Chapter Text
Leon let out a deep breath, reaching into the compartment and pulling out the tiny vial. “The sample,” he murmured, raising it the light. “Well, that was easy.” He turned back towards the door, “Time to get back to Ada.” As he was about to exit the room, a voice from the speaker system blared out: “ Attention: unauthorized removal of a level-four virus detected. Facility lockdown initiated. Self-destruct sequence will begin when lockdown is complete .” It wasn’t far now… Just across the bridge, out the door... Ada was waiting for him! His body ached, bruised and scratched and beaten from all the events of the day, but it would finally be over now. And somehow thinking about seeing Ada again renewed his strength, filled him with hope.
Just as he was reaching the first doors, there was a shattering bang ! Leon spun around to see the ceiling above the bridge crumbling as a familiar, hulking figure fell through. The shining hope that was Ada Wong stayed brightly lit, but at the back of his mind as panic took hold of his racing heart once more and he reached for his gun. The creature’s muscles were pulsing, its huge yellow eye flicking towards Leon as it let out awful guttural sounds, turning towards the beaten rookie police officer.
“You again!” Leon gasped, brows drawing together in a determined frown as he raised his pistol towards the monster.
Before he could take a shot, the doors behind him wooshed open and a familiar voice called out: “Move! He’s mine!” Annette Birkin stumbled to Leon’s side, raising her own gun towards the creature. “This has to end!” She fired a shot, and Leon watched as liquid exploded overtop of the creature… acid? The monster flailed with a roar, swiping wildly at the air. Leon’s hands trembled as the creature took a step forward. But Annette didn’t seem afraid.
“What the hell’s going on?!” Leon snapped. The creature fell to its knees with a wail and Annette limped forward, raising her gun once more.
“Sorry, William,” she said, gritting her teeth, “You left me no choice.”
One more shot and the creature fell, in its death throes it let out one last desperate roar before dropping still. Leon rushed forward, gun still raised. He was confused and worried. How did Annette get here? Had she found Ada? The thought stabbed him in the heart with sudden fear. Annette had been set on killing the FBI agent… if Annette had hurt her…
And then there was this thing… Leon crouched in front of the monster. “You called this thing ‘William.’ Why?”
All the while the blaring alert about the removal of the virus was repeating over and over. Annette was shaking her head. “It shouldn’t have been like this.” Leon was quickly losing his patience. What kind of fucking answer— “It’s Umbrella’s fault—this whole mess.”
Leon narrowed his eyes, “You’re Umbrella too. You’re telling me you weren’t involved in this?”
“Yes, we’re with Umbrella,” Annette breathed, taking a pause, “But we never meant for this to happen!” Her voice rose with every word. Leon let out a sigh, rising to his feet, moving towards Annette. If she was being honest how could he deny her the chance to tell him what really happened? His thoughts momentarily drifted to the woman he had left behind in the safety of the cable car, but he brushed them aside. “Then tell me everything—right from the start.”
Annette leaned against the railing of the walkway, her knuckles turned white as her grip tightened on the metal. She told him how they had crafted the virus, how William Birkin had injected it into himself. His greatest creation… his life’s work … And Annette still placed the blame on Umbrella? Leon gritted his teeth.
“So you made this monster?!” He asked, gesturing behind him, toward where he knew the creature lay.
Annette sighed, “We made the G-Virus, but we never intended this to—”
“You can spin it any way you want!” Leon snapped, “You’re still responsible—”
The sound of the creature roaring caused Leon to jump away. Thick claws ripped through the air, and Birkin grabbed Annette, despite her raising her gun to shoot him once more. His enormous hand squeezed tight, muscles pulsing and glistening in the faint light of the circular room. Annette let out a scream as he crushed her ribs and then threw her with all his might against the wall near the automatic door.
God, could this day get any worse?!
Annette was stumbling to her feet, and she slammed her hand down on a button by the edge of the bridge, which immediately started descending with a loud bang.
“Hey!” Leon gasped, ducking under the monster’s arm as another limb sprouted from his back. The creature let out a roar, all four arms raised in the air; long, thick talons glistening in the pale light of the room. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“We can’t let him escape!” Annette choked.
Leon dove out of the way from another swipe and threw himself over the edge of the walkway, boots slamming down on solid ground below. Fine. I’ll take care of this. He yanked out his Lightning Hawk, clipping the magazine into place, and aiming as the bridge reached its final resting place in the floor of the lower room. “This is the last time,” he hissed.
He had no idea how right he’d be.
Leon fired his gun, the recoil throwing his arms back with each shot. But Birkin barely flinched, feet pounding against the tile—a very familiar and anxiety-inducing sound—and claws swung in at Leon from all angles. Another shot, and then another, all while backing up towards the wall, panic twisting his guts into knots. I have to get back to Ada… I… I have to finish this!
The swing of more talons, a deadly look in Birkin’s enormous glowing eye. Leon fired another shot into the thing, and it burst . Birkin let out a screeching wail, falling to his knees, his chest cavity opening grotesquely to reveal numerous eyes, blinking at Leon in the silence.
The rookie cop was panting, catching his breath. He raised the Lightning Hawk once more and fired straight into the chest full of eyeballs. Bursts of blood and slime splattered from each shot. One… two… three… and then Birkin once again rose to his full, hulking height, eyes glimmering with delight at this hunt. Leon dove under his swipe, rolling past him, running for cover across the room and spinning around to face the monster once more. There were splatters of blood and guts on his uniform and his face and in his hair, but he ignored them, slipping his magnum in its holster and ripping his shotgun from his back.
“Come on, you’ve done this twice before… twice! Aim for the eye…” His voice was hoarse, his forehead slick with sweat, and despite everything that he had experienced over the last few hours, his hands still trembled as Birkin’s pounding footsteps drew near. “Jesus…” he choked. Pull yourself together!
He fired as Birkin came around the corner, his eyes glowing in the darkness of the room. Another shot, and then another. The eye burst with another spray of blood and Leon reached for his magnum, but despite the maw on Birkin’s chest opening once more, the monster remained standing. He reached down as Leon fired the magnum at the bubbling eyeballs on his middle, and he ripped a huge metal tank free from the floor. Before Leon could even think to react the monster threw the metal straight for him. Leon tried to dive out of the way, but it was far too late. His first and final grievous mistake.
The metal slammed into him like he was being hit by a truck, straight into his chest, knocking him halfway across the room. He let out a yell of pain through his teeth, and then another as he slammed into the ground with a violent crack. He felt numb for a moment, and wondered if he was dead, the taste of blood in his mouth… he couldn’t move his legs.
Then he felt the pounding footsteps of Birkin once more, and the creature appeared above him. No. This is it. Leon raised the magnum with a shaking hand and fired two shots into Birkin’s chest before the monster reached down and gripped him with its giant hand.
Not like this! Not when I was so close! He thought of Ada, waiting for him in the rail car. How long would she wait? Would she ever really know what happened to him? Would she… worry? Would she miss him? The monster’s grip tightened, squeezing Leon until his lungs were empty and his ribs cracked . Leon let out a yell of rage, raising his weapon one last time and firing his final three rounds into Birkin’s chest. The monster let out a horrible roar and then threw Leon across the room with all his might.
Blood… he could… taste it in his mouth, feel it on his lips. His vision was blurred. Everything sounded like it was underwater. Birkin was… flailing. Somewhere just outside of Leon’s vision, he could hear ragged breathing and the sound of Annette’s voice, albeit distant and distorted.
“Goodbye, William .” Five ringing gunshots shattered the silence, and the Leon watched, unmoving, as the G-Virus monstrosity collapsed in a heap, blood and slime bursting from his middle as he fell.
It was quiet again, but the numbness that had spread through Leon’s whole body was turning into throbbing agony . The sound of Annette’s shuffling footsteps… and then she was at his side, fingers tracing over the numerous pockets of his tactical vest. He took in a shuddering breath, jagged pain stabbed at his ribs each time he wheezed for air. “H...hel…”
“I’m sorry,” Annette said, finding what she was looking for at last. “There’s nothing I can do for you.”
She raised the vial of G-Virus to the light, and then stumbled to her feet, groaning in pain. She clutched the little vial in her hand—evidence that Leon was supposed to retrieve—and threw it to the concrete floor, slamming her foot down on the precious glass. It shattered, and Leon closed his eyes tight. I’ve… failed… The world was spinning again, and he couldn’t keep it in focus… couldn’t… prevent darkness from seeping into his vision until consciousness faded away.
“Attention: Self-destruct sequence initiated. Use the central elevator to evacuate to the bottom-level train platform.” Leon blinked, his whole body was trembling, and as he woke the pain returned, coursing through him like every bone in his body had been broken. The room trembled, and he closed his eyes again. The disembodied voice repeating over and over again… “Attention… Attention… self-destruct sequence initiated…”
He could feel blood, slick under his fingertips. He wasn’t sure if it was Birkin’s or his own. His consciousness was fading again, the lights of the circular room blurring and then coming into focus and then blurring again. He tried to imagine a happier place, to forget about the pain that was throbbing through his whole body, a happier place… but he couldn’t see anything but blackness. Home. Think of… home. It seemed like home was less a place in his mind and more of a feeling, and he couldn’t catch it and hold onto it. Not in this state.
He was scared; he had never been so scared in all his life—like he was completely hollow, empty… alone . He could barely sort through his thoughts in all the pain he was in. What happens next …? Would he die before the count down ended, succumb to his broken body and what was most likely internal bleeding? Or would he make it to the self-destruction of the lab? What… would it feel like? Panic gripped him, tears blooming at the corners of his eyes, blurring his vision even more. So scared… His whole body trembling.
“Attention: Self-destruct sequence… ”
Above him, on the platform, he could hear something… the uneven limp of heels on metal. His slowing heartbeat picked up, if only for a moment. There was a beeping sound and a soft whoosh , and then he could hear the heels closer, and faster .
“Leon!”
Ada? Somehow her voice brought him immense relief, like a weight was being lifted from his heaving lungs. He wasn’t alone anymore.
“...evacuate to the bottom-level train platform.”
Leon’s vision was still blurry, but he could make out Ada’s face as she knelt beside him, her warm fingertips brushing against his cheek.
“Leon?” He screwed his eyes shut tight, dizziness making him feel sick to his stomach. “Can you hear me?!"