CHAPTER 1:

In The Deep End.

12th August, 2013.

Light flashed behind closed eyelids, a source of confusion swam through his conscience. Dull drumming echoed through ear drums, the mind unable to identify if the sound was of its imagination or of reality. Eyes shielded and unseeing, and yet seeing everything. The soft ground beneath him seemed to tremble, accompanied by what his trained mind decided was an explosion somewhere close by. His thoughts were jumbled and dazed, heart seemed to want to beat out of his chest, causing blood to course through his body quickly and making his head spin.

Some say that drowning was the most soothing way to go, you panic at first but then drift into peacefulness. Water would hold you in its cool grasp and fill your lungs, carrying you gently into its depths. No sound would reach your ears, just silence, and leave you to your last thoughts.

He felt like he was drowning, but not from water.

He wasn't carried gently, he wasn't left to blissful silence, the water wasn't cool.

No, He wasn't drowning, and he hopes it never ends up that way.

A dull ache made its self known behind his eyes, marking the presence of a headache. Another flash sparked, leaving unidentified patterns in its wake under his eyelids, the rumble sounded shortly after only added to the mess he was in. He felt like his insides were boiling, a cold sweat broke out drenching his clothes, the sheets, and leaving his skin feeling uncomfortable. He became desperate, trying to fight his way through the fog, the voices screaming in his head causing the ache to increase and matching the erratic rythem with his heart. All different voices, only small fragments he could make out. Memories. He knows these people, he just cant see them.

The last shout seemed to be the loudest, repeatedly in his mind. He doesn't recognise the voice, urging and going out of focus. The words are lost to him, the pounding of his heart taking over all noise. Fear took its hold, laughing cruelly at him in the dark. He didn't ask for this. He didn't want any of this. His fate was sealed the moment he stepped out of those borders, Alive. They didn't give him a choice, and now, many years later, he does these things that no one else will do. To protect the helpless, and bring justice to those who deserve it.

The fog cleared, awareness came around with startling speed, fear stopped laughing. He long ago accepted his fate. He woke up.

The cold night air hit his heated skin, but did nothing to cool him down. Rain pelted against the window, which was open only enough for his paranoid mind to be at ease. Lightning flashed again as the thunder rumbled like a hungry beast through the blackened night, lighting his room and casting it in a sickly white light color briefly before the shadows took hold of the space once again.

Shaken, Leon sat up, the light sheets pooling around his hips in a crumbled heap. He was no stranger to nightmares, they've become well acquainted in the many years that has passed by, ever since that horrid day in 1998. A day he will never, ever forget.

But this one was different.

It had no meaning, no reconisation to any past horror he has experienced. Not Raccoon, not Project Javier, not Spain or Eastern Slav, China, nothing.

It made him uneasy.

Taking a moment to calm his erratic breathing, he pulled the drenched covers off his legs to sit on the side of the bed, resting his weary and pounding head in his shaking hands. A brief glance at the digital clock on his left side table, the dull green numbers blinking at him in the dark, told him that its just past 4am.

With that now in mind, he signed, knowing that's all the sleep that he's going to get for the day ahead, and that's not new at all.

Breathing now back to what he considered 'normal', Leon stood up, heading straight for the shower in the small apartment room, turning the hot water on full causing steam to billow and fog up the mirrors and windows. After removing his clothing he stepped under the fall, the water burning his back. He hadn't done this in a while, not since after Raccoon, after Spain, but now, he felt he needed a distraction from anything but the heat pouring over his shoulders and down his back.

He stood there for several minutes, until the burning eased to a tingling sensation of nothing, and all traces of sleep and exhaustion left his limbs, leaving him feeling awake and focused, easing the tension that had gathered in his muscles. Turning off the water and exiting the shower, he reached for a towel to try himself off. Then proceeding to the old wooden draws in front of him, left of the bed, he got out a simple outfit, black jeans, a simple dark blue T-shirt, and a grey hoodie to warn off the chilly early morning air.

Walking bear footed on the wooden floor boards, he went to the open kitchen to make a cup of coffee, and some pain killers for the ache in his temples. He would get breakfast at a more reasonable hour when the shops open, seeing as he doesn't have much food at all, always coming and going, he didn't find it necessary to stock up. 'At least I still have alcohol.'

With the coffee made and warm in his hands, his head ache being dealt with, Leon moved to his desk which was placed next to a window in the far left corner of the apartment, and sat down in the comfortable chair in front of his laptop. Government issued, which made up of two login passwords, an extra at the start screen, an impressive firewall and signal connection, thanks to Hunnigan, that, and a crash system should anything go wrong. He thought it was a little over the top, something you'd only expect in action movies and plots, but in ways it was completely necessary, if a certain red spy was prowling around. Something he learnt the hard way.

By the time he was in the system he'd downed half of his coffee, he then logged into his email to check for any updates or messages.

He'd already filed his report on China, Simmons, everything that had happened 2 and a half months ago, then the clean up. He is now reporting to the new President, Robert Anderson, a man in his 40's, a man who knows very little of the horrors this world had kindled, his new boss, but nothing more, not the friend that Adam had been. Leon is still part time guarding Adam Benford's family, a request that Ashley demanded of the new President, being Adam's daughter, she didn't want Leon to be sent to a different post because of the new man, Leon's knowledge and skill sets would greatly help the new Government in making the right decisions. Guarding Ashley was the least he could do, now that Adam was gone.

After he filed his report and paper work, President Anderson gave him a 2 week leave, to recover after the near world outbreak indecent, and despite Leon's protests, he was left no room for argument.

Four days in, he's back in his apartment, third story up, right end of the corridor next to the fire exit. Call him paranoid but that has saved him more times than he can remember. The apartment door was marked 101, leading you into a big square room, no inner walls to divide the area, just space, which was occupied by a kitchen to the right with stainless steel bench tops and sleek wooden cabinets with a fridge and stove, a office area to the left with the desk separating the space from the entertainment area which contained a leather couch and a flat screen TV, surround sound system and stereo, bordered by CD and DVD stands, in the middle rested a pine wood coffee table, a simple rug beneath it. At the end of the room to the left was the bed, a chest of draws sitting at the back of the TV, and a small lamp found its way in the far left corner. To the right side of the building was the bathroom, added up to a shower and bath, a toilet in the corner, with a sink and mirror next to it whilst curtains were attached to the ceiling to pull over to act as a wall if one should use them.

Lastly, a table dotted with a few chairs around it sat in the middle of the room, windows lined the walls to the left, and a balcony sat outside of the entertainment area. All and all, it was his home. Not what one would expect from a Secret agent, but Leon wasn't one for show, didn't do his job for the money or the title. He didn't even think he was going to find the right place, a house yes but not a home. After every mission or coming back from travels, he spends most of his time at the office, or the white house. Rarely does he actually live in his apartment, but the times that he does, it feels like home, a feeling he hasn't had since before Raccoon.

A window appeared on the screen, he's personal email and a small list of contacts, Leon set his coffee down beside the laptop and clicked on the envelope that read: (2) New Messages*. The first message was titled 'Hey Scottie' by 'RedGirl99', dated 12 days ago, the name of both the email and the sender brought a small smile to his face. "Claire..." He said in amusement. That was the Redfield all over. He cringed at her nickname for him though..

Hey Scottie,

I heard about what happened in China, well, what was on the news anyway. Chris is back, looking rather beat down, while he tells me a few things, but not everything. He did say you had a confrontation in Kuuchang, I'm glad you were there to help him, even if it was only for a few minutes, he hasn't been himself for a while. I also heard you now have a partner, about time, I worry with all the dangerous solo missions that you go on, especially Spain. Who knows, maybe I'll meet her one day, she sounds like she's got your back covered.

Things on my end are good, although the Terra Save have been very busy helping clean out the mess that has been on TV for the past few long months, but we are getting there. We have gotten a few of groups who have sided with Neo-Umbrella, but we put a stop to them before they even begin, so It looks like its going to be quiet for a few weeks. Lucky us.

Iv been in contact with Sherry, and she's grown up, I'm so proud of her. When we are all free, we need to go on a outing, a Raccoon city reunion, but in the way it was meant to be. Tell me what's going on, hey? I hope things with the new government go well, and that the new guy isn't an ass. Or I'll personally kick his teeth in, but you know, discreetly.

Well, I'v got to go. We are here If you need us, just a phone call away. I'm also going to give you Chris' number if you don't already have it, He needs someone to talk to who's been in the same shoes, ya' know? Chat soon.

Claire

xo

P.S. I heard what happened, with Ada, and even though I didn't trust her, I know she meant something to you.. Leon, I'm so sorry.

-Chris: 0596 292 498

Leon looked at the end of the email at Chris' number, and although he has met the guy, only once before the China incident he doesn't really know him too well, but understands completely about the things he has been through. The same as what Leon has been through, and yet different. The two had read each others reports as was required of their organisation's, both being top agents, any form of written documentations related to any form of Bio-Organic Weapon's, T, G, and C-virus, Los Illuminados also known as the Plaga, Uroboros, organisations known as Umbrella, Tricel, names such as Birkin, Javier, Wesker, were studied. All of this information was strictly classified to all agencies, and only their top agents who had dealings with this information first hand had access to them.

Yes, Leon has heard allot about Chris, and vice versa. Maybe getting to know the man a little better would do some good, if not just for him, but for Claire.

After a quick reply to her email, explaining that he wasn't under any way, authorised to give any information of China, the consequence of those actions would greatly diminish his future. He accepted her brothers number, letting her know that he will give him a call, and also accepting the invite to a 'Raccoon' reunion, but not sure on when though. Finishing the message with a reassuring note on her worries about him and Ada, he hit the send button.

He took a moment to sit back, his thoughts on the red spy. Ada, that name has haunted him for was feels like a life time. He didn't want to think about what happened 6 months ago, about what he had seen, about some very convincing evidence of her actions, about why she was there in the first place. The news of her death brought a familure pain to his chest, the same pain he'd felt when he thought he lost her in Racoon. The confusion and anger he felt when the Intel came of a woman who was later confirmed Ada Wong 3 years after Raccoon, but it was nothing but relief that flooded his senses when he saw her in the helicopter, alive, in China after her apparent second death. He should think by now he shouldn't be surprised.

Downing the rest of his coffee, he lent forward to read the last message, untitled, but the sender read: Ingrid.

Hunnigan. Then it was back to business.

Leon,

We have possible Intel on a Terrorist group following up on Neo-Umbrella, Their intentions and name are unidentified, murders are starting to dot over the country here in America, murders all bearing the same symbol in white. The victims are Scientist Wendy H Nelson, who works in the countries top chemical bio lab of the CRS (Chemical Research Science) department, Benjamin Dee, who worked for the E'World company of Network, a Network filing all data of every agentcie and company globally, and another man named Steve Jension, who's career and life was devoted to the production of health care and donations to hospitals. Non of these victims have had any encounter with one another, the only link is the symbol found drawn in chalk at each crime scene.

One witness has come forward, a friend of Benjamin Dee, reporting that Mr Dee had a regular visitor every 4th day of a new month, always a man described to us wearing a long brown trench coat, said to be in his mid-thirties, 6 foot tall, and short black hair. Just last week on the 4th, the witness recalled hearing an argument, but was unable to give us words, and told us that for the next 5 days, Mr Dee had closed himself off, abandoning his family to live in a hotel room, and seemed to be extremely uneasy and paranoid, so much that he never left the building and never used any means of contact to the outside world. Benjamin Dee was reported missing 2 days ago, the room he stayed in was wrecked, evidence of a struggle took place, blood which was confirmed to belong to Benjamin, and the same white symbol marked in chalk on the door were found.

Yesterday, the E'World company had a major melt down. Many Data and files went missing, files that were linked to government agencies, including our own, and after some digging, we uncovered the names and classes of these files. One file dated back in 1998, the Raccoon City Incident, Classified lvl 6. One file of a Op in 2002, Operation RiverWood, lvl 1. Files of locations were erased, these files were un-retrievable. Reports were also missing, names. But one more file was missing. Yours. Your report's, missions, agent status, including the recent report you filed on China. Classified lvl 6.

We are in the dark of how exactly these unidentified people managed to hack into our system and erase data. It has caused an up roar in the office and Government, every computer specialist is working on the case, and units have been placed out in the field for any evidence and leads of the people responsible. While yet, the request of publishing the suspect on TV have been forbidden, this case it to remain classified from the public, for the data that was lost cannot be leaked out.

I know what your thinking, and you are reported to come back to the office in 3 days. You are still on recovery leave, but your time has been shortened, we need everyone available on this case, should the information reach the public, the true nature of Racoon or China, and who was behind it will cause chaos and riots, against the Government.

I have attached the files and information of each victim to this email, including the reports from local athoraties and witnesses from each crime scene. I will be sending you any new updates that we get following the next few days. When you get back, the President has summoned you to a meeting, where contacts from each agentcie will be present, teams from the BSAA will also be required, as information also went missing in there system as well. We need to work together quickly if we are to uncover the assaultents motives and lost information, information that must stay out of the wrong hands, unless we want another Bio-attack. The meeting will take place at the white house at 7am on the 15th.

Keep you mobile turned on, I'll keep in touch.

Hunnigan.

Leon sat there, alarm creeping into his nerves at the email that was dated 11 hours ago.

How, who and why ran through his head. Information like Racoon City in the wrong hands can be desasterous, Simmon's proved that with his attack that killed President Graham and over 70,000 people in Tall Oaks. But Operation RiverWood? Location files? And all of his files? Why would someone need information on him and his past missions? This made him extremely edgy. Raccoon was one thing, but that and information on Spain, and Eastern Slav, was a stack load of very lethal information that can do some sever damage that cannot be undone. He didn't want to think about the consequences if this information gets out. There would be global chaos.

Leon clicked on the attached files to the email, bringing up every report and document to the attack on E'World, files with the victims and there information, including crime scene photos, exact times of the murders and locations, lists of family and contacts, and witness reports with their identity's.

It was now 4:45 in the morning, Monday, and he had a lot of work to do.