Ada sat outside the Queen's chamber, crossed legs dangling from the side of the building, radio in hand. It was streaming footage from the hidden camera just inside. Both she and Wesker had watched the whole confrontation, and now spied on the trio as they all stood up, spoke briefly, and headed over to the exit on the other side of the room. A moment later, they were gone.
"What a thrilling battle," Wesker concluded. "Though an underwhelming performance from Leon and the doctor. The girl, though – is it just me, or was she flirting with that monstrosity?"
"With the man inside it, I believe," Ada replied.
Wesker chuckled. "It's clear she doesn't have much experience. Still, it worked. Oh, what a dreadful power you creatures have over us paltry men. And what terrible effect you so often use it to."
Ada scoffed. "You are no man, and certainly not a paltry one."
"No, I suppose I'm not," he mused. "Still, I wouldn't be much of an evolutionary paragon if I lacked such urges entirely, would I?"
She heard the sound of him typing in the background, perhaps drawing up some information. A moment later she heard him humming curiously. "The Graham girls. An interesting duo, I suppose. The older sister is clearly the fairer one, but I can see why Salazar was drawn to the younger. Such innocence has a certain…allure to it…does it not?"
"I'll take your word for it," she said without inflection. Wesker had never spoken to her of such things before. While she had to note that the information could very well be valuable, she did not like the context in which it was surfacing.
The context doesn't matter. The information does.
Abruptly, he asked, "Did you notice the reaction the Plagas had to her when she fell into the pit?"
She hadn't paid it much attention. She'd been watching Leon. Still, she had seen that she'd managed to escape with her life. "They weren't terribly vigorous in their attacks, were they? It looked like the Queen Plaga was having difficulty animating them."
There was no reply from Wesker. At least, not at first. After a long moment of silence he said, "Gather the sample from the Queen. And, Ada?"
"Hm?"
"If the girl dies, gather a sample from her body as well. From her and from her Plaga. The more data, the better."
Beep!
She blinked at the curious request. Order, rather. Wesker did not make requests.
Why would he be interested in the girl? And if he was so interested in gathering a sample from her and her Plaga, why not order her death explicitly?
Then it dawned on her – he must have been interested in the unique situation at hand. The gradual maturation process of a recessive Plaga in a completely resistant and cognizant host was something that had likely not been recorded before in any meaningful capacity. He was more interested in the host behavior than the genome of the specific organism within. Recessive Plagas were a dime a dozen – the Graham daughters' scenario was not.
She did wonder at Wesker's comment, though, and his interest in Aurelleah specifically. She supposed it was just because she was the more active and expressive one in this scenario, and provided more potential for data collection…but still.
She considered his comment. Innocence.
It was no mystery that the girl was utterly inexperienced with men. Ada could tell it at a glance – just something in her body language; in her reactions, or lack thereof, to being around such vital and virile males. She did not know how to react to them.
Wesker seemed to find this strangely charming, perhaps even attractive. With a typical human male, such preferences would simply be a matter of genes, previous sexual experiences, adolescent input, so on and so forth. But with Wesker, things were simultaneously more and less complicated. More because nothing like him had ever been seen before on the face of this planet, and there therefore existed no point of reference or comparison. Less because he was, at heart, an organism with a very simple objective – perhaps the most simple and fundamental of all. Propagate that which is superior. Perhaps this was a matter of evolutionary psychology?
A simple demand for 'innocence' was an understandable one. Youth was a major component of it, and of course, the younger the female was when acquired, the more offspring she'd be able to produce in the long haul. Another aspect was selectivity – prudishness, if you would. Males of most species tended to not like sharing. A female that would fall into bed with anyone was desirable only in the short term – as long as the male could keep her interest – and Wesker wasn't a short-term kind of man. What was more, excessive breeding was one of the things he disdained about humanity. He would be sure to value quality over quantity in terms of offspring. In other words, a feal partner.
Of course, excessive selectivity could result in resistance, but that would hardly be a factor for him. If there was one thing Ada knew about him for sure, it was that he felt utterly entitled to anything he desired, and would have no qualms whatever about taking it by force. If anything, he liked to feel like he'd really earned his acquisitions. So maybe…excessive selectiveness…would be preferable to him.
Yes, whatever the context of this information, she believed she'd just acquired a very useful insight into his character, something that didn't come along often. She had never been able to sway him with the tricks that most men found irresistible, now she suspected she knew why. Perhaps Albert Wesker wasn't designed to go for an experienced woman – the sadder but wiser girl was not for him.
Well, she'd all but given up on controlling him that way a long time ago, anyways. Still, it always paid to know what turned a man on. If nothing else, that was the sort of information she could sell for a mint.
Enough woolgathering. Leon and party would need a ride over to the island. She pulled out a syringe and went to collect that sample.
Krauser had been the one to provide those surveillance drones to Wesker, and he knew well enough how to hack them. He'd watched the confrontation from afar, avoiding the notice of boss and colleague, and now that Ada had departed, he intended to go in there and finish what had been started.
He'd felt the Queen Plaga die. His Dominant had reacted to it viscerally – the death of any colony's queen was shattering to a hivemind, even if she wasn't the commanding intelligence. So the Queen was dead…but that wasn't what interested Krauser.
Oh, no. He was interested in the other parasite clinging to life in there.
He jumped down in front of the doors and pushed them open. He'd have to be quick about this, since Saddler was expecting him on the island. That was fine. Krauser was a practical man. He didn't need to play around. Much.
He landed on the floor of the chamber, kicking dead Plagas out of the way with each step, and approached the still mass that was Ramon Salazar.
Playing possum, huh? This ought to wake you up.
He sent a sort of general call out from his Plaga – nothing more than an alert that he was nearby. Almost instantly, Salazar jerked to life and twisted around, trying to catch sight of him.
"Krauser," he gasped when he finally spotted him. "My American friend. Help…"
Krauser walked over. Not to him, though – to the other sick, fleshy blob that had dropped out of the Queen Plaga's corpse. This one was long and dark and chitinous, but also horribly weak and malformed. The remains of the Verdugo, which was thrashing impotently on the floor.
Salazar continued slurring, barely coherent, as Krauser looked down at the left hand of the last castellan of this magnificent architecture. "That filthy Am…that filthy pig, Kennedy…and the doctor…and the whore…Krauser, look at what they have done to our Queen…look at what they have done to me…"
He ignored the little man's whining and nudged the Verdugo with his boot. It barely reacted. It really was out of commission.
"…Krauser, you must…you must help me…get me to Lord Saddler…he will know…how to fix me. He will know…how to…AAAAAAIIII! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Krauser had just lifted a boot and brought it down on the Verdugo's skull with brutal force. The thing was so strong that it hardly cracked…but it did crack, and both Salazar and his left hand let out weak, piercing screams.
Yeah, he'd have to finish this quickly, before they could muster up the strength to send out a distress signal to Saddler. He lifted his own left hand this time, and with it, ripped Salazar's from this mortal coil.
CRRRRNCH—SPLAT!
He shook the yellow, viscous goo of the Verdugo's brain off his hand, turned, and walked calmly over to Salazar, who was thrashing around like a dying worm.
As those blood-red eyes caught sight of him approaching, Salazar started trying to crawl away. He was crying now. "No…! No…! Krauser! You cannot…you cannot…! Please! Please! Go away! Leave me alone!"
Sobbing. Pathetic. Krauser hadn't been planning on saying anything to the man, but as he caught up to him, he asked, "Incidentally, what does 'Me cago in la puta leche' mean?"
Salazar just squealed, "Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"
Krauser didn't think that was an accurate translation. He'd just have to ask the girl when he saw her.
His Plaga pulsed excitedly. As he'd learned, Dominants did not exactly form a hivemind with each other. They were highly susceptible to the consciences of their hosts – and Krauser really, really hated this little fucker. As a result, his Plaga was positively thrumming with the fervor of the moment.
Interestingly, at the thought of seeing her again, his Plaga's excitement redoubled in a sort of emotional synergism, Krauser's own arousal mixing with the imminence of the kill.
Salazar stilled, eyes widening in shocked understanding. Krauser could feel their Plagas interacting with each other, Salazar's pleading for mercy as Krauser's broadcast their intent to the room at large…and it seemed that Salazar had picked up on that last little impulse.
He began screaming, "YOU CAN HAVE THE GIRL! I DON'T WANT HER! YOU CAN HAVE HER! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEA—"
Krauser was done here. The pipsqueak's voice was getting annoying. He walked over, lifted a boot, and brought it down on the tiny man's head.
He felt Salazar's thoughts shut off like a popped lightbulb, but the Plaga inside of him was still alive. Krauser lifted his boot and brought it down on the base of the man's spine, then down a few inches further, then a few inches further, eradicating his entire central nervous system one step at a time.
Stop.
Stop.
St—op.
Ssss—top—
Ssssssss—
The Plaga fell silent.
Krauser stood there for a moment, feeling lazily satisfied, and his own Plaga concurred. They were both pleased. So, for that matter, was his inner reptile, though almost at once it began chiding him halfheartedly for taking so long in the kill. Salazar hadn't been able to send Saddler a distress signal before he died – his Plaga would have sensed it if he had– but if he had managed it, that would have been bad for them.
Nevermind. It was time to move on. He scraped the remains of the Plaga off his boot and headed for the exit. He had an appointment to keep.
Leon, Luis, and Aurelleah made their way out to the rear balcony, looking out over the channel before them and to the island beyond. It had grown moderately foggy, but they could see red and yellow and white lights shining through the mist in small, blurry pinpoints. The dock was set into the base of the cliff on which the tower rested, and there was an elevator leading down from the tier below them. Unfortunately, they ran into a problem.
"That's not good," Luis said as he sidled up to what was supposed to be the lift down, the carriage a smoking wreck at the bottom. The next tier was at least a hundred feet beneath them, and Salazar had evidently ordered the lift destroyed. That explained the loud, metallic crash they'd heard earlier.
Leon began looking around for another way down and quickly spotted something. He went over and inspected it, then called them over. "Got something."
Elleah came over, looked down, and backed straight up. "Nope," she said firmly.
It was a metal rig set into the side of the building that looked like it had been used to transport cargo up and down with manpower. It also looked like it hadn't been used since the lift had been installed – the crank was clearly broken down and rusted – but the thick rope that had once secured such cargo looked sturdy.
Leon tugged on it and felt no give. Furthermore, it was anchored to something down below, so they wouldn't swing around on it. The only problem was Elleah; she wouldn't have the upper body strength to rappel all the way down.
That was fine. Leon had enough for both of them. "Luis, your rope?"
He pulled it out and handed it to Leon, who began tying it in a supportive chest rig. Once he'd secured himself, he motioned for Elleah to come over. "Come on," he said. "I'll lower us down."
Her eyes widened. "You, carry me all the way down there? No way."
Leon snorted. Facing down a colossal mutant tentacled madman was one thing, but it looked like willingly stepping off the edge of a hundred-foot drop was where she drew the line. "How many times have we been over this? You're a featherweight. I can carry you, trust me. But for the record, I'm tying you to my chest so you'll be able to help control our descent. Just hold onto the rope as best you can and work with me. I'll take care of you."
She still looked hesitant, and stepped back when he stepped towards her. "Isn't there another way down?"
Luis put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, mi cadenza. Leon can hold you. Trust me. He carried you past a lot more than this earlier, when you were unconscious. Anyways, he was able to hold up my weight, remember?"
She moaned miserably. "I hate this place. I think I'm developing vertigo."
"Duly noted," Leon said flatly. "Now come on, let's go get your sister."
He felt bad about pressuring her with the Ashley Card, but they really couldn't afford to delay anymore. They'd rested long enough after killing Salazar. Elleah approached him and tensely allowed him to secure her to his chest. Then they carefully stepped over to the edge…and her eyes widened at the height. She closed them and shook her head.
Leon let out a short, frustrated breath through his nose and grabbed onto the rope. This baby bird was about to learn how to fly.
The chest rigging was secure. She wouldn't fall, even if she wasn't holding onto anything…so he tugged them both off the balcony. She choked in pure terror and latched onto him...which wasn't the least bit helpful.
"Grab the rope," he grunted as he suspended nearly three hundred pounds of weight over the hundred-foot drop.
She grabbed it, but both of her feet had lunged out to hook onto the balcony as best they could. Leon sighed and braced his own feet against the wall, pushed back, and slid them down about two feet, the bottoms of his hands driving Elleah's down.
Her feet stayed hooked desperately onto the ledge, twisted at an awkward angle since she was facing away from it, and she cried out in terror. But she was now horizontal, which was probably even worse for her than just dangling straight above oblivion. Luis said nothing, only watched the whole debacle.
"We're going down," Leon said gruffly, and prepared to lower them even more.
Elleah unhooked one leg from the ledge, scrabbled at the side of the wall for purchase, and found none. It was smooth. She finally took a deep breath and unhooked her last anchor, flopping down so she was vertical again.
Her fists were locked tightly onto the rope. "Grab on above my fists so I don't have to knock yours off," Leon instructed. She did as he said. "I'll lower us down a couple feet at a time. Just grip and release with me. Ready? One – two – three."
He pushed off and slid down another two feet, and she hiccupped…but let the rope slide through her hands, grabbing on again when they stopped. He could feel the weight she was helping suspend now that she was invested in helping, and it really took a fair bit of strain off his arms, which had been starting to burn. This was a real pain.
"One – two – three," he said again, and slid down another two feet. She did just fine. He decided to pick up the pace. "Okay, faster now. Let's go."
He picked up a quick, steady rhythm, and she matched it without a hitch. The whole time he could feel her shaking violently against him, though, and she'd closed her eyes and tucked her chin in. She looked like she was going to throw up, and he really, really hoped she didn't. If his chest injury hadn't gotten infected from the sewer, it would definitely get infected from that.
But thankfully, they made it to the bottom without incident. The second they touched ground, Elleah's eyes shot open and she gasped in relief. Leon quickly untied them, and she braced a hand against the wall, still trembling…then ran over to a row of crates, bent over behind them, and started puking.
He sighed. That was a waste of food, water, and energy.
She's practically a kid, and she's being forced to go through a damn theatre of war. Cut her some slack.
The rope shook as Luis started down. He made the trip significantly faster than they had. A chill wind had picked up and, going by the blackness of the clouds overhead, it was very possible that it would start raining soon.
Good thing it hasn't rained recently – if that rope had been slick, that would have been a hell of a lot more dangerous.
They really were catching a lot of lucky breaks. Hard to appreciate them given all they still had to deal with, though.
Leon handed Luis his rope when he touched down. As he raveled it back up and stowed it in his pack, Elleah forced herself upright again, took a long, gurgling swish of water, and stumbled back over to them.
"I'm sorry," she said to Leon. Though she was looking down at her feet when she said this, he could see her eyes were red, and she looked and sounded miserable.
The rest of his frustration was overwritten by serious pity. "Don't be," he said, lightly punching her shoulder. The right one, obviously. "You did fine. And this is some scary stuff."
She shrugged shakily and turned away, shoulders up, arms crossed. She was walling herself off.
This is taking a serious toll on her. She needs help before she cracks.
Well, this was where Luis came in. Leon went over to the elevator and pushed the button to call it up – thankfully it hadn't been destroyed, too – and watched the heavy metal cable slide by as he ignored the pair behind him. He'd give them some privacy.
He heard them talking softly for a minute, then there was silence, which he also ignored. He'd just let Luis comfort her however he could. At this point, he could do whatever he wanted to her, so long as it kept her sane and moving.
The elevator dinged, and Leon stepped on as the doors opened up. Luis and Elleah joined him. She didn't look exactly calm again, but she didn't look like she might just curl up in a ball and give up.
"So there'll be a boat down there?" Leon said.
"There should be," Luis replied. "Salazar always has his private deck boat down there. Even if the keys aren't in it, we'll be fine. I know how to jumpstart it."
A few more corridors later and they reached the dock. Unfortunately…
"Oh," Luis said, looking around with wide, worried eyes. "Oh, that's not good."
The dock was empty.
He ran to the end and started looking around, and finally spotted what he was looking for. "Shit," he said, pointing.
A brown, gold, and blue deck boat was floating maybe half a mile away. Leon pulled out his field specs and zoomed in to see a crew of Ganados standing around, faces blank. Evidently, Salazar had ordered them to keep out to sea until he commanded otherwise. And since he was dead…
"We have no ride," Leon said gravely.
Luis nodded.
Leon rubbed his forehead. Well, looked like they'd need another plan.
He supposed he could try to radio back to base on his secondary line, call for support, but even if he got through, a boat would take hours to reach them. Hours at least. And it would take a while for him to get through all the security backups and verifications just to relay the message.
But there was nothing for it. Without a boat, they were stuck down here. He couldn't carry Elleah all the way back up that wall, after all. He'd have to give the radio a go. He pulled it out to adjust the frequency, but before he could, Elleah spoke up.
"Is that Ada?"
She was pointing at something, and Leon looked up to see a small motorboat zipping towards them over the water. At its prow, a slim figure in flowing red.
Leon put his radio away. Looked like it was Ada to the rescue again.
He'd been really surprised by her intervention with Elleah earlier. Ada struck him as many things – cunning, resourceful, deceptive, intelligent, bold, passionate, with a healthy dollop of feline playfulness mixed in – but caring or merciful had never really come to mind. Yet she'd intervened in Elleah's fall to save her life, seemingly for no reason.
Maybe she'd done it for his sake. Maybe she had an ulterior motive. Maybe, for some inexplicable reason, she just liked her. Whatever the case was, Leon had been grateful. And he would gladly accept her help now.
That didn't mean he was dim enough to trust her wholesale, though. He'd keep an eye on her.
Not exactly a tall order, he thought appraisingly as she pulled in. As usual, just the sight of her sent a thrill through him that he'd never felt seeing any other woman, and it took a real soldier's discipline to keep it in check. As she whipped into the cavern, turning the boat around in a smooth motion even as it coasted to a halt less than a foot from the dock, he couldn't quite keep his eyes from trailing as far down her smooth, flawless back as far as the seat would allow. She'd been wearing a largely backless dress that first time they'd met, too. He didn't know what she was playing at with her wardrobe, given the violent circumstances…but she'd never hear him complain.
She looked over her shoulder directly at him and asked, "Need a ride, handsome?"
Keep it in check, he commanded himself. All he said was, "…Okay."
Luis stepped forward, smiling cheekily. "Ay, señorita. Always nice to see you."
"Hi Ada," Elleah said, trying for a smile. Then she winced, clutching her chest.
Luis pulled the pill bottle out, tossed Leon a couple more – he swallowed them directly – and handed a half a one to Elleah. "You're sure you want to cut down on the dose?" He prompted.
She nodded and took it. "It helped out during the fight with Salazar. I could feel what he was up to."
Ada cocked an eyebrow at her. "I caught a glimpse of that fight, young lady. I must say, your approach was effective…" she chuckled. "…though your technique could use a bit of work."
Elleah blushed furiously, and Leon wondered what Ada meant. He'd lost sight of Elleah during the fight, and by the time he'd spotted her again she'd been completely entangled by tentacles. He still didn't know how she'd managed all those Plagas in the pit.
Well, neither woman seemed intent on elaborating, so he just shrugged and hopped into the boat.
He held out a hand to steady Elleah as she jumped in and took one of the back seats. Luis followed her, and Leon made to sit in the other back seat.
Luis blatantly slid in right under him, shoving him towards the front, and Elleah giggled, looking between him and Ada.
Are you friends? Do you like her? You two would make the most badass couple in the world.
Leon gritted his teeth and went up to sit in the last remaining seat, which was, of course, shotgun. Why the hell did girls always want to play matchmaker? And why was Luis encouraging her?
She didn't look over at him as he sat. She just stood up and scanned the opening, making sure they were clear for launch.
She hummed curiously as she spotted something. "Hmmm…what are they up to…?"
Leon stood as well, following her gaze. Salazar's boat had turned around in the water and was facing the mainland, the crew active on deck. Wanting to know what they were up to, he pulled out his specs and zoomed in. One of them was operating a heavy lever on the aft, moving it up and down. As he watched, the boat started up again, quickly pulling away. The Ganado manning the lever stumbled and continued, but one of the other ones beside him was surprised by the sudden movement and tumbled off the back. He began swimming after the boat as it pulled away, but they didn't bother going back for him.
Tough luck, buddy, Leon thought as he lowered the specs. The boat was sailing away in front of them, passing by the dock and heading down the channel between the island and continent. Leon didn't know what they were doing, though a quick peek showed him that they were no longer manning the switch.
Ada watched a moment longer, then shrugged easily. "Well, they aren't coming after us."
She gunned it suddenly. Leon, like the Ganado, was taken by surprise and fell. Thankfully just into his seat rather than off the boat. "Oof."
The corner of Ada's mouth twitched up as they took off. The channel was a wide one, and it would take a few minutes to cross. There wasn't much he could talk to her about in the meantime, given that they had company. Even if he'd wanted to, Elleah and Luis had their own interests.
"There's a dock on the west side of the island," Luis explained. "The machine is—"
"I know what dock you're talking about," Ada said, cutting him off. "And it won't be an option. Saddler had some of his men turn it into a veritable death trap. Sea mines, snipers, crossbowmen, copious amounts of land reinforcements…even I couldn't get past it all. No, you're going to have to work your way over from the back lines."
Luis laid back, looking very upset at this piece of news. But when Elleah looked over at him, he smoothed his expression back out with a careless shrug. "Ah, well. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, is it?"
His relaxed demeanor seemed to assuage her. She didn't look worried. Leon respected him for that – real men knew not to heap their worries on the most vulnerable among them.
Elleah looked down at her feet and blinked in surprise. "Is this a harpoon gun back here?"
"Yes. Would you like to give it a whirl?"
Elleah giggled again. "Thanks, but I think I'll leave that sort of thing to Leon and Luis. My slingshot is high-caliber enough for me."
"Suit yourself," Ada said.
It wasn't until they were approaching mid-channel that something disturbing happened. They'd just passed by the Ganado that had been bucked by Salazar's boat, which was out of sight by then, and a moment later heard a huge splashing sound coming from that direction. When they all looked over, all they saw was a big, rippling wave dispersing.
The Ganado was gone.
Luis shot straight up in his seat. "Leon, give me your binoculars."
He passed them over at once, and Luis looked, not towards the source of the disturbance, but back towards the mainland. Whatever he was looking for, it took him only a glance to confirm.
"Shit," he said while passing the binoculars back. "Ada! Your dropoff, how far is it?"
When she spoke, the normal teasing laughter in her voice was nowhere to be found. "On the west side, just a couple minutes away. What's coming for us?"
"Del Lago," Luis said, running a hand through his hair and struggling not to look worried. "The big one, the one that's actually from the lake. They opened the dam to let it out. They wouldn't normally do that, since they are a freshwater species, but—BANK RIGHT!"
He flung himself back down into his seat and held on – they all did – as the boat turned as hard right as it could without flipping them.
Leon's eyes widened as the beast erupted from the water just in front of them. Vision once again came to him in a series of shutterclicks, like when Elleah had interposed herself between him and that Plaga the previous night, and the images he caught were these:
A head large enough to swallow their boat whole, shooting out of the water, sending a wave cascading towards them.
The jaw unhinging as far as it could go as the boat slid smoothly out of the way, its dark gullet ringed with huge teeth.
Tentacles whipping out of its throat to dart towards them, trailing from the left-hand corner of its mouth as they scraped against its side in their dodge.
Then it was gone again, and they were all left sputtering and wiping their eyes.
Ada spit out some water and asked, "How fast is it?"
"Much faster than us," Luis replied. "And now that it knows we're here, it won't let us escape. They must have called it over with…ugh, nevermind."
"How do we kill it?" Leon asked.
Luis didn't even have to hesitate. "We'll want to damage it as much as possible! Damaging any Plaga-infected organism causes its metabolism to massively increase as it struggles to repair the damage. As I said, these things are strictly freshwater, and…"
The boat jerked aside again as Ada dodged out of the way of a rearward strike. The Del Lago had tried to catch them from behind, and sunk beneath the waves again, taking off ahead of them as they side-sailed its mouth. This gave Leon a moment to both compare their speeds and get a feel for the thing's size. Luis was right – it was way faster than them. And it was almost fifty feet long from tail to tip.
Ada picked up on Luis's explanation. "The heightened metabolism will increase the rate of saltwater intake and subsequent dehydration…"
"…weakening it and eventually killing it!" Luis finished. "Yes!"
Elleah reached down and grabbed the harpoon gun. "Good thing we have this."
Leon took it from her and gave the weapon a quick once-over. He wouldn't have a problem using it. Slingshots he'd never touched – harpoon guns he was familiar with.
"Luis, keep a watch off the portside. Elleah, starboard! Ada, keep us out of that thing's mouth and try to steady us after a dodge!"
"What side is starboard?!" Elleah asked.
"Opposite of port!" Leon yelled. Luis was scanning the portside, so Elleah would figure it out.
They were all yelling because the wind was picking up, and that combined with the growl of the engines made it difficult to hear. They all took up their positions, and after only a few seconds…
"Right under us!" Elleah screeched, and Ada slowed them down and turned to starboard. The Del Lago lurched out of the water again, this time going under them and sending them sliding over its back. Ada was able to keep them from tipping, but just barely.
Leon held on and got a perfect shot at the back of the thing's head before it submerged again. Sadly, as with most Plaga-infected things, a headshot only pissed it off. The harpoon sank into the base of its skull and it gurgled in pain before submerging again, sending them tossing and bobbing in the waves.
The wind was really going now, sending the fog swirling around them, and Leon only just noticed that it had begun to rain.
Because, you know, we really need the ambiance, he thought while gritting his teeth. We couldn't just fight a giant sea monster on a nice, pleasant day, could we? No, we need a fucking storm to go with it. Otherwise, what's the point?
"It's raining," Elleah remarked.
"Thanks!" Leon said as he grabbed another harpoon and reloaded. They had five more. "I hadn't noticed!"
"Welcome!"
"PORT, TEN FEET!"
Leon turned and saw it approaching them, about to lunge, and he took the opportunity to line up the shot. Just as it broached the waves he fired, and the harpoon hit it right between the eyes as Ada jerked them all to the side.
He felt a stab of alarm as Luis went flying off the back, and Elleah shrieked, but the Del Lago missed him and went swimming away. Ada turned them around in the water, setting them still so he could swim over and climb back on.
He was about ten feet away and paddling hard when Elleah called, "It's turning around."
She sounded scared. Leon reloaded. Luis swam harder. Ada waited patiently for him to board.
He did so just in time, pulling himself out of the water and throwing himself onto the floor of the boat just as the Del Lago lunged for them. Ada gunned it, and the corner of its mouth bashed the side of their vessel, putting a serious dent in it and rattling them all…but they survived, and the boat didn't seem damaged.
"Please don't fall out again," Ada said, and got them flying once more.
Luis was gasping for breath, looking uncharacteristically shaken, and spat, "Coño, am I going to be personally made to regret every single one of my creations?"
"Probably," Leon said as he scanned ahead of them for signs of their enemy. His blood was really racing on this fight, but he wasn't scared. Luis seemed confident enough that they'd be okay, and anyways, it was hard not to feel confident when you were toting a harpoon gun. He'd need to get himself one of these.
"Those who make monsters often come to regret their works," Ada supplied, twisting them around to head in a more open direction. They'd been getting close to the island.
"You sure we can't just find a safe place to dock and hop off?" Elleah asked.
Luis fielded that one. "This thing will jump up to ten feet out of the water to get to us, and it can crawl a little ways on land," he said. "We won't all be able to get away, even if we time it perfectly. PORT!"
Ada dodged them again, but this time Leon didn't fire. His balance had been thrown off, and he wasn't about to fire unless he had a great shot. They only had four more harpoons.
This time Ada slowed them down and began circling. They all scanned their surroundings for it, but saw nothing.
"Did it run?" Elleah asked.
"Nah," Leon said. "It didn't run."
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw its legs. Could you imagine it trying to run on those stubby little things? Nah. Mighta swum off, though."
Ada and Luis both made pained noises. Elleah laughed loudly. Then Leon spotted movement in the water directly beneath them.
"It's coming straight up at us!" He hollered. Ada reacted perfectly and instantly, speeding up and juking them out of the way just as it burst up on their side. Leon's balance wasn't perfect, but that was way too good an angle – he took the shot.
He fired at the thing's briefly exposed belly and hit dead on. Water sloshed over them all, and the Del Lago roared as it dropped straight back down. Blood and ichor gushed from its soft stomach, and Luis barked, "Nice!"
Three more, Leon thought as he loaded another harpoon. Hope this fish dries out soon.
The wind was positively roaring now, and Ada had to slow back down. The storm was ramping up, and it was moderately dark in spite of the fact that it was surely near noon by then. Suddenly, they were all blinded as lightning flashed almost immediately overhead in a stunning display, and hardly a second later, they were hit with the thunder blast.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Elleah dropped to the floor of the boat, and Leon was willing to bet her knees had given out at the stunning volume. He'd been exposed to such noises before in the form of high explosives and artillery, but it must have been pretty shocking to a civilian.
Shocking, he thought as the burst of fiery electricity died off, leaving his vision slightly darker than before. Ha.
The Del Lago burst out of the water right to their side, and Ada wasn't able to dodge.
Thankfully, it seemed that, as close to the surface as it had been, even the Del Lago had been disoriented by the lightning. It didn't hit them dead on, but instead clipped their stern, sending the boat rocking.
Leon blinked the light and rain out of his eyes as the boat continued rocking. He wondered why Ada wasn't steadying them…
…then saw that she was no longer in the driver's seat.
Alarm bit into him as he grabbed the wheel and looked around. They'd been completely turned about by the blow, and it took him a long moment to orient himself. By the time he did, he saw something right out of a nightmare.
The boat had been on auto, and had kept going after bucking its driver. As a result, Ada was almost sixty feet away, swimming hard towards them, but another seventy feet or so behind her was the Del Lago. It had retreated a long ways after its blind strike, but it was now swimming at the surface, jaw open to sweep its prey up, and there was no way in hell she'd be able to outswim that.
Leon gunned the engine, turned them around, and with hardly a thought to the strategy, began heading towards the Del Lago – and Ada.
Please move, he thought, and thankfully, she did when she saw him coming. He wasn't going full-tilt, so she had enough time to get out of the way. She turned to the side and ducked underwater, and he lifted his harpoon gun on one shoulder and fired it at titanic salamander.
It had let out a bubbly roar of challenge upon sensing their approach and opened its maw wider, intent on the larger meal. It roared again as the harpoon sunk into the roof of its mouth, but it didn't change course.
Behind him, Elleah yelped, "Reload!"
He tilted the harpoon gun back so she had access to the nozzle, and she stuffed a harpoon roughly in. He felt it click into place, and he tilted it forward again, hardly taking time to aim before he fired once more.
It hit dead on, and the air shuddered with the sound of the Del Lago's agony as it turned its massive head to the side at the last second and submerged. Leon cut their movement and whipped around in the water in the direction Ada had gone.
He saw her, and zipped over to her, turning to give her the back of the boat. She kicked over and slipped on as gracefully as an otter emerging onto land, shaking her hair out and saying, "Quite a jousting match."
It sounded like she was uninjured. He heaved a sigh of relief and swapped seats with her, letting her take over once more. "Please don't fall out again," he said, turning her own words back on her.
She let out a small huff of indignation and started them speeding, this time in line with the wind so they wouldn't be rocked.
"Luis, how long can freshwater fish last in saltwater?" Elleah asked nervously.
Luis kept scanning the waves. "Depends on the fish. This variety of salamander can't handle it at all, though, and normally only lasts about forty minutes."
"Forty minutes?" Leon growled. They could not keep this up for that long.
"No fear, amigo," Luis said calmingly. "Coupled with the extensive damage you're doing – and your hits have been quite impressive – the thing should die significantly sooner. If we're lucky, it will stop pursuing us altogether soon and just drift off to die."
Well, soon wasn't now because it burst up directly in front of them again, trying to swallow them all whole. Given that they hadn't seen it coming, they should have been swallowed whole, but Ada managed to get them out of the way regardless, hardly bumping its side on the way past.
Leon shot it again, this time sticking it in the side behind one of its legs. One more shot left.
"It's slowing down," Ada commented.
"Woohoo!" Elleah cheered hopefully. Leon said nothing, just loaded in the last harpoon.
He'd noticed the belly shot had done the most damage. He figured he'd try for another of those. "Circle us slowly again," he commanded. "I want another shot at its stomach."
Ada slowed them down and began circling. It had already been approaching for another sideways blow, but even going as slowly as they had been, it missed them completely with little effort from Ada. It really did seem to be on its last tiny legs.
They waited, zooming in circles, and Elleah wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed tightly. Leon could sympathize – it was damn cold out here. Then Luis said, "I believe I saw it submerging off to port. Watch under us."
They watched. They waited. They weren't disappointed.
"Down and to starboard," Leon said. Ada adjusted and prepared, and a moment later, the Del Lago burst up – right into Leon's line of sight.
He'd been going to aim for where he thought its heart was, but these Plagas seemed to nestle smack-dab in the upper middle of the body, so that's what he shot for instead. He got it just a few feet under its throat, and this time, the thing didn't even roar. It jerked grotesquely in the air, one leg going stiff, and it let out an oddly musical siren's cry as it fell backwards.
They made to pull away, but a quick look back showed them that the chase was over. The thing was now slower than they were, and it was wriggling around awkwardly near the surface like a tadpole squirming around in the mud.
Leon stared after it, feeling oddly morose. It was almost sad to see such a massive beast expressing pain so clearly. Almost.
He glanced at Elleah to see that she was also looking back at the thing with some pity. Then she sighed, shook the water off her face and said, "Who's up for sushi?"
"I'm more of a steak guy," Leon said.
Luis said, "Never had sushi. Can't really wrap my mind around the idea of eating raw fish."
"But it's sooooooooo good," Elleah moaned.
Ada tilted her head at Leon and rolled her eyes, but unless he was very mistaken, he thought she looked like she was having a good time.
Too bad good times with her never last, he thought tiredly, and sat back down, tossing the harpoon gun on the floor behind them. And he knew this one wouldn't. Despite her seeming interest in their success, and regardless of what she'd done to help them, he knew that, sooner rather than later, she'd be flying away with that hookshot of hers again to do whatever it was she'd really come here to do. For Wesker.
He hated the thought of her working with that man. He knew that, should she ever be captured by U.S. forces, he wouldn't be able to protect her. He honestly couldn't even be sure that she deserved whatever protection he'd be able to offer. He just didn't know how heavily involved she'd been in the Raccoon City incident, or what her goals were here. He wanted to believe the best of her, he really did…
But he couldn't; because he had a job to do, and she wasn't a part of it. That didn't mean he'd hang her out to dry if she ever needed his help – he didn't think he'd be capable of it, whatever the cost or scenario – but at the end of the day, they were playing for opposite teams.
A few minutes later they approached the edge of a rocky cliff. Leon decided that he needed to say…well, something to her. He looked at her, tried to catch her eye, tried to crystallize what exactly he wanted to relay, and as they pulled up to a nearly-hidden ledge on the stone, she glanced over and met his gaze.
She held it for only a moment before abruptly jerking the steering wheel, sending the boat tilting dangerously to the starboard side, and Elleah squeaked in alarm. Leon, who had just been opening his mouth to speak, bit down hard on his tongue with the force of the juke. Ow.
Before the boat could even settle, she'd pulled out her hookshot and fired it at the cliff. She stood up quickly, anchored to the rock wall, and put a foot on the steering wheel. "Got some business to take care of," she said. "See you later."
And with that she kicked off the steering wheel, sending them all whirling around again as she flew up into the lingering mist clinging to the sides of the cliff. Leon reached out to steady them, but he'd been badly disoriented by the two sudden turns, and try as he might…
BANG!
Elleah shrieked and even Luis called out roughly as they bashed into the side of the cliff. Leon finally steadied them against the wall as the boat bit the dust. He slumped back down in his seat and looked up just in time to see Ada vanishing in a flash of red.
He looped an arm around the back of the seat, exhausted. "Women," he breathed.
OoO
See? Told ya I listen to my readers!
Really, though, I wouldn't have thought to do the Del Lago fight here if it hadn't been for Steele's disappointment over that one being skipped. I'm glad I worked it in, though - it was a fun one to write. This chapter's dedicated to you, Steelephoenix! ^_^
Oh, and welcome to my newest followers, The Randomizer and Aquisea! I update regularly, every 2-4 days, and I don't see myself going on hiatus before the story is done, so you won't have to worry about me leaving off. I have most of the fic finished and saved up, pending gradual release, so this one will run all the way to the end, uninterrupted...assuming no major disruptions in my life, that is ;D
Well, hope you're all enjoying the story! See you in a few days!
Best,
The Topaz Dragon