Having Sasha and JD around was good for Leon, he decided, since he had forgotten with all of the work that it was Thanksgiving weekend. The two were familiar with the American holiday, but had never been a part of one. The ex-agent was happy to endulge his friends while they were staying with him and Ricard seemed to really enjoy their company as well. He found the greyhound lying at Sasha's feet more than once while the man was reading in the parlor and JD was more than happy to take the dog out for a run. Seeing the two men do things that he guessed were part of their normal daily lives really helped keep him from worrying about everything that had been happening around the house. That and he always enjoyed cooking for someone else whenever they were around. Since being on his own, he hadn't really spent much time in the kitchen but he was more than happy to on this particular day.
It made him miss the holidays he'd spent with his family before they fell apart...
Once the dinner was over, JD had gone upstairs to take a shower and Sasha offered to put the left overs away as well as do the dishes. Which Leon was thankful for, because as he sat down on the couch in the living room to look over the blue prints for the house, he started coughing and sweating. He coughed up more of the fluid that he had during the party a week ago at Claire's party and had continued to the following week. He'd managed to keep it under control so he wouldn't scare the other two men, but he'd started working on the walls to fix the wiring and it seemed to be getting worse. That and the plastic hanging over the walls since he didn't fix them yet was really annoying him. Unfortunately, this time Sasha heard him and came in from the kitchen while drying his hands.

"Leon, have you sought treatment for that cough?" the Russian male asked him before putting the towel over his shoulder. "Jaska and I have heard you suffering with it the last couple of nights."

"No, I haven't had a chance to make a doctor's appointment," Leon replied, putting the tissue he'd coughed into in a bag and tied it up. "Sorry to keep you two awake. Not a very good host, am I?"

The man shushed him and moved Leon's fringe and place his palm on the blonde's forehead which made him exhale and close his eyes in relief. "Oh my god, you're burning up! Do you have anything you can take for this or do I need to run out and get you something?"

"That's the problem, nothing I take helps for more than a couple of hours." After pulling away quickly. he coughed into his hands but thankfully this time, nothing came up. But the fluid sound made Sasha put his foot down.

"I'm going to tell Jaska I'm taking you to a hospital," the Russian said as he put the towel on the back of the couch. "Put your shoes and jacket on."

Leon wanted to argue, but considering how he was feeling at the moment, he was a little more worried than he was willing to listen to his manly pride. He nodded as the man left the room to go tell his friend to watch the house, got up and put on his boots and heavier jacket. Ricard whined and put his nose into his hand after he'd put his wallet in his pocket.

"It's okay boy, I'll be back tonight. Keep JD busy, okay?"

He pet his partner on his ears as Sasha came down, pulling his coat on. The two went out and got into the car, Leon decided to put on his construction mask to keep the germs from getting to his friend even though he had been vaccinated before visiting. Thankfully the drive to the hospital didn't take long because by the time they got there, the ex-agent was about ready to throw up as the taste from the cough made his stomach churn. And as soon as he could manage to get out without hurting himself, he did just that then took the mask off and threw up everything he'd ate for dinner. Sasha kept his distance for the time being but watched the American in deep concern from the driver's side of the car. He couldn't believe the man could have gotten so sick considering how strong he seemed when they met, but reality had a way of showing a person's weaknesses.
Once Leon stood up and took a deep breath, he cleared his throat and leaned his head back to collect himself as tears ran down his face. He wiped the water trails off his face then put the mask back on, walking over to Sasha when he offered his arm out to him, putting it around his shoulders once he was close enough. Leon checked in with the nurse and sat down in the waiting room with the Russian male next to him, keeping a close eye on him. It was clear he was worried that this may have some kind of side effect due to all of the infected he'd come into contact with, so he looked at the man tiredly.

"Relax, Alexander," he whispered, his throat hurting from coughing and throwing up. "I've been bitten before, but I'm immune. It's one of the reasons I was chosen for the job back after Raccoon.."

Sasha nearly jumped and looked at the people on the other side of the room, hoping they hadn't heard the man before looking back at him. "You can't tell me this is just a normal cold. You look like the life is draining out of you by the week."

"I think it has..to do with the house.." He swallowed hard, trying to keep the acid down. "Ever since I moved into it, I've be-"

"Mr. Kennedy, come with me," a male nurse called.

By the time they got done taking blood for tests, taking x-rays of his lungs and hooking him up to an IV for fluids, Leon fell asleep on the bed with the older man watching over him. He sat in the chair next to the bed and watched the weather on the television in the room; he was aware of a shift in the energy in the room and looked out of his peripherals towards the door. He saw the spirit of a Hispanic man standing there, but it was clear by the light around him that this was the source of the positive energy that was protecting Leon from whatever else was trying to break him. The change in the room seemed to have been felt by the blonde as well and it roused him from his slumber, making him open his eyes just after the spirit disappeared, turning his attention to Sasha who smiled.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly as he stood up next to the bed.

"Tired..." the man replied as he closed his eyes again. He felt Sasha rest his hand on top of his head. The same hands that had once nearly killed him, that had seen to much violence in the wake up his fiancée's death were truly so gentle that Leon almost couldn't believe it was the same person.

"Then rest for now, I'll let you know when the doctor comes back in." The Russian combed the longer part of his bangs out from over his eyes, taking in the dark circles underneath them. He realized this man had been suffering alone for a long time, not just from this illness, but from something else as well and it made his heart ache for his friend.
The doctor returned a while later with a diagnosis that seemed to send panic and bad memories through Sasha: Leon had Pneumonia.

"There must be mold in the house somewhere..." Leon thought out loud. "I thought I checked for it well enough, but maybe it's in the vents."

"My suggestion would be to get out of the house while you're recovering, Mr. Kennedy," the doctor told him in concern. "I'm going to get you started on a heavy antibiotic regimen and refer you to a Pulmonologist. You're lucky you caught this when you did; most people wait until it's too late. Let me go get your prescription and referral paper. The nurse will be in momentarily to remove your IV. Take care of yourself Mr. Kennedy."

"I will, thanks doc." The man nodded and turned, leaving the room so Leon looked at the man beside him in concern. "Are you okay, Sasha? That diagnosis seemed to spook you more than me."

"My mother..died of pneumonia before the war..." he told the blonde truthfully, taking his glasses off to rub at his eyes. Leon frowned and put his hand on Sasha's arm to comfort him. That explained the emotional reaction.

"Sorry to hear that," the blonde told him tiredly. "But you know I'm not going to go down that easy. You're stuck with me for a while longer."

Sasha couldn't help but smile and chuckle at the man's words. Even on the verge of death, he was charismatic. "I can handle that, I think."

"I thought you might be able to." Leon winked at him, smiling a little.

By the time Leon was released from the hospital, it was three in the morning and the city was pretty much a ghost town. The only thing the two men had on their minds was getting back to the house to let JD know what was going on and then getting to sleep. When they walked inside, they found the red head sitting in the parlor waiting for them.

"What did they say?" he asked as Ricard ran to Leon who caught him with one arm, rubbing his ribs.

"He has pneumonia," Sasha told him which worried the shorter male. "He has medicine for it and he'll be going to a specialist soon. The doctor said he caught it in time before it got worse."

The second foreigner exhaled in relief before Leon smiled tiredly. "I'm going to head to bed and I think that the two of you should do the same. I'm going to call someone in to look for mold in the morning."

"That's probably a good idea, we'll see you in the morning Leon," JD told him.

"Good night you two."

"Good night," Sasha replied with a caring smile.

It felt like as soon as Leon lied down, he was asleep, which given the last week was quite a relief. For once he actually slept and didn't have any dreams or such to disturb him, neither did the itching from his infection. If he coughed, he didn't realize it and by the time he woke up, it was 11 in the morning. That was the longest he'd slept in quite a while, from what he could remember and honestly it was pretty refreshing. Even as his cough crept back up, he got out of bed and went to the bedroom door to open it and listen. The house was quiet which he guessed meant the other two weren't awake yet, which was good. He decided now would be a good time to slip out and get his medicine the ER doctor had prescribed for him while the two men were still resting in the art room, patting Ricard on the ribs as he passed by the end of the bed.
The greyhound snorted, stretching his toes, but didn't move other than that.
The blonde got dressed, heading downstairs quietly where he grabbed all of his normal things, the mask being added to the list now that he knew what he had was contagious. The drive was peaceful for the blonde and even though he felt tired still, he felt better today than he had in a few days. The antibiotics he had at the ER must've helped to some degree, he decided as he went to the pharmacy to drop off the prescriptions. As he was reading a paragraph on his cellphone about the disease, he suddenly got a strange sensation. He had felt this before; it was the same feeling he had right before the outbreak in DC. Just as he pocketed his cellphone, a warm voice whispered in his ear.

Your friends are in danger, Leon.

He quickly rushed back out to his truck, getting in and turned it on; he needed to get back to the house and he needed to do it quick. He knew that voice, it was Luis. If he was telling him that something was wrong, he'd listen. The chase through China had caused him to almost lose a friend he really cared about as well as his own life; he couldn't risk losing someone else. He got back to the house and found the two Russian men out in the yard, seemingly getting something from their rental. Ricard was barking loudly and very aggressively from inside the house.
He put the truck in park, turned it off and quickly got out.

"Leon, what's wrong?" JD asked, seeing the man's body language.

"Where were y-" Sasha didn't get a chance to finish his question.

"Get inside!" the blonde told them just as he heard a car pull into the driveway. Leon turned and looked at the car, recognizing it as one of the Cult's cars. "The Cult is back!"

Sasha realized what Leon was talking about as soon as he saw the four men get out of the car and put himself between them and JD while Leon held his gun ready, his eyes narrowed as one opened the door to the back of the black car. The blonde watched as a man wearing a soot colored suit over a dark purple shirt got out. He straightened his coat before walking over towards the men and Leon finally drew his gun, pointing it at the man. Sasha reacted by putting his arms protectively around JD and moving back onto the porch with him.

"That's far enough," Leon said behind the mask. The man stopped, but didn't look impressed by his words, or the gun pointed at him. "This is private property and I suggest you give me a good reason not to shoot you for trespassing."

"Your friends' lives would be a reason for you to stay that trigger finger of yours, Kennedy," the man replied with a voice as smooth as silk, highlighted by a Spanish accent but bleak as venom. Leon looked around using his sixth sense and saw men with guns all along the property line. Damn it, how had he missed that?

"Alright, you have my attention," Leon said as he raised his hands slowly, putting the gun away slowly and stood there. He didn't know how many bullets he could survive since he was arguing with his other side, but he knew that Sasha and JD didn't stand a chance. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is not important to you," the man replied, playing with a ring on his left hand's ring finger. Leon quickly glance and noticed it was a scorpion, but didn't linger on it. "I'm here to reclaim something that belongs to my boss."

Leon furrowed his brows in confusion as he looked at the man. He was a little younger than Chris, his black hair was slick back and he had a dusting of facial hair. One eye was green and oddly the other was... The man cleared his throat and Leon shook his head.

"Sorry I think you're treeing the wrong dog, Mr. Not Important to You." If he wasn't feeling so confused, he probably would've thought that through a little better. "I don't know what you're talking about and I sure as hell don't know who your boss is."

"You would be wise not to toy with me, Agent Kennedy." That sent a shot of anger into Leon for some reason. "Tell us where the doctor is or your friends won't make it!"

Before Leon could tell the man to go to hell, something touched his shoulder and a warm breath against his ear again. Duck. The voice made him yell for the two men to do the same so all three of them dropped to their stomachs. Just as they hit the ground, the sound of a gun went off and the man in front of Leon snarled, almost a hiss like noise before running back to the car and got in. Leon got up and ran to get behind the large oak tree, shooting the men he could see using his sixth sense. When all of them had been taken down, he walked back to the driveway to look where the car had taken off from while Sasha and JD got up slowly.

"Leon... Who was that?" Sasha asked, a little unnerved. The blonde never wanted something like this to happen while people he cared about were around him.

"I don't know," the blonde replied, holstering his pistol. He looked towards the tree line. "What about you Kayla, can you tell me?"

The other two men looked over as the large woman walked towards them with a rifle in her hands. She was pretty intimidating since she had a bullet-proof vest on over her suit. "Sorry kid, couldn't tell ya'. Piers got a call from Chris and asked me to come check on ya'. Guess his instincts were right. Who were those guys?"

"The Black Scorpions apparently." Leon would have been pissed that Chris still had the guts to think about him after being thrown out, but he was more preoccupied with the thought of the man's ring and the odd purple eye with the different color skin around it. "And I'm guessing that hotshot was their leader."

"Sounds like you need to make a phone call, old friend," Sasha told Leon as he and JD walked over.

"I hate to say this, but you two should head out soon," Leon replied as he looked at the two men. "You're not safe here anymore; they're getting more bold by the day and I don't want you hurt. I definitely don't want your PTSD acting up, Alexander."

"He's right, Buddy," JD agreed, making Sasha frown and look at him. "Leon's strong and bullheaded, you know he'll be okay. But we can't do this again..."

"You're right. Let's go get our things, Jaska."

Leon watched as the two went inside then noticed a bullet hole in the porch rail and went over, pulling the bullet out with a sigh. Kayla walked over behind him as he coughed and pat his shoulder gently, making him turn and look at her.

"You're doing the right thing, Leon," she told him, putting her hand on the butt of her rifle now. "They're civilians, they don't need to be in the middle of whatever this is."

"Yeah, they've seen enough bloodshed in their home country. They don't need to see it here, too."

Kayla tilted her head slightly, the toothpick didn't move with her change in posture. "How did you know I was about to fire though? I didn't alert anyone to my presence once I saw the men from down the road."

Leon thought about the voice he had heard in his ear and looked up at the window to the bedroom that was locked. The curtains fell back down to block the window and he smiled very faintly, looking back at Kayla. "I have a guardian angel."

The woman looked at the window as well before smiling, not questioning it since she had her own interactions with spirits and knew there plenty of them out there. Leon seemed to be lucky enough to get one of the good ones. The woman stood guard while the two Russian men got their things together and put them in the car.

"You two be careful on your way to the airport," Leon told them as they closed the trunk of the car. "I promise to call you once all of this has settled down and the house is actually fixed so you can spend more time around town."

"Thank you for this week Leon," JD said as they shook hands. "We'll be back, call us whenever you're ready."

The blonde nodded and shook Sasha's hand as well. The taller man combed his hair from his eye for a moment. "Take care of yourself, keep that appointment and make sure you get better. I hope we'll see each other again soon."

Sasha hugged the man, which was returned and Leon felt him place something in hoodie's pocket before the brunette pulled away and pat him on the shoulder. The ex-agent stepped back next to Kayla as they got into the car, he tucked his hands in the pocket, feeling whatever the man had put in there was the same temperature as his hand. He waved at them with his free hand, the ex-soldier behind him waved as well as they took off. After a pause, Leon took his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed Helena's number, the towering woman behind him seemed to know exactly what he was doing and put her gun on her back to wait.

"Leon?" the woman asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Can you get a team out here?" the blonde asked, clenching his jaw a bit behind his mask. "I just had a fire fight with the Scorpions and took out some of them."

"What?!" Whatever she had been doing before he called was completely forgotten in her background. "We're on our way, right now. Stay there!"

"Where else would I rather be?" he asked with a smirk then hung up.

"You could've told her I helped," Kayla noted, making Leon look at her. "You didn't hog all the gl-"

The woman was caught off guard by the door swinging open and Leon jumped back in shock, grabbing his gun out of instinct. Kayla did the same thing, aiming at the door, wondering if one of them had gotten inside without them realizing it. But Ricard bolted out and ran to hide under the truck, making Leon call for him. Kayla screamed for him to look out but as soon as he turned back around to see what was wrong, his vision was engulfed in black and he felt himself be thrown backwards quite a few feet. He hit the ground so hard he thought his skull cracked and he bounced before falling in place and passed out.

"Leon, look at me!" he heard someone scream in distress. He felt hands on his face, a man's hands but they were wet. Was it blood..? "Come on, you can't die like this! Not after all you've come through!"
He tried to open his eyes but he was just too dizzy; his head and his neck hurt. He felt really heavy, as if he was being pressed down by some kind of force. Just as he was about to give into the weight, something inside of him burnt like fire and he felt the urge to keep fighting ignite in him. He saw a figure in the darkness, surrounded by the images of fire, large wings appeared out of its back before it disappeared and he saw nothing but darkness.

He woke up slowly, realizing that had been the final moment before the incident that nearly killed him in China. He opened his eyes slowly, he was lying on the couch inside now and he sat up carefully, holding his forehead.

"Hey, you're awake finally," a voice carried from the doorway so he looked. It was Helena, still wearing full uniform. She walked over and sat in the armchair in his line of vision. "You were out for a good while. How are you feeling?"

"Nauseated," he told her truthfully as he lowered his hand. "Did Kayla..get the number of the bus that hit me?"

"Uhm, she said it was a black mass of some kind that came flying out your front door," the woman replied to his question and he looked aside. "She told me everything that happened and gave me the description of the guy that threatened you. I already filed a report but I came back to keep an eye on you. Leon... what's going on here?"

He didn't have a problem telling the woman what was going on, but he also wondered if telling her would cause problems for her since that black entity was clearly a problem. He exhaled through his nose and looked at the woman, telling her everything that had happened since he moved us and the second entity that had just shown itself in the last week. Her eyes widened as she listened, Leon looked at Ricard as he lay on the floor beside him.

"And apparently now it's going to start getting physical with me," he told the woman as he pet the dog's head, making him wag his tail. "I think having someone else in the house only keeps it at bay until they leave and violence apparently makes it stronger. It must gotten strong enough to manifest when I got angry with Chris..."

The woman clearly didn't know what to say but after a moment, she finally found her voice. "Do.. you want me to stay? Do you think that thing will attack again?"

"No, it's not on that level of aggression and hopefully it won't ever be." Leon stood up and so did Ricard, so Helena followed suit. He smiled at her a little bit. "You should go, people need your help, not including me."

"You should get someone to stay, Leon. If someone being here keeps this all toned down then y-"

"I don't want a repeat of China." Helena paused and Leon looked down, rubbing at his neck. She didn't understand so he looked at her as he kept his hand over his scar. "I got angry at the one responsible for the outbreak in D.C and I drug someone I cared about through my vengence with me. It almost got him killed and it almost killed me, too. I can't do that again."

"This battle may not be one you can fight alone either, Leon." She frowned.

"That's just it, I don't know how to fight it at all. And until I do, I think you should only stay at arm's length. I want to figure this out before I drag anyone else into it."

Helena nodded, she knew she couldn't argue with the man. "In the meantime, I'm going to do some digging into the Clan and see if I can get a name on their leader. As soon as I have something, I'll tell you alright?"

"Of course. You be safe out there fighting bad guys." The two smiled lightly and Leon hugged the woman before seeing her out. As she got to the bottom step of the porch, she turned and looked at him.

"Be safe, Leon. You're not at your full strength since you moved into this place. It's like it's draining the life out of you..."

"You're not the first one to tell me that, fireball."

"Well you should definitely believe it now, then. I'll see you soon."

The man put his hand on the post of the porch as a cold wind blew across the property while he watched her get into her cruiser and leave with a wave to him. He turned and went back inside, looking up the stairs as he leaned back against the door, thinking about everything that had occurred in the span of such a short time. He then remembered the item that Sasha had put in his pocket and reached in, taking it out. It was the ring that he had seen the man wearing on his right hand the whole time he'd been there. It was stainless steel, judging by the shine and the stone in the center was a tiger eye but why had he left it with him? He thought about going to put it away but something told him to put it on and - even though Sasha's hands were slightly bigger than his - he decided he better listen. He slipped the ring onto his middle finger and gasped as a warmth washed over him, making his bracelet flare for a second and he coughed, seeing some of the color come back to his skin.
He closed his eyes for a second and he got an image of Sasha holding the ring and saying some kind of prayer in Russian.
He understood, the man had blessed this ring and left it to him as a ward against whatever may come his way. Because of his faith being so strong and his hope for Leon to be safe, it created a sort of armor around him when combined with the energy locked inside his bracelet. He was going to have to act quick and figure out what was going on before the prayers from all of the people who cared about him wore off.