Chapter Text
Leon wandered alone on the street, feeling helplessness wash over him. He had been chasing leads on the WP incident for days now, and each time he felt like he was getting closer to an answer it would slip through his grasp. He was used to handling pressure and being thrown into unknown scenarios but this seemed to be a never ending cycle of frustration. The exhaust from the mission combined with the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere was taking its toll, no matter how many times Leon had experienced the same thing before.
Walking down the deserted alley, Leon saw a bar with welcoming warm lights. The low-profile entrance to the bar was not easily seen by passersby, just what he wanted to wire down. He wanted a drink. He deserved a drink after all that.
As soon as he opened the door to the bar, warmth and hushed conversations reached him. There was a simple door bell to announce his presence. It was a typical old American tavern, some music playing quietly in the background as people chatted and minded their own business.
The room wasn't overly crowded, so Leon looked around quickly before taking a seat near the exit that offered a good view of the bar. The bartender came over and Leon ordered the drink he'd been longing for.
Leon's attention wandered aimlessly while he drank his first three shots. Just then, a man from a booth at the other side of the room stood up and shouted. "You will regret this." Suddenly, Leon was fixated on the woman in that same booth. He thought he was hallucinating.
The moment he walked into the bar, he should have noticed her: the black hair, porcelain-like skin and slim frame were undeniably Ada Wong. He had only had three shots - not nearly enough to cause a hallucination. But here she was; the acquaintance who haunted him for years, sitting in front of him elegantly and smiling by herself as if time had never passed.
He rose to his feet before he knew what he was doing. As the man walked past him to the exit, their eyes met. The man didn't seem to be anyone that showed up in his files. Leon smiled innocently, then the man disappeared behind the door, and Leon sat down as Ada finished off her glass of wine.
"Trouble in paradise?" Leon asked as Ada caught a glimpse of her watch.
Ada's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose as she silently studied him from his head to his toes. Her previously tightened lips softened into a relaxed smile, and she slowly set down her empty glass of wine. "What a nice surprise." Ada signaled the bartender to have the same drink as Leon and added. "Someone is in trouble all right, but definitely not me."
“Because he couldn't get a satisfactory answer from you? Should I be pleased or concerned?" Leon scanned Ada's face, trying to glean her inner thoughts. She met his gaze without flinching and her relaxed posture indicated she was unbothered by his insinuations. She knew Leon wasn't interested in the identity of the furious man, he just wanted to know if there would be another outbreak in some part of the globe.
She edged closer to him and he could smell the alluring perfume radiating from her, more captivating than the drink he held in his hand. Leon felt his heart beat faster. "That's enough talk for nobody. You looked... exhausted. Are you the one having trouble in paradise?"
The word she had originally planned to use was "lost", but she decided to give him a break as she saw the purplish bags under his eyes.
It did not seem to him that Ada was the type who did exchange pleasantries. He must have looked terrible. He took his hand off the table along with the glass, resting them on his lap. He leaned against the back of the booth and said. “That obvious, huh? "His voice wavered. He paused, a heavy silence pressing down, before speaking again. "It's never been paradise.”
Leon averted his gaze. Ada thanked the bartender for serving them and picked up her empty wine glass before shaking her whiskey in its own glass. She stared into the golden liquid before saying empathically, “It sounds like there are some complications in your investigation.”
His eyebrow raised in surprise as he detected hints in her words; it became apparent that Ada knew about the situation at hand. It dawned to him that it was not a coincidence that she hanged around here. "It's clear someone anticipated we would be here," he said, "they wiped out the server and stole a hard drive, and left us a corpse."
Ada shoved her own whiskey glass toward him and grabbed Leon's glass. Leon caught on what she was doing at the first second, yet he let go of his drink and let her get what she wanted.
"Don't you think you're sharing a bit too much?" Ada asked after taking a swift sip with her lips barely touching the glass.
Ada drank from his glass so that it wouldn’t be easy for him to get her prints from it. Apparently, She did not trust him.
"Wouldn't you say what you just did is a bit hurtful?" Leon asked, despite his lack of apparent sadness. It was more like a protest than an accusation.
"It's just a habit, don't take it personally. Or you prefer I leave my mark somewhere else?" Ada smiled as she clinked their glasses together.
"Sure. Are you trying to flirt the way out of the painful fact that you don't trust me?" Leon took a sip from the whiskey she offered. He could not help but smile a little when the thought of her marking things slipped through his mind.
"Always look before you leap, Leon. Look before you leap." She set down the glass and shook her head. "I don't trust you. And you shouldn't either."
He looked to her gloved hands and stated matter-of-factly. "So, You weren't surprised when I told you the drive was wiped. And there was a body."
Ada shrugged nonchalantly. "I have no idea what you are talking about." She replied.
Leon offered her his drinks and gestured to the bartender for two more drinks. "I'm pretty sure that the lab results I'll get tomorrow will show someone wearing leather gloves wiping down the server right before I came in. Did you kill the senator, too?"
“I don’t know anything about it but I don’t like to complicate things.” Ada stated as she slowly raised the glass to her lips and took a sip.
Leon corrected. "So you just wiped the server."
Leon watches as Ada's smiling face transforms into one of amusement, her lips turning up in a smirk, her eyes brightening in delight.
Leon's initial shock at Ada's laughter was quickly replaced with confusion as he watched a smirk spread across her face, her eyes twinkling with what seemed to be both amusement and adoration. Ada’s laughter filled the air, a light, musical sound that echoed in the air. He felt like there was a warm, cozy campfire in his chest, and the light from that fire chased all the weariness away.
"You should feel lucky that I have a soft spot for sweet boys like you, Leon. You are too clever and obstinate for your own good." Ada looked at her watch once again. Her play was over.
"What're you doing?" Leon asked as he observed her placing down several bills on the table; an amount which would cover their drinks and leave a generous tip. Ada would never admit she found his calm agent side and confusing rookie side both adorable.
"Same old Leon, always asking questions knowing full well I won't answer them." she said amusingly as she reached out to his shoulder and rested her hand near the nape of his neck. He felt his attention slipping and had to try hard on focusing on the face right in front of him. His eyes stared as the red lips moved.
"A bribe for the chivalrous cute officer to stay out of the trouble." She explained as she leaned forward and planted a small kiss at the corner of his lips. His eyes widened and his pupils nearly consumed the blue hue in his irises. In response, his arm instinctively wrapped around her waist while his head slightly tilted in hopes of capturing her lips with his own, but Ada was quicker; she pulled away and laughed as she saw his vaguely disgruntled expression - reminiscent of a child not getting their craving sweets.
Ada expected her face did have certain effects on him when in proximity, actually, she practiced to have these effects on her targets, but it still pleased and terrified her to see how little effort it took her to distract him.
He scowled at her amusement, “What?” he paused. "The trouble?" Leon had no idea what Ada was implying.
"If they see you, they'll have to die." She further explained.
These words served enough weight to snap Leon out of the state he was in. He grasped the situation quickly, then asked: "Should I be worried?"
Ada pulled away from him and stood up and finished off the drink he had given her. "Don't worry, they'll be fine." She noticed his eyes lingering on her purse and she could hear him wondering if it could fit a gun inside. She added. "I'm serious, Leon. Stay away from this mess."
Before Leon could respond or decide what to do, someone opened the entrance door and triggered the bell. Ada didn't even try to catch a glimpse of his reaction—she went straight for the entrance as though he wasn't there at all.
"I thought you'd never come back. Took you long enough."