Chapter 4: Odysseus
Chapter Four.
Come this way, most admirable Odysseus, glory of the nation! Stay your ship, and listen to our voice! No man ever yet sailed past this place, without first listening to the voice which sounds from our lips, sweet as honey!
-Homer, The Odyssey
Author's Note: This chapter has literally taken about three weeks to write. I am so happy to finally be publishing it! Thanks a million to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and subscribed. I hope you enjoy Ada and Leon's meeting as much as I enjoyed writing it. I made some quick grammatical fixes to this after it was published.
~Illustration for this chapter can be found on my profile. Go look at it!
IMPORTANT (6/4): Due to recent activity on this website, I've removed the explicit details from this chapter. The full version of this chapter is here: tori-tots. deviantart art/Faxing-Berlin-Chapter-Four-306320619 (remove spaces)
A distinctly feminine voice barked at him, "Drop your bags. Put your gun on the floor. Don't even try to shoot me." He caught a glimpse of red in his peripheral vision.
"What's all the hostility about, Ada? Since when would I shoot you? You can put the gun down," Leon said. The barrel of the gun was pressed hard at the base of his skull. She twisted it into his skin.
"Oh, Leon. Just calm down."
"I would love too. It's just a little hard right now with you trying to shoot my head off," he replied through gritted teeth.
Ada laughed. Her amusement was both irritating and alarming.
"How the hell did you find me, anyway?"
"You make it sound like it was a challenge. There are about 800 hotels in Berlin. But, you don't want to be somewhere too fancy, and the government doesn't want you in some youth hostel with your guns hiding under your pillow. After I narrowed it down to the mid-class hotels, I looked at the ones that are close to the university. I assumed you were in a hotel with ties to the American government. After all, not every hotel will agree to put a loaded shotgun in your TV cabinet."
Leon felt a lump grow in his throat. How the hell did she know about the parcel?
"I thought you would probably be staying in a more Americanized hotel, you know, room service. You might not care, but I've heard some of your agents get a little touchy when they don't get their free bagels. Anyway, the owner of this hotel is on the board of Viacom Media. He's got an interest in winning the favor of your politicians. After that, it was just a quick phone call to an underling who doesn't know that you're a special guest." Ada seamlessly switched into German and affected a sweet tone. "I wanted to send some flowers to my boyfriend. He's from America; he's filming a bit part in a movie. He likes to pretend he's famous, so he books under a fake name. Can you let me know what his room number is?"
Leon saw the vase of roses in the corner. A nice touch.
"It was that easy, eh?" She didn't respond. "I'll have to let the boys back home know that."
"Take your jacket off and put your bag down."
"Easy, Ada. I'm getting there." Leon slipped his backpack off and let it fall on the floor directly behind him. Next he slowly removed his jacket, trying to not make any sudden motions.
"And the gun."
"Is this really necessary, Ada? We're not enemies."
"I'll shoot."
Now it was Leon's turn to smile.
"I don't believe you."
"Weren't you told, Leon? I'm a sociopath. There's no telling what I might do."
"That's a lie; you're anything but a sociopath. You won't shoot me. You want me to be here."
"And what makes you think that?"
"I don't know, Dawn Ago, what do you think?"
Ada's eyes narrowed.
He had her in a corner.
"I'll shoot the ceiling then. How are you going to explain that to your 'boys back home?' Did you trip while you were holding your gun?"
She slipped out.
"It seems obvious to me that neither of us want each other to be dead. Can you please take that gun off of my neck?"
"When you drop yours."
Leon sighed and took the Beretta out of his jacket. He removed the clip before dropping the gun on the floor and kicking it across the room.
He then extended his left leg behind him in an attempt to hook it around her legs and knock her off her balance. She grabbed the offending limb and twisted it. Leon stumbled momentarily before catching himself.
"I expected more of a fight than that, Leon," she scolded. His face burned with embarrassment, but he chose to ignore her.
"Are you happy now?"
"Very." She lowered her gun and walked around to face him. "It's been awhile, Leon. You're getting older, aren't you?" He involuntarily bristled at the comment.
"I could say the same to you."
"That's a lie and you know it," she shot back. It was a lie. Ada was as gorgeous as ever and seemingly ageless. She could pull off playing the role of a twenty year old. She was wearing a simple red cotton dress with a scooped neckline and black tights paired with heels. Always with the heels.
"So, now what happens, Ada? I mean, playing hostage is great and all, but I need to go to the bathroom."
She didn't move an inch.
"It's right there," she responded coolly.
"You're not going to follow me in, are you?"
"I suppose not."
Leon exhaled sharply. He still had his Blackberry in his pocket. He walked through the small hotel room into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He turned the faucet on full blast and pulled out his phone to call Hunnigan.
"Leon! Where are you?" She sounded urgent. He supposed he should have checked in with her sooner.
"Hunnigan, I've located the target."
"That was fast, Leon! Congratulations. Should we send support agents to bring her in?"
There was a knock at the bathroom door.
"No, not just yet... she's not with me," he lied.
The next knock was louder.
"So, what are you doing then?"
Leon was jarred by the sound of wood splitting. Ada's stiletto clad foot burst through a crack in the door.
So that's what those shoes were for.
"I haven't made contact yet! I gotta go, Hunnigan!"
"Wait, Le..."
He hung up the phone and slipped it in his pocket. He looked at the door with a mixture of horror and admiration. Ada had slammed her foot through the door and was wiggling it in an uncharacteristically frantic manner.
"What do you want, Ada?"
"Turn off the faucet!" she shouted. He obliged. She lowered her voice."Unlock the door or I'll shoot it open." He obliged once again. It would have been hard to argue with that sort of logic.
Ada pulled her foot out of the wood before storming into the bathroom.
"Can a man get a moment of privacy?"
Ada glared at him.
"Take your pants off."
"Do what?"
"You have your phone, and God knows what else in your pants. I could hear you; I'm not deaf. Take your pants off. Your shirt too while you're at it."
"Dear Penthouse... I was just checking into my hotel room when..."
She had already walked away. Leon shook his head.
This whole mess was one rookie mistake after another. What the hell was he doing? Granted, he hadn't slept in two days. Still, he should have known to not have gone waltzing into his hotel room without a care in the world.
"You always enter an unsecured area with your gun drawn..." he muttered to himself.
Now he was going to pay. If only someone had told him on his first day in the CIA: one day you will be held hostage by an extremely hot female spy—who you may or may not have feelings for—that you have been ordered to capture, and she will make you strip for her.
Well, actually, he would have jumped on board for a chance like that.
Ada's sex appeal didn't make his mistakes any less glaring though.
"You're getting too old for this shit, Kennedy." he muttered to himself. She had won this battle anyway. Resisting would just make things harder later.
He quietly undressed down to his boxers.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he repeated to himself.
He was humiliated when he walked out of the bathroom, holding his clothes up to his chest in a heap. Ada was splayed across the bed, talking away on the room's telephone. She had his gun next to her on the adjacent desk and had placed the backpack next to her.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked incredulously.
She briefly looked up.
"Actually..." she spoke into the receiver in flawless German, "make that two cheeseburgers. Danke!"
She set the phone down and sat up, grabbing the gun off the desk.
Leon cursed the day he was born; cursed the day he'd been hired by the CIA; cursed the day that he hadn't died in a zombie outbreak, so he could live long enough to parade almost naked around a hotel room in front of the woman he was supposed to be apprehending, while she pointed a gun at his balls.
He dropped his clothes on the floor. Ada gave him a ruthless smile.
"You're a skinny little thing, aren't you?"
"I prefer the term lithe. Who was that?"
"Lithe. I'll write that down. It was room service."
Leon fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"And who's going to pay for that?" he asked.
Ada shrugged.
"Who ever is paying for the broken door too. That's what taxes are for. Now then, where was I?" Ada began casually removing the contents of Leon's backpack and dumping them on the floor. "I never saw you as an Old Spice kind of guy."
"Why are you doing this?" he asked.
"God, you lose your clothes and your sense of humor goes with them. You can put the other ones on. I checked them," she said, gesturing to a pile of his remaining clothes on the floor. Leon nearly jumped into them. Ada unceremoniously threw the emptied backpack onto the floor.
"Give me your other pants," she commanded. He tossed them to her. She began searching through the pockets, while Leon got dressed as fast as humanly possible.
"Three knives, two cell phones, a can of mace, five false ID's, eight credit cards, a thousand Euros and a CIA badge... how did you get through the airport?"
"The badge helps," he replied. Ada nodded.
"I should get one of those," she said. "Your pants stink, by the way."
"Your friend's fault. Heidi was her name. She's a fan of whiskey," Leon explained.
"She's young," Ada replied. "You seem like the type that would ignore your limit too."
"Nonsense. I was perfectly straight-laced growing up," he lied. "So, what about you, Ada? Ever wake up without your pants?"
"I am always in control of myself," Ada replied, with a sudden seriousness to her voice.
"That's right, robots don't go to college."
"What did you say?"
"Oh, nothing."
There was a knock on the door. Ada gingerly picked the gun up off of the table. "Go get that, Leon... and don't even think about making a run for it, or I'll destroy your things." Leon inwardly groaned. She had it all figured out, the bitch. If he ran now, he'd have no money, no identification, no weapons, and no way to get in touch with HQ.
He got up and brought the tray of food back into the room. Ada was still sitting on bed. She waved the gun in the air like it was a toy.
"Hm... how about you put it down there," she said, pointing at the ground with the laser sight. Leon bristled.
"Mind being more careful about pointing that thing at me?" he growled in response.
Ada smiled and pulled the trigger.
"It's empty." Leon almost fell over in his exasperation. She was going to make him have an aneurysm.
She propelled herself off the bed and sat down cross legged on the floor. "So, how do you say bon appetit in German?"
Ada lifted the metal cover off the tray. There were two cheeseburgers, a plate of french fries, and two beers. Leon hadn't realized until then how hungry he was.
"Well then, aren't you going to eat?" she asked.
"Ladies first," he responded.
"Now is hardly the time to start being polite."
"I'm not eating until you do."
"Do you think I asked them to poison your food, Leon? Come on, what kind of establishment do you think this is?"
"I'm charmed by your concern."
Ada picked up a french fry and garnished it with some vinegar before raising it to her lips. She gently nibbled at the end of it. Leon stared at her.
"Is that supposed to be sexy?"
Ada spit it out and picked up a hamburger.
"You should loosen up. It's good for your blood pressure. You have to worry about that sort of thing now, right?" Leon felt his face burn.
Ada laughed. He was irritated with himself for playing her game. All she had wanted was a reaction out of him.
She cracked a beer open and took a long drink before resuming to eat her burger.
"Cheers, Leon," she said with a smirk. "Aren't you going to drink yours?"
"I'd prefer not to."
"I didn't think you were a lightweight."
Leon thought about snapping back, but decided it wasn't worth it.
When the food was gone, Ada stretched her arms out and released a yawn. She pulled her gun from a hidden hip holster and tapped it's barrel.
"All this threatening you has worn me out. Time to go to sleep." Leon stared at her. "Well, go on. Get in bed."
"Seriously?" he responded, walking over to the bed and sitting on it's edge.
"That doesn't look too comfortable. Lay down," she commanded. "Oh, this one is loaded," she added, as an afterthought. Leon let his head hit the pillow and promised himself he wouldn't fall asleep.
Leon woke up completely drenched in a cold, disgusting sweat. His heart was racing like he had just ran a marathon. Nightmares again.
Sometimes he wasn't sure if all Las Plagas were out of his system, because when ever he woke up from a nightmare, he always felt like his skin was crawling. Leon groaned; he knew he was going to be in a shitty mood for the rest of the day. Maybe he'd get up and pour a glass of whiskey and read for a little while...
Then he remembered.
Ada, the gun, the hotel room.
Getting into the bed and swearing he wouldn't fall asleep.
"God dammit," he muttered. He should have known he was fighting a losing battle. After not sleeping for two days straight, getting into the bed was signing his own death certificate.
He was still alive though. Ada wouldn't hurt him... right?
She was as beautiful as she was confusing. Had she been a normal woman, he would have gone after her the second there weren't any zombies biting his arm.
She wasn't normal though, not in the slightest. She showed no emotions; not a thing in the world phased her. She walked through battlefields in stiletto heels. Her lax attitude to things that distressed him—a damn CIA agent—was both puzzling and oddly infuriating.
He had feelings for her, of course. She was a stunning woman, whom had on several occasions assisted him in life threatening situations. How could he not have feelings for her? But, she was working for his enemy, placing her firmly in the "do not touch" category.
But, God, how he wanted to touch her.
"Do you always scream in your sleep like that?"
Leon turned to see Ada, sitting in bed next to him, still cradling the gun.
"Only when there's a pretty girl next to me."
Ada laughed.
"You're a sweetheart. What were you dreaming about?"
Leon shook his head.
"Nah, it's how I get them to leave in the morning without making them breakfast. Anyway, I don't remember exactly what I was dreaming about. Probably Spain. It's always Spain." He was being unusually open with her, but Leon had nothing left to lose. She'd stripped him bare, both literally and figuratively. "So, let me ask you something. It's the least you can do, seeing as you literally have me under your complete control."
Ada arched her eyebrow.
"This sounds like it could be fun."
"No, not like that. Do you ever dream about Spain?" Ada slowly shook her head.
"Not really, no."
The dam burst.
"Do you dream about anything? Nothing seems to affect you, Ada. It's so confusing. I came back from a few weeks in Spain two years ago and it affects me every fucking day. I can't seem to get myself to just move on. It makes me feel like a pussy too, the pills and the therapists and shit. I didn't want any of that. I just wanted to do the mission, save Ashley and move on with my life. But it wasn't that fucking simple..." his voice ached with frustration."Sorry for rambling. I guess all I want is to ask, how do you do it?"
Ada sighed deeply. Leon thought she wouldn't answer at first. He was surprised when she finally spoke.
"You know, in my line of work, you really don't have the luxury of stopping and thinking about what you just did or what you're about to do. I just do," she stopped speaking abruptly.
"Come on Ada; don't lie to me. It's the least you could do after pointing a gun at my groin." She glared at him in response.
"The present has to have my full attention. Dwelling on the past is a distraction," her voice was clear and firm.
"Not even in your dreams?"
"I don't dream because I don't sleep, Leon... all I do is survive," her tone softened.
"Come on, you must sleep sometimes."
Ada shrugged.
"I don't sleep like you do, Leon. I don't go back home after a mission and resume my normal life. This is my life."
There was a stiff silence.
"Well, that's kind of sad," Leon replied awkwardly.
"We've all got our own personal tragedies," Ada remarked. She turned to make eye contact with him. "Let's not dwell on them now."
Ada leaned in and kissed him.
Leon almost choked in his shock.
"What are you doing?" he asked. She forced her hand over his mouth.
"You talk too much; hush," Ada demanded before she nuzzled her head against his neck and adopted a softer tone. "I really do like you; do you know that, Leon? I've always liked you."
Her lips brought to mind cherries dipped in liquor. She was utterly intoxicating.
Seven years of desire and confusion dissipated between their lips.
Seven years of wanting and wondering.
Such a long time it had been since they first met; the beginnings of this strange infatuation.
He was becoming aroused, but his rational self was screaming at him to stop. Ada was his target after all. He was supposed to be capturing her, not in bed with her. What the hell did she have in mind, seducing him out of the blue?
He was losing control of the situation.
She only desired to use him.
He couldn't give into her, to do so would be treason.
She didn't have any real affections for him.
He was sure she had ruined countless men with her charms.
She couldn't possibly really want him.
Right?
Leon's work ethic was going up against a few thousand years of evolution, and losing fast. She'd already captured him; she'd taken his weapons... logically, there was nothing he could do to make the situation any worse, right? If anyone ever found out that they had been in a bed together, they would assume that they'd slept together. Leon chose to pursue this course of thought.
Ada was the siren; the embodiment of everything men loved and feared.
Like an unbound Odysseus, Leon gave in.
He kissed her this time. He kissed her like he wished he had all those years ago; he kissed her for every time he had failed to do so in the past; he kissed her for every battle they had fought together, every knife drawn, every bullet dodged; he kissed her for every night she didn't sleep, for every pill he swallowed, for every drop of blood on their hands, for every rational reason they had to stay away from each other.
Her hands slid under his shirt, lingered on his chest, stroked up and down his waist.
His hands were down her dress, caressing her breasts, pulling at the strap of her bra.
"I want you to fuck me," Ada breathed in his ear.
She didn't need to ask twice.
He clumsily reached for the button of his pants and pulled them off. His erection strained the fabric of his boxers. She smiled knowingly at him and slid her hands back under his shirt before tugging it off.
Ada once again ran her hands down his body, tracing over the lines of his abs, sinking dangerously lower, grazing her fingers over the defined cut of his hips, listening to his breathing quicken.
"You are magnificent, Agent Kennedy," she said, lust filling every word, "and I have waited far too long for this moment."
She pulled her dress off over her head and tossed it off the bed, leaving her in nothing more than her tights and bra.
She was a work of art, perhaps God's Magnum Opus come to Earth. A fallen angel. Ruinous.
Her full breasts lead into a slim waist which flared out slightly at her hips. She had legs that seemingly went on forever, smooth and toned, and he wondered how they would feel wrapped around his head.
Her skin was ivory and soft, marked with a few faded scars, a subtle hint of her past.
Leon slipped his hands between the nylon of her tights and her bare skin. The feeling of the reveal was nothing short of erotic. He rolled down her tights, struggling to take his time and run his hands down every inch of her long legs, memorizing her body so he could replay the moment over and over again.
Her tights fell to the floor and Leon kept his attention on her legs. He traced them with his lips from her ankle, through the back of her knee, to the inside of her thigh, inching further and further up. She let out a gasp of delight.
Seven years of waiting and wanting, seven years of cryptic smiles and stupid replies, seven years of lust and wishes and secrets only known to themselves; seven years were absolved in the rhythm of their bodies against one another.
She was wild.
He was starved.
They fucked as if it was the last night on Earth, as if they'd never feel the touch of another person again, as if the world was burning around them and they didn't care.
Leon on top and Ada grinding her hips against him in time with his thrusts.
They didn't speak anymore in words, but in moans and gasps, a language of their own.
Ada's arms on his waist.
Leon's mouth on her breasts.
Faster now.
They held each other closer and closer.
They threw their bodies into each other, as if they could join into one.
They lost themselves in one another.
Climax.
Nothing else would ever feel so good.
Nothing else could be as vivid and extraordinary as his surrender, his defeat, the orgasmic treason.
Seven years had found their resting place: intermingled between the sheets in a hotel bed, woven into the sounds of ecstasy and desire, dancing across the breath on Leon's lips as he held Ada against his chest and fell asleep.
Odysseus and his siren, together at last.
Author's Note: Consider that my apology for keeping Leon and Ada apart for so long. I was so terribly scared to write a sex scene, but I really wanted too. Tehe. Please let me know what you thought of it. Did you love it? Hate it?
As always, this chapter is brought to you by Alias Blackclaw, who, honest to God, at one point received the rough draft of this chapter with an asterisk everywhere there should have been the name of a sexual organ or sex act. I don't know how she puts up with me.