Elleah walked beside Luis, who was carrying Mike. It clearly wasn't easy on him. She could sympathize. She knew how hard it was to carry that much dead weight.
They headed up a nearby pass, and Elleah could tell that Luis was really pushing himself to avoid slowing them down. He'd had her take another Plaga repression pill, and she could no longer sense Saddler's presence. She was pretty sure Luis was shortening the gaps between her doses at this point, but she was okay with that. She felt like this whole thing was drawing to a close, anyways. It wouldn't be much longer before they reached the machine. Hopefully.
They got to something slightly problematic – a ladder. A downward trip, thankfully, but still a hassle with an unconscious man. When they got here, Leon said, "I'll go down first, make sure the coast is clear, then I'll let you drop him onto my shoulders. One sec."
Luis nodded, kneeling and setting Mike down in preparation for the descent. Leon slid down the ladder to have a look around.
As he did, Elleah sat down next to Mike. It was hard to even look at him, he was so roughed up. But she forced herself to, and once again, her stomach churned with worry. "Mike will be okay, right?" She asked Luis.
He looked at her, and she could tell he wanted to give her some flippant reassurance that would put her mind at ease. Maybe that would have been best for her, but she really wanted to know the truth, so she tried to maintain a steady, calm expression rather than a scared one. Fear begged reassurance. Calm invited confidence.
Evidently it worked, because Luis's features fell a bit. "I'm not sure, mi cadenza. Perhaps, if we are able to wrap this up soon; but if there are too many delays, or should we run afoul another truly dire threat, he may not make it."
She nodded and felt like crying. She liked Mike. She didn't want him to die. She didn't want anyone to die.
Well, maybe Saddler. Just maybe.
She heard something downstairs, and felt an ominous sensation coming from her Plaga. It was too vague for her to really home in on, but something was up. Knowing that someone needed to stay with Mike, she grabbed her slingshot and said, "One sec, be right back."
"Ay, Aurelleah…!"
She didn't listen, only dropped down into the ruinous basement they were parked outside of. She stepped over the stony, sandy floor, heading in the direction Leon had taken, and saw what the problem was when she got to the next room.
Ada and Leon were here, but something was wrong with him. This was fairly obvious by the way he was choking Ada.
Elleah ran over and grabbed onto Leon's arm, yanking at it to try and break the hold. No-go, though – his stance was immovable, his arm like an iron bar.
Still, she gave it the old college try, tugging down on his elbow as Ada choked and sputtered. "Leon, snap out of it! Stop! Please!"
He just growled. His eyes were wide…and red. Like them. The Ganados.
When was the last time he took his pills?
Suddenly Leon gasped, and Elleah saw a knife in Ada's hand. She'd sunk it just a centimeter or so into his leg – enough to hurt, but not enough to really damage him. Just to make sure he had the message, she then stepped forward and kneed him right in the groin.
He buckled. The knee sent him toppling backwards and rolling away, clutching his…tidbits.
Elleah first went to Ada and asked, "Are you okay?"
She was rubbing her throat and gasping for breath, but she nodded, eyes wide and locked on Leon in case he wasn't down for the count. Elleah went to him next, but recalling the last time he'd found himself struggling against the Plaga's influence, she kept a bit of distance. "Leon?" She asked. "Are you alright?"
He got to his knees and rasped, "Yeah." He looked over to Ada – his eyes were back to normal – and just said, "Sorry," with the air of someone's who's caused a very minor inconvenience, such as being fifteen minutes late to dinner or forgetting to pick up milk on the way home from work.
The pair took a moment to recover, and Elleah looked back and forth between them, uncertain of what she should do. Maybe she should just…go?
Ada spoke. "We have to get that parasite out of your body," she said, and Elleah was certain she heard some serious concern in her voice.
Leon nodded, then grimaced, clutching his chest. Elleah could feel Saddler's influence in the room in a dull, muted sort of way. Leon had missed out on the last two doses of the medicine – she was pretty sure that was why he'd just lost control.
"But first, I've gotta rescue Ashley…" he said.
Ada didn't look entirely happy with that answer, but said, "Where is she?"
Leon shrugged.
Ada shook her head and looked at Aurelleah. "Your Plaga is more developed than his, and may have a greater link to the hivemind. Can you get a feel for where your sister is?"
"No," she said. "I just took more medication. I could barely feel Leon going ape down here."
Ada sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Fine, then. We'll split up, find Ashley, then…"
Then on to their ultimate goal. "To Narnia and the North," Elleah finished gallantly.
Ashley, having never read the Chronicles of Narnia, was always confused when Elleah quoted it. But Leon had read them, and by the little half-smile Ada tried to smother, it seemed like maybe she'd read them, too.
"Narnia and the North," Leon groaned, finally getting to his feet. "But in the meantime, want to go grab me my next dose, Elle? I'd like to have a quick word with Ada."
Elleah nodded and returned to the previous room, with the ladder. She climbed back up, and at once Luis asked sharply, "What happened?"
She didn't dismount the ladder. "Leon had a Plaga incident. It made him attack Ada. Can I get some of the medication for him?"
Luis swore and pulled out the bottle, passing her two pills. "Damn. I forgot his dose. Won't let that happen again."
"Let's hope we find the machine before it becomes an issue again," she said, and slid back down the ladder.
Leon was just coming back to the base of it, sans Ada, and she handed him the medication, which he took with a swig of water. "Was Ada alright?" She asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. But for some reason, she's still not inclined to join our group. Go figure." Then he called up, "Okay, Luis, all clear. Let's go."
He and Luis spent the next few minutes painstakingly lowering Mike down the ladder without damaging the man while Elleah stood by and watched. She wanted to help, but she'd have just gotten in the way. As the man touched ground, Leon's hand dug into one of his wounds, and he groaned.
Leon quickly repositioned his hand. Luis joined him at the bottom and said, "I don't suppose we could try your smelling salts? He's a little heavy."
Leon considered, then nodded. Evidently their need to be on guard and unburdened outweighed Mike's need to rest. Leon pulled out his salts as Luis supported Mike, and a moment later the man was coughing and gagging.
"Ugh…ack…bleh…oh, God…smells like my kid's gym socks…"
"You've got a kid?" Leon asked. "Even more of a reason to get you outta here alive. How ya feelin', Mike?"
The man had aviator's goggles on, so Elleah couldn't see the state of his eyes. The rest of his face said enough, though, scrunched up as it was. "Augh, I feel like my chopper got blown up. Did my chopper get blown up?"
"Yeah, your chopper got blown up," Elleah confirmed sadly. "Sorry."
"Can you walk?" Luis asked. He was still heavily supporting the man.
Mike scoffed weakly. "Psh, can I walk. Of course I can…urgh."
He'd tried to take a step forward, and nearly crumpled. Leon caught him, and Mike said, "Okay, correction – I can walk with a bit of assistance."
Luis took over again. He grabbed one of Mike's arms and draped it over his neck, wrapping an arm around his waist to steady him. "Hey, better than having to carry you all the way. Much better. At least this way I have one hand free. Let's go."
Leon clarified as they started out of the basement. "Sorry to have to rush, Mike, but we're on one hell of a timetable. Ashley's still captured, and both she and Aurelleah were implanted with a parasite that's reaching critical growth inside them. If we don't get them out soon, they're done for. I have one too, but mine's younger. I'll be fine."
"Tell that to Ada's neck," Elleah commented. Leon scowled at her.
"Parasite?" Mike asked, clearly trying to use the conversation to distract himself from the pain. "What, like a tapeworm…? I got one of those last year…wasn't fun."
"Yeah," Luis replied, starting to breathe a bit roughly under the strain of supporting the man. "Like a tapeworm. Only instead of eating the food in your stomach, it eats all of your memories and personality traits and turns you into a mindless, violent thrall."
A moment's pause. "So not a tapeworm, then."
"No, not a tapeworm."
They were in an area that looked like an ancient ruin, but that had also been fortified with some modern structures – metal bars on the windows, heavy doors, so on and so forth. The streets were winding, but Luis seemed to be confident enough in picking his directions. As they went, it started drizzling again. Great. She'd just been getting dry.
"Say, that warning I got earlier – was that you, sweetheart?"
He was talking about when she'd told him to move. When they'd gotten up there to that terrace, she'd felt Saddler nearby. Then, as when he'd been about to kill Luis, she'd felt his intent. That horrible, looming threat of consummation. He'd anticipated killing Mike like someone might anticipate killing a really annoying insect that had been bothering them all day. It was as thought he'd been about to swat a bothersome fly. And she hadn't known where the swatter was coming from, so she'd just told him to move.
It wasn't so much the threat Saddler represented that bothered her – it was the way he perceived people that scared her so much. He really thought that their lives were worth nothing, and she knew that killing Mike would have truly had as little impact on him as killing a fly. That was really, really scary.
"Yeah," she replied. "Sorry it didn't come sooner."
"Tch. Lucky for me it came at all. You help drag my ass out of the wreckage, too?"
She shook her head. "Nah, that was all Leon and Luis."
Mike tilted his head. "Luis – probably oughta know the name of the guy what's carryin' me around. Nice ya meet'cha."
"Likewise, my American friend. That is a New York accent you have, sí? What is it like, living in the Big Apple?"
Mike tried to whistle, but his lips were dry. Elleah pulled her canteen off her hip as he replied, "Growin' up there ain't nothin' special. Then you up and move, see what the rest of the country's like…" he let out a long, hacking cough which culminated in a large, bloody wad of phlegm. "…and you realize that you been livin' in a madhouse. A very exciting madhouse, mind you, but still a…" he coughed again. "…crazy place. I remember the first time I visited a relative in the countryside…who didn't lock her doors all the time. Thought that was insane, 'till she told me the worst crime spree the town had ever seen had been a…urgh…series of vandalisms a few years prior. Some kid runnin' around spray-paintin' flowers on people's fences and barns and shit." He was now breathing heavily, struggling to speak at all, but he plowed on and finished his story. "Still thought she was crazy not to lock her doors, but it made me wonder who the bigger nut was – her, or the whole population of New York?"
Elleah laughed, uplifted my Mike's enthusiasm. Leon and Luis seemed cheered by it, too. She passed him her canteen, and he thanked her heartily, draining about half of it in one go before handing it back. She didn't mind. He needed it more just then.
"Anyways," he continued. "Thanks for pullin' me outta there. Maybe drinks'll be on me when we get back."
"Yeah, hey, I know a good bar," Leon mimicked jokingly.
They came to a building Luis actually recognized. "Alright," he said, sounding excited. "This is the start of the compound that contains the machine. A few locked doors, some security, and we should be home free. Mike, you do not happen to have a gun, do you?"
He shook his head. "Afraid not, unless you grabbed one of my machine guns before Christine blew up."
"Christine?"
"My bird."
"My wicked step-mother's name is Christine."
"I take it you mean your chopper."
"Sí."
Luis snorted. "Oh, good, another Spanish speaker. Leon's practically fluent as well, with all he's picked up from his little adventure."
"Me cago in la puta leche," Leon said, nodding sagely.
"Sounds fancy," Mike grunted. "What's that one mean?"
Leon and Elleah shrugged, and Luis chuckled.
They pushed open the door to the building, entering a long hall lined with cells. It was exceptionally chilly in here, which was not the best sensation, given that she'd just gotten wet again. Then to make things even better, as they stepped in, they were met with a really, really horrible sound.
Leon and Luis looked at each other. "Regenerator?" Leon asked.
Luis shuddered. "Sounds like it. Damn, I hate these things."
"What's up?" Mike asked as Luis foisted him off onto her so he could draw his rifle. She tried her best not to agitate any injuries, but she felt a tremor pass through his body at the shift, and heard him bite down on a noise of pain. "We…nng…got a problem?"
"Oh, you'll see, amigo. Leon, want to draw it out while I do the shooting?"
"Ugh. Fine."
Elleah stood, stooping under Mike's weight, as Leon went stalking down the hall. He poked his head around each wall to check the cell's contents before advancing past the open doors. His shotgun was out and braced against his hip. He wasn't taking any chances with these things.
The second-to-last cell on the right held the Regenerator, which lunged out at Leon as soon as he peeked in. Leon jumped back, shotgun up, as the mottled purple monstrosity lunged out of the doorway with its jaws spread wide in search of a warm meal.
Elleah kind of expected a bigger reaction from Mike. Instead he just said, "Oh, ain't that one ugly sonuvabitch."
Leon ducked and ran, giving Luis room to fire. He did so, taking the time to line up each shot very carefully. After four, however, he frowned. "Damn, there's one on its back. Leon, lead it into a cell!"
Leon ducked into a cell, and the Regenerator went after him. When it turned to enter the door, Luis took quick aim and shot it in the back. It rippled and exploded.
Leon came out wiping Regenerator gunk off his face. Luis put his rifle away and went to take over with Mike again, but she said, "I can take over for a while. I don't mind."
He smiled gratefully at her, but shook his head. "You have shouldered enough lately. Leave the rest to us."
She let him take the man. Mike gave her a firm pat on the back before letting go. "Ay, Leon – was that some kinda B.O.W.?"
Leon raised an eyebrow. "You familiar?"
Mike nodded. "Yeah. Seen a few of em', though never been on the ground with 'em. Benford sent me," he added as an afterthought. They started down the hall.
Leon looked surprised by this. "What? Why?"
"That lady friend of yours, Hunnigan? She relayed the info you were sending back to the DSO, and they decided this looked like something they'd need to get involved in. They sent me to scout it out and provide backup."
They were walking past the remains of the Regenerator. Elleah recalled the last couple she'd met stinking, but she couldn't smell anything because she was rapidly developing a running nose. She sniffled deeply as they walked by, and received no olfactory input whatsoever. Not great. On the other hand, given how many awful smells she'd encountered already, a runny nose was probably the kindness symptom of illness she could get.
"You're DSO, too?" Leon asked.
"What's DSO?" Elleah asked.
"Division of Security Operations," they answered at once, and Leon clarified, "We're kind of in charge of taking out major threats to the country, with emphasis on combating biological warfare."
They got to the end of the hall and stepped out into the next area, where their conversation was cut short. Though the scene presented nothing but a grey outside corridor, something in the air suggested violence.
Leon drew his Red, and Luis helped Mike sit down against the wall. "Wait here, you two," he said. "We'll scout ahead, make sure all is well."
Elleah might have offered to come with under other circumstances, just to offer backup, but not this time. Someone would need to keep an eye on Mike, and anyways, a runny nose wasn't all she was dealing with at this point. Her entire head felt like it was clouding up. So instead she just nodded, pulling out her slingshot and standing in front of Mike. She'd let Leon and Luis handle the home stretch. And if any bad guys got past them, she'd take care of them.
Ashley was drifting. She wasn't sure exactly where she was or what was going on, but she knew more or less what was happening to her. The Plaga was taking her over.
She'd thought things had been bad when she'd been captured by Salazar. All the salacious looks, the implications, the degrading comments; and that big, silly ritual in the chamber with that horrible thing on the wall. Salazar had spent several minutes waving his arms around, chanting, and generally sounding like he was about to…ugh. Well, anyways, it had been bad, but at least he hadn't hurt her. He'd ushered her through the whole thing rudely and hastily before shipping her off to the island.
The island had been a nightmare. She'd almost given up hope…but then Elleah had appeared. She'd expected Leon and Luis, but it had been her little sister who'd shown up to save the day. Honestly, though – and she'd never say this out loud – she really wished it had been Leon who had reached her. It was bad enough that her sister had had to see her in that position; but watching Elleah go mad like that had been indescribable. And Ashley hadn't been able to do a thing to help; she hadn't even been able to watch.
She'd managed to thank her, though. It was pretty much all she'd been capable of. She hoped it had been enough.
She'd been so glad to be back with the others again, even Luis. And being with Leon again…she'd felt safe. After knowing what it was like to be so perfectly, completely helpless, that feeling of safety had been euphoria. She just didn't know what she'd do if anything happened to him.
The worst part about her experience on the island had been the helplessness. The inability to stop what was happening, no matter how hard she fought. The certainty that her enemy was stronger than her. She'd thought there was nothing, no circumstance in the world, that could impart such a horrible feeling of helplessness over her as that had.
Then Saddler had taken her.
Ashley thought back on the last few hours. She could remember them mostly clearly, even through the haze that had even cast over her mind.
Saddler had torn her will away and forced her to leave the others behind. She remembered that happening. The Plaga in her chest had just started flooding her brain with some kind of blissful sedative that kept her from thinking straight, then slipped that horrible man's instructions in under that. Then there was the long walk, a few vehicle rides, and they'd arrived here, at this facility.
The Plaga hadn't been able to keep up that flood for long, but even once it had petered out it had taken Ashley a while to come to her senses again. When she had, she'd had armed guards all around her, with Saddler looking her over.
She'd been afraid that he'd take after Salazar and maybe try to rape her, but he made it clear that he had no intention of touching her. Actually, it had been downright insulting, the way he'd reacted to her trying to protect herself from him.
Oh, please – do you really think I would sully myself on such a lowly little beast as you? You are a puppet, girl. Nothing more. Unlike my boy Salazar, I cannot stomach the idea of copulating with a subspecies.
That had taken Ashley a minute to get through. A subspecies. A subspecies? Her? Who the hell did he think he was?
Then it had occurred to her: Saddler thought he was a god, or very nearly one.
She hadn't said anything. Perhaps in the beginning, before she'd been shaped by all this horror, she might have let loose on the man. Threats, insults, counterpoints, the whole shebang. But the last forty-eight or so hours had changed her. She knew better. Specifically, she knew better than to argue with crazy. This guy wouldn't listen anyways.
And honestly, she didn't need to say any of it. It wouldn't make a difference. At this point, only one thing would. And he was on his way, she was sure of it. They all were.
When they'd gotten her to the facility, they'd hosed her down, thankfully with warm water. They'd dried her off and given her food and water. She hadn't liked the idea of taking anything from Saddler, but she'd been hungry enough to eat a horse, so she'd relented. Anyways, she'd need her energy for the escape attempt.
But after all of that, they'd put her in this…thing. This giant, weird, incubation chamber. It was warm, bright, a little humid, very cozy…and completely inescapable. She'd spent a good twenty minutes trying to beat her way out of it before her Plaga had recovered enough strength to start flooding her brain with that weird endorphin again.
She'd spent a lot of time thinking about the parasite in her body; how it functioned, and how Saddler was using it. She wished she knew more about it, but she had at least come to one concrete conclusion. It was a separate, distinct organism living in her body, and it had to exert energy to control her. So, she had a game plan.
Keep tiring it out until Leon got here.
She was afraid that, when he finally showed up, Saddler would just make the Plaga flood her brain with those endorphins again so she wouldn't be able to help herself escape. But if it was too tired to sedate her when he got here, she'd be able to run. So she was struggling – mostly mentally, but physically sometimes, too – just to make it keep fighting her. Maybe it was silly, and maybe it wouldn't have an effect; heck, for all she knew she was just hurting herself. But she had to do something, and this was all she could do. So she was doing it.
She knew Saddler was out there. And she couldn't say for sure, but she thought that maybe he was feeling a little upset at the way things were turning out for him. Of course, how couldn't he be? Leon had torn his whole army apart. Leon and Luis. And Elleah. All of his Ganados, all of his monsters, all of his tricks and traps…what had they gotten him, huh? Not a whole lot, if you asked her.
She knew they were out there fighting for her right now. And she was doing what she could to fight her own battle. But she was getting really tired. It was becoming harder to focus, and she could feel the thing in her chest getting bigger and stronger every minute. And the more it grew, the less her chances of surviving the removal procedure were.
That wouldn't stop her from trying, though. She'd rather die than become one of those things.
This little surety sent a twinge of unease through her Plaga. Another thing she suspected about it was that, the longer it was attached to her, the more aware of her feelings towards it it became. She was pretty sure it knew by now that she wanted it dead, and that was part of why it was struggling so hard to keep her physically and mentally suppressed. It was finally seeing her as a threat instead of just a host.
She was glad that Elleah hadn't been captured over and over. She'd been able to stay on the medication, so she probably had a really good chance of surviving. Plus they had Luis on their side, so he'd be able to maximize her chances. Ashley desperately wanted her sister to be okay. She didn't know what she'd do if they didn't make it home together.
Luis. Man, she'd really despised that guy when they'd first met. It hadn't been until she'd learned what he'd done for them – how he'd given up his shot at getting out of all of this, just to try and save them – that she'd realized how much she'd misjudged him. She hoped he was alright…even if he did want to boink her sister. And she couldn't blame Elleah for her feelings towards him. After all, didn't she feel the same way about Leon?
She gasped in pain as the Plaga jerked in her chest, sending a bolt of agony through it. It got really hard to breath for a minute, and she felt sick, like she was going to throw up. She wondered, if she did, would they let her out to clean her up? Probably not. She was pretty sure Leon was getting close. He'd be here soon, and they'd want her under lock and key.
Her eyes opened slightly, and she saw Saddler standing before the chamber, watching her. The expression on his face was a sort of bored attention, like a man watching a largely uninteresting animal. A goat, maybe, or a snail.
She mustered up the strength to glare at him through the pain. She even managed to raise a hand a flip him the bird.
His eyes narrowed. He also raised a hand, waved it carelessly…
…and the pain in her chest exploded.
The last of her air was expelled in a scream as the Plaga's legs contracted, sending pinpoint bolts of agony through her heart and lungs. Was he trying to kill her?
He waved again and the pain stopped, allowing her to breathe. She caught her breath, took a deep one, and screamed,
"LEON'S GONNA KILL YOU!"
His lip twitched up in an arrogant sneer, so maybe he'd heard her. Or maybe he hadn't, and that was just his way of letting her know that her words were worthless. Either way, he waved his hand again, and the Plaga redoubled its efforts, sending her instantly into a tired, chemically soothed haze.
She wanted to sleep. All of her efforts had left her exhausted. But even as she dropped off, she felt a surge of satisfaction. Because, deep beneath the cloying river of endorphins, she could feel it. The Plaga, straining to uphold Saddler's command. It was almost as tired as she was. The last thought she had before she drifted off was,
Leon, please…hurry.
Leon inserted the key card into the security console and yelled, "Got it, Luis!"
"Good! You get the button over there, I'll get this one over here! They have to be hit at the same time to open the door, so tell me when you're ready!"
"Will do!" He yelled back, and started over to the button.
They'd had to deal with about twenty Ganados in this little security checkpoint, including one with a minigun. Luis had very bravely lured the red-bereted Ganado down from his perch, then Leon had dashed up behind the guy and blown his head apart with two shots from his Butterfly. It spoke volumes about the stamina of the thing that it had taken two shots to the back of the head to kill it. Him. It. Man, the pronouns were starting to get mixed up in his head. They could walk and talk like people, but he knew they weren't anymore.
Ah, nevermind. They didn't have too many more to deal with.
He headed over to the button, calmly putting a bunch of shotgun pellets in a Ganado that had been waiting quietly just inside the door of the booth with an axe, put his hand on the button, and yelled, "Ready!"
"Okay! One – two – three – now!"
Leon pressed. Luis did, too. A loud beeping sound rang through the courtyard, and he heard the sound of the door opening.
Good deal. They could move on. He emerged from the building and jumped down to the first story. "I'll go grab Elleah, be right back!"
Luis gave him a thumbs up and sat down, pulling out his water to have a quick rest.
As he headed past the barricades that had been set up, stepping past the crossbowmen slumped dead behind them, he considered how lucky he was to have Luis along. Not that he hadn't thought this before, but this time it was with regard to his stamina and combat abilities. They'd acted as a perfect team all this time, covering each other's blind spots, picking up different responsibilities in the arena often without conferring, and generally providing support and morale to each other. It reminded him of Operation Javier.
He didn't know exactly what had become of Krauser, but he got the feeling he'd never be seeing the man again, whatever had happened. The knowledge that he hadn't been able to fix things between them – that they'd never cleared the air, and now never would – was already weighing on him, and he knew that it was a weight that would last the rest of his life. He'd accept it as a learning experience, and resolve not to let anything like it happen again…but that wasn't much consolation to Krauser.
He stepped around the corner to see that the hallway in which he'd left Elleah and Mike was filled with corpses. Well, not filled, but there were five of them laying face-down on the cement.
Make that four. The last one was still alive, and as he watched, she put another slug into its head. Then another. Then one more for good measure. The Ganado stopped moving. Make that five again.
She looked up to Leon, put her slingshot away, and said, "A few of them got past you. I got them okay, though. Everything go good?"
He nodded, examining one of the corpses on the ground, turning it over with his foot to see exactly how she'd taken care of it. It looked like she took out their knees and ankles first, as well as their hands and elbows to slow their crawling, then went ahead and nailed them in the skulls until they died. Not bad.
He went over to help Mike up. "Man," he said, gasping in pain as Leon hoisted him to his feet. He wasn't getting any lighter, which Leon took to mean things were only going to be getting worse for the man from here. He needed help, soon. "When I saw her with that little toy weapon, I really thought you were kidding about it bein' lethal. Overexaggeratin', you know? I was about to call for help when the first one of these guys came around the corner." He coughed. "Boy did I underestimate her."
Leon chuckled. "Yeah, she's pretty much the textbook definition of, 'looks can be deceiving.' Sure surprised me when I first saw her shoot one of these things. Ready to go, Elleah?"
"Yeah. Let's go get my sister back."
They made their way back up the stairs and over to the door. They didn't see Luis. Stepping through the gate and around the corner showed them where he'd fetched up, though. He was just aiming his rifle at a couple of Ganados wielding those tall, wooden shields and flails. Looked like they'd been guarding a tall metal door at the end of the hall.
"Very inconvenient, those guys," Leon commented just before Luis fired. The Ganado on the left dropped, a large hole blasted in his shield, and after only another moment the second one went the same way.
Luis lowered his rifle and said, "Only when you don't have one of these puppies. Let's go."
They walked to the end of the hallway, and Elleah paused outside the door, taking a quick, sharp breath.
"What is it?" Leon asked. "Saddler? Something else?"
She stared at the closed door, eyes wide and blank as she processed whatever it was she was feeling, then she shook her head. Without warning, she thrust her arms out, shoving the doors open and running through them.
"Elleah!" He shouted. Luis ran through after her, Leon coming along behind as he was still supporting Mike, and upon entering, she saw what had gotten her all worked up.
Ashley.
She was unconscious, sitting in some kind of giant sci-fi holding chamber. Computers hummed all around, huge cables and pipes attached to the machine, and a bright white light lit the inside.
Elleah sprinting across to it, putting her hands on the glass. "Ashley? Sis?"
They weren't alone, it seemed, and Leon motioned for Luis to take Mike. He did so, and Leon pulled out his magnum as Saddler's voice echoed through the chamber from off to their left.
"You will soon harbor an awesome power, yet you would rather choose death," he said curiously. He sounded just a bit confused at this, and Leon genuinely wondered if the man was insane. How could he possibly think that any of them would want to live as mindless husks?
All he said in reply was, "I'm taking Ashley back, whether you like it or not." And he damn well meant it. He was not leaving without her, and he wasn't letting Saddler take her again.
Luis caught his eye and glanced away meaningfully. Leon tracked the glance to a door off to the left behind the chamber. They'd have to run past Saddler to get to it, but unless he was misreading Luis's look, that was where they needed to go to get to the machine.
Saddler just shook his head disappointedly as Leon began walking backwards towards the chamber, Luis and Mike at his side. "Oh, the audacity of you," he said…and shot forward with blurring speed.
Saddler was even faster than Krauser, and when he hit Leon's chest with his open palm, it sent him flying backwards. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he connected with the glass chamber, barely missing Aurelleah, who dropped to her knees beside him and started helping him up.
Everything was out of focus for a long moment until he uncrossed his eyes. He managed to stand as Luis and Mike stumbled away from Saddler, who watched them like a cat watches a mouse it intends to pounce on – whenever it suits its fancy.
Leon began coughing harshly as he tried to suck in a breath, but he'd had the wind knocked out of him. It would be a moment before he'd be able to breathe…and they might not have that long.
They all backed up against the tank as Saddler slowly advanced. It looked like they were reunited, but to what end?
It doesn't matter. If I have to die for these girls, then what happens, happens. I won't let him have them.
He straightened up as much as he could. He'd held onto his Butterfly, thankfully, and now he brought it up shakily to level at Saddler's face.
The man grinned wickedly, raised an arm…
…and lowered it, stepping jerkily away as his chest was riddled with bullets.
Automatic fire echoed sharply in the room as the cult leader was driven back, a slack expression on his face. Leon turned to see Ada, kneeling on the floor of a balcony to their right to brace herself as she unloaded on Saddler with what looked to be the full-auto Krauser had been sporting in the Ruins. She kept her finger on the trigger and maintained perfect aim, probably putting a solid two hundred rounds into the man's chest before the clicking of an empty gun took over.
She dropped the spent cartridge and pulled out a fresh one. "Leon, now!" She yelled.
Leon nodded to her, turned, and slapped a fist against what looked to be the release button on Ashley's chamber.
The thing whirred to life, the door to the tank rising as the seat within lowered. He wrapped an arm around Ashley and pulled her out, but she was deadweight in his arms. That wasn't good. If she was out, it would make escape a lot harder for them.
Elleah reached out and took her sister's hand. "Ashley? Wake up. Please?"
Ashley's eyes scrunched up…then opened. She looked dimly around at them all, across to her little sister, and up to him. She blinked, then some strength came into her limbs. She braced her feet against the floor, taking a great deal of strain off of him.
Leon looked over at Saddler as the man began growling. He hadn't dropped, though any normal Ganado would have at the amount of damage that had been dealt. He didn't even look wounded. He was just looking down at the ground, body tense, arms held slightly out to his side. He looked like he was concentrating on something.
Leon's eyes widened as Saddler held out an arm, and a series of high tinkling noises echoed under his groaning as small pieces of metal began falling out of his fingertips. It took Leon a moment to realized that these were the bullets he'd been shot with. He'd just shipped them all from his chest to his hand and expelled them from his body.
Saddler stopped groaning. He looked up, and Leon saw a calm, confident smile on the man's face. Two hundred automatic rounds to the chest – a Plaga's weak point, usually – and he was smiling.
"Move!" Ada shouted, raising her weapon again.
"Let's go," Leon said, dragging Ashley towards the door. Luis, Mike, and Elleah were right behind him, but so was Saddler. He could hear his steps falling loudly and slowly on the stone floor as he began his measured pursuit.
Ada fired again, but a quick glance back as they passed into the next hallway showed Leon that this had absolutely no effect on him. He didn't slow down a hair. He just kept walking towards them with that close-lipped, sickening smile on his face.
Then Ada came up with a new plan. There had been a whole bundle of barrels on a balcony over their heads, and she shot these. Turned out they were full of explosives, because just as they got through the door and before Saddler reached them, the balcony exploded, bringing a ton of burning metal and smoking concrete down over the entryway.
They all turned to stare at this, but it looked like they were cut off for the moment. Mike whistled. "Don't know who that was, but she sure saved our skins. Friend of yours, Leon?"
"Kinda," he said.
"Is she going to be alright?" Elleah asked, clearly afraid.
Leon nodded, and he truly believed it. Whatever Saddler was capable of, Ada could handle it. "Yeah, she'll be fine. Come on, let's find that machine."
Luis stepped forward. "Just up ahead. Ready to get that bug out, mi cadenza?"
Ashley groaned, and came to life a bit more in Leon's arms. "Ugh…oh, my head…what…"
Elleah stepped around them all to get to her sister, then wrapped her arms around her. "Hey, Ashley."
Ashley still looked pretty out of it, but she got her focus back together pretty quickly when she recognized her sister. "…Elleah? Oh my God, Elleah? And…Leon, Luis…you came."
Leon offered her a cocky smile as she finally woke up, freed of whatever sedation she'd been under. "Of course. You didn't really think I'd leave you hanging, did'ja?"
Ashley smiled at him. "Not for a second."
She returned her sister's hug, and the two embraced. After only a moment or two of this, Mike said, "Aw, that's sweet. The girls are reunited. But, uh, it's getting a little hot in here. Maybe we oughta move on, catch up somewhere else?"
Luis nodded. "Yes. And the machine is just up ahead. Come on, let's get going."
The girls let go of each other. Leon was glad to see them together again, but they did need to move.
They headed down the hall and the next door brought them outside. Only for a moment, though. This narrow, rocky pass connected them promptly to another building. As they approached it, Ashley looked at Mike and said, "Oh, I'm Ashley Graham. I don't think we've met?"
"Name's Mike. They sent me out here to provide backup and transportation home. Sadly, my chopper got totaled, but don't worry, there are a few more on the way. They'll be circlin' the area off the coast, waiting for the all-clear to pick us up. Leon oughta be able to manage that once we've gotten these bugs outta you two."
"Your chopper went down?" Ashley asked. "Jeez. How'd you survive?"
Mike nodded to Leon and Luis. "Your knights in shining armor gave me a hand. Your sister, too. Warned me about the rocket before it hit dead on. You got one hell of a little sib, you know that?"
Ashley grinned. "Yeah, I know that."
They entered the next wing. Going by the white lights, various electrical cables, and loud hum of energy, this was probably a lab of some kind.
He heard some sounds coming from up ahead and gestured for the others to wait there while he drew his shotgun. He headed down the hall, rounded the corner, and saw no less than two of those big, armored Ganados standing guard outside a room.
They were tough. Heavy metal plates adorned their chests, stomachs, shoulders, shins, most of their arms and about half of their faces. But their knees and the tops of their head were clear, so as they spotted him and ran towards him with joint cries of rage, he went for the knees.
They both toppled forward at the force of the shotgun blasts. Leon stepped up, not sparing a second, and placed the muzzle just a few inches away from the top of one's skull before pulling the trigger. The Ganado spasmed on the ground and went still. He did the same with the second before it could stand, quickly and easily finishing the combat.
Another one ran around the corner, but Leon dealt with that one just as easily, as well as the two normal Ganados that followed a moment later. He went to finish the last one off and felt his shotgun finally click on empty.
He shrugged, stepped forward, and kicked the stunned Ganado, sending it stumbling backwards. He followed up with a few knife slashes, and the fight was over.
"All good," he called back, and the group came up to join him. Luis barely even glanced at the enemies on the ground, thought Ashley covered her mouth like she might throw up when she saw the ones he'd practically decapitated via shotgun. The girls stepped past them quickly, following Luis, who was dragging Mike towards a pair of doors at the end of the hall.
"Here," he said excitedly. "The machine is in here."
Leon was stricken with a sudden, sickening worry – what if Saddler had destroyed the machine after all? What if he'd taken components from it, to stop them from using it? What if…
What if nothing it wrong at all and it's fully functional? His mind finished matter-of-factly as they stepped in and saw the machine.
Monitors and large computer consoles lined the room. In the middle of it all was a table, slightly elevated, with a set of what looked like huge laser pointers suspended from the ceiling above it. The room itself was very dark, aside from the lights coming from the monitors.
"This hunk of junk? Are you sure about this?" Ashley asked Luis nervously.
He carried Mike over to sit in a nearby computer chair, then wheeled this away so he could have access to the console. He began typing, bringing the equipment online and looking it all over. "What? Hunk of junk? This was one of my finest creations! And yes, I'm sure. From what I'm seeing here, it's all at 100%. Should be ready to go. Are you?"
Ashley crossed her arms, looking suddenly nervous, and Leon knew what she was thinking. Her Plaga had matured far more than any of theirs had, and she stood a real risk of not surviving the procedure. Elleah, too, looked very pale, and he'd noticed her sniffling and swallowing thickly lately. She was sick. With that, as well as all of her injuries, she likewise stood a good chance of dying.
Leon closed his eyes. The idea of making it so far only to lose them now was killing him, but the removal had to happen. Still, they'd probably need a minute to talk to each other…just in case either of them didn't make it.
Leon stepped towards the table and laid down on it. "Go ahead and do me first. Make sure it works."
Luis scoffed, and Leon could see he was trying to maintain a casual air. "Works? I made it, amigo. Of course it works. But if you insist…"
He started the machine up, and a set of restrains clamped down on his wrists, waist, and shoulders, to keep him from moving during the removal. The pair of laser points lowered down from the ceiling, white lights growing on their tips as the powered up. He heard something going on overhead that sounded like a scanner, and a moment later an image appeared on the screen beside him.
It was his Plaga, resting in his chest between the lungs and heart. Its legs were small and pointy, its tail long and wriggly. It wasn't a very appealing-looking thing, and Leon was eager to have it out of him.
"Just to clarify," Luis said as he continued typing. "This machine's name is a little misleading. It will kill the Plaga and detach it from the nerves, rendering it harmless; but it won't actually remove it from the body. You'll need surgery later for that. We can't really do that here, but as soon as we get back to the States, we'll get you all into the operating room and I'll oversee the corpse removal. Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Leon replied.
Luis nodded. "See you on the other side," he said, and began the procedure.
OoO
JaphetSkie - Yeah, Mike lived :)
I liked Mike. Thought he could provide some good dialogue as well, not to mention some added stress to Leon and Luis (not that they need it). And I just finished up the story...non-formally, anyways. I could post it all as-is, but I'll probably do some last-minute editing as I go along. Still a couple things I could stand to address in the epilogues. And as anyone who's read my last story knows, I'm big on epilogues.
As an aside, sad news - my workplace just got largely shut down again. Fuckin' Gavin Newsom. You know what that bastard did? He shipped Corona patients from OTHER HOSPITALS to OUR hospitals to make it look like our cases were skyrocketing. You know how many of the 30-odd patients in our county were actually our own residents? THREE. Motherfucker.
Grrr. I'm mad. But at least I have time to play the new RE2 remake. Steam summer sale and all. Woohoo.
Sigh. 'Till next time...
Best,
The Topaz Dragon