"Ada,"

The red-clad woman gave a small smile, never lowering her signature weapon, handgun with a hookshot. Her clothing left nothing to anyone's imagination, the deep red catsuit-like attire tight around her legs, hips, and chest. Her brown eyes glowed in the low light as her pink lips smiled wider.

"If you're here, then that means there's something big behind all this, huh?" Leon, keeping his rifle trained on her, assumed and accused. Calling her a bad luck charm would be an understatement. Her black, chin-length hair even reminded him a bit of a crow, the tips like feathers.

Ada raised her shoulders, giving a small smile as she gently shook her head, her hair shifting back and forth. "Now why do you think I know?" Her voice wasn't annoyed, but instead was apologetic. Her several inch tall heels clicked on the pavement as she slowly stepped forward, one foot directly in front of the other, with her gun remaining trained on Leon.

"Because somebody's always got you doing their dirty work," Leon's voice was disapproving, the depth in his voice portraying one of a scolding father. He, too, refused to lower his weapon. In situations like these, it was hard for him to believe that the two of them were ever closely knit together. It's like their patience and trust for one another had died with the city all those years ago…

A snarky laugh escaped her lips, curving them into a wide smile. "Oh, come on," She slightly sighed and chuckled. She was only a few feet away from him now and her gun had yet to fall to her side. "It's not like I'm a knowledge base full of goodies to give you. I have my own business to attend to and own employers to please,"

She pushed the barrel of her gun into his forehead, parting his bangs as she wiggled it around. Her smile was taunting, but he just knew what this was. He knew she wouldn't even do it. She didn't have the guts in her to. Besides, what good what it do her? And what good did it do him to push his rifle into the stomach?

"Well, it's not like anyone would go on vacation with a gun," His voice didn't waver. He didn't move his eyes up to the firearm trained on his skull either. "Besides, it's only in disasters involving B.O.W.s that I seem to run into you,"

"You got me there," She pretended to give up with a relenting sigh, but her gun didn't move an inch. Her cheeky smile never fell and her deep gaze only looked deeper.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned her, his tone gruff, his gaze staring back harder. Ada was silent for a moment, only gazing right back and not moving a muscle.

"I'm just here to pick up what I need and leave, is all," As usual, she refused to disclose any further. "As long as my contact carries through their end of the offer, all will be well on my end," She took a step back, pulling the pistol away from his forehead, yet kept it aimed at his precious head.

"You know, I'm getting tired of being the one who goes after you from time to time," She smirked, giving a small chuckle, putting her fingers to the collar of her catsuit. "It would be a lot more fun if you went after me for a change," She pulled down zipper over her chest, stopping to the point where a normal person would fear a lady would pop out.

He gave a scoff of sharp disdain, but he figured that she knew they had yet to finish where the two of them left off. He wanted to believe he wasn't like other men, but that would be uptight-and untrue. Ada pointed her gun up to the sky at a slight angle and pulled the trigger, sending out her hookshot into the side of a small structure atop a nearby roof.

"Until next time. Leon," Before he could take a step closer, she reeled the wire back, her hook pulling her up the roof, and flipped onto the structure. The only hint Leon got that she left was her heels clicking off into the distance. He lowered his head and shook his head, heavily sighing.

"Women..."

Under the harsh, bright lab lights, sweat dripped down a scientist's forehead in floods. His face was red and his back hunched over a desk. His breathing was heavy, taking in oxygen in big gasps and letting it out in loud exhales. Footsteps were approaching, clicking on the tile floor as they slowly drew near. But the scientist didn't cease his work. His eyes continued to race across pages and the various test tubes and chemicals across the table, making progress with shaky hands.

A hand laid firmly onto his shoulder, grasping it tight. The scientist's movements halted.

"Mr. Morgan, if I knew you were just dying to be a test subject, I would have given you the honor long ago,"

The weary scientist turned his head over his shoulder, his whole body trembling in a mix of chaotic emotions. The charismatic man of shadows stood behind him, his grip on his shoulder only tightening as he gave him a false smile of assurance, his lips tightly shut. The scientist began to shake his head, stuttering.

"N-No! No, sir! I don't! I-I really don't!"

"Really now…?"

With unbelievable strength, the man pulled the scientist up, his chair falling to the ground with an ominous crash. The scientist struggled under the man's grip, his legs flailing in air and arms grasping at his collar.

"Please, sir! I-I-I'm sorry! Please, g-g-give me another chance!"

The tall man looked over to the men in the corner, who were dressed in guard uniform, standing stiffly straight. He motioned for them to come over with a raise of his chin and the men took no time following command.

"Take him away. He's got a new job to do," He roughly shoved the scientist to the men, causing him to stumble into their grasp.

"Yes, sir!"

"N-No, please! You can't do this! You promised I'd see m-m-my family when it was all over! Please, sir! PLEASE!"

His cries drowned out as he was dragged out of the room. The rest of the scientists in the room didn't bat an eyelash or dare look over. They continued their work, hoping they were one of the lucky ones to get out of here.

Shots rang out as Leon set a round into a beast's head, its grotesque cries drowned out by the groggy groans of others. They were in successful in surrounding him, but they weren't making much progress dragging themselves closer before he wiped them out. Despite the enemies being easy targets, he refused to let his guard down or himself get too cocky about it.

It had been merely a minute till all were taken down and he stopped firing. He lowered his weapon and looked around the area, scoping out for any more of them. None had come to their friends' calls for backup, the streets silent once again, with only crows cawing above.

He would have continued his trek onwards if he didn't take one step forward only to hear footsteps nearby. Stopping he listened, hearing them come from the street only a few meters away. They weren't slow, but they weren't urgent either. Then, someone appeared.

A young girl was carefully treading forward, holding onto her arm. Her dark hair swished around as she looked back and forth in front of her. She seemed to jump at almost anything, such as a puddle of blood in the street as it barely splashed from her foot stepping in it. As her gaze came around, her eyes snapped onto Leon, her eyes widening. She took a few short steps backwards, cowering into a hunch, before turning around and making a run for it.

"Hey, wait!" He called out, raising his hand to her, but she didn't stop. He wasted no time in starting the chase, racing off into the girl's direction. Turning the corner, he saw her not too far ahead of her, gasping for air as she continued to run. Although they passed through many intersections, she didn't turn, only continuing to bound forward. It was only moments before Leon wasn't far behind. She could see him in her peripheral when she slightly turned her head to look, causing her to make a sharp right. He skidded a bit, making a quick stop to be able to continue the chase.

The girl finally stopped, having found herself face to face with the dead end of an alleyway. She grasp the wall for a moment before turning around and picking up a rock.

"Stay away from me!" She cried out, sweat dripping down her forehead as she threw the rock at Leon, hitting him in the lower leg. He let out a small grunt, cursing under his breath as he bent down to touch it, only for another rock to land in front of him.

"Don't come near me!" She continued to shout, making a fair attempt at chucking various nearby objects at him. "Please! Don't hurt me!" Her throws were slowly turning more into tosses and tears started to roll down her face.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Leon told her, his voice trying its best to sound gentle. "I'm here to help," He held a hand in front of him and slung his rifle to his side.

The girl stopped mid-windup in throwing a soda can at him. She lowered it and opened her eyes to him. She wasn't much shorter than Leon, looking to be around the teenage years. She was fair skinned, her hair almost as dark as his, and her eyes a shade of dark, mocha brown.

She still hunched over into a protective stance, gazing at him with tears running down her cheeks. "B-But why do you have guns…?!" She managed to speak to him, eying the machines of destruction, not taking her eyes off of them. Her whole body was trembling.

"I work for the federal government," He continued, taking his chances and stepping forward. "I was sent in to take care of the breakout," He felt relieved to see her grow less fearful, her stance straightening at her eyes no longer focused on his firearms. Things would have gone smoother than this if Claire were here…

The girl looked away from Leon and to the ground. "I've heard people speak of virus breakouts like these before, but I never thought… it would happen to my home," She sniffled, another tear falling down her face.

Leon gave a heavy sigh. "It's not easy to detect breakouts like these before they happen," He too looked away, into a puddle of blood beside a black trash bag. "They've gotten better at keeping their operations out and away from the public eye. In plain sight as well…"

She looked back at him, her eyes still full of tears. "Have you dealt with things like this before?" she inquired, sniffling.

He stared off into the puddle of blood. "Yes," He plainly put it. "In fact, it ruined my career as a police officer. Made it to the big leagues before I got the chance to start off my life like every other person," Moments like these were when he wished he had a drink on him,

She went silent, but didn't take her eyes off the side of his face. "Who are you anyways?"

He turned his head back to her, shaking off thoughts of reminiscing. "The name's Leon," He spoke, trying his best to force a friendly smile. "Leon S. Kennedy." He held out his gloved hand to her.

"Stella," She responded, taking ahold of his hand. "Stella Woods," She shook his hand, kind of at a loss of energy after the chase only a minute before. Her tears were nearly dried up by now, her cheeks only damp. Once things were calm enough, Leon approached closer to her, pulling out the small first aid kit he had. Stella had several injuries, mostly just cuts and scrapes with only a handful needing to be wrapped in gauze. The most noticeable one were the fairly large gash on her arm, blood dripping down her arm. Leon disinfected the wounds and covered them with bandages and gauze. If they weren't already infected, it would make her very lucky. Areas like these weren't anywhere near sanitary.

"Thank you," Stella softly expressed her gratitude as he packed his first aid kit back up. Her smile was small, but it showed that the tension and fear she was feeling minutes ago was almost nothing now. But, despite how slow it took for it to appear, it vanished when she looked past him, her eyes widening in fear as they were before.

All the poor girl could do was point and take steps back into the wall behind her. Leon turned around to look behind him. Considering how disruptive the chase was, it was to be expected they would eventually find the two of them. He took notice to how most of the mutants were wearing remains of clothes, holes torn in the fabric where extra limbs grew and protruded out. Civilians that have turned.

He pulled his rifle from his side and aimed it at them. Taking advantage of their slow speed, he took time to explore the small group of monsters for an opportunity. With not much luck, he shot a few rounds into a couple of them, their blood spewing out of the entry holes and their bodies falling to the ground. Lucky for him, the ones right behind the fallen ones didn't have enough time to react and ended up stumbling forward. He took the upperhand, shooting their heads full of bullets before they could recover. This time, the tides didn't turn in his favor and the others still impeded onwards, beginning to corner him with the young girl.

The mutant in the front, with three arms protruding from its fleshy head, waggled his arms around and began charging forward. Stella curled into a defensive stance, squeezing her eyes and turning her head away from the action. She listened as shots rang out. Seeing a vulnerability in the beast's reckless ambush, he waited for the perfect moment as it came closer. With the beast only a few feet away, he lunged his foot forward and ever so slightly sinking his foot into its meaty torso, sending it soaring backwards into the remaining others, all of them tumbling to the ground. Its body left an interesting goop on the sole of his boot, the substance oozing off it before he put it back flat on the ground. Raising his rifle and lining up the shots, he opened final fire at the pile of gorey mass, releasing the turned citizens' souls free.

When all signs of life in them were gone, Leon turned his head around to Stella as she emerged from her defense curl. She was no longer afraid of the beasts, but now gave a wavering gaze between Leon and the dead bodies that lay sprawled on the ground before them.

"Come on," Leon motioned his head towards the street. "We have to keep moving," He didn't wait for her to respond, just turned away and began the walk out of the alley. Stella was still, her eyes locked on the dead body and the blood on the pavement for a moment longer, before tearing herself away and jogging to catch up to Leon.