Chapter Text
Emerging from the hallway, you see (finally, some light!) a row of empty jail cells- with one glaring exception. There’s a man pacing back and forth in one of them- with cracked, faded gray walls and a singular swinging lightbulb. He looks anxious, anticipatory, clutching at his ID-card. Leon looks at you, skeptical. You shrug and make it down the hallway, and he follows. At the sound of your footsteps, the man whips his head around and grabs the iron bars of the cell.
“Hello? Over here!” Mystery man shouts at your silhouettes, violently shaking the bars.
The sound of footsteps echo as you rush over to him, and the man looks at the both of you with an odd mix of desperation and surprise.
He says, as you grasp at the lock of the gate, “I don’t believe it. Real humans.”
You begin to ask, “How-” when he cuts you off, “Listen, are we the last ones alive?”
Um, rude, much?
Leon replies this time, “No, no, there's a bunch of us officers out there. And a few people too.”
A pause.
“That's good, good. Unless of course, Irons sent you.”
At the mention of Irons, you and Leon share an acute look.
He asks, “Chief Irons? Is he still around?”
Mystery man replies, “Who the fuck cares, hopefully he’s someones dinner by now.”
Leon starts to continue, probably to explain the situation to mystery man, but you sharply tug at his sleeve- a sign for him to shut up. He complies. You can’t risk giving out free information on Irons, not when only you guys know of the corruption/umbrella/ ‘security’ crap. You then ask, “What does that mean?” wanting to squeeze some information out of him.
“He's the bastard that locked me in here!” He replies.
Oh. That could mean anything, right? You needed to know if this was related to the whole Umbrella situation. Leon understands and suggests, “I'm sure he had a good reason.”
This angers the man. His hands curl up into balls, “He did, yeah-” he replies in a razor-sharp tone, “-because
I
was about to blow the whistle on his dirty ass! Of course you think I deserve to be in here!”
Ah. Your suspicion has been confirmed. He’s technically on your side. Wanting to know exactly who he is, your eyes land on the ID-card slinging around his neck. You squint and oh, wait. It's… not an ID-card. It’s the parking garage keycard!
You point at the card, finger outstretched.
“What do you have there?” Your tone is noticeably laced with desperation, betraying your firm expression. Leons eyes widen.
The man looks down at the card, then slowly back at you, eyebrows raised. Slyly, he replies, “The keycard. Your only way out of here, isn't it?” He feigns being deep in thought, then continues with a menacing smile. “Hm… I’ll make you a deal. Get me out of here and I'll give you the card. But only you. That kiss-ass there can go fuck himself.” He says, pointing to Leon.
“Wh- Excuse me?” You say, startled by his animosity toward Leon. Leon looks mildly irked, crossing his arms. Your sight lingers on him for a moment before you turn to the Mystery Man.
“Yeah, he works under ol’ Irons. Who’s to say his…
influence…
hasn't spread to his subordinates?”
A pause.
You reply, albeit reluctantly, “There's no need to be an asshole. Hand over the card, and we’ll see what we can do to let you out.” You don’t want to deal with him, but unfortunately he has the pass.
“No negotiations. When I'm out, the card's yours.”
You groan in frustration.
He continues without a pause, “Also, do you know that sexy FBI lady? Her ass just left me to rot in here! Now you either let me out or we die in here together.”
“Uh, no FBI woman, but we’ll try to get you out! For that, we-” you gesture at yourself and Leon “- need to find a way out of here!” You try to bargain. The FBI woman is a problem for later.
“No goddamn way. First find me a way out. Then I’ll see.”
“Just hand it over.” Leon adds.
“ Get. Me. Out. ” He frustratingly insists.
“There’s no need to be-”
“Enough!” You hiss, the sharp roar of your voice echoing through the halls. Both of them, startled, look at you expectedly.
You should let Mystery Man out, actually, given that he has information on Irons. You could just lockpick the lock- it’s embarrassing that it took you so long to realize- -but there's no guarantee that he’ll not just escape without giving you the card.
“So, are you gonna let me out or what? Like I said, I’m practically your only chance at surviving…” He taps his foot impatiently, arms crossed with a look of superiority that makes you want to slap it off his face.
“At this rate, I’m starting to doubt whether I should give you the card or not… The FBI chick did promise to let me out, after all. Just a matter of time…” He idly muses, following it up with humming some odd children’s rhyme.
He gives himself too much credit.
You’ve had enough. There's only one possible solution (that you’re partial to).
In a swift movement, you pull out your gun.
You can see Leon is hesitant about this, but he doesn’t stop you. It seems he’s just as frustrated as you are. Steadily, you aim the muzzle at the man's head with a hand, and you stretch the other out.
Oh, he really thought you’d just let him out?
Momentarily, you enjoy the pure, unadulterated fear visible on his face. The look passes on, but he takes a few steps back. You keep the gun trained on him.
“ Hand. It. Over. ” You say, mocking his earlier tone.
His face morphs into one of amusement, and oh, he has the audacity to
smile
roguishly at you.
“Listen little woman, it doesn't take a genius to know you’ll not shoot if you've been hanging around
goody-two-shoes
here-”
Oh, that- that’s it.
You switch the safety off with a smooth click, and he flinches, stopping mid sentence. You aim at the wall behind him, promptly step forward and pull the trigger. The bullet whizzing mere inches beside his forehead, you see the terror in his eyes. As your forearm jerks backward to recoil, you hear the man shout in panic, almost like it was in slow motion.
The bullet embeds into the wall and he whimpers an “Okay! Okay!” as he practically throws the card off his neck toward you.
Satisfied, you lower your gun. That was way more fun than it should've been- something tells you that that should scare you.
“Don't test me.” You add, for exaggerated effect. Picking up the keycard from the floor, you grin at Leon. He mirrors your grin with as much zeal.
“Thanks, you miserable cunt.” You say. You do feel a little bad, so you set your bag down and get your lockpick set out. Kneeling, you get to work on the flimsy locking system of the cell. In no time, the door lets out a sharp ‘click’ and the gate swings open.
The man stares at you, calmer now. “Wh- you couldn’t have done that earlier, you crazy woman?”
“Didn't think of it.” You answer nonchalantly, partly the truth.
Mystery man hesitantly looks around for a moment, like he’s got something to say.
“Well?” You question.
Sheepishly, he says, “Uh, the name’s Ben. Thanks for letting me out.” He turns to Leon and rather reluctantly, he continues, “Sorry for earlier. That was, uh, uncalled for.”
Leon just stands there for a second, amused. Then, “It's alright. If you want to help out, we have a bunch of officers investigating… things. Any information on Irons could be helpful to them.”
“Great offer, mate, but no. I've got that fine ass of an FBI chick waiting on me.” He draws out the ‘fine’ for emphasis. Eugh. He winks, then power walks away to god-knows-where.
That leaves you and Leon in a silence.
“Uhh…” You begin.
“No idea. FBI’s involved?” Leon says, sharing your confusion.
“Oh, who fucking cares. Let's just leave.” You answer in resignation, waving the keycard in hand.
Not five minutes later, Leon scans the keycard and it beeps loudly, the scanner emitting a green light. You share a high five and a triumphant grin with Leon. You check your watch,
4:37 AM, September 28th 1998
You’ve made it out of the precinct, finally.
Stepping outside, you take a deep breath of the fresh, foggy air.
There's an undertone of the metallic smell of blood to it, but hey. You're not one to complain- the parking lot smelt way worse. As you and Leon walk up the ramp leading outside, you take into account just how hungry you are. All that running around and the last thing you ate was yesterday evening- your stomach is churning and it occasionally sends shivers and goosebumps through your body. Unwilling to ignore it any longer, you tear into a pack of m&ms from your bag.
“Snack break, please.” You pleadingly say, and offer him some.
“Hey, I'm not stopping you. Thanks.” He replies, plopping a few into his mouth.
You remove your helmet because it would be inconvenient to eat with it on. The cool air feels pleasant and the sweat accumulating around your neck dries up slowly.
Deciding to take advantage of not wearing the helmet, you toss a yellow m&m into the air and it drops into your mouth. You chew, satisfied, and Leon stares.
“What?” You question.
“Do you have to eat it like a sea lion?” He asks and breaks into a smile.
You grin and proceed to poorly imitate the animal, “awoop, awoop, awoop!” as he glares at you in pure horror. You can’t help but laugh at that.
The two of you share m&ms as you stand at the top of the ramp, figuring out which way to go before you find a car.
You know your way to the main facility, but you need to go to NEST. Granted, your original plan was to go to the facility but you know it’ll be a waste of time. All the E-mails indicated direct involvement of NEST, and your keycard should work there like it did the last two times you were there.
The map from your car that you had stuffed into your bag comes to mind.
“Hold this.” You hand Leon the now-empty pack of m&ms and fish through your bag.
Finding the map, you unfold it and analyze the quickest way to NEST as you chew.
“It's not that far from here. About 20 to 30 minutes, I would say.” You supply.
A pause as he swallows. “On foot? That should be really near.” He says, confused.
“Are you fucking insane? Why would we walk there??” You ask. He’d seen you pick locks and he’s worrying about getting a car?
“How…?” he begins.
You feign a stern face. “Are you seriously doubting my abilities right now?”
He plays along, “Oh, absolutely not, how could I
ever
mistrust your
great and powerful
skill set?” He makes vague circular gestures with his hands towards you. You snort.
“Seriously though, dont worry about it.” You reassure him. You then spot an operational-looking car in the distance and point to it. “There, let's go.”
You crouch to avoid the zombies- there were a few littered here and there on the streets. You know better than to unnecessarily engage in fighting them. Soon, you've crossed the street and so resume walking normally, still alert. With Leon following close behind, you don't feel the need to constantly check behind you for zombies- which is such a boon. Getting to the car, you admire the light of the brightly lit shops reflecting off of it. It's a pretty, white car- much better than the one you had gotten earlier.
“Keep watch, will you? I’ll take a couple of minutes.” You ask Leon.
“Yeah, of course.” He complies, scanning the area.
You crouch onto your knees and pull out your trusty lockpicking set once again. Carefully, you crawl to near the keyhole and insert the pins in. You try to concentrate on the lock, but feral growls coming from nearby keep distracting you– the source of one sounds somewhere close. Whatever, once you're inside the car, all should be fine. The sudden noise of a gunshot, from Leon, throws you off-guard and causes you to lose your balance, stumbling sideways.
“Sorry-” Leon mutters as he shoots, “-there's a couple of them coming this way. No uh, no rush.”
Yeah, totally no pressure. Only that we might be eaten alive if you’re not fast enough.
You return your attention to the lock, and in a few moments it swiftly clicks open.
“You’ll drive?” You ask, back towards him as you unlock the door. Your last encounter with a car didn’t exactly go well. You hear the zombies go silent, then Leon turns to you.
“Yeah, yeah. Alright.” He says, hands on his hips and gun lowered. You pull open the door and scramble into the driver's seat, unsheathing your knife. Cracking open the cover from under the steering wheel, you get to work, Leon curiously observing. Identifying the three terminals you need to bypass the ignition, you start by cutting off the insulation at their ends and begin to short the alternating wires one by one. It’s a time-consuming process, sure, but a helpful one. You should probably have gloves for this, the rubber kind. Leon jolts alert as the both of you hear more growls from the alley. You fiddle with the wires for a while amidst the now-resumed sounds of gunshots, till the dashboard panel lights up. Viola! Again, you momentarily short a select wire and the engine hums to life- music to your ears.
As you step out of the car, Leon says, “I half-expected that to not work, to be honest.”
You circle around to the passenger's seat and throw him a grin. As soon as you unlock the door, Leon suddenly lets out a grunt, and you snap to attention. He calls out your name.
“Leon? What’s wron-” You fall silent upon hearing him hit the ground and struggle, immediately rushing to him. Finding him wrestling on the ground, you witness him desperately kicking a zombie pinned beneath the car, its grip tight around his leg. He tries to draw his gun.
“A little-
Jesus!
- a little help here?” he calls.
Your eyes widen as you drop to your knees to pull him out. It doesn't work, he's too heavy with all that equipment. You try to pull with more force, which puts immense pressure on your back and calves. It doesn't help so you hastily scramble back up.
“ Oh my- wait a fucking second, hold on, wait wait wait-” You say, running to the other side of the car. You crouch to lay down and draw your gun, aiming it at the head of the howling, thrashing zombie.
Focusing, you pull the trigger and hold steady as the recoil hits you. It screeches as a bullet penetrates it in the brain- dangerously close to Leon’s figure. An inch or two of inaccuracy would have led to a bullet in very unfortunate places. Amidst the gurgles, the flailing stops and Leon drags himself backward.
“You good?” You question, letting out a sharp breath. You offer him a hand and he takes it.
“Yeah uh... clean shot to the head, I owe you one.”
You taunt, “I was aiming for its hand.”
He freezes, and you snicker.
The worst decision you’ve taken today wasn't to stay in Raccoon City. It was actually to let Leon drive.
He, so far, has nearly crashed into: Two telephone poles, three walls, four property fences, a mailbox… the list goes on. All that and it’s barely been 10 minutes since you’ve started. Worse, he's decided to run over nearly every zombie he sees.
“WHO THE FUCK DECIDED TO GIVE YOU A DRIVERS LICENSE?” You yell, over the wails of the zombies under the tyres, hands violently gripping the dashboard.
“SORRY! DO YOU WANT ME TO SLOW DOWN?” He replies. Well, hollers.
“PLEASE!”
The car slows down, if only by a bit. A minute and a few zombies later, as you take a turn towards the outskirts, the long stretch of road ahead looks pretty empty. Nothing except abandoned stores, a dense fog and a few humans here and there. Oh, humans! There’s movement in the stores, too. It seems people are seeking refuge in this side of the city. You hope they stay safe. They should probably start evacuating though.
Leon drives in silence for a while as you appreciate the absence of zombies and focus on the sound of the tyres on the road. It’s comforting to know you’re safe- even if it’ll only last a short while. You rest your head on the glass, hugging your backpack to your chest. The rhythmic sound of the gravel and the hypnotizing sequence of the street lights make you want to sleep…
But it wouldn’t be fair to Leon, so you don’t.
You try to stay awake, to think of something, anything.
Your thoughts drift to him then, how he without hesitation decided to join you on this silly quest for closure. Or a cure- which seems unlikely, but there's no harm in hoping. He’s been nothing but helpful, and why he offered to come is a mystery to you. Well, either way, you're grateful for him. You’d probably be dead, actually, if he wouldn’t have come along.
He suddenly lets out a slow breath, as if he was tuning into your thoughts.
“You good?” You ask.
“Oh, I thought you were asleep. And yeah, just thinking…” He looks like he’s been caught off-guard. It was sort of endearing, really.
“...Thinking’s good. About what?” You turn to him. His eyes drift to the speedometer, then back onto the road.
“What made you, uh, want to go to Umbrella? I mean, I know that whole thing you saw made you doubt them- anyone would- but why take it upon yourself?” He speaks, with a gentle voice.
You’re not surprised at the question, but it was kind of unexpected. It was a question you didn’t know the answer to yourself.
“I, um, I don’t… know? I just felt that apart from me and my friend, no one else that would rat on Umbrella had experienced that
incident
. Now that I can’t find her, I feel like it’s my responsibility to do something about this.”
You shift in your seat, and continue, “I feel like it’s kinda my fault we didn’t tell anyone about it. And if
that
was what led to this whole outbreak, then it
would
be my fault. The entire outbreak. The lives of so many people because I was a coward. So I’m looking for a cure or the source or even anyone that could help undo the damage, I guess.”
A long pause. Maybe he’s starting to regret coming, realizing that you were the reason of so many lives wasted. Maybe he’s realizing that you’ve been a coward this entire time, not reporting to the police when you had the chance. Now that you think about it, the police wouldn’t have done anything due to their ties with Umbrella. It makes you feel a little better, but no less recreant. Still, you feel kind of embarrassed now that-
“You're kidding, right?” he starts, voice still soft. “You weren’t the one that made this… thing, this virus. You weren’t the one that spread it either. Nor did you help experiment on people for this, or whatever that company did. You didn’t ask to be caught up in this, then why on earth would you think it’s your fault?” He supplies, sharing glances between you and the road.
You’re surprised by his answer, and look away towards your window. Ugh, why did he have to look so sincere and- and heartfelt and trustworthy? (He also looks enticing but that's for another time.) You have a feeling he wasn't saying things just for the sake of saying them, he meant it. So it gets you thinking. You couldn’t have done anything in your power that could stop the infectant from spreading, really. Why blame yourself then? Fuck, he’s got a point. You look back.
“It seems you’re right, Leon. Nothing I could’ve done would ever have stopped them. Thank you.” You say, hands fidgeting with the seatbelt. He looks at you with an expression you can’t quite decipher, then smiles a little bit. You continue, smiling now too, “I’m still going to Umbrella though. Not getting rid of me that easy.”
“I’d be lost without you, to be honest. Probably would never have known Irons was corrupt, or that Umbrella was behind all this. Might've died to a zombie or that eyeball freak.” He lets out a small laugh as he speaks.
You elbow him in the ribs. “Sure you would.”
“Hey! I'm serious here.”
“Uh huh.” You roll your eyes. Then, you continue, “I- no, we - need to find out and stop whatever the fuck Umbrella is doing. As a team, yeah?”
“Of course, Captain .” He supplies. You snort.
You check your watch again, anxious now that you’re approaching Umbrella.
5:23 AM, September 28th 1998
“We’re almost there, right?” He asks. You recheck the map, and nod.
“Yeah, this road probably goes on for a while, we’re bordering the outskirts now. We gotta take the next… hm, no, the left turn after the next T-junction. Then I think we’ll be able to see the facility for NEST. I know my way after that.”
“Yeah, okay. How will we get in though? I don't think you can lockpick your way into a high-security buildi-”
You hold up your employee pass and wave it around. It jingles because of the attached keyring. “This’ll get us to the primary level. I think it’ll still work, my two weeks aren't up yet. Then we can
borrow
someone's high level keycards.”
He raises an eyebrow at ‘borrow’. Then, “What if someone asks what I’m doing there? They'll let you in, but I might be stopped, right?”
Good question. Uhh…
“We’ll tell them you’ve been sent by Irons. To check on the, um, just say samples or something. They might ask why I’m there too, so I think we can just tell them that I offered my assistance to guide you through. Lets just hope that not a lot of people are there.”
“Right. So we get there and do what, exactly?”
You sigh, looking out onto the vast road as Leon takes a left turn.
“We need to find a sample of whatever caused this. Probably a virus- that ‘G’ thing we read earlier. Even better- we directly find a vaccine for it. The high level researchers I knew spent a lot of time developing a vaccine for something, calling it the DEVIL vaccine. It was developed in NEST, and though they were top-secret or whatever, they often asked some of us for assistance. That’s how I know where it’s kept. That right there, that’s our best bet.”
He drives in silence, processing the information. Then he nods, “Got it. Is that the facility in the distance, there?”
You look over to where he’s pointing, and the bright red and white Umbrella logo shines amidst the fog. “Yeah.”
He continues driving and you grow more anxious by the second. As you approach the facility, you give Leon the directions for where to park. When you pull up to the entrance gate, you notice the huge gate has been left without a lock, and there's only one guard. The guards station lets out a periodic beeping sound as you flash your keycard to the man in it.
He seems surprised to see you there, but lets your car in anyway.
You instruct Leon to park on the ground floor instead of the basement, because you really don’t want to deal with more basements. The car slows to a stop and the both of you unbuckle your seatbelts. The parking lot is nearly empty, surrounded by a tall hedge and many plants, adjacent to the multi-storey facility building with a white exterior. As you step out of the car, you stretch a little, taking off your helmet and shoulder pads. You throw them onto the car seat and shut the door close, falling into step beside Leon.
Removing the helmet again feels like bliss, the wind brushing against your skin makes it feel cool and you feel slightly relaxed. You take a deep breath in, and the air no longer has that bloody smell.
“I’m glad you came with me. Thank you.” You speak with genuine sincerity.
“And I’m glad I came. Besides, I enjoy your company. Might've gone insane with Ford back in the precinct. ” He says with an earnest smile breaking out. “Now let's go get this vaccine.” He says, with that signature (damn near annoying) enthusiasm.
You try to recall as much as you can from your last visit to NEST, and look for the main entrance.
Locating it, you point, “There. Thats where we get in.” You turn to Leon, “Remember, you’ve been sent by Irons to check on the ‘samples’ and I’m guiding you through.”
“Got i- Wait, who’s that?”
“Who?” You whip your head back towards the glass doors immediately. A swift figure rushes to the entrance from the other side of the building, clad in all white with red splotches here and there (blood, presumably). You try to register their features, but they're facing away from you, unlocking the door. As the person runs inside, you notice the big, big gun they're wielding on their back, covered partly by long, pin-straight hair in a high ponytail.
You’d recognise that long, sleek black hair anywhere. The dark green dyed tips were a trademark, really.
It was Talika.