Leon was a little bit too big for the helicopter's small seat, especially with his large, fleshy wings, but none of the other operatives were about to bring it up to him. He was bigger, stronger, and scarier than any one of them. Helena sat across from him, giving him more than a few reassuring glances on the long flight. With them were four other B.S.A.A. agents, fully decked out in combat gear. Helena opted for a lighter setup—she wore only, in additional to her base clothes, a bulletproof vest and a helmet. The outfitters at the B.S.A.A. had insisted that she take more, but she had informed them that she had already defeated multiple biohazards in nothing but standard clothing, so even what she had ceded would be much more than plenty, thank you.
Their mission was simple: an illegal black market bioweapons sale had gone south, creating a spill around the safe house where the deal was going. The safe house was in a small town just about 50 miles outside of Moscow. While the Russian authorities had created and effectively kept up a perimeter, the B.S.A.A. were called in to consult and lead the operation to actually enter the town and find out what happened to the informant the Russians had planted, and recover any information he might have already gotten.
Because the whole mission was low-profile, the B.S.A.A. had decided that it would be an appropriate debut mission for Leon, who had been training with them for a few months already. He sat in his seat, not strapped in like the rest of the agents, because the straps didn't exactly fit across his body. He instead used his claw-like hands to grip the arm rests with an iron vice, and he used his wings to make sure he didn't shift around the cabin. He was aware of how the other agents felt around him, apprehensive to be working with a bioweapon, the very kind of thing they were working to combat, but he did not care. He knew that he could fight the evil of bioterrorism, and he was prepared to do that in any physical state that he found himself in.
"We're touching down," said the pilot, his voice coming through the earpieces of all of the agents, even Leon, who had a specially crafted earpiece to fit his mutated features. "We'll be outside of the biohazard zone. You connect with the authorities containing the perimeter, and they'll tell you where to go from there." The helicopter was descending, and through the windows, the agents could see the dark outside, and the intermittent lights of the checkpoints around the perimeter around the town. The town itself was completely dark. "Good luck."
The agents hustled out of the helicopter as soon as it touched ground in the field, keeping their heads down until they were clear of the rotors. Leon came second-to last, lumbering out and running, crouching down to avoid the blades of the helicopter, and Helena came out behind. She flashed a thumbs-up to the pilot, who pulled up and away from the landing site, soon becoming just another light in the sky, among the abundant country stars.
A Russian officer broke from the small group at the perimeter line and came to meet them, giving a nervous look to Leon, who stood much taller than the other B.S.A.A. agents. Leaving Leon behind the others, Helena went to the officer, who greeted them in English. "Hello," he said, holding out his hands in welcome. "Thank you for coming—we have been waiting for you. But what is…" The officer cut his sentence off, glancing up at Leon.
"That's Special Agent Kennedy," said Helena, taking the man's hand and shaking it. "My name is Special Agent Harper, and we're here to enter the biohazard zone." She released the man's hand. He seemed off-put by her forwardness, and shot another glance at Leon before refocusing his attention on another of the B.S.A.A. agents, who began speaking.
"I am Captain Crawford," said the man, extending a hand to the officer. "We've been told that we're to extract any information about this outbreak, and any additional information that may have been retrieved by your undercover agent. Am I correct?"
"You are," replied the officer. "The safe house is located near the center of the town." A flick of his eyes to Leon, and back to Captain Crawford. "As far as we know, they met above the barber shop there, just off of the town square. There are only a few roads in the town—most of the residents work on farms surrounding the town." He gestured to the field they were standing in. "Our agent had with him a brown leather briefcase that we are to assume had valuable information in it."
"And we will keep an eye out for it," said Captain Crawford. "At what time will the sanitation occur?"
"Eight o'clock AM," replied the officer. "We pull out at seven. Though the weapons are not nuclear, we have been urged to clear the area around the town for a few miles to ensure safety." His eyes flitted to Leon, and back. "We have already evacuated the locals, but we will be leaving with or without you at the time of sanitation. We have a perimeter, but we cannot risk the infection spreading."
"Affirmative," replied Captain Crawford. "Is there anything else?"
"As far as our tests can conclude, this outbreak is caused by the T-virus, not the C-virus, as we had initially feared."
"Good," said Captain Crawford. "Well then, we're going in. Boys?" The agents moved forward, on cue, to the perimeter. Crawford followed them, and Leon brought up the rear. Helena hung back for a moment.
"Officer," she said evenly, looking him in the eye. "Special Agent Kennedy is a valuable asset to the B.S.A.A., but at this time, he's being kept confidential. A trade secret, as it were." The man did not reply. He just stared back at her. "What I am saying is, I hope that you and your comrades over there can keep it under wraps that he is a part of this mission, at least until after sanitation tomorrow morning. Ja?"
"Yes ma'am," the officer, shaken.
Helena smiled. "Good," she said, and jogged away to catch up with her team.