Pandemic: Resident Evil VI

Chapter Forty Six: Obstruction

Normally, after such a hard fight Chris would have told his team to hold position and take a few minutes to rest, but Ada had him in such a blind rage that the Captain ordered the pursuit to resume immediately, even before the chainsaw monster was completely melted. Piers objected to this, since they had lost four men already and there was no backup coming, but Chris wasn't having it. Yes, the team was down to almost half strength, and yes it was dangerous to keep going without knowing what else the enemy had up her sleeve, but there was no way he was going to let Ada escape… not after what she had just done.

"Captain, we're gonna lose more men if we keep going." The Lieutenant urged as they approached the warehouse district. "At least give headquarters another update, and request backup so the men have a couple minutes to rest."

"Lieutenant, if you don't want to keep going, then don't." Chris replied coldly. "You're the one who wanted me back so badly, well here I am, and you will follow my orders as long as you're on this team, got it?"

Piers wasn't the kind of man who would just run away, and the Captain knew that, but in an operation like this it was essential that everyone be on the same page. Part of him didn't want to just keep chasing Ada, either, but it was no more dangerous than the Spencer Estate, Kijuju, or a dozen other awful places where he had been forced to conduct a mission. At least here there were still six of them, instead of it just being Chris and one partner… and as soon as the target was captured or killed, then they could pull back to safety.

Smoke could be seen from the other side of the warehouse district, along with the flickering orange glow of something burning… God, how far had that bitch spread the J'avo infections? And where the hell was she? Unlike the city behind them, the warehouse district was quiet and untouched, but the Asian woman couldn't have gotten far… could she? If the roads were dirt, it would have been easy to follow the distinct tracks made by those high heel shoes Ada had ben wearing, but it was all blacktop here, and…

"Ada?" A voice was heard calling. "Ada, wait! Ada, come back!"

The whole team stopped upon hearing this, with Piers quickly spotting a pair of figures on the far side of one of the larger nearby warehouses. It was too dark to see who they were, although something about the voice was familiar… either way, they were heading to that warehouse, so Ada was probably inside. Motioning for his men to follow him, Chris rushed toward the same building, but staying on this side in order to find a backdoor so that they could head the target off. Finding the door was easy, but it was locked, and no one wanted to risk shooting the keyhole, since it would alert anyone inside to their presence.

"We'll probably have to go around." Piers said quietly. "I don't suppose any of you guys have a lockpick on you?"

There wasn't time to go around, so Chris charged at the door, ramming his shoulder into the edge, and breaking it free of the doorframe. The best lock in the world was worth nothing if the door itself was already rusting apart, and hopefully the crash didn't bring as much attention as simply shooting it. Either way, the team was inside, visibly startling Ada who had been just a short distance inside, and… was she wearing a different shirt? The surprise only lasted a second, with her recovering faster than they did, allowing her to take out a strange looking pistol.

"Cover!" The Captain yelled, he and his men trying to get out of the way.

Instead of shooting at them, however, Ada fired the weapon up into the air, sending out not a bullet, but a grapnel line that hooked into the walkway above them. Chris had already been aiming his rifle, but in a flash of movement the target was pulled up into the air, where he lost sight of her in the shadows somewhere on the upper walkway. Ratta-tatta! Firing a few shots in her general direction, sparks flew as the bullets bounced off the metal stairs and walkway above, but there was no sign that Ada had bee hit, or… any sign of her at all.

Gritting his teeth with rage, the Captain ran for the stairs with his team following closely behind, charging his way up to the walkway, where… God damn it, where was she?! Suddenly a door opened about fifty meters away from them, and Ada came running out, stopping and visibly startled upon seeing them with rifles raised. No, she was still wearing the same shirt, he must have imagined it, but Chris didn't imagine her taking off running as soon as the shock wore off. Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta! Aiming a rifle while running was almost impossible, even for an expert marksman like Chris, so all he hit was the walls and one or two hits on the walkway itself.

"Oh no, you don't!" The Captain yelled, stopping to aim when she pulled out that same grapnel gun. "No you fucking don't!"

Pop! Now that he was standing still, Chris had more than enough skill to shoot her in the hand just as she was about to escape through a high up window, but now instead of leaving, her gun fell down into the darkness, and the Asian woman cried out, holding her injured hand as Alpha Team caught up. Well, well, it looked like maybe they were going to be able to take her in alive after all… or maybe he would just shoot her in the head right now as payback for killing his team back in Edonia, he thought as he slowly raised the rifle again to aim at…

"Stop!" A figure yelled as he came out of the shadows, grabbing Chris. "Don't shoot her!"

Piers shifted his aim over toward the Captain once he and the figure started struggling, but then a second person, a woman this time, got in his way. Chris managed to push the first figure away, allowing him to raise his rifle again, but unfortunately the figure had managed to grab the pistol from the Captain's belt, allowing them both to aim at each other at the same time. Piers was doing a little better, though, since apparently the young woman wasn't nearly as skilled of a fighter as her partner was, giving the Lieutenant the opportunity to kick her feet out from under her, and then shove the barrel of his rifle into her mouth once she was down.

"Damn it, don't shoot!" the figure yelled again as they moved into the light. "Nobody shoot! We're US Government Agents, and that woman is a material witness, and… Chris?"

"Leon?" The Captain asked with an irritated tone. "Leon, what the hell are you…

Suddenly the conversations were interrupted when Ada took something out from behind her back and tossed it on the ground, with everyone forced to cover their eyes when the flashbang grenade exploded in a flash of light. For a moment there was only whiteness… whiteness and an awful ringing in Chris's ears, both of which slowly faded until the warehouse was visible again… and so was the fact that Ada Wong had vanished during the distraction. She was gone, and now there was no way to track her, not even seeing which direction she had gone… and it was all Leon's fault.

"You… you little shithead!" The Captain screamed. "I lost more than a dozen men because of her, and you let her get away!"

"And I lost seventy thousand!" Leon yelled back, the two of them resuming their standoff. "She's a key witness to what happened in Tall Oaks, and I need her alive or my whole investigation could fall apart! Now back off of Ada, before one of us does something they'll regret."

Now, because of his reputation alone, most people would have backed down after being threatened with a pistol by Leon Kennedy, but Chris wasn't one of those people, especially after informing the Agent that he had never gotten the chance to reload his side weapon after the battle with the chainsaw monster. Piers still had the young woman, who the Captain guessed was Leon's latest partner, pinned down with his rifle, and there were still the four remaining soldiers of Alpha Team closing in, and except for the empty pistol the two of them were… hey, why were the two of them unarmed in the first place?

"Chris, I know you're mad, but this is bigger than… whatever your problem is." The Agent said as the Captain grabbed his pistol out of his hand. "I have to get the people responsible for what happened in Tall Oaks, and I don't know if I can do that without Ada's help."

"And of course, you're gonna let her go scot-free afterwards, right?" Piers asked, putting his rifle deeper into Leon's partner's mouth when she tried to move. "Hey, hey, you keep still, sweetheart, you understand me? M4's a good rifle and all, but the slightest bump can make it go off if the safety's not on… and mine's not."

"Calm down, Lieutenant, you're not gonna shoot the girl." Chris replied. "But I'll tell you what; each one of you men can punch this guy in the face after I handcuff him to the guardrail so he can't get in our way anymore. You're gonna get a black eye and be sore for a while, Leon, but it's better than us just shooting you, right? Piers, gimme your handcuffs."

The Lieutenant used his free hand to take the handcuffs out of his pouch, and the Captain was reaching back to catch them, when Leon suddenly grabbed hold of the rifle, twisted it while pulling Chris toward him, and then stepping back with the weapon now in his possession. Trying his best to take control of the situation, even though he was outnumbered and outgunned, Leon told them that no one had to get hurt here, and that he would be on his way as soon as the Captain ordered his man to release Helena.

"That's awful generous of you, Leon." Chris replied calmly. "But I used the last round in my magazine to shoot Ada's little getaway gun, and… yeah, never had the chance to reload that one, either. Now, you can either be a good boy and let me handcuff you, or I can just beat you senseless. Which one's it gonna be?"

"I'm sorry, Chris, but I can't let you kill Ada." The Agent repeated, not backing down as he dropped the empty rifle. "So, I guess we're really doing this."