AN: I wrote the Leon-part for three specific reasons: I wanted to experiment a little with second person view, which I am a huge fan of, and it works best with present time, although it's a bitch to write. Secondly… well, I don't really want to say. Spoils all the fun. So does the third point.
DISCLAIMER: No. I don't own Resident Evil 4.
Chapter four: Merchant and Mendez
I was sitting with my back up against someone and my head resting on a shoulder. Right at the moment, I wasn't sure whether the shoulder belonged to me or someone else, or if it was a shoulder at all. The last things I remembered were Leon being tossed like a ragdoll, and him and Luis conveniently fainting while I remained conscious. I wasn't stupid enough to try to attack Mendez, but that sure didn't stop him from going after me. After unsuccessfully trying to render me unconscious too, he barked an order to one of his subordinates, followed by a sharp sting to my leg, blackness and a soft thud. Then there were someone babbling about feeble humans and intoxicating powers, but I was too drugged up to grasp the entire situation.
Yeah… Drug… The Ganado tranquil…lila…sized… me…
I heard voices, unclear, like the sounds you hear underwater. My ability to concentrate wasn't exactly top-notch at the moment, but I focused hard on the voices and barely managed to make out a conversation.
"… name is Leon. I came here looking for this girl. Have you seen her?"
That was Leon's voice.
"What, are you supposed to be a cop or something? Nah, you don't look the type."
Luis is here too..? I… LOVE that guy… or do I?
"Maybe."
There was a short pause.
"Okay, let me guess," Luis said, sounding like he wanted to speed things up a little. "She's the president's daughter?"
"That's too good for a guess. Wanna start explaining?"
"Psychic powers," Luis answered, followed by a dramatic pause. "Nah, just kidding with you, amigo. I overheard one of the villagers talking something about the president's daughter in the church."
"And who might you be?"
"Me llamo Luis Sera. I used to be a cop in Madrid. Now I'm just a good-for-nothing guy, who happens to be quite the ladies man… apparently not just the ladies, either."
"Huh?"
I felt the shoulder moving under my squeezed cheek.
"Leon, I think he's coming on to me," Luis said jokingly. Leon chuckled. "Who is he?"
"No idea. Just call him Albert."
"Hey, Albie!" Luis grinned cheerfully. "Wakey, wakey!"
The shoulder moved more insistently, but my head was too heavy for me to move. Luis let out a sound of revulsion.
"Urgh! He's drooling on me!"
Well, excuse me!
"All over my shirt!"
"Are you okay?" Leon's voice asked, with a slight trace of worry in it. With great effort, I managed to open my eyes. My vision was blurry at first, but after blinking a few times, it improved. The skin between my eyebrows creased. My ears picked up the very slight sound of metal scraping on stiff soil, followed by low mumbling in a language I didn't understand. Luis and Leon forgot about me, and continued their conversation. I groaned and forced myself to sit up straight. The metal was no longer scraping against soil, but at solid concrete. I half-heartedly attempted to get my wrists free from the rope binding them tightly, gnawing at my skin.
"… think I might have seen a sample of the virus in the lab at my department," Luis finished, and swiftly moved his attention to the door when the source of the scraping staggered into the room.
"Do something, cop!"
"After you!"
"ARRGHH!" the Ganado growled, and lifted his axe to strike.
"Now!"
The men threw themselves away from each other, forgetting that I was still tied in with them. I was jerked backwards, and then heard a tearing sound, followed by metal falling heavily to the floor. A moment later, I realized I was able to move my arms freely. The furious Ganado tried to attack Leon again, but a swift movement from Leon's leg sent him crashing into the wall and to the floor with the repulsive sound of a bone break. Luis fled out of the room, obviously frightened. Leon didn't attempt to run after him. Instead, he picked up his phone to talk to Hunnigan again. I didn't pay any attention to their chatter, as I was striving to get to my feet. I stumbled and hit my head into the wall. I giggled.
"Ouch."
Leon came up to me, seized my arm and placed it around his shoulders to support me.
"Are you all right? What's wrong with you?"
My brows furrowed, and my eyes narrowed. My head was pounding steadily with each heartbeat. What on earth was in that drug? On second thought, I didn't want to know. I used the palm of my hand to wipe off the saliva caked on my chin.
"Hello?" Leon pouted impatiently as he shook me lightly. "Anyone home?"
"They… uh.. they…" I blinked sluggishly, almost tripped in Leon's legs. He pushed me back up, and walked me into the corridor out of the concrete room. "They… tranquillila… ssabl…"
"They tranquillized you?"
I smiled idiotically, with my head tilted towards his shoulder.
"He, he… Yeah…"
Leon cursed under his breath, and gave me a rough jerk to straighten me up.
"Leon?"
"Yeah?"
"Leon?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you, Leon."
Leon chuckled.
"That's the drugs talking."
"Will you marry me?"
"Sorry, Albie."
"We use nicknames now?"
A cloaked man's face appeared in the small window in the corner of the corridor. Leon froze.
"Over here, stranger," he said hoarsely, and vanished out of sight. Leon walked me out of the door, and placed me on the cold ground, with my back leaning against the wall.
"Stay here, okay?" he said firmly. I just smiled in response as he turned his back to me and walked towards the Merchant's mobile gun-shop.
You almost aim your pistol at the hooded figure, his face hidden by a purple scarf and shadows from the hissing, blue torch next to him. You hesitate when you see that he doesn't act threateningly towards you. You can practically feel the friendly grin on his face as he says:
"Got something that might interest ya. He, he, he."
He shows you an impressive amount of different artillery strapped to his body. You feel your heart leap of joy. Finally, a local who wants to help you! For a price, of course. You start digging in your pockets for money. Most of it is in Albert's backpack, but you left it when you dragged him out of there, and you won't bother to go back to get it. You have a difficult time prioritizing; you can't afford much. But you eventually decide to buy a better shotgun.
After the purchase, the friendly merchant with the strange accent encourages you to come back any time. You run towards the rusty, iron gate leading away from the house. As you're passing Albert, you see that the adult man has curled himself to a ball and is now sleeping tightly. His shades are crookedly placed at the lower part of his nose bridge, his hair is starting to get messy and greasy, and his perfectly black suit is now caked in dirt. There is no doubt left in your mind that he – or she, rather – isn't the real deal. You look away from him and continue through the gate. An angry villager points at you and yells, attracting the attention from other villagers, now storming towards you. You reload your gun and fire at him, one of the bullets hitting his leg, causing him to lose balance and fall screaming over the edge of the path. You bite your lower lip, staying as close to the mountain wall as you can manage. The cracking sound of your 9 mm sending deadly bullet fragments at your enemies echoes through the valley along with the guttural, Spanish howls promising you an excruciating death. The metallic click of your pistol jamming echoes through your head, and sends a clammy, prickling chill down your spine. With a grunt, you throw a flash grenade at the mob, charge at them and kick the nearest villager, sending him into the others behind him. You force your way through the crowd, pushing some of them over the edge at the same time as you're fending off hungry hands reaching for your throat. Your heart is beating rapidly in your chest, but you refuse to allow yourself to panic.
They are too many! I have to find a spot where they can't attack me from several places at once.
You swiftly discover a house up to the north in the valley, with only one ladder and very few possible places to attack you from. You dart between villagers to reach the house, with your confidence rising inside you. If only you keep your head cold, you can make it through this. A nail badly hammered into a plank lying on the ground, pierce the sole of your right shoe, and sinks into your foot. You scream of pain, but quickly stifle it and ignore the searing sensation prickling in your entire foot and lower part of your calf. You climb up the ladder, and kick it down the second you step on the roof. You switch to your newly purchased shotgun, and shoot a villager clutching dynamite on the other side of the village, while you prepare yourself for the horde storming to the house.
I opened my eyes slowly, blinking against the strong, pale light. I pushed the sunglasses back in place, and got on my feet. Confusion struck me as I realized that I wasn't the feeling the least funny or tired, and my balance seemed normal again.
Maybe the viral cocktail in Wesker's body got rid of the drug? How convenient.
I hurried to the Merchant's location, wondering if he was still there.
"Yo!" I greeted when I saw him, and waved my arm at him.
"See something you like, stranger?" he responded, and opened his cloak to show me his weapons.
"Yeah, plenty, but I can't use a gun. Can you teach me?"
The Merchant chuckled.
"No problem, mate, but I can't teach you anything here. You'll have to wait until next time we meet."
"Alright, Merchant… see you later."
"Come back any time," he said cheerfully behind me. Then he added; "Your jacked is ruined, stranger."
"Huh?"
I removed the suit jacket, and to my horror discovered a long fissure in the back of it.
"Aw, man… bad things always happen to good clothes."
I folded it as neatly together as I could manage, and dropped it on the ground. I've always thought the turtleneck thread of mystery Wesker wears under his suit to be a thin, tight sweater, but it turned out to be a t-shirt. I ran into the house to pick up the backpack, carefully avoiding looking at the dead Ganado, and headed for the gate. I could see Leon finishing off Ganados in the far end of the valley. While he was busy, I decided to find the pieces to the door key I knew we would have to pass to get out of this valley. Almost tripping in a pitchfork on the way up the path to the highest point in the valley, I heard Leon's voice shout;
"ALBERT!"
I looked down and waved in his direction. He waved hesitantly back, smoke coming out of the red-hot barrel of his shotgun. All of the Ganados were now dead, and disintegrating into appalling, bubbly, yellow pools. I shuddered in disgust.
Urgh, that's just nasty.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?" Leon roared while he was picking his pistol apart.
"I'M LOOKING FOR THE KEY TO THE EXIT!" I hollered back, and pointed at the great, silvery gate near the house he was standing on. He glanced at it, and stared at me again with a quizzical look on his face.
"YOU CAN SEE IT ALL THE WAY FROM UP THERE?"
"YEAH! HELP ME LOOK FOR THE KEY!"
"WHAT?"
"I SAID; LOOK! FOR! THE! KEY!"
Leon nodded, and jumped down. He disappeared into the house, while I continued up the road. I reached the chest with the left half of the key in it. I ran down to the house with the second half, but Leon got there before me. He glanced at me without a word, and headed for the exit, with an odd limping gait. There, he tore my half out of my hand, and connected it to his before he inserted it in the door. He groaned and sat down with his hands wrapped around his right foot. With painful grimaces, he removed his shoe and blood-soaked white sock, revealing a red, smudged hole through his foot.
"Leon!" I exclaimed with shock. "Ouch!"
"No kidding," he muttered back, with his palms pressing against the wounds. I took my backpack off, and started digging for herbs. I found a red one and a green one, although they looked slightly mashed, they would patch up his wound nicely. I crushed them into a fine powder, and rubbed them into both ends of the hole. Leon shoved his fist into his mouth to prevent himself from making too much of a racket. I thought it was weird, but perhaps just a male need of his to seem as masculine as possible.
"Are you okay?" I asked worried when he was putting on his footwear again.
"I think so."
"Can you walk? Do you want me to support you?"
"No, I'm fine," he answered as he rose to his feet again. "Let's just get out of here, and find Ashley."
Your body stiffens as you see the same unsettling signpost with skulls dangling from it, swaying slightly in the wind. Your gaze moves to the large, worn-down villa up the small hill. Albert steps next to you, with a facial expression of utter displeasure as he twists his t-shirt to squeeze the water out of it. The corners of your mouth twitch a little.
"How did you manage to fall off a fenced platform?" you ask amused, referring to his accident in the water-works. Albert gives you a rather sourly glare under his sunglasses.
"It was slippery!" he exclaims as he pulls the t-shirt down over his head. He adjusts his shades a little and runs his fingers through his wet, filthy hair. You think he was lucky not to have hurt himself seriously, but you remember that Wesker no longer follows the normal, physical laws of humans. For a split second you're happy that Albert is not in his original body, because if he was, he – well, she – would most likely get killed sooner or later. You rush towards the villa, up the stairs to the entrance, only to be stopped by a door without a doorknob. Instead, there was a large, blue crystal ball with an iron figure inside it. You see two insignias below it, the same symbol you saw at the solid, metal door in the village. You put two and two together, and turn the ball until the iron figure matches the insignias.
Click.
Something's activated…
The door opens, and you step into the room with your pistol drawn. In the room are a bookshelf, a table and a chair, some paintings, a bed, and a large closet. You walk to a sparkling object on a little shelf in the room, and snatch it. It's a key with the same insignia as before. Your gaze moves to the bed that appears to be clean, unlike the blood-stained ones you saw in the village. There's a note laying on it. As you reach for it, Albert walks into the room with a victorious grin and a pearl pendant dangling from his fist. He hands it to you.
"Where did you get it?" you ask, slightly puzzled.
"Found it," he answers casually. You give him the pendant back. Your sharp intuition sends a prickling feeling down your spine, and goose bumps pops up all over your skin.
"Put it in the backpack," you say. "And hide in the closet, something's not right here."
"How do you know?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I know. Just do it."
He shrugs and walks toward the closet. You open the door leading out of the bedroom, and walk cautiously into the corridor when you hear a Spanish conversation downstairs. Sudden sounds behind you makes you spin around, and in a split second your feet are flailing in the air and you are unable to breathe. The big cheese is scrutinizing you with a bored expression on his face, and tightens his grip on your throat. The pain is excruciating, and the lack of oxygen and blood to your brain makes your vision blurry, with bright colors invading it. You struggle to get loose, and just as the world starts to turn black, the attacker drops you to the floor. You draw as deep a breath as you can muster, and place a hand around your throbbing throat.
"You carry the same blood as us it seems," Cheese says gruffly, with his red eye and blue eye fixed on you. "Nevertheless; you're an outsider. If you become unpleasant to our eyes… you'll face severe consequences."
He turns on his heel and walks into the bedroom you just left. You stagger to your feet, still with your hand around your throat.
"What..? The same blood…?"