Chapter 15:

The pair of survivors took a moment to take some inventory and fill out Leon's little notebook he still had. They found a map to the sewers that they were in and added anything they had missed before to it. Their objective: to find the missing pieces to the lock in the sewers or find a different way to get in.

Considering how low they were on medical supplies they decided to not change out the bandages until they could get some more or get out of the sewers. They needed to keep what they had in case they got hurt again and rechanging them every time they got in the sewage wasn't ideal.

There was a door near where they found the map on the other side of the room. It led out to the same room that they had seen from up in the first control room and according to the map, it was called the Treatment Pool room. By pulling a nearby lever, the walkway that stood high above them began to lower. Once it had reached to the floor, they cautiously made their way across and decided to take a look at the cable car since it led that way. It was a short platform with a desk full of electronic repair parts and a small set of stairs leading down.

On the desk was a T-bar lever that they realized could be used on the many gates they had seen, so they took it. When they walked up to the cable car door, the sign lit up green with the words 'Visitor' on it. The door didn't open, however, and instead, they were met with a monotone voice.

"ID wristband required for entry."

"A wristband? Where are we gonna find that?" Veronica huffed as they walked down the stairs.

"No idea. I suppose we'll look out for that too." At the bottom of the stairs was another table covered in repair items and a note. It said that there was a safe lying around that had a code written on the side in chalk. Hopefully, no one had erased it yet. They jogged back the way they came and to their surprise, there was a safe sitting on a metal table just on the other side of the room.

Passing the door that they would need to get through next, they carefully walked up to the safe. There was a body lying on the ground just a few feet away from them, so as to not take any chances, Veronica used her almost forgotten hammer to destroy the head. There was a blue herb sitting next to the body so they took it now knowing that poisonous enemies were around. While she was doing that, Leon cracked open the safe with the code still written in chalk on the side of it. Inside was a shotgun stock that he happily added to their gun, giving it a boost for their protection.

Once they were done, they headed to the door and walked into a dark staircase. The air smelled like garbage again, meaning they were back by the waters. They had to be careful, knowing what they're up against. At the bottom of the stairs, they could see two zombies staggering about. They crept down a little closer to see if they could maybe just run by but one of them caught sight of them which made the other one notice too.

"Shit!" It was a little bit of a struggle being on a slope and shooting in such a tight corridor, but eventually, they were able to knock the zombies out. At the bottom of the stairs, they found themselves in a junction that would lead in two directions. One end looked like it led down a small staircase while another went back to the part of the sewers where they had come across the first monster. There was a running current on that side of the room that was blocked off by a large gate, but when they pulled a switch on the wall next to it, it raised it up.

"So which way should we go?" Leon asked his partner. She looked at both pathways and bit her lip as she thought about it.

"Well, we already know what's that way," she pointed to the familiar path before taking out her map. "But there is that gate we saw and a blue herb we didn't pick up back there. Now that we have the crank to open those gates, it's now an option. Or we go this way," she pointed the other way, "to the bottom waterway and see what's over there."

"You can decide while I pack this green herb," Leon told her while picking up a green herb pot that he found from atop a random oil barrel. She took a hot second to think about it before deciding.

"Let's go the new way and see what we find. If there's nothing special, we'll just swing back to that gate."

"Ok. Let's go!"

The survivors began making their way towards the dark staircase leading to one of the gates that needed to be raised. With a little bit of a struggle, they inserted the crank and got the gate up, opening the path forward. Walking through though, they almost wished they hadn't. On the other side was a catwalk that stood high above the bottom waterway and it looked like a living nightmare.

It was dark and lit partially by a couple of dim lights along the walls and a bright red light cascading over the other side of the room where there was a lone door. To get to it, however, they had to trudge through sewer waters and pulsating growths that looked like human organs that sat in mounds across the room. It piled up in corners and was growing up the walls like vines and the sound of tortured moans echoed in the large room.

Just by the sound of it, there had to be more of those monsters in there, but the pair couldn't see them even from the high catwalk. The room smelled the worst out of anywhere they had been that night. It was a mix of sewage and decomposing body parts. Both of the survivor's stomachs lurched at the overwhelming senses that the room attacked them with.

"My god," Veronica whispered in horror at the sight. "What is this?"

"This is getting worse! We have to hurry!" They continued on the catwalk towards the other end and found a table sitting against the wall. In an open box hanging on the wall, they found a key with a chess insignia and a similar label to the Treatment Facility doors from before. They needed to go get the rook piece from there anyway, so they took it with them. Across from the table was a ladder that led down to the horrendous scene below them. They looked at each other knowingly.

"Let's save this room for last," Leon suggested.

"Agreed," his partner replied, never having said something faster in her life. Instead, they took the stairs just to the left of the table up towards another gate. Peeping through the bars, they could see the familiar waterway they had started in that would lead them to the rook piece. However, at the base of the gate, the T-bar crank was broken leaving them the only option with going around the long way. They could open it from the other side and take this route back to Ada.

The pair retraced their steps back towards the room that would lead them to the other waterway. As they walked in, a body that they hadn't noticed before jumped out at them from around the corner, grabbing onto Veronica with a growl. She yelped and quickly reached behind her for a knife and plunged it into the zombie's neck, shoving it back before it could bite her. As soon as it was stunned, she took out her gun and shot the zombie down.

"Fuck!" she said breathlessly, her heart beating in her chest.

"Are you ok?!"

"I'm fine! Just got spooked! Wasn't bit, thank god."

"That was some quick thinking! It was really impressive!"

"It was all I could think of since I couldn't reach my gun! I remembered you did the same thing back in the morgue," she said while taking the knife back from the corpse.

"That's right. I did do that, huh?" She nodded as they continued over towards the water and climbed in. The cold sludge never failed to make her shiver uncomfortably as they trudged through.

Before they could head in the direction they needed to go, Leon decided to look around for anything that could be helpful along the garbage that lined the cement landing they were just on. They had found random supplies everywhere in the trash so far and he found his gut instinct was right. There was another grenade waiting for them to take, now leaving him with two besides the flash grenade he had traded for.

Moving on, they carefully made their way towards the gate with the blue herb and even found a can of gunpowder on the way there. However, as they were just passing by one of the sewer holes in the wall, one of those monsters began clambering out and splashing into the water behind them.

The pair hastily got onto the small cement landing before it would notice their presence and began lifting the gate up. While Veronica did that, Leon packed the blue herb they had left behind into their herb bag. They quickly made their way in and found it to be mainly empty besides trash, some shotgun ammo and to their surprise, a small lift. They hopped on and pushed the button, letting it carry them up a floor.

The room they got to was a small workroom with supplies scattered about and a body lying on the floor. Veronica quickly disposed of it with her hammer just in case it decided to get up. They found another pouch, some more handgun ammo, and another roll of film labeled 'Hiding Place'. While Veronica was attaching the new pouch to her hip, Leon examined the film.

"Did the map say there was a dark room down here?" His partner blinked as she thought about it for a second then took out the maps to check.

"I don't see one. The only one we know about is back at the police station."

"Damn. Well, maybe we'll find a hidden one somewhere. Otherwise, we're never gonna see these develop," he replied while packing the film in a pouch. Noticing that their packs were a little messy, they took a moment to empty their supplies of things that weren't necessary anymore like police department keys and anything else they found unuseful.

They did find the roll of film they had gotten in the parking lot and had forgotten to develop, but instead of throwing it out, they decided to keep it just in case. Once they were done and reloaded their guns with ammo, despite being low, they unlocked the door they were in and realized they were back where the rook piece was.

"Oh wow! We somehow made it back!"

"Which is good for us 'cause now we can get the rook piece!" Leon was about to take it when Veronica stopped him.

"Wait! Let's look in that room first!" she said, pointing to the door on the other end. She lifted the key that they had picked up into view before jogging over with Leon right behind her. Unlocking it, they found a small room with some machinery and a table with two gunpowder cans on it. One was one of the large gunpowders and the other was a higher grade can. Since they were in a safe place, they combined all the cans they had to make more ammo.

Now done with that room, they walked back out and back the way they came from. Leon took the rook piece, now making that pathway inaccessible as the platform rose up. They walked over to the other locked door and inside was a breakroom for employees. There was a table in the middle and lockers lining the walls. Looking around, they found more ammo, gunpowder and on the table was a flyer.

Leon took a look at it while Veronica kept searching the room when all of a sudden, she paused midstep. There was a small cold breeze brushing against her and it seemed to be only in that one spot. Glancing around she couldn't see a vent, but that breeze couldn't be coming from nothing. Where is that coming from?

"It's a jazz festival flyer," Leon interrupted her thoughts. "But there are letters circled on it."

"Maybe it's a clue. Write it down just in case," she said while looking over curiously at a cabinet sitting next to her. It was a wide cabinet with yellow tape in an X across it. Opening the doors, she found nothing, so she took a look at one of the sides.

"Veronica? What are you doing?"

"I feel a breeze coming from this!" she told him before finding that her intuition was right. She pressed a shoulder to the side of the cabinet and gave it a hard shove with a grunt. It had only moved an inch due to not enough strength and the toll it took on her back, but her assumption was correct. There was a secret area behind this cabinet. "Can you give me a hand?"

He walked over and used his uninjured shoulder to help her shove the cabinet to the side. Once it was out of the way, the pair found that it was a secret elevator. The doors opened with a push of the button and Veronica walked in, curiously.

"Should we see where this leads?"

"Might as well!" Leon replied walking in after her. She pushed the button and the elevator began rising. It seemed to go on forever as it rose higher and higher. Leon looked over at his companion as they waited then reached over to gently take her hand in his. She was slightly taken by surprise for a second before she smiled at him and laced their fingers together.

"You ok?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I just wanted to hold your hand. Is that ok?"

"As long as we're safe, you can do it anytime." He smiled as the elevator slowed to a stop and opened to a well-lit room. It wasn't much besides holding construction supplies and a staircase leading up. They walked hand in hand inside, picked up a random box of ammo for the magnum then they went up the stairs.

At the top was a gated door that was locked on their side, so they unlocked it and walked inside a dark room. There were more construction supplies lying around and another staircase leading up on the other side. The room was tall and made of concrete, but something about it gave Veronica a feeling like she was having déjà vu.

"Why does this place look so familiar to me?"

"You see it too then," Leon said to her. It was quiet, but there was a distant sound of hissing that sounded like they've heard it before. They let go of each other's hands so that they could explore the room. The young officer poked at a casing that was against the wall that looked like it held something useful for one of his guns. There was a space on the front of the case that was shaped like a police badge and the S.T.A.R.S. insignia was painted on the glass.

"Damn. I think the S.T.A.R.S. badge opens this," he grumbled.

"We left it at their office, didn't we?"

"Unfortunately."

"That's too bad," Veronica said picking up a random grenade that was lying on the ground. She took out her flashlight and shined it up the staircase, trying to get a good view at the room above them. Instead, her eyes widened at the sight as she realized where they were. "No fucking way!" She suddenly took off up the stairs, leaving Leon behind looking confused.

"Vee?"

"Leon! Get up here!" He jogged up after her finding her waiting for him a few flights up. She was standing in front of a familiar door filled with steam and pipes, her face full of shock. "Do you realize where we are!?" He glanced into the room then looked at her in realization. They both looked up the remaining flights of stairs and ran up them to a familiar iron gate to an elevator.

"But, we can't be! There's no way we could be back at the police station!"

"There's only one way to find out for sure!" Veronica exclaimed as she pressed the elevator button. The doors snapped open allowing the couple in then it quickly took them up a floor. Walking out, they were met with the familiar sight of the underground room beneath the goddess statue. Everything still looked the same as they had left it, including the closed doorway into the police station.

"How did we possibly get back here?! We were in the city sewers for god's sake! I would have figured we were miles away from this place!" Veronica questioned, clearly flabbergasted at the situation. Unsure about whether the station was safe, she used the crank they had to close the entrance since it was still open from the last time they were there. They didn't want to risk anything coming into a room they deemed safe.

"That elevator was hidden for a reason and now I can see why. But why would it lead here?" Leon added as he sat on the big box to rest for a moment. Might as well while they figured stuff out. He watched her pace in thought then suddenly, she stopped and turned to Leon with a face of realization.

"Irons!"

"Chief Irons?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Yes! Oh!" she nodded as she figured it out, a small excited smile growing on her face. She'd never thought she would be solving a mystery one day so this was exciting for her. "Irons worked with Umbrella!"

"What do you mean?"

"Ben was going to out Irons for something, right? For what? First, he goes to interview Annette who works for Umbrella, who we now know was clearly hiding things."

"Right?"

"Including the big sinkhole in the middle of the city where he said there were rumors about that being the place where their lab is. Well, we know that's true! The sewer we first went into with Ada, heads straight to it. She even told us it did. And what do we find?!"

"The cable car!"

"Which probably leads there. That's probably what NEST is!"

"She also said Umbrella had been controlling Raccoon City for years! Which means they can control the police department," he added, while nodding his head as he understood where this was going.

"That's right! Irons had to have been in on it and was probably paid a lot to keep it a secret."

"'Welcome to corporate America'."

"Exactly. And in order for him to keep an eye out for the facility, he would've needed immediate access to get there. It's all connected!" she exclaimed while waving her arms around in excitement.

"Ben was right! Then I guess...Irons wasn't such a hero after all," the young man sighed. Veronica's smile dropped, suddenly feeling guilty and went to stand in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Leon." He shook his head and looked up at her.

"Don't be. It doesn't matter anymore. If anything, he's dead to me now," he said reaching for her hands and pulling her closer. "What matters is that we survive."

"Right." He smiled up at her with tired eyes.

"You know, you're cute when you play detective. Which by the way, you're really good at." She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Am I, now?"

"Yeah! You get all excited and it's really cute. You're also really smart! I'm not sure I would've come up with the same conclusion as you."

"I'm sure you would've. You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for. Besides, you helped me draw up my conclusion! Bouncing ideas off of each other is really helpful!"

"Teamwork makes the dream work, partner!" She grinned at that as she looked over his dirty face and rubbed her thumb over a smudge on his cheek.

"Hell yeah!... But I guess those murder mysteries I watch with my mom are paying off," she giggled while using the same hand to push his hair away from his face.

"I guess so," he chuckled. "When we get out of here, mind if I sharpen up my crime-solving skills with you?"

"I'd be really happy if you did. You wouldn't mind if my mom was there too, would you?"

"I'd be happy to meet her!"

"Good. I'm sure she'd like you! I just hope we make it out of here so that you can," she said, her expression slowly melting into one of uncertainty. He sighed at that then leaned forward to wrap his arms around her waist.

"C'mere." Getting the idea, her arms reached over to wrap around his neck while she scooted as close as she could between his legs. Once she was in his arms, she pressed her face into his neck gently. Despite the overwhelming sewer stench coming from his clothes, she could somehow still smell the cologne he was wearing on his skin. It was faint but still there. She could still remember what it smelt like when she had his jacket. It was nice.

"We're going to make it out of here. I promised you from the very beginning that we would and I haven't failed you just yet. We've made it this far and as long as we stick together, we're going to be just fine," he told her in a soft voice. It comforted her to hear those words. She sighed softly against his neck causing a shiver to pass through him.

"You really are something, Leon," she whispered, voice cracking a little in a moment of vulnerability. One of his hands gently rubbed the top part of her back comfortingly, fingers eventually playing with the bottom strands of her ponytail.

"Can we just sit like this for a little longer?" he asked softly.

"I wish we could, but-."

"What's 3 more minutes?" Her arms tightened around his neck, already in agreement as to not wanting to let go just yet.

"Ok. Can you just... take the hair tie out of my hair, please?" He did so as gently as he could then ran his fingers through her hair over and over soothingly. And there they sat in silence just embracing each other while the world outside burned to pieces. It was comforting to their rattled minds and exhausted bodies, but they knew they had to get up soon. After a few minutes, Leon loosened his grip around her and began to pull back.

"Ok. I guess we should go now," he said trying to get up, but only got a whine in return.

"Ok, ok," she grumbled while pulling away. On her way to standing up straight, she gave his cheek a quick peck then watched as he blushed a soft pink.

"What was that for?"

"Just for being you. And for the road," she smiled before letting him go and turning towards the exit that would lead up to the station. Leon watched her with soft eyes as she reached for the T-bar handle and placed it back into the crank. He hopped off the box as she twisted it causing the statue base to open up to the main hall once again.

"So we can head back to the safe room to develop these films, then head to the S.T.A.R.S. office to get the badge. Or we could head back down to the sewers. You can choose," she told him. He took a moment to think about it then nodded.

"Let's finish what we started here then we can go back to the sewers. I think this will be the last time we'll ever be here, so let's make it count."

"Then that's what we'll do. But we gotta be careful. We don't know if Mr. X is still here or if the place is crawling with more zombies." They took out their guns and looked at each other before giving a nod.

"Ready?"

"Ready."