Chapter Text
Leon coughed violently, shaking off the cloud of ash and dust that covered his clothes and face. It took a minute, but he finally managed to take in a ragged breath that didn’t draw more dust into his lungs, and his breathing gradually calmed down. He winced when he tried to move, quickly finding a new stabbing pain in his side. A deep, aching hurt flared up when he went to move his leg, and he growled to no one in particular before trying to keep it still again. Maybe it was best he just didn’t move, since the whole world felt like it was spinning anyway.
The sky he stared up at was pitch black, but he could see the glow of fires lighting up the base of smoke columns not far off. He himself appeared to be sprawled out over a pile of rubble between a concrete barricade and the remains of a pickup truck. His brows furrowed as he closed his eyes, trying to make the world hold still. Someone would find him, one of his team. Ada had to have seen the explosion. She would be here soon, he told himself.
A distant, deep, inhuman groan echoed through the smoke, snatching him out of his contemplation. The sound of metal screeching against concrete as something big was slid across it cut through the night. He laid his head back down on the rubble, and a new thought began repeating in his mind.
Please hurry.
A few hours earlier
The camo-clad soldier watched the man sitting across from him with a curious eye.
“Shouldn’t you be… I dunno… checking your gear? Getting ready? Is that what you’re wearing to raid a possible B.O.W. lab?”
Leon lowered the top of his newspaper just enough to stare at the armored-up rookie, both of them jostling as the truck they rode in went over a bump.
“Crosswords keep your brain sharp. And… yes. This is what I’m wearing.” He crossed his leg a little higher over his knee and went back to writing the answer to 12 across.
The soldier glanced at his leather jacket and jeans, then back at the dark brunette bangs he could see from over the newspaper.
“You’ve got body armor under there, right?”
Leon sighed heavily and flattened out the newspaper to look at the soldier. He pulled the collar of his jacket down just enough to show the strap of what looked like a bullet-proof vest. The soldier nodded awkwardly.
“Right…sorry. Couldn’t tell…” He cleared his throat and checked the straps on his own armor, which was significantly thicker… and safer looking. “I’m just new to this kind of mission, I’m used to clean-up.”
The leather-jacket clad DSO agent hmphed quietly and set his newspaper aside, rubbing at the stubble along his jaw.
“Gotcha… I just do a lot of close-quarters work, I need to be able to move a lot. It’s actually more cut protection than bullet protection,” he finally explained, setting aside his snark as well for a few moments. “This is about my five-hundredth rodeo, so don’t worry about me too much.”
The soldier nodded in understanding before tilting his head.
“You’re… Agent Kennedy, aren’t you?” He smirked when Leon nodded. “That explains it… I’ve only heard of you, but I guess I really shouldn’t worry about you going out there with just a vest and a gun. Not after China and New York.”
Leon huffed and got a half-smile. “Yeah, I guess I have a reputation. You just worry about yourself and your team, and maybe we’ll catch us some bioterrorists today.”
The solder smiled and nodded before settling back into his seat, resting his rifle across his lap.
“Will do, Mr. Kennedy.”
The truck continued its rocking and bouncing until it finally slowed down to enter through a gate. Up ahead, a sprawling complex spread across the otherwise empty landscape. It looked like it could be a water treatment plant, or maybe some kind of factory. Warehouses were surrounded by huge tanks and silos, with work vehicles parked around. It was a bit hard to see just how big it was, as the sun was just sinking over the horizon, and the outdoor lights only illuminated the entrances and walkways of the complex.
Leon, staring out the back windows of the truck, seemed to suddenly smile for no reason. The soldier furrowed his brows, unsure what was going on, until the DSO agent touched his earpiece.
“Well of course, I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting. Are you in place? Good.”
The truck rolled to a halt, and they both stood up, along with the other few soldiers towards the back, before they started filing out. Leon turned to address the group once they were on the ground, a combination of his group and more soldiers from a second truck. It was only now that he re-checked his ammo and gun while he spoke.
“Alright. Remember, this is an evidence search. Employees should be mostly cleared out if they’re not up to anything, but be ready to make contact with the after-hours staff, and always be ready for hostiles. Keep your eyes peeled for anything that doesn’t look like they’re engineering a better corn crop in there. It’s just us and my contact inside the complex, the lady in red, who you probably won’t see. If we find the right evidence, we get the go ahead to clean the place out. Got it?”
The soldiers all voiced their agreement, and the group began to move in.
The complex would take a good while to search with the relatively small group Leon had been issued. Even when they split up, they only had enough manpower to search two buildings at once. Leon knew this, but even so, the sheer number of places to search started to look daunting. He touched the earpiece again.
“Ada, found anything useful yet?”
“Not anything interesting. The records I’ve found look like they’re on the up-and-up, just food product modification. Well, as up-and-up as that can be, I mean.” He heard the sound of her grappling hook whirring over the speaker. “What concerns me more is that I haven’t seen any staff members… not even a security guard.”
“Huh… we haven’t seen any either. I expected a night janitor or two at least—”
“BSAA! Freeze!”
Leon looked up to find the soldiers with the first staff member they’d seen all night in the beam of their flashlights. Her lab coat indicated she might be a scientist as she held her hands up. Her red hair was pulled into a loose bun, and she had a pleading look on her freckled face.
“Listen to me! You need to leave!”
“Hands behind your head!”
“No, listen! I don’t know what they’re going to do if they know you’re here, but they’re coming!”
The soldiers moved forward to restrain the woman, but she began sprinting deeper into the complex. Ada’s voice came over the earpiece.
“Leon, what’s going on?”
“I think something’s up but I don’t know yet. We found a woman saying they know we were coming, but she’s telling us to get out…”
“Hold that thought, something is happening out here. There’s a big door opening, looks like it has a ramp that leads underground, out here by the parking lot, north side. Oh, is that your woman running towards it? Redhead?”
Leon pulled his hands from the earpiece and began barking new orders.
“All groups converge on the north parking lot, we’re looking for a big door that leads underground! Move!”
Another voice crackled over the radio of the soldiers. It was Hunnigan this time.
“Satellite shows a big vehicle headed into the complex from the south side. You’re about to have company.”
Leon bristled, pausing to think.
“Ada, can you get eyes on the vehicle—”
“I’m up on a tower, give me a minute.”
He didn’t like this, not one bit. The groups continued their run for the north lot, but he could already see the doors closing from too far off for them to get inside after the mystery scientist. In the distance, he could hear the growl of the vehicle’s engines growing louder.
“Adaaa any time now…”