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Leon

Leon walked in the darkness; his gun ready to shoot anything that could be a threat. He had woken up a couple of hours ago, just to find himself trapped in a cell guarded by two men that, he guessed, were part of the terrorist group that had kidnapped Claire. He looked around, but to his dismay, there were no signs of the red headed around.

"What are we supposed to do with the man?" one of the men whispered.

"We are waiting for a word from the orders were clear, they just wanted that Redfield bitch. This guy is pretty much useless to them."

"Why did they drag him here then?"

"Who knows. Maybe they want to make him one of those things, too." the man chuckled "It'd be nice to what does his pretty face turn to, don't you think?"

There was a soft slashing sound and a thud, as if something had hit the ground, followed by the screeching sound of the cell doors opening. Leon raised his look and frowned at the person who stood in front of him.

"Ada…"

"So we meet again…" the asian woman's lips curled in a smile "And here...from all the places."

"What are you doing here?"

"My job, of course, as for you...I suppose you are here for the Redfield girl."

"Claire...where is she?" Leon said pushing himself up on his feet.

"Somewhere...running around, if she's still alive, of course." she replied simply "but for what I have seen, I wouldn't bet against her chances. She could use a helping hand, though."

Leon frowned. He never knew what to expect from Ada, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to distrust her.

"I doubt you came just to tell me that."

" Now now..." Ada smiled "My work here is done, but I heard a rumor about you being around so I thought I'd pay you a visit. Here…"

Ada threw him a couple of handguns and holsters filled with ammo.

"Those boys won't be needing them anymore anyway. The Redfield girl should be around the forest. If you take this tunnel you should reach outside. It should be easy for you to get out, there aren't many guards. They're not required." the woman smiled "Until next time, Leon…"

Before Leon could say anything, the asian woman was already gone. He'd never understand her, but the time and place weren't the right ones to think about it. He had to find Claire, figure out where the hell they were and find a way to get out. He picked up Ada's "presents" and made his way outside.

Just like Ada had said, he didn't meet any other guards on the way up, however, once outside, things were less friendly. He had crossed paths with a bunch of people infected with what he recognized as Plagas. They lurked in the darkness of the forest waiting for any unguarded passerby to jump over him. He had managed to kill them without problem; he had handled Plagas before, but he was concerned about Claire. If Ada was right, Claire was running around, most likely unarmed.

After a few minutes of trying, he'd managed to contact Hunnigan. The signal hadn't been clear, but it was enough for her to locate his position and send help. In the meantime, his primary objective was finding the youngest Redfield.

Tracking down Claire's whereabouts wasn't going to be easy. She could be anywhere, but if he knew her well enough, the first thing she'd do would be arming herself, and the best place to do that would be a place where people could live. He had been searching for a town or anything similar as he navigated the forest, but so far he hadn't found anything. Suddenly, he heard a loud bang and he saw the flames of an explosion a few meters from his position.

He could only guess if that was Claire's doing, but he didn't lose anything by checking it out, and so he had found himself walking in the darkness to that directions. For what he could see, it was indeed a town, or at least what was left of it. The fire was starting to spread and the whole place was like a giant bonfire. A soft crack of leaves made his senses snap, he turned around quickly raising his gun only to find a rifle pointing directly at his face.

"Leon?" a familiar voice whispered weakly.

The blonde couldn't say how relieved he was to hear that voice again. He lowered his gun as the auburn headed woman did the same with her rifle. He managed to take a good look of her thanks to the light coming from the burning town. Besides looking exhausted and the many cuts on her skin and clothes, she didn't seem to be severely hurt. However, as soon as she had let down the rifle, he saw her lose her balance and he made a quick spin to catch her before she could hit the ground.

"Claire? What's wrong?" he said obviously worried.

"Might be a concussion…" she replied "I already had one when I woke up and the explosion just made it worst...Ahg, we need to take cover, Leon. I am not sure if I managed to blew those freaks up, but I don't feel like I want to find out."

Leon nodded. Claire was in no condition to fight; for the time being they needed to find a safe place where she could get some rest.

"Can you walk…?"

"I can manage...I think."

Claire pushed herself up with Leon's support, but her legs gave up almost immediately. The adrenaline from earlier had totally drained her and combined with her concussion, he was surprised that she was still let out a soft sigh; he put the gun into the holster and picked Claire on his back. She was very light, too light in fact, and he wondered if the woman was eating well at all.

"What are you doing?"

"You can't walk. It's faster this way. Take." he added handing her the handgun "you'll be in charge of the snipping. I take your accuracy is still good?"

Claire let out a weak chuckle. He was glad that the woman was still well enough to have some sense of humor.

"Bet on it, Leon."

Finding refuge was going to be challenging, but Leon wasn't going to give up. Claire needed a place to recover and nothing would stop him from finding one. It took him several minutes and some gunshots from Claire that he was pleased to see, had been perfectly aimed to the heads, to find an abandoned cottage that was barely visible between the plants. He made sure the place was clear from their unfriendly friends before letting the youngest Redfield on the ground. She made a soft groan of discomfort rubbing her temple.

"I want to take a look of your head." Leon said approaching her.

He wasn't a medic and his knowledge in first aid protocols were limited to improvised patching; but he needed to make sure of her status.

"Be my guest…" she replied allowing him to examine her.

Leon looked at her head with the little light that entered the room. There was a lump at the back, he noticed trails of dried blood that had slip from her ears. The posibility of a concussion was very high.

"How are you feeling?"

"Peachy like crap…" she snorted weakly and Leon couldn't stop himself from smiling. It'd been long since he'd had a taste of her humor.

"I am serious though. I just want to make sure that it is only a concussion and nothing more severe."

"I am fine….just a bit dizzy, my view is blurred and I feel like I'd throw up at any time; not to say I am drained and that I could use a hot bath, but I am not complaining. I guess I should be grateful that I am still alive and kicking." she smiled "so...care to tell me how did you end up in this mess with me?"

"I was supposed to rescue you." he snorted "I guess Chris is probably pissed at me now."

"Chris is pissed most of the time. He will live through it as long as we make it out of here alive."

"Yeah, no doubt we can handle that."

"You tell me, I probably hold the record for waking up in the worst places."

Leon did not reply. He had heard of Claire's misadventures with B. , especially her most recent one in Sushestvovanie. He had read the report, but it had been quite vague and Claire's name had barely been mentioned as one of the survivors.

"You're as tough as you've ever been, aren't you?"

"Tch...I don't know, maybe I am just getting too old for this…"

"Hey, if you are getting too old, what about me and Chris?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just don't know. I guess it's the concussion making me say crap."

"You need to rest. Try to sleep and I'll stand guard…"

"All right...wake me up in a couple hours so that we can switch. I need to be woken up anyway, you know...the concussion and all."

"Don't worry. I will..."

Leon watched her for some minutes before Claire's head began drop slightly. Hhe realized that she had probably fallen asleep already. She was exhausted and he couldn't blame her, he didn't know how long she had been out there fighting those monsters while bearing with the side effects of the concussion; she certainly deserved the rest.

He stared at Claire's sleeping form and he was suddenly reminded of their time at Raccoon City. It had been eighteen years, and back then both of them had been young and inexperienced, but now the story was different. He was one of the top Agents from DSO, while Claire had not only survive multiple altercations with Umbrella's crazy scientists, but she had become the leader of a movement working to counter terrorist advances.

He looked at the sleeping woman and smiled to himself. She had changed since the last time they had met. Claire was no longer the girl he knew from Raccoon, she had always managed to keep her head cool back then, but she was more mature and serene now. Then again, she wasn't the only one who had changed, he too had grown with the years.

Claire had chosen a path different from the one he'd chosen. She was a fighter, but just not like him or her brother. She had bowerd to protect and save, instead of killing and she had a relatively low profile. Why would she become target of terrorists?

" Just what the hell does Umbrella want with you, Claire?" he sighed.