Chapter Text
Ich kann zu meiner Reisen
Nicht wählen mit der Zeit:
Muß selbst den Weg mir weisen
In dieser Dunkelheit.
—— Wilhelm Müller, Gute Nacht
(I cannot choose the time of my journeying:
I must find my own way in this darkness.)
‘Sherry Birkin.’
A woman’s voice suddenly comes through the blonde agent’s headset, almost making her jump. She is hunched over her workstation, trying everything she can to reconnect with Leon after losing him on the intercom a moment ago.
‘Why is my husband’s Porsche in Raccoon City?’
‘Ada?’ Sherry almost stutters once she realises who she is talking to. How did Ada manage to hack into the DSO’s highly secure system? And why did Leon not check to lose all his trackers before a mission? ‘I’m afraid that’s classified.’
The woman hums on the other side, clearly unsatisfied with her answer. She sounds… tired. Sherry knew that Ada also exhibited symptoms of Raccoon City Syndrome, and judging by how Leon looked, the Chinese woman is even more advanced into stage 2 than Leon. Sherry listens helplessly as a coughing fit takes over Ada, and winces when she hears the sound of her throwing up.
‘Is he in danger?’ Ada asks after recovering, her voice hoarse and raspy from her illness.
‘Like I said, I’m afraid I - ’
‘Sherry.’
Sherry looks around her office to make sure she’s in the clear, then, pulls her mic closer to her, and whispers, ‘Um, actually, I lost comm with him a moment ago.’
‘Send me his last coordinates.’
‘I can’t - ’
‘I’m not asking for permission, Birkin. I’m already on my way, and you can either make my life easier by telling me everything, or I will waste time looking for him myself.’
Sherry pauses at the older woman’s words. She knows once Ada makes up her mind she will not let anyone or anything get in her way. And Leon is MIA. She sighs.
‘I will send you everything.’
God. Leon will kill her for this.
‘You know, Sherry will kill me if she finds out I’m doing this.’ Jake says, speeding on the highway in his SUV with Ada Wong on the passenger seat.
‘She doesn’t need to know.’ Ada says flatly as she looks at the vast expansive landscape passing by outside her window. ‘You drive me to Raccoon City, then you turn back. You’ll be home before she notices you were gone.’ Suddenly she holds her mouth and coughs again, coughing like she is trying to throw up her lungs.
‘I don’t see how you can be of any help in this state.’ Jake comments, eyebrows furrowed, temporarily glancing sideways to observe her before turning his eyes back to the road. ‘No offense, but you can’t even drive.’
‘I have my methods.’ Ada wipes her mouth with some tissue. She crumbles the blood-stained papers into a ball and tosses it into the cup holder.
Jake watches as Ada pulls out something from her coat pocket, a vial of some sort, with something golden inside. He watches from the corner of his eyes as the woman opens the vial, crushes the thing inside, then attaches a needle to it and injects it into her neck. ‘What the fuck is that?’ Jakes blurts out.
‘A gift from an old friend.’ Ada tosses the vial into the cup holder, next to her bloody tissue papers, and leans back into her seat. Her eyes are closed, and there seems to be some things appearing and disappearing under her skin. ‘Ignore me and keep driving. We don’t have much time.’
For the rest of the car ride Jake can’t help but worry for the older woman, who seems to be silently holding in excruciating pain. Purple veins crawl under her skin, porcelain white and ashy grey. Her knuckles are white from holding onto the armrests, and all her muscles are under extreme strain, clearly visible through her black tactical suit. He puts his foot all the way down to throttle, letting the engine roar with reckless abandon. His mind wanders back to Edonia, where a woman who looked exactly like Ada kidnapped him and Sherry; back to China, where this woman saved him and Sherry; and back to his father, whom he only knew from classified files, who had a cocktail of viruses in his body.
Ada only opens her eyes after the car comes to a screeching stop at the gate of Raccoon City. ‘So, we’re here.’ Her eyes are now golden. She is less frail and sick and more like the Ada he knew from memory, except there is an even more mysterious tone to her voice. ‘Thanks for the ride.’
She moves to remove her seatbelt and opens the passenger side door. Jake follows suit.
‘I’m going with you.’ He says.
‘That is not in your job description.’ Ada frowns.
‘You didn’t give me a contract.’
Ada gets out of the car and closes the door rather carefully. ‘What about Sherry?’
‘She’ll understand.’ Jakes locks his car and double-checks all his gear. ‘I want to meet this guy who looks like my father.’
Ada observes him for a second, as if seeing through him. ‘Fine. Tag along.’ She turns to walk to the contamination gate, then stops and looks back at him. ‘But you need to promise me this: save yourself first, save Leon and that FBI agent if you can, and get the hell out of here.’
‘What about you?’ Jake goes to follow her.
‘Me?’ She laughs, rather bitterly. ‘I almost forgot I have another job for you.’ The purple veins under her skin ripples again. ‘After all this is over, eliminate me.’
‘What?’
‘I am living on borrowed time. Kill me before this parasite takes over.’ She turns back and strides toward the metal gate. ‘Welcome to Raccoon City.’
Jake takes a moment to digest everything he just heard. Then, he turns off his phone and intercom and follows Ada into the city.
‘They’ve made quite a scene.’ Ada observes as they walk through the ruins of Raccoon City. Bodies of infected people and deceased bioweapons litter the streets, a lot of them very recent deaths.
‘I thought the city was nuked almost 30 years ago. How did all these things survive that long?’
‘They wanted us to think this city was destroyed in 1998.’ Ada muses. ‘But it seems like experiments never stopped.’ Something stirs in one of the BSAA trucks. Jake immediately trains his gun on it, but Ada just walks right by it. ‘Don’t waste your bullet. We got places to be.’
‘Isn’t BSAA supposed to be the good guys?’ Jake almost has to run to catch up to Ada. That woman, despite her petite stature and her age, is fast as hell. He wonders if that’s due to whatever she injected herself.
‘Yeah. But you know how things go.’ They enter into a derelict building. ‘Once you become a part of the establishment you become the monster you once sought to destroy.’
Jake follows Ada as they navigate the city’s labyrinthine ruins, traversing through streets, alleys, and buildings. ‘You know this place well?’
‘Better than most.’
‘You were in Raccoon City during the outbreak.’
‘Oh, I was here long before that.’ Ada turns another corner. ‘Well, in the Arklays. The laboratories in the mountains. Ever heard of those?’
‘What were you doing there?’
‘You know. Undercover work and stuff like that. Nothing of much importance.’ They walk past what once looked like a classically-inspired monumental building. Ada temporarily stops and looks at the closed doors. ‘Now, this is a trip down memory lane.’
‘What is this?’
‘Raccoon City Police Department. Your father used to work here.’ She looks at the fallen spire, as if trying to engrave it into her memory. ‘I would show you around but we’re pressed for time.’
‘My father,’ Jake speaks up as they are on the move again, ‘sounds like you knew him well.’
‘You can call it that.’
‘Tell me about him.’
‘Haven’t Redfield told you enough?’
‘But you’ve worked for him, after he blew his cover.’
Ada shoots him a glance with her golden eyes, her face, now marred by the purple veins of the parasite, appears to be scowling at him. ‘I did.’ They have reached the crater now, and Ada descends down the slope gracefully without any care. ‘Wesker was quite the character.’
‘What was he like?’
‘Charismatic. Suffers from delusions of grandeur.’ Ada scoffs. ‘He acts like he’s the overman, better than anyone else, but he had his way of charming people. He saved me, multiple times.’
‘And yet..?’
‘I betrayed him, yes.’ Ada jumps a few feet and lands right at the bottom of the crate. Jake quickly follows suit, with considerably less style. ‘And he let me live.’ Her eyes quickly survey the area and find a discrete metal door. ‘We’re here. It’s not too late to turn back.’
Jack cocks his gun. ‘I’m seeing this through.’
‘Suit yourself.’
The door opens up to an extensive underground laboratory complex. All the securities are disabled already, and they go through with little resistance.
‘Never thought I’d set foot onto another Umbrella facility.’
‘First time for me.’
‘Consider yourself lucky.’ She looks at the dead bodies of some lickers in an adjacent hallway. Then she suddenly convulses and falls to lean onto a wall. Jake reaches to support her but she stops him. ‘I’m fine.’ She holds her head and tries to calm herself. Her skin now exhibits a purple undertone, and the veins dancing under her skin seem aching to be set free. ‘Luis didn’t mention any of this in his files.’ She swallows hard for a final time and stands up again, her body language more stiff and almost contorted. ‘Let’s go.’
As they approach a corridor, Ada suddenly stops.
‘What?’ Jake asks.
‘I can hear them.’ Ada says.
‘I didn’t hear a damn thing.’
‘Follow me.’ Ada breaks into a run. ‘And remember what you promised me.’
She turns corner after corner, and Jake struggles to keep up with her even when he’s running at his full strength. Then, she suddenly stops, turns, and puts a finger in front of her lips. Jake tries his best to calm his breathing. He hears it too, the deep voice of a man, and the stuttering voice of a woman. Silently they approach, hands on triggers. They turn to a golden corridor, the door wide open. Jake sees it now. Leon, a woman, and a tall man in a white suit and a black leather jacket. Then, gunshots.
Ada and Jake break into sprints as soon as the first gunshot rings out, echoing in the hollow space. Jake is shocked to see the man almost teleporting in space, dodging every single bullet without losing the jacket draped on his shoulders.
‘Looks like we have some visitors.’ The suited man says when Ada and Jake burst through the door arch, his long barrelled pistol pointing at Leon’s head.
‘Drop it, Zeno.’ Ada is pointing her gun at him, her voice cold as ice.
Leon takes the opportunity to elbow Zeno and the pair is locked into a fist fight. Jake hesitates to shoot but Ada empties a clip of bullets, some burying into Zeno’s body. The man throws Leon onto the ground. Then, with shock, they all watch as the man’s severed arm grows back in only a few seconds. Ada springs into action, lunging forward at the man in a beast-like fashion, the purple veins now protruding from underneath her skin, threatening to break free. Zeno is fast and stealthy, tactically dodging her attacks, sneaking in his own rebuttal whenever he finds an opening. Ada moves ruthlessly and recklessly. She doesn’t react when Zeno lands his attacks on her. She doesn’t stop when Zeno dodges. She doesn’t seem to notice Leon calling out her name.
The FBI woman runs to help Leon up as the fight unfolds. Jake steps forward to help her.
‘Leon, are you alright?’ The woman stutters, clear panic in her voice.
‘Jake Muller.’ Leon speaks without taking his eyes off of Ada. He has blood around his lips as he helplessly watches. Jake is certain if the man isn’t so gravely ill he would join the fight in a heartbeat. ‘What the hell are you two doing here.’
‘Long story.’ Jake says, aiming his gun at the fighting pair. It is virtually impossible to get a clear aim with the way the two are fighting. He doesn’t want to risk hitting Ada. ‘But we need to get you and Miss FBI out of here.’
‘No. You take Grace and go.’
‘I’m not leaving without you.’ The FBI woman stammers, holding Leon’s dropped gun in her hand. ‘He wants me, not you.’
Ada lets out a painful shriek as Zeno manages to put a bullet through her right shoulder. She stumbles back a few steps and throws up some ink black blood. Zeno puts another bullet into her knee, forcing her onto the ground.
‘Ada!’ Leon shouts, rushing forward to reach her. His legs fail to support him and he falls into a crawl. Jake takes aim and showers Zeno with bullets from his automatic shotgun, but once again that man manages to dodge all of them as if disappearing and reappearing in thin air. He knocks the weapon out of Jake’s hand and hits him straight in his jaw.
‘Ada Wong, is it?’ Zeno’s heels click on the ground as he observes the scene with great amusement. ‘I must say, your reputations proceed you. But a dog can never overpower its master. Not even if you inject yourself with that outdated parasite.’
‘You shut your damn mouth!’ Leon shouts. He crawls to Ada and cradles her body into his arms, his arms trembling when he touches her. ‘What the hell did you do, Ada?’
‘It seems like she injected herself with a Plaga, Mr. Kennedy.’ Zeno takes another step forward, completely ignoring how Jake has now composed himself and is currently pointing at him with a pistol. ‘Silly woman. She really thought she was doing something.’
‘Ada,’ Leon sounds almost choked up as he speaks, his eyes completely focused on Ada, as if the rest of the world and the impending dangers do not exist, ‘Why? I told you to stay home.’’
‘Leon…’ Ada stirs slightly and opens her eyes. They are darker now. Almost all the whites of her eyes are gone, replaced by purple and black veins. ‘I’m sorry.’ She puts a hand up to Leon’s face, right next to his eyes. ‘Don’t look at me like this.’ She closes her eyes, her body contorting, as if she’s willing something to come loose.
‘Ada, No!’ Leon panics and holds her tighter. ‘Don’t do this to me! Don’t you dare!’
Zeno claps slowly, sarcastic and gleeful. ‘This is all very touching. Who knew THE Ada Wong would fall in love with a DSO agent. I must say, Wesker would be so disappointed.’ He takes out his pistol and aims it at Ada’s head. ‘But I say, it’s time to put the dog down, before she turns rabid, don’t you agree?’
‘W-Wait! Stop!’ Grace suddenly speaks up. The FBI agent points Leon’s pistol at her own head. ‘You still need me, right?’ She looks at Leon and Ada, then back at Zeno.
Jake watches on as Zeno slowly approaches Grace, a thousand scenarios running through his head. He can create a distraction for Grace the Leon to escape. That would be the best thing to do at the moment. But Leon… He looks at the broken man cradling Ada’s body, desperately clinging onto her and whispering frantically into her ears. There’s no way he can get Leon Kennedy to leave that woman behind.
Ada, however, makes the decision for him. A vine shoots out from her body, hitting one of the mechanical arms on the platform that is holding up a large structure overhead, causing a commotion that momentarily distracts Zeno. Jake takes the hint and begins shooting at him while running for Grace. Another of Ada's vines then grabs Leon and tosses him in Jake’s direction, disregarding Leon’s shouts of protest. The three of them grab onto the falling structure and manage to land onto a moving platform.
‘Ada!’ Leon shouts as the platform brings them farther and farther away from the centre, the extreme emotions causing him to throw up another mouthful of blood. Grace is holding him by the shoulders to stop him from falling, while Jake watches on, completely helpless. ‘I have to get back to her.’ Leon croaks between all the coughing. ‘She needs me. I can’t leave her.’
‘Agent Kennedy - ’ Jake tries to address the older man, the man who is a legend in the counter-bioterrorism industry, the man who saved everyone and survived anything, the man who seemed so invincible, now gravely ill and utterly broken and dejected. He wants to offer some words of consolation. He also promised Ada he’d get Leon and Grace out to safety. He doesn’t know Ada Wong very well, but he intends on keeping that promise.
‘You guys go. I’ll go find her.’ Leon leaps down as the platform moves above a rubbish dumping area. They are at least 10 feet above ground. Grace almost immediately jumps to follow him. Jake sighs and follows suit. He’s in deep shit now, literally.
Jake breaks his fall and goes to help Leon and Grace. ‘We’re in this together.’ The blonde agent says. Despite all her stuttering earlier Jake sees now she is a resilient soul, not just a scared woman who needs saving. Jake nods. He helps Leon up, putting the older agent’s arm around his shoulder to help carry his weight.
‘Lead the way, Agent Ashcroft.’
The three of them are back in the labyrinth of this secret underground lab now, trying to make their way back to the centre. While Jake focuses on keeping Leon, whose health is declining rapidly, Grace takes out the lickers on the way with steady hands. They reach a central control room, where Grace places a disc into the player.
‘What is this?’ Jake asks. Leon has one foot in the grave, who knows what state Ada is in by now, and this woman plans on watching some Umbrella video?
‘Just… let me think.’ Grace stammers as she clicks on the video. Jake watches as an old man in a wheelchair appears on screen. There’s also a woman. Then, someone else brings out a child.
‘That’s… you?’ Jake asks.
‘The password…’ Grace seems completely lost in her own thoughts. ‘What can it be?’
‘Grace.’ Leon croaks, wincing as if speaking causes him great pain. ‘The password doesn’t matter. You have to destroy Elpis.’
The loud sound of a crash from the distance pulls Grace back into reality. From a side monitor Jake sees the edge of the central platform, now tainted with blood. Leon must have noticed it too.
‘Grace.’ Leon tries to raise his voice, but it is failing him. ‘We don’t have time. I have to… Ada…’
‘No. I think I got it. Let’s go and finish this.’
The three of them find an elevator and once again they are back in the golden corridor leading to the centre. The once spotless door arch is now covered with blood. On the platform of the central room, Ada’s now half-mutated body is a crumbling pile of mess, and Zeno, who has now lost his white jacket, is standing a foot away, pointing his pistol at her, or what is left of her, with a cigarette between his lips.
‘I knew you would return.’ He looks at the approaching trio and smiles, his tone carefree and mocking. ‘I have been waiting for you.’
‘Let her go.’ Leon says.
‘I am extremely touched by her devotion to you, Mr. Kennedy.’ A puff of smoke exits Zeno’s mouth. ‘But, as you can see, she is beyond help. I must say, she put up a valiant fight. Such a shame that she sacrificed all her potential for a dying man like you, don’t you agree?’
‘Let. Her. Go.’
‘I-I know the password.’ Grace steps up. Jake can see that her hands are shaking even in fists. But she doesn’t falter.
Zeno eyes her with interest. ‘Fulfill your destiny, and all will be forgiven.’ He takes the cigarette out of his lips and throws it onto the ground. ‘Maybe I’ll even let this thing live.’
‘Grace…’ Leon starts, but no words come out. He is conflicted. All his convictions of destroying Elpis now falter at the prospect of Ada’s life, despite her current state of being.
‘You have to let Leon and his colleagues live.’ Grace moves to the central control panel.
‘Very well.’ Zeno lights another cigarette.
Jake feels Leon’s body getting heavier and heavier, and he tries his best to keep him on his feet. He has never felt this powerless; watching Ada turn into a monster and still fails to save Leon, Leon succumbing to Raccoon City Syndrome (the illness that his Sherry also has), and this young woman now having the fate of the world and her friend in her hands. Will he ever see Sherry again? He didn’t even say a proper goodbye.
The central control desk opens up and a group of vials rise up from beneath it, its contents glimmering under the golden light. Elpis. The virus that will change everything. Spencer’s last creation. The young woman takes a vial into her hand.
‘Spencer regretted what he did. He - ’
Zeno shoves her away and eagerly snatches one. ‘Well done.’ His voice drips of greed. He turns and approaches Jake and Leon. Jake trains his gun at the man who looks exactly like his father, but the man keeps walking as if the gun doesn’t exist.
‘Y-You promised!’ Grace shouts, helpless as she watches from the side.
‘Yes, that I would let them live.’ Zeno walks right up to Jake and Leon, and injects the vial of Elpis into his neck. ‘Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Muller, or, rather, Mr. Wesker Junior.’ He smiles wickedly. ‘I give you the honour of experiencing my power firsthand.’
‘I-I'm not sure Elpis is what you think it is.’ Jake can see panic spreading over Grace’s features. ‘There's nothing special about me. I-I was never a key. Spencer wanted to make amends. He…’
As Grace speaks, Jake notices Zeno reacting to Elpis, grunting and twitching. The viral scars on his face seem to be fading. His once arrogant demeanour changes in real time. He takes off her shades. Jake notices how he has the same eyes as him. So this is what my father would have looked liked - he thought.
‘But you released Elpis.’ Zeno spits those words through gritted teeth. His skin is completely smooth now. The angered man turns to look at Grace, anger flaming in his voice and his eyes. ‘What is it? Tell me!’
Jake pulls the trigger as Zeno’s back is now exposed to him. His bullets find their target, and Zeno kneels to the ground in pain. As Grace runs to him and Leon, Leon’s arm finally slips off of Jake’s shoulder, and he too falls to the ground.
‘Leon!’ Grace is beside Leon in an instant, checking on the man. Jake takes a step forward and puts his body between the duo and Zeno.
‘Why?’ Zeno shouts in despair. ‘My powers!’
‘Elpis is Spencer’s atonement.’ Grace speaks behind him. ‘It’s an antiviral.’
A demonic laughter comes from another direction. Jake turns his head and notices how the intruder looks completely deformed, with grey, wrinkled skin, unnaturally tall stature, and an arm missing. He watches with alarm as Zeno exchanges heated words with this enhanced individual, Victor Gideon. Then, with one swift motion, a vine shoots out of Gideon’s arm socket and slices Zeno’s head off his neck.
‘We can’t let him have this.’ Grace calls out from behind him, more to herself than to Jake. Jake notices Victor’s vein aiming for Grace, and he shoots at it.
‘You should have given me the honour of killing the poser who wears my dead father’s skin.’ He steps up, shielding Grace and Leon behind him.
‘Your ignorance is exactly like your father’s.’ Gideon strides forward, positioning for an attack.
Jake replies with bullets. It is an impossible task - trying to deter someone who’s a mix between human and Nemesis, but he will die trying. Behind him, he hears Grace murmur something about a cure, then she injects him with Elpis. The antiviral takes time to work. He just needs to hang on.
With one slip of focus Gideon swats him to the side, and he falls hard against the ground. As he struggles against the pain in his body he watches in horror as Gideon walks toward Grace and Leon, the latter still on the ground. He tries to crawl to his shotgun.
Then, a dried up vine that was mangled on the ground comes back to life and breaks Gideon’s stride. Ada. Her half-mutated form stirs again and sends more attacks at Gideon’s way. She staggers onto her feet, her human form barely exposed through her mutated limbs. ‘Not so easy, big guy.’ Her voice is almost unrecognisable, but the easy sarcasm in her voice is unmistakably Ada. Jake pushes himself off the floor and grabs his shotgun, aiding Ada as she fights Gideon.
But their efforts are not enough. Gideon manages to press something on the central control and the place begins crumbling down. ‘Save the samples!’ Ada’s voice, distorted and thunderous, shrill as a banshee's, rings and pierces through the air. With one leap she closes the distance and tackles Gideon, the two of them falling over the platform and down. Jake quickly rushes and pockets the remaining vials into his pockets.
‘Kennedy! Ashcroft!’ He shouts at the pair remaining on the platform. ‘We gotta move!’
‘Leon! Wake up!’
Leon comes to, the infections quickly fading from his skin. ‘Grace? What happened? Where’s Ada?’
Before either Grace or Jake can reply, the platform tips over completely. Jake is separated from the pair, and through the sound of falling debris and collapsing structures he can hear the sound of Grace screaming, and Leon shouting something. He grabs onto the nearest steel pole and braces himself for the fall. He is definitely not telling Sherry the full story when he goes back to her.
He lands onto a pile of scrap metal, luckily without much injury, although the fall combined with the beating Zeno gave him earlier is no joke. He carefully places the vials of Elpis into a padded compartment in his tactical belt, and reloads his gun. Somewhere nearby, he hears Leon calling out for Grace. He quickly runs to join him.
‘Have you seen Grace?’ Leon asks as soon as he sees him.
‘No.’ Jake shakes his head. Then, noticing the commotion across the room, he aims his gun. ‘Worry about her later. We’ve got a bigger problem.’
Out of the darkness, Victor Gideon steps out.
‘Time to finish all this. I didn’t tell Sherry I won’t be home for dinner.’
Victor Gideon is impossibly strong and hard to subdue. ‘This thing is definitely not human.’ Jake empties another clip of bullets into his head, not that they seem to do much. ‘Is this what you deal with all the time?’
‘Unfortunately.’ Leon dodges an attack and shoots at the doctor. ‘The DSO offer still stands.’
‘I’ll give it a pass.’
‘Let me know if you ever change your mind. I’m thinking of an early retirement.’
Suddenly, the room seems to short circuit. It takes Jake a moment to realise the exposed electrical sparks are not from the room, but from Gideon himself. ‘What the actual fuck.’ He exclaims.
‘Didn’t expect that from a scientist?’ Leon quips as he dodges an attack. ‘I learned the hard way that Umbrella scientists are all psychopathic freaks.’ He empties another magazine into Gideon’s back and reloads. ‘Sherry’s parents being two of them.’
‘Aren’t I lucky that I won’t have to meet them.’
‘You’re really missing out, kid.’
After another gunfight, Gideon’s body ceases to attack for a moment. Then, just when Jake thinks it’s about to be all over, the doctor’s body morphs again, into a gigantic monstrosity that almost fills the whole room.
‘Does this ever end?’ Jake shouts as he resumes shooting.
‘I would hope so.’ Leon surveys the monster’s new form developing in front of him. ‘Shoot at the heart thing in the middle. That’s their weak spot.’
‘You call that a heart?’
As Jake and Leon continue their monumental feat of trying to defeat Gideon, a rumbling sound comes from somewhere beneath the rubbles, and another shadow emerges. Ada. Her black tactical suit, or what is left of it, is covered in dried blood, tainting her with a dark crimson colour. Her mutated form joins the fight, battling Gideon head-on, distracting him from attacking Jake and Leon.
‘Ada! Stand back!’ Leon shouts, but the mutated woman pays no notice. Her movement, now more sluggish than what Leon remembers, doesn’t stop.
Jake notices Leon’s hesitation. This is really not a good time for him to put his foot off the gas. ‘Kennedy!’ He shouts at him over the sound of his own bullets. ‘She’s doing all this for you. Don’t let her down.’
‘You and I,’ Leon reloads and steadies his gun, ‘need to have a serious talk when this is all over.’
Great. Now Leon Kennedy is angry at him for agreeing to take Ada here. He’ll have to deal with a pissed off Agent Kennedy in addition to a pissed off Sherry. ‘Get in line then.’
Together, him, Leon, and Ada, they manage to chip away at Gideon’s monstrous form. Gideon, in what seems to be a last ditch effort, manages to snatch Leon from off the ground. Jake shoots at the ‘arm’ but with no avail. He reloads another magazine, panic setting in as Leon grunts in pain by the crushing force. Then he sees Ada again, this time scaling the doctor's mutated limbs, attacking the exposed heart with her vine. Gideon’s grasp loosens at the attack. He lets Leon go and pierces Ada through her stomach, causing her to fall onto the ground. Leon seizes the opportunity, runs up to the heart and begins slashing it with his hatchet. Jake follows suit and shoots at it with the last of his bullets.
Gideon’s body trembles, its giant limbs crashing against the ceiling and walls of the cavernous room before losing their strength and falling down onto the ground. Leon shoots at the twitching arms before putting a final bullet into its beating heart. Then, it is all over. Blood and gore bursts through the body and rains down on Leon and Jake. Jake attempts to swat them away in disgust while Leon just stands there.
Somewhere else in the room, someone lets out a soft groan.
‘Ada!’ Leon makes a rush to the source, but then stops mid-way. ‘Where’s Grace?’
‘I’ll find Ashcroft.’ Jake quickly deters him. ‘Go check on her.’ He nudges his head in the direction of the voice. Leon looks at him, nods, then takes off running, his footsteps thumping through the space in irregular, unstable patterns.
Jake surveys the room, trying to not listen in on what is happening on the other side of the room. His heart is heavy. He saw how Gideon’s limb entered right through Ada’s body. Even with whatever parasite she has inside her, he doubts she’d survive that one. He hears Leon’s voice calling out her name, his voice full of despair.
‘Ada!’ The sound of Leon’s knees dropping onto the floor. ‘Ada! Look at me! Please. Just, open your eyes.’
Jake tries to ignore the sound of Leon’s panicked voice and his repressed sobbing. After covering some ground, he turns a corner and spots Grace Ashcroft’s body laying on her side on the floor. He approaches her and places a finger under her nose. Still breathing. Thank God. Gently he nudges her shoulder. He knows calling her is more effective, but he doesn’t want to disturb Leon’s grief. He doesn’t dare to.
Grace awakens after a moment. She opens her mouth as if preparing to speak, but she too has heard Leon’s cries. Wordlessly she looks at Jake, who can do nothing but to shake his head. He helps Grace off the ground back onto her feet, and in complete silence they approach where Leon’s sound comes from.
‘Leon.’ Jake and Grace hear Ada’s voice just before they turn the corner to see the scene before them. Ada, with a gaping hole right in the middle of her torso, a puddle of blood blossoming underneath her on the floor despite the makeshift bandage Leon made with whatever he could find. Leon, holding a hand under her head, kneeling next to her, tears streaming down his face. Both Jake and Grace stop at a distance, choosing to give the couple some privacy.
‘Ada. Why did you do this?’ Leon speaks through his sobbing. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’
‘Shhh.’ She tries to put a finger up to his lips, but her hand can barely leave the floor. Leon grabs it and brings it up to his lips, kissing the marred skins on her hand. Jake notices a silver band on her ring finger. ‘Don’t look at me like that.’
‘Ada. Please don’t leave me like this. You can pull through this.’
‘Don’t cry,’ Her eyes gaze up at him, eyelids growing heavier, ‘You’re… cute…’
‘Ada!’
‘The best… decision I’ve ever… made… was saving… you… that night… in…’
‘Stop talking, Ada.’ His tears stream down from his face onto her skin. ‘We’ll find a way to save you. I promise.’
Ada’s hand slips from his grasp. Her eyes are shut. Her head tilts to one side towards the ground. Frantically Leon holds her tighter. ‘Wake up, Ada! Stay with me. Please. Please don’t let this end like this.’
‘Don’t… worry…’ Her voice is softer than a whisper, barely audible. ‘I’m just… resting… my… eyes…’
‘Ada!’
Leon’s cry echoes through the air. He cries out her name, again and again, begging for the response that will never come. Beside him, Jake sees Grace is also crying. Jake breathes a few deep breaths to compose himself and slowly approaches Leon.
‘Jake Muller.’ Leon raises his head to look at him, still holding Ada close to his chest. ‘Why did you bring her here?’
Words seem to be stuck in his throat. He opens his mouth and nothing comes out. Finally, he manages to make a sound. ‘She asked me to.’
‘And you let her?’
‘She didn’t give me much of a choice.’ Jake looks at the older man with guilt and sympathy. ‘She was coming one way or another. All I could do was to tag along to keep an eye on her.’
‘She injected herself with the Plaga.’
‘She… didn’t have long to live.’ Jake remembers the vial Ada had in his car, her body falling apart, and the infections that spread all over her skin. ‘Raccoon City Syndrome. Very late Stage 2. She knew she was dying soon, and she wanted to save you while she still could.’ He looks at the dead woman’s face. The purple veins underneath are gone now, and the porcelain colour has once returned to spots that aren’t tainted by the infections. ‘At the time, I didn’t know what she injected into herself. But I guess she used it as a last-ditch effort to prolong her life. To find you.’
‘She just had to save me one last time.’ Leon shakes his head. Wiping off his tears, gently he caresses Ada’s face, as if trying to etch every detail into his memory. ‘And she knew damn well I can never return the favour.’
Silence hangs in the room like a shroud. Grace and Jake watch on as Leon mourns the woman in his arms, lifeless and still. Leon doesn’t seem to notice them anymore. Leon doesn’t notice when the sound of helicopters vibrate through the air. Nor does he pay any attention to the entrance of suited soldiers and the harsh spotlights that penetrate the ceiling. Jake raises his gun at the intruders.
‘Mr. Kennedy.’ A masked soldier tries to address Leon, but receives no reply. ‘Mr. Muller. Miss Ashcroft. Hound Wolf Squad. We were sent here by Captain Redfield for extraction.’
Later on, after some questioning (surprisingly, the agents didn't grill him on his unexpected presence) and preliminary medical checks on him and Grace, they finally have a moment to themselves, away from the squad. Jake has managed to convince the soldiers to leave Leon alone for a while, but they are preparing for take-off. Through Sherry, Redfield agreed to let them take Ada's body back to the States, so Leon can give her a proper burial.
‘So, Jake,’ Grace asks, speaking her first words in a very long time, ‘who was that woman?’
He thinks of the wedding band on Ada’s finger, the one she kept on despite her infections. He knows Leon and Ada probably never signed a legal marriage contract. They probably never had a wedding in a church, exchanging vows in front of a pastor and friends. Leon had probably never seen Ada walking down the aisle in a wedding dress with flowers in her hands. Marriage is not for people in this line of work, especially not for people like Leon and Ada. But their bonds didn’t need all the papers between them, just like him and Sherry didn’t need anything besides each other. He feels his own ring hanging on a plain silver chain hidden underneath his clothes, the metal cold against his skin.
‘That is not an easy question to answer.’ She was feared, respected, coveted, and hated by many, but known to and loved by only a few. A famed mercenary. An internationally wanted criminal. A complete mystery. A hero hidden in the shadows. A woman who always survived even under the worst circumstances. A woman who legally never existed. But she was real. And she was human. Too human. ‘Her name was Ada Wong. She was many things. She was also his wife.’
It's a winter night, where I was, where I'm going, remembered, imagined, no matter, believing in me, believing it's me, no, no need......
A winter night, without moon or stars, but light, he sees his body, all the front, part of the front, what makes them light, this impossible night, this impossible body, it's me in him remembering, remembering the true night, dreaming of the night without morning, and how will he manage tomorrow, to endure tomorrow, the dawning, then the day, the same as he managed yesterday, to endure yesterday......
—— Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing: No.12