Chapter Text
Not for the first time, and she suspected not for the last, Claire was taken aback. Leon sounded the most scared she’d heard him be in years, likely since they were in Racoon City. Simple words pulled at those heartstrings, as she desperately tried to find where the words were coming from. From what she knew about Leon’s infection, he likely was somewhere high up. His eyesight wouldn’t be the best but his balance and his other senses, dangerously strong. She’d have to step quietly, too much noise and he would flee. Or maybe just maybe she should try to appeal to his human side.
“Leon!” She shouted! Her voice hoarse, and shaky. She’d never dealt with this before, every approach seemed like it would be the wrong way to go about it. Escaped BOWs were one thing, but Leon was still in there. His eyes most of the time has that kicked puppy dog expression that she knew from him. And he had enough training to essentially disappear if he wanted to. “Leon, please come down! We can help you! Just give us a chance!”
Claire heard a fast scurrying sound before turning around to see what had become of her former friend. It was the first time seeing him up close since she had heard the news. She grabbed his chin. It was a light touch and he simply melted into it. He needed this she told herself, damn the consequences for her, she needed to know that he was still somehow in there.
“I’m scared Claire.” Leon cried. “Please you need to speak to Sh-“ he finished his statement in a frustrated growl.
A gasp in the back of the room was a stark reminder to Claire that they weren’t alone. And that Claire needed to fake control of the situation, so that eventually Leon could be freed.
“I’ll do whatever you need, okay, please go back into the enclosure for now. It’s working. You’re getting better.”
“It hurts!” Leon cried. Back to shorter responses.
“What hurts?”
“The room!” Leon rubbed his eyes. “Too bright.”
“We can fix that!”
Claire managed to convince him to return to the enclosure. Feeling as if she was walking him to his doom, she closed the door. That enclosure wasn’t suitable for him: too bright, not human enough either, like it was built for some sort of animal. Maybe she could play office politics to get him in a better space. More like a bedroom than an enclosure. But for now it was far more important that he left alive. If he could recover then others might. This was revolutionary, bigger than her and bigger than Leon.
—————
“He can talk now.” Claire sat submissively in front of the boss. “That’s progress isn’t it?”
“You need to remember, what he is.” The higher up spoke apathetically. “If he was anyone else we’d have killed him by now.”
“Well he’s not and he’s been infected and recovered before! Why won’t you let him recover!”
“Claire stop being so naive!”
She paused. She expected to be belittled. But ‘naive’ she hadn’t heard that in a long time.
“Naive. I’m anything but naive. Leon isn’t going to hurt anyone he’s scared.”
“So he’s better. Makes a miraculous recovery. Claire he’s a bow.”
“And?”
“What do you think the government will do with this study?”
“What? That has nothing to do with anything.”
“Do you not think that if the government creates a super solider they can control they’ll keep it on the down low?” He sighed grabbing his temples and looking intensely into Claire’s eyes. “Do you think they’ll ever send Leon home with a monthly prescription for blockers and a cushy white picket fence life?”
“But it’s Leon! He’s survived so much he’s different.”
“They don’t care. I’ve seen the plans myself. Had the interviews. Leon cannot go back out there until it is far too expensive to make the C virus efficient.”
Claire let out a sigh of relief. At least she knew what was going on, that they didn’t just not care about him they were purposely trying to make his recovery appear stunted. Leon deserved to know too, he didn’t deserve all of the pain. It wasn’t like he was a bad guy, he was just in a shitty situation.
“He’s looking more human- we should tell him.”
“Not whilst there’s other organisations here.”
“But how are we going to get rid of them?”
“Leave that to me. Go provide comfort to your friend. And I mean this Claire with all my strength. LEON. KNOWS. NOTHING.”
Claire sighed then left the room. It was clear to her that she needed to tread carefully around this situation, she had refused to work in cover ups before but this was different. Leon knew about bio weapons, he knew that when he eventually hears about a colleagues death it won’t be because of some freak accident, they will have died because they were in a dangerous field.
Claire peered into the camera room, Leon was much calmer. She wondered if he had been drugged, he lay on the nest like bed they had designed for him when he was less lucid, watching the tv they had given him. Claire considered how ‘easy’ it was to keep Leon happy in the enclosure. He was likely very out of it but he wasn’t being destructive and nobody got hurt. Then she imagined a young soldier in Leon’s position, vulnerable not knowing if they’ll ever see their family again. That would be traumatic for them. Unfortunately, Leon was already traumatised. Tragedy seemed to be drawn to him like it could smell it out, the more Leon tried, the more people around him seemed to die in freak accidents. That must’ve been difficult for him.
Claire decided to visit Leon. Who recognised her and gave a shaky greeting. Claire looked at the tv to see what her friend was watching, it was a news broadcaster. It made sense he’d be trying to find out about outside the facility after all he’d been here months at this point. And they’d only recently been cleared to have breakable objects in his room. It’d be too expensive to replace items constantly.
Maybe that was the answer though, make Leon too expensive.