Ada hung limply from the growth that had sprouted from under Saddler's robes. Her pulse was slow, as was her breathing, but this was by design. She was fully alert, and ready to act the moment an opportunity presented itself.

She'd caught a few covert glimpses of her surroundings. Saddler had brought her up to some kind of seaside construction rig, though for what purpose she could not be sure. Perhaps he intended it to be an arena for some kind of asinine final battle with Leon. Men could be so melodramatic.

She was one to talk, of course – showmanship and enigma were, to some degree, a part of her job. Still, she never sacrificed practicality for the sake of the show. She knew better than that, and if Saddler had as well, he'd have tampered with the elevator leading up here in order to kill Leon before he could reach the top. But unless she was mistaken, that was the elevator she could hear coming up now.

Saddler chuckled, and she felt herself swing around in the air. "So, my American friend is approaching. How delightful. I'd rather have my hands free for this…"

She wasn't sure how he managed it – it felt like he sprouted some extra limbs for the task – but she shortly found herself painfully suspended by a few ropes looped tightly around her waist and arms. It was uncomfortable in the extreme, but she wouldn't be able to quickly get out of them by herself, so she remained limp and showed no signs of consciousness. Hopefully that was Leon. If it was, she would be down in no time.

Then she could finish up her battle with Saddler.

After she'd helped Leon and the others escape, she'd engaged in battle with the man. It hadn't gone terribly well. He'd been able to dash faster than the human eye was capable of processing, though he'd largely opted to walk unless she put a great deal of distance between them in the large room. She'd brought her entire arsenal to bear against him – every weapon she'd brought along, including her handgun, shotgun, Krauser's TMP, and even her crossbow. Loaded, of course, with exploding bolts. She'd noticed Krauser had packed a bow with similar munitions, obviously a recent acquisition. Copy-cat.

The TMP had been worse than worthless. She'd unloaded another two hundred rounds into Saddler's chest just after the gang had departed, and he'd responded by turning his body into a weapon, propelling her own ammunition back at her in a powerful burst of bio-machinegun fire. It had been absurd. She'd really hoped to gather some data on it, figure out exactly how he managed it. Such a breakthrough would certainly be of interest to her employer.

This was the thought that had been going through her mind when Saddler had finally fallen – retrieving a sample of his body and Plaga, as well as the Dominant strain sample he'd had on his person. It had distracted her, and when she'd turned away from him to fetch and ready the storage equipment, he'd struck.

The elevator reached the top, and its occupant stepped off. As expected, it was Leon, and the very first thing out of his mouth upon seeing the scene was,

"Ada!"

She did not give any sign of consciousness. Better for Saddler to believe her out of commission until it was strictly necessary. Still, she wanted to smile. Oh, Leon – you sure know how to make a girl feel attended to.

She listened to the conversation that ensued. Saddler stepped forward, heavy boots thudding on the plywood flooring beneath their feet. Certain that the combatants' attentions were on each other, she risked cracking an eye to see him stepping towards Leon with an outstretched palm and a confident smirk.

That smirk fell away, and he stopped his advance abruptly as Leon strode forward to meet him, calm and unaffected. It looked like he'd been successful in getting the Plaga removed. She wondered if the girls had survived.

"Better try a new trick, 'cause that one's getting old," Leon said cockily, and drew back his knife to throw it. He looked up towards her, and she thought, is he really going to throw that knife at my rope from all the way over there?

He did. Even more surprising, he hit.

The rope was severed perfectly, and she dropped. Thankfully she was over a small pile of canvas, so her landing was softened, and she quickly wriggled out of the ropes and stood. She kept Saddler in the corner of her vision in case he tried anything, but largely her eyes were all for Leon.

"You okay?" He asked, genuine concern in his voice. Truly a gentleman. And yet, she couldn't help but wonder how a man like him could have a really gentle bone in his body. He must have, to have taken such good care of the girls, but with so much brutality in his life…

"I've been better," she said, permitting at least a sliver of her discomfort to project past her typically confident façade. Being taken by Saddler had been a genuinely alarming experience.

Speaking of the man, it seemed he was ready to rejoin the conversation. He started chuckling, and Leon turned to glare at him. "What's so funny?" He asked challengingly.

"Oh, I think you know," Saddler said. Where his tone had, up until recently, been arrogant and calm in the extreme, she could now hear frustration coloring his words. Clearly, Leon had pushed him too far. "The American prevailing is a cliché that only happens in your Hollywood movies. Oh, Mr. Kennedy – you entertain me! To show my appreciation, I will help you awaken from your world of clichés."

Even as he said this, the transformation began. His eyes started to bulge, sliding up into the back of his head. When he finished talking, his throat rippled as though something large were making its way up into his mouth. His head tilted back, his jaw unhinged, and a huge, jaundiced eyeball with a crimson iris surged up, staring death at Leon before twitching around to take in the rest of the arena.

Leon, ever the knight in shining armor, reacted to this by drawing his weapon and saying, "Ada, stand back."

She obliged, moving away as Saddler's body began expanding and transforming too quickly for her to analyze. In a matter of seconds, three – no, make that four limbs had materialized in a hail of flesh. Saddler's head vanished somewhere into the mix, and a series of sickening crackles and snaps filled the air as joints were formed. Tentacles with bladed ends were shooting out of the limp bundle of robes that now hung from the base of the beast, all that remained of the human Saddler had been.

The transformation concluded. Four spider-like limbs supported a central body, which was merely the base of the long, thick, agile neck of the cretin. The head at the end of this – she supposed this must have been all that remained of Saddler's face, though it had been distorted beyond recognition – sported a trio of mandibles that looked easily capable of cutting a man into pieces. Its skin all over was shiny red, orange-brown, and deep purplish-grey. Rather than looking fleshy and soft, it all looked hard as steel, and she suspected this new carapace would be nearly impervious.

Though, for that matter, eyes were always a weak point…and he seemed to have them for kneecaps.

Honestly. Eyes for kneecaps. That's a terrible design flaw.

Other than this, though, Saddler's new body looked deadly in the extreme. The reach of the neck was considerable, and if one managed to get past it to the underbelly, they would have half a dozen lesser-Plaga-like whips to deal with, eliminating the possibility of close-range combat. She hoped Leon had been conserving his ammo, because he would need it.

During the transformation, he'd stepped over to her. Now he spoke low, so Saddler would not hear them. "Ada, Luis is prepping a getaway boat down on the shelf. I have one flash grenade left. I'll use it to blind him, and take the elevator down. Get down there, and we'll take off and call in an airstrike to kill this son of a bitch once we're out of range of their transmission blockers."

Ada listened to this plan with cool appraisal…and dismissed it. Not because it wasn't a good one – knowing Leon, he could probably pull it off – but for one other very sad and simple reason.

It did not fit in with her agenda. She needed Saddler dead, and Leon was the only man for the job.

So, she improvised. "It won't work. I've been studying these creatures. He'll just mutate his body into an aquatic form and slaughter us all in the water. What's more, he has too many eyes, and some of them are facing the other way. Those flesh grenades won't blind him – he'll just need to turn around. No, we need to finish him here and now."

For all she knew, the things she said were even true, but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was conning Leon into killing this creature for her so she could get what she needed.

The Sample.

Leon swore, then shook his head. "Damnit all. Fine, just stay out of the way and leave it to me. I'll…figure something out."

She nodded. "I'll let you know if—"

Saddler's central eye popped back open, caught sight of them, and his maw extended to issue a deafening roar of challenge. Conversation over. The battle was on.

She used her hookshot to remove herself from the arena and began looking around for a means of assisting her bold and daring hero. Immediately her eyes lit on a number of useful tidbits. One was a crane loaded with a bundle of steel girders, as well as a control booth for it. Another was a pair of bridges that could be raised and dropped with the touch of a switch. The last, a pair of Ganados standing at the top of a tower, overlooking the whole fight. She thought she might just pay those two a visit, make sure they weren't hiding anything important.

But first, the girders. If she could injure Saddler, slow him down a bit, that would make things easier on Leon.

Time to go.

Leon could just feel the tiredness on the edge of his awareness. He'd been going a long time without food or rest by this point. But it had all come down to this, and he'd be damned if he was going to fail now.

His magnum was in his hand, his Red at his side, his new Stiker on his back…and Ada was in the wings. Luis, too. They could do this.

Then he heard gunfire coming from down below, and he gritted his teeth. Sounded like Luis had company, so maybe he only had Ada.

Saddler's head was swaying back and forth on its long stalk, not rhythmically, but spasmodically, preventing Leon from taking aim. Saddler paused and cocked his head, as though listening, and his mouth opened up wide as he rasped in a wet and hardly discernable voice,

"Ahhhh…it seems that…my minions…have arrived. Your friends…will all…die."

Leon didn't believe this for a moment, though it did provide an added incentive for him to finish this up as quickly as possible – as though Aurelleah and Mike's injuries were not reason enough. He was about to dismiss this flippantly, but he saw Ada above him. She waved, pointed towards a walkway connecting to the central platform, and gestured for him to keep Saddler's attention. Looked like she had an idea.

He hid a wry grin. A distraction? Well, if she insisted…

"You know," he called to Saddler. "It seems like I've been hearing those kinds of predictions a lot lately. But remind me, after everything you've thrown at us…who's dead, again?"

Saddler roared and charged towards him, legs moving clunkily as he tested the mobility on his brand-spanking new body, and Leon threw himself into a graceful, headlong sprint to loop around him. On the way past he took aim at one of the glowing yellow eyeballs on his knees – talk about a videogame weak-spot – and let loose.

The round sank into the eyeball and it snapped shut. Saddler screamed and jerked to a halt, and his legs began clumsily working to turn himself around to face Leon, who was already backing well away. Good thing he liked banter so much – it was surprisingly hard to come up with in the middle of a hot fight. That said, he had a lot of practice.

With Saddler keeping easy pace despite the disjointed movements of his new crab legs, one of which was now slightly damaged, Leon continued backing away towards the platform Ada had gestured to, holding up a hand with three fingers as he went. "Mendez was the first to go. Gotta say, I thought he was done for when I blew him in half with my Remington, but it took a couple rifle rounds from Luis to get that ugly bug down for good—"

Saddler's head jerked back and lunged forward suddenly. Leon danced backwards, sucking in his gut as the three mandible-blades on the head snapped closed. Had he been any slower he'd have been mincemeat. But he wasn't a slow man by nature, so this thought did not bother him.

The massive eyeball in the center of Saddler's face flickered up to him. He aimed the Butterfly at it, but instantly its pupils dilated and the head jerked back in a movement that was too viscerally fast to be anything but fear. Those eyeballs on the knees would probably hurt or even cripple him, but if Leon wanted to kill this thing, he knew he'd have to go for the big one in the face.

He continued, raising that hand again with a lowered finger. Thinking back on the fight with Salazar, he got a sudden epiphany about how Elleah had managed to get close enough to chuck that grenade at him, and figured he give it a go. "Then your 'boy' Salazar. Oh, man was he desperate. You know he let himself get eaten by that Queen Plaga of yours, right? We thought he was invulnerable. Too bad he couldn't keep it in his pants, because Elleah managed to flirt him to oblivion. Pretty embarrassing way to die, to be hon—"

He'd backed well onto the walkway, which was just wide enough for Saddler. The monstrous being pursued him, picking up speed into a charge, and it seemed he was intent on simply trampling Leon to death. There was a narrow bridge just off to the left, one of the adjustable ones, but Ada wanted them on this platform. So instead he swapped to his shotgun and began unloading, firing round after round at Saddler's head.

It slowed him down, the sting of the pellets distracting him from the onerous task of operating his four new alien limbs. The groaning of heavy machinery started to life, and Leon saw movement off to the left, on the platform across the bridge.

He didn't look in that direction, though. He just kept being a distraction. "And finally Krauser, though I guess you wouldn't really count him. Still, a Dominant Plaga – you'd think he would have been able to do a bit better, huh? Seems like you guys are all bark and no bite."

Saddler braced himself, reared up his head, splayed his small, tentacled limbs impressively—

And a ton of steel girders swung past, their heavy lengths sweeping Saddler's two front legs right out from under him.

He pitched forward with a wail of confusion, and his long neck undulated like a whip that cracked down right in front of Leon.

The head slammed into the ground, stunned by a literal case of whiplash. Leon swapped back to his magnum, and just as Saddler's eyes opened – the two human ones and the huge yellow one that he seemed so intent on protecting – Leon took aim and fired.

Saddler's head jerked gracelessly away as he screeched in pain. For a moment his legs all twitched and the tentacles on his belly spasmed and went limp. But after only a moment, he forced his legs to start working again, stood up, and stepped back before Ada's steel girders could come back around for another hit.

These swung by in front of them. Leon saw them coming and, happy to catch a free ride, jumped onto them and rode them over the gap, jumping off and rolling to his feet as they passed over the second platform.

He saw a set of switches that he thought might control the bridges, and he headed over to them and waited for Saddler to follow him across. The bridge was just a bit narrow, but by tucking in his legs and raising his body a bit, the monster managed it, and Leon waited a few seconds before flipping the switches.

A set of green lights came on a traffic-light display beside the bridges, but they did not fall. They started solid green, then started blinking, and just as Saddler stepped off of them they at last fell as the light turned red.

Shit. Well, that hadn't worked, and now he was stuck over here with Saddler. He flipped the switches back, hoping the bridges would come back up, but this was clearly a delayed control console. The red light started flashing, but the bridges were apparently going to take a second.

It was funny – whenever people talking about his impressive maneuvers and combat skills, they never mentioned the botched moves like these. Not dramatic enough, he supposed.

Saddler came at him again, so he ran from the switches towards the second bridge. It rose just before he reached it, and he headed across. Saddler followed him to the edge, but not over it, and Leon wondered if he was concerned about it giving out again.

Leon reached the other side and started back towards the main platform. A larger arena for fighting would be preferable. As he went, he heard a sound he couldn't quite place, then the sound of air being displaced above him, and he threw himself forward into a shoulder roll.

A tentacle-scythe swept by, and one of Saddler's great legs came down just a foot shy of his back. Saddler had leapt clean across the gap to avoid fiddling with the bridge, and had nearly impaled Leon on the way down.

He came up and kept running. As he did, he spotted something he'd missed before. There was a bunch of equipment covered by tarps, and poking out from under one – he'd only seen it because of his angle – was the rusty-red color of a barrel filled with something flammable.

Leon swapped to his Red, sprinting away as Saddler regained his footing from the missed strike. This didn't take too long. Looked like Saddler was gaining better and better control of that body of his. This fight needed to end, fast.

He noted that, during this whole thing, the gunfire below had continued. This was encouraging, as it meant Luis was still fighting and hadn't been overrun. Unless he was mistaken, he could hear both the rifle and the pistol, so Mike had probably taken up arms as well.

Nevermind. He and Ada would be able to handle Saddler just fine.

As he approached, massive crab legs putting dents in metal and splintered holes in plywood, Leon took aim at the barrel beneath the tarp. When Saddler was right next to it, he fired, and his enemy was once again dazed.

His head stayed up this time, swaying about ten feet overhead, but that was okay. Leon could hit farther targets. He drew his Butterfly again and fired, and once more Saddler gave a bellowing cry of agony. Hopefully that eye wouldn't be able to take too many more hits.

He looked around for Ada as Saddler recovered, but he couldn't see her. Hoping she had something else up her sleeve, he reached for his magnum ammo and felt a slight chill. He only had six rounds left.

He bore his teeth in a snarl and loaded these in.

Come on, Ada. I'm counting on you.

Almost as soon as they'd reached the boat, Saddler's remaining Ganados had begun pouring out of a nearby pass, deadly intent written all over their faces.

Luis knew that retreat was not an option. The most straightforward reason for this was that the boat, a four-seater speed boat very like Ada's, did not have the keys. He could probably jump-start it, but that would take time, which he did not have.

The bay he'd hoped to dock in when they'd first started for the island was out of the question as well. The Ganados that had been fortifying it had all been redirected, but before going they'd scuttled their entire fleet. The equipment transportation boats near the rig dock were all gone, too. Only this single speedboat remained, somehow forgotten – likely because of its inconvenient location. It was seven feet below a sheer, rocky drop. He didn't even know who had left it there, or why, or where its driver had gone.

But he had no time to wonder, because it was all he could do to keep this wave of enemies at bay.

He was using his rifle, lining up shots wherever he could to take out two enemies at once. He'd gotten four double headshots so far. Not bad. But that, of course, spoke more to how thick the enemy ranks were and less to his impressive skills as a marksman.

Less, but not entirely. He was still extremely skillful.

Mike had taken the pistol, and was sitting on the ground, firing with moderately good accuracy as the enemies got closer. It was clear that he was better with a chopper than a handgun, though, because he did miss from time to time, and was slow to reload. Aurelleah, of course, had her Zinger out and was slowly pegging oncoming foes as her sister kept her upright.

Even in her weakened state, her aim was nearly flawless. She was periodically forced to rest her arms, however. The fact that she could not hold them aloft for more than a few shots in a row spoke to her exhaustion. That was not good, and he would have liked to see her removed from the battlefield…but they were pinned. And even if they were not, he knew that both girls would sooner die than leave Leon behind.

That was the other reason they were trapped. If they fled, Leon would be left wondering where they had gone. They would have to put a great deal of distance between them and the shore to keep the Ganados off, and if Leon tried following them in his escape from Saddler, he'd have to make it through the legion to do so. He would not make it.

So, they were thinning the ranks. They were doing well so far, but there was no telling how long this would last. Luis was down to his last twenty rounds of rifle ammo, and there were at least forty more Ganados in sight. Furthermore, they were still coming out of the pass.

Mike got another one, then asked, "How much longer is your buddy Leon gonna take?"

The loud crack of the Butterfly going off echoed about their heads just then, followed by an ululating roar from Saddler. That had been the second one. "Hopefully not much longer. Knowing Leon, he's already got Saddler on the ropes. Let's try to make sure he doesn't have to clean up our mess when he gets here, eh?"

In truth, Luis wasn't sure how Leon could possibly hope to kill Saddler, but it wouldn't do to say such things in front of the girls. He needed to keep their hopes up, even if he was not feeling so hopeful himself. He spotted a good shot – three in a row, though the bullet surely wouldn't pierce – and let fly.

He was wrong. The rifle did hit all three, an excellent shot. Unfortunately, a Plaga erupted out of the head of the third one. It was a younger one, so not as bad, but he'd still need to spend an extra bullet on it.

Then Mike and Aurelleah both switched to that one, and with three slugs and three pistol rounds, it fell to the ground thrashing weakly.

"Nice," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"These things sure are nasty, ain't they?" Mike replied gruffly. He was getting tired, too. Luis could tell.

"Oh, yeah," Ashley replied. "Super gross."

They heard an explosion overhead, then another magnum round going off, and Saddler cried out again. Some of the hopeless tension in Luis's chest relaxed a bit. Sounded like Leon was doing major damage to the boss. And the Ganados before them were thinning. Perhaps things would turn out alright after all.

Then another throng surged through the pass – at least twenty more in this wave, most of whom were toting axes and electrical batons, as well as a few crossbows – and Luis's heart fell once more.

The siege picked back up. They were in for rough weather.

There were Ganados lining the walkways leading up to the tower. These were merely grunts, and Ada was not impressed with them, but they did slow her progress down a bit.

She was using her handgun. She didn't bother with headshots. She largely focused on getting the knees, then kicking them off the sides when they were staggered, letting gravity take care of things for her.

Another one went over and with it, she had a clear shot to the next level of the platform. She took it, climbed up the next ladder, got to the top, and was forced to duck as a crossbow bolt flew over her head.

The bolt was smoking, but not on fire. It had just begun raining. How unfortunate. She dropped down again as the second bolt came, then jumped up and fired, following up with a kick and sending the crossbowman plummeting fifty feet. She was nearly to the top.

She spotted a good anchor point – the arm of a crane that had been lifting more steel girders up to the top level. She used this to get to the last row of platforms, and started down them, kicking Ganados aside with precise, vicious strokes.

Below her, Saddler raged and Leon fired again and again. It looked like he'd been going for the titan's kneecaps, and as a result Saddler had gotten slow. Still, they'd need something big to take him down once and for all. If she needed to, she'd have Leon lure him over here and drop more girders on him, but she suspected even that wouldn't be enough. They needed to destroy his central brain, otherwise he would just keep coming at them.

She reached the stairs leading up to the very top, climbed them, and quickly dispatched the two Ganados that had been standing guard over…

Oh, I think that will work.

She looked at this piece of equipment, and smiled. She really had excellent intuition. Now she just needed to get this lovely silver bullet to Leon.

She picked up the rocket launcher and started back down.

Leon was getting very, very tired. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

That said, things could have been worse. Saddler had stopped gaining speed and had instead slowed down as Leon pulverized the eyes on each of his kneecaps. The Plaga-whips on his central body were thrashing wildly, and Leon was pretty sure that meant Saddler was in a lot of pain. Clearly he'd overestimated how powerful his new body would be. That or he'd underestimated how much fight Leon had left in him. Either way, it was costing him.

He caught sight of Ada making her way down from a tall series of platforms, and wondered what she'd been doing up there. Whatever she'd found, he hoped it was something really good. Like a box full of grenades.

Saddler pressed forward and Leon was forced to dodge around the giant, monstrous body as it bore down on him once more. He'd tried several times to just crush Leon, get close enough to him to let his Plaga-whips finish the fight, and each time Leon had put a lot of effort into dodging quickly and efficiently, following up with a mocking quip. He hoped to dissuade Saddler from thinking this was his most effective attack, because frankly, it was.

Each rush exhausted Leon a little bit more. He only had so many dodges left in him. The last time he'd been nicked by a scythe, though he hadn't let Saddler know.

He raised his shotgun and fired at one of the kneecaps again, but it was a moot point. The eyes had all been knocked out, and Saddler was keeping the lids shut on them now that they were too damaged to provide him with extra vision. His weak points were all covered…except for the head, which was moving too quickly for Leon to hit.

Every time he aimed for it, Saddler put a burst of speed into his neck, blurring it around too quickly for Leon to get anything like a bead on it, even with the wide spread of his shotgun. This tended to disorient Saddler, but he made up for the loss of vision by charging blindly at Leon, which was the most difficult attack to dodge. So he'd given up on aiming at the eye. He needed a way to really cripple Saddler if he wanted to take it down unimpeded.

In other news, Luis and the gang were still fighting, though the rifle had fallen silent. He hoped that just meant the man was out of ammo for it. He hadn't had a ton left when this had started up, so that was likely, but it was still an unnerving development.

Come on, man – I'm counting on you. Keep the girls safe.

"Leon!"

Ada had returned to the fight. He looked up, and as he did, he saw something straight out of a dream.

She was standing on a walkway one level up, drenched in the rain that had just started again. It had turned her dress a significantly darker shade, and it clung tightly to her body in a deep, crimson outer skin. Her black hair was glossy, and water cascaded down her face and arms in clear rivulets. Her stance was proud and strong.

In her hands, she held a rocket launcher.

He paused a moment to take this vision in. He'd be carrying that one to his grave, thank you very much.

"Use this!" She yelled as he ran over to her, and she tossed the weapon down to him. He caught it – ouch, it was heavy – and turned about to line up the shot.

Saddler was facing him, ready to charge once more, but as he saw Leon with the launcher, his human face melted into dismay.

Leon almost snorted as those giant crab legs, which had been just begun to propel their owner forward, suddenly reversed. Saddler groaned loudly, trying to turn about and flee, but Leon wasn't having any of that. Oh, no. This fight was over.

He braced the launcher on his shoulder, took careful aim, and fired.

It hit Saddler right in the side. The rushing wind and driving rain cleared much of the smoke and light away rapidly, so he was able to clearly see it when two of Saddler's legs were blown clean off. His neck, too, was badly damaged, and his head flailed and fell to the ground.

Saddler did not roar, or scream, or cry or wail. He fell silently, and when calm settled in the aftermath of the strike, the cult leader lay sprawled on the ground, moving meekly, like a spider that had just been sprayed with a powerful insecticide.

His remaining legs twitched gently. His Plaga-whips had mostly fallen flat – those that were left. His head was facing away. He tried to raise it, but his strength was gone.

Leon walked over to behold the remains of the Plaga. Saddler's human face had been burned off by the blast. All that remained was the great yellow eye. This locked onto him, then began wavering. Tears welled up in the socket, and a wheezing cry issued from the maw.

Leon just said, "You picked all the wrong girls to kidnap."

He unloaded his last four magnum rounds into Saddler. When this didn't quite cut it – the eye was blinded and destroyed, but the body was still moving faintly – he walked up, put the Striker right up against the remains, and started firing again and again.

It took ten shots for the leader of the Los Illuminados to finally die. Only once the last of those Plaga whips stopped thrashing and the legs went totally still did Leon nod, satisfied. Tired, but satisfied.

Well, not totally satisfied. The battle was still going on downstairs. He needed to move. But first – the Sample.

He stepped up to the bundle of robes that had once held Saddler's human body. They hung limp and deflated. He reached down, rooting around in the pockets until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out the Sample, looked at it closely—

And heard the click of a gun about a foot behind his head.

His stomach sank. Unlike last time, the gun was too far away from him to knock aside in a quick sweep. Ada had learned her lesson. But he hadn't, and now he was at her mercy.

"Sorry, Leon," she said, and she did not sound sorry at all. "Hand it over."

He wanted to feel anger, betrayal, sensible emotions given the circumstances…but all he could feel was sorrow and alarm. He knew what was in his hand, and nothing – absolutely nothing – good could possibly come of it.

And she wanted to bring it back to Wesker.

"Ada," he said. "You do know what this is?"

He stood slowly, handing it back to her – what other choice did he have? – and risked a look back.

She took it, stepping back from him. Her gun was still out, and she smiled mysteriously at him and hummed her affirmation.

Another loud burst of gunfire came from downstairs, and he looked back towards the elevator, unease pulsing in his veins. He needed to get back to the others, now.

As soon as he'd looked away, Ada had turned to sprint towards the edge of the rig. He watched, wide-eyed, as she neared the edge. He assumed she was going to jump off, deploying her hookshot as she went, but instead she paused. She held up the Plaga sample and said, "Don't worry; I'll take good care of it." Then she pulled two things out of a small pouch on her thigh, holding them both up. One looked like a set of keys.

The other looked like a transmitter.

"Ada!" He yelled, helpless frustration welling up in him. Damnit all, after everything they'd been through – why couldn't she just…?

She pressed the button on the transmitter, and it began beeping. Then she threw him the keys. "Here, catch. Better get a move on – you have about five minutes to get off this island. See you around."

Five minutes to get off the island? How the hell was she gonna—

The roar of a chopper began to fade in to the ambient noise of the storm, and a moment later it appeared from around a nearby cliff.

It came over to Ada and, as it passed her by, she deployed her hookshot. It caught on the inside of the chopper and she reeled herself in. A moment later she was sitting snugly in the seat. The chopper started off, and he watched her disappear from his life once more with a final knowing smile. As he watched her go, he said tiredly,

"Showoff."

But time was ticking. He looked down at the keys in his hands. The tag said motorboat in her curling script, and a teddy bear dangled from the keyring.

"Very cute," he said listlessly.

He sighed heavily and turned to go.

Elleah was running low on slugs. The enemies just kept coming, but thankfully they'd been seriously slowed. There were literally ridges of corpses scattered before them, and they kept tripping the new arrivals up.

She helped with this endeavor, putting ball bearings in their knees and ankles so Luis, who had run out of rifle ammo and taken his pistol back from Mike, could take them out on the ground. They were holding their own, barely, but once she was out of ammo, too, she wasn't sure what they would do. How could Luis hold off an army with just one gun?

Then the elevator started up, and she felt a flash of hope.

They said nothing, just kept firing. They'd heard another explosion, this one even louder, just a few minutes ago, followed by a string of shots. They couldn't hear Saddler anymore. There had also been the sound of a helicopter approaching and departing, and Mike had told them confidently that it was not one of theirs. She didn't know what to make of that, but the rest had sounded very appealing.

Then she heard Leon's shotgun going off, and she knew this fight was just about finished.

He wasn't bothering to kill off every Ganado. He was pushing his way through quickly, only firing when necessary to clear the way. She kept up her shots – her arm was very tired, now, but she couldn't afford to let up – and within thirty seconds, Leon emerged.

He cleared out the nearest line of enemies. Luis hailed him as he did so. "Leon! Is Saddler—"

"Dead," Leon said shortly. "We have to get off this island now, it's gonna blow any minute. You guys find a speedboat by chance?"

"Right beneath us," Elleah said.

"It's gonna what?!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Blow," Leon said. "So we've gotta move. I'll cover you, get on!"

Luis took the offer and did not start asking questions. He handed his gun to Mike, who began firing it again, and went to the ledge, taking Elleah off of Ashley's shoulder and telling the older Graham, "Hop on. I'll lower these two down."

Ashley nodded, sat down on the ledge, tensed as she considered the fall – seven feet onto a motorboat rocking in the wind and waves – and dropped.

She didn't make a peep as she plummeted, and she fell roughly into the motorboat, struggling to her feet a moment later looking only mildly jarred. She looked up, intent on helping cushion her sister's fall.

Luis took her by the shoulders and began lowering her down as Leon's shotgun roared continuously behind them, accompanied by Luis's pistol. He dropped her, and she tumbled down into Ashley, who helped her into one of the back seats. The pistol fell silent as Luis took it back from Mike, holstered it, and helped the injured man to the ledge. There wasn't time to rig up a harness from the rope for him, so he just dropped over the edge, yelping when his ankle caught on the side of the boat. That was probably another broken bone.

Ashley helped him to his feet, and though Elleah wanted to help as well, she couldn't. She was now slumped in a seat in the back, sick and moveless, totally out of steam. She coughed thickly.

There was a jangle of keys and Leon said, "Get it started. I'll be right behind you."

Luis nodded, dropped to the boat, took to the steering wheel, and slid the keys in. Leon gave one more blast, then jumped in after them when he heard the engine start up. He fell heavily into the boat, and Luis gunned it.

They picked up speed rapidly. They managed to get a good fifty feet between them and the island before the explosion went off.

When Leon had said the island would explode after a few minutes, she'd wondered what exactly that would entail. Turned out, a lot of fire, a deafening roar, and a shockwave that ruffled their hair and jarred their boat as it launched itself off a low wave. They slopped back down, engine still going strong, and maintained their outward momentum as, behind them, the deadly island was engulfed in flames.

Mike cheered at this, though it was a tired cheer. Clearly his love of explosions outweighed the pain he was in, but the pain was still a major factor. Once the explosion died down, Elleah looked back at the mess, then around at her friends and sister, and realized that that was it.

It was over.

They were free.

She was very cold. Her chest felt heavy, like she wasn't getting quite enough air with every breath. Her nose was running and clogged, and her muscles, aside from being sore with all the overuse and abuse, were starting to hurt like she had a fever. She was also horribly hungry, as she hadn't eaten in hours, and that had only been a snack. She could feel the weariness of blood loss, too, as well as the bone-deep fatigue borne of the pain of the Plaga's removal, which still hung in the back of her mind like a thin but cloying shroud. And to top it all off, she didn't even have any lingering numbness to help her deal with the damages she'd suffered. Every cut, bruise, and laceration – especially the wound on her arm – was absolutely throbbing with pain.

But this was it. The adventure was over.

"Let's go home," Leon said in the silence that followed.

Ashley piped up. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Mission accomplished," Elleah added with a weary but genuine attempt at positivity. "Right, Leon?"

"Not quite," he said lightly. "I still have to get you home safe."

Luis whistled. "Looks like we're heading west. Eh, Leon…the Sample?"

Leon's jaw acquired a stony set to it, and he replied, "Ada held me up for it."

Luis's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh. Mierda."

"Yup," Leon agreed. "Mierda."

"This Sample important?" Mike asked.

"It was the last sample of the parasite that allowed for the control of those Ganados back there," Leon explained. "All the biggest, baddest guys we fought were infected with them."

"That's not good," Mike said gravely.

Luis was driving the craft. Mike had taken shotgun. Ashley and Elleah were in the back seats, which left Leon standing. As they pulled far away from the island, he took a deep breath, and let it all out, setting himself down against the back of the boat, between her and her sister. Not super comfortable, but knowing Leon, he was okay with it.

"Well," he said. "Nothing to be done about that. I'll just have to file my report when I get back. Now, I think it's time we updated Hunnigan, don't you?"

Elleah perked up a very little bit. She'd like to hear from Hunnigan again. "Is the radio working again?"

"Here's to hoping," he replied, fiddled with it for a moment, then pressed a button and held it up to his face. Luis slowed down to cut the engine noise.

There was a lot of static. Then, after a few seconds—

"Finally, the line's jack-free!" Hunnigan's voice exclaimed through the speaker.

Elleah and Ashley let out small cheers, Elleah wincing as she tried, and failed, to throw up her arm triumphantly. Ow.

"Hunnigan," Leon began.

Before he could continue, she said, "Those cheers – was that who I thought it was?"

Leon was holding the radio up to face himself. Now he turned it around, and Ashley and Elleah cloistered together so they'd both be in the shot.

"Hi Hunnigan," Elleah said.

"Ashley, Aurelleah, good to see you," she said warmly. "So Leon got you out alright?"

"Right as rain," Ashley said primly. "Uh…mostly."

"Mostly?"

Leon turned the radio back onto himself. "Yeah, we have a few injuries. And we're gonna need to prep for surgery on the way back – me and the girls."

"What kind of surgery?" Hunnigan asked, alarmed.

Luis took over, leaning back in his seat to explain, "The Plagas inside them need to be removed. We managed to kill the parasites, but the corpses aren't just going to dissolve. They need to be taken out before they start to decompose."

"I'll pass that along. Do we have any expertise on how to get them out?"

"Present," Luis said, raising a hand. Leon aimed the radio at him. He winked. Elleah giggled…but only faintly. With all the worries over, darkness was starting to crowd in on the corners of her vision. That was good. Anything to alleviate the discomfort.

"Leon, was that the male civilian from earlier? What does he know about the Plagas?"

Leon winced. "Uh, that's a long story, but trust me – he knows a lot."

"I'll take your word for it. Any knowledge of them is better than nothing. Also, we dispatched another chopper to help you out, but we lost contact with that one, too. Did you hear anything about it?"

"Oi!" Mike growled from the back. He looked as tired as Elleah felt, and as he started talking, she closed her eyes and began nodding off. "Yeah, still alive back here! My bird's a bust, but Leon and friend managed to pull me – ey, Miss Graham, you okay?"

She was fine. She just needed sleep. She wanted to let them all know…but she was too tired.

The last thing she was aware of was falling out of her seat.

OoO

And that's it!

No, not really, I actually still have several chapters left wrapping everything up. But that's it for Saddler and his creeps ;)

I did not go camping, hence the on-time upload. There's been a bug going around our house keeping us mostly indoors. No worries. Gives me time to write. I've finished Heroes, 99.9%, and now it's all just editing and uploads from here on out. I've moved on to a different story, not a fanfic, one of the two I'm working on at the moment. Both fantasy, both take place in the same universe, and I'm very much enjoying working on it again. It's been a long time. If anyone's interested in my independent writing, PM me and I'll happily email you a copy of my work.

Thanks, as always, for the feedback and support! Love and appreciation to you, dear readers, and I'll see you in a few days for the first of the epilogues. As those who read First Impressions is aware, I'm big on wrapping things up for my characters. You can count on everyone getting an outro. And when I say everyone...

...I mean everyone.

Best,

The Topaz Dragon