy sh*t) would have to face the consequences for his involvement, though the fact that he’d been blackmailed and threatened and only acted to protect his family would most likely reduce his sentence. Leon had mixed feelings about the doctor, but for the most part he felt empathy. Besides, he was still young and deserved a chance to do better.

In the meantime, Leon would have to get accustomed to using crutches—wouldn’t be the first time.

It was nearly noon and you were still deeply asleep, so he did his best to quietly slip out of bed, limping away and into the living room to look for Luis and make himself a cup of coffee. Leon tried to avoid too much caffeine; it only made his anxiety worse. But sometimes he just couldn’t resist, sometimes he just really needed one.

Luis apparently had the same idea, already drinking from a steaming cup while looking out your kitchen window. He was wearing a different pair of pants and shirt than yesterday, meaning he must have brought a change of clothes. Luis must have expected to stay for a few days to help you with your problem, even bringing a gun—Leon’s heart warmed a little in appreciation at that.

“Good morning,” Luis greeted him with a smile—it didn’t fully reach his eyes, but Leon couldn’t blame him. “Sleep well?”

Leon set his crutches aside to lean them against the kitchen counter, shifting his weight a little to keep the strain from his wounded thigh, then selected a cup for himself—you had a bit of a collection, some exclusively for you, some just for Leon. “More or less,” he shrugged. “You?”

Luis nodded, the sun highlighting his gray eyes and wavy hair. “The couch here is way more comfortable than mine.” He hesitated a moment, then asked, “How are they?”

Waiting for the electric kettle to finish heating the water, Leon turned to lean against the counter, now properly facing the other man. “They’re still asleep—I didn’t wanna wake them. It might take a while to recover from all that’s happened and to cope with the fact that they might have to live with Erebos for the rest of their life. But they’re strong.”

Luis regarded him with a small smile. “With you by their side, I think they could survive anything.”

Leon didn’t know what to say in reply to that. Of course, he would be there for you for as long as you wanted him to, but a small part of him still couldn’t help but wonder if having him in your life was truly for the best. If you’d never met, would Erebos still have found its way to you anyway? Did Leon’s presence attract bad luck? Was he actually protecting you, or making things worse?

The electric kettle shut off with a click, effectively stopping Leon’s train of thought and reminding him that it wouldn’t do him any good to get stuck in a negative loophole, especially not so shortly after getting out of bed.

With a fresh, steaming cup of coffee in hand, Leon carefully limped over to your kitchen table to join Luis, slowly lowering himself into one of the chairs.

He cleared his throat. “I wanted to thank you for all your help. I’m also glad you were with them yesterday.”

Luis made a small sound and shifted in his seat, perhaps not used to such direct gratitude. “No need to thank me. You told me to watch out for them, right? Besides, I couldn’t just stay here. Maybe I was… a little worried.”

The corner of Leon’s mouth curled upwards. “Worried? About me?”

Avoiding his eyes and visibly embarrassed, Luis waved his free hand around. “You heard me!”

Chuckling, Leon took a sip, closing his eyes in bliss at the taste, warmth and smell filling his senses. They sat in comfortable silence for a long moment, gazing out the window and gradually emptying their cups.

Leon set his down with a sense of finality. “I’m gonna do the dishes.”

Luis stopped him before he could even fully rise. “Allow me, amigo. You should give your wound some more time to heal.” With a wink, he added, “Doctor’s orders.”

The retort was stuck on his tongue when Leon noticed you joining the kitchen, still in your pajamas and wearing your favorite fluffy bathrobe for extra comfort and warmth, tail dragging after you in a lazy manner. “What’re you guys talking about?”

Once again, Luis beat him to it. “I just offered to do the dishes so our hero could rest his leg.”

To Leon’s dismay, you said, “That’s really thoughtful of you, I’ll help.”

Overruled and defeated, Leon sank back into his seat with a sigh.

About three hours later, Luis stood by the door and said his goodbyes, promising to keep you and Leon updated on his Erebos research. When you pulled him into a surprisingly strong hug with Luis awkwardly patting your back, he looked over your shoulder to shoot Leon a questioning glance.

Leon just smiled in response, and as soon as you let go of the Spaniard, he immediately pulled him into another hug, making Luis stutter out weak protests.

He left slightly red-faced and out of breath, but grinning from ear to ear.