Warnings: no beta, OOCness, English is not my first language, inconsistent tenses, i am very bad at prepositions, alcohol-drinking, curse words, so many plotholes
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
A/N: Okay. I am Very Bad at writing stories with actual plot (or an illusion of one). I've edited this, like, five times, but I'm still very unsatisfied with this. I almost didn't want to post this, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So kindly point out to me any blatant OOCness and plot holes (any mistakes, really) so I could fix them. Hopefully I can edit this in the future.
I.
19:03, June 27, 2021, Sunday
Buenos Aires, Argentina
From the corner of his eye, Carlos watched the guy sitting two stools to his right reject another lady. That had been the fourth one tonight. Carlos hated to admit it, but even in the pub's low light, the guy was attractive. Carlos was a straight dude, but he had eyes and he knew an eye candy when he saw one. Heck, he himself was an eye candy, if he was being honest with himself, but having this attractive Caucasian guy sit near him diminished his chances of having a nice time with a nice lady.
The guy asked for two fingers of whisky and Carlos asked for another bottle of beer. He wanted to have a glass of bourbon but he was going to be deployed on a mission the next morning, so he had to watch his alcohol intake.
His mission this time was…strange. The Argentine government had asked for the BSAA's help—secretly, of course—in finding and "rescuing" this woman. With how cagey the Argentine government was being, Carlos had a hunch that they want to detain this woman instead of rescue her. What was even weirder was they didn't provide a name or even a picture; all Carlos and the BSAA were given was a description.
Asian-American. Short black hair. Last seen wearing a red shirt and black trousers.
Carlos, of course, had questioned the lack of information, but the BSAA and Argentine government top brass had remained tight-lipped.
"She was referred to me by…an acquaintance, and the name she gave us was Linda Scott," Ronaldo Perez, someone high up in the Argentine government, had said, "but we have recently found out that that was a fake name. She could have used another fake name on the field."
"And her lack of pictures?" Carlos had asked. "Seriously? You couldn't even give me a picture? Not even a blurry CCTV camera shot? How am I supposed to look for this not-Linda, then?"
"She was very careful," was all the explanation Perez had given. He had sounded both frustrated and exasperated.
Carlos had groaned. He started questioning the BSAA why he was given this mission that reeked of uncertainty, but his commanding officer had said that their hands were tied.
"There's a reason why the BSAA is handling this, and not the cops or the military," his commanding officer had said. "'Linda Scott' is a mercenary spy hired by the Argentine government to retrieve data from this Russian researcher—data which the Russian stole from the Argentines in the first place."
"And this data might be used to manufacture B.O.W.s. I know, I know, that's where the BSAA comes in. But why hire a mercenary? Why not use your own agencies?"
"You must understand, Agent Oliveira," Perez had said, "that stealing from this Russian would look like a declaration of war to the Russian government. No one wants a war. Besides, our researchers are going to use this data to attempt to immunise people from any kind of B.O.W. threat. It is imperative that we get this back, but Ms Scott has been known to betray her employers, or so I've been told."
Carlos had scoffed. "Then why hire her?"
Perez sighed. "She's the best in the industry; my acquaintance guaranteed it. We are worried about what she might do with the data. Will she give it back to us? Give it to the Russians? And now, things have gotten worse—Ms Scott has disappeared. We were supposed to meet her at a pre-designated location, but she didn't show up. Her last transmission was seven hours ago. She is suspected to have been kidnapped by a guerrilla group coveting the data for their own presumably nefarious needs."
"No trackers?"
"As I told you, she was very careful."
That conversation had taken place this morning; Linda Scott has been missing for roughly sixteen hours, and Carlos wouldn't be deployed until tomorrow morning because of reasons no one would tell him.
Carlos was being kept in the dark—deliberately, he dared to say. But thinking further about his mission would give him a headache, so he ordered another glass of beer at the same time the guy near him rejected yet another lady. Yes, the guy's looks were above average—on par with Carlos, really—but he wasn't a Greek-god type. He had light stubble, dirty blonde hair that looked brown in the light, and blue eyes.
Ah. Ladies go crazy for pretty boys with blue eyes.
"I gotta tell you, man," Carlos said, catching the guy's attention, "if you weren't here, those ladies would have been approaching me instead."
The guy chuckled. "I shall take my leave, then."
"No, no, no, no, please, sit," Carlos said when the guy tried to stand—whether for real or just for show, he didn't know. "That wasn't what I meant. If you want, I can help you meet someone your type. I'm friends with lots of people."
The guy shook his head. "No need. But thanks anyway."
Carlos gave a knowing smile. "You already spoken for?"
The guy sighed. "…It's…complicated."
"I take it that's why you're drinking hard liquor alone?"
The guy gave a dry laugh. "I was supposed to meet her tonight but unexpected things happened." He shrugged and raised his glass of whisky to Carlos.
"Hey Oscar!" Carlos called. "Another shot of whisky for my mate here."
"Thanks, man," the guy said.
"Anything to make you forget your troubles," he replied as Oscar the barkeep returned with the guy's whisky.
"You a regular here?" the guy asked.
"This is my go-to pub whenever I'm in Buenos Aires," said Carlos. "I work all over South America."
"Well, this is my first time in Argentina. Have you got any recommendations for places that sell good food?"
Carlos smirked. "I thought you'd never ask."
Carlos thought that he would spent the night getting cosy with a nice girl before going home, getting some sleep, and preparing for his mission, but instead, he spent it with this bloke who revealed a lot yet too little about himself.
He didn't even get the guy's name.
When Carlos woke up, he was as well rested as he could be, sated by good beer and a good night's sleep. It would have been better, though, if he had been given more details about his mission. The dearth of information about the spy he was supposed to rescue was already raising a lot of red flags.
II.
08:24, June 28, 2021, Monday
La Pampa, Argentina
"A what?!" Carlos hissed into his earpiece as he hid behind a metal crate just as a rainstorm of bullets descended on him. The bullets hit the crate, and Carlos waited for the silence that signified the gunmen reloading their weapons before shooting.
He took down three of them, but the last one—a sniper—still remained.
"A DSO agent—" his handler replied, the tinny voice almost getting drowned as a new wave of bullets came; the enemy's reinforcements have come.
"I know, I got that part!" said Carlos as he reloaded his assault rifle. "What I can't understand is why—" He took down another gunman, and then another. "—would the US send one of their dogs here!"
Carlos took down the last of reinforcements, then finally, the sniper. The abandoned metal factory was quiet for a while, but it wasn't long before Carlos heard heavy footfalls.
He quickly ran towards another metal crate—one near the room he wanted to enter—and hid behind it.
"Apparently, the spy is of interest to the DSO," his handler explained. "The BSAA and the Argentine government have already approved the agent's deployment. From what I've been told, he's already in your location, ready to provide backup."
"You could have sent another BSAA agent, you know," he said as he listened to the sounds around him. He lowered his voice when he next spoke. "Jill said she's willing to come."
"The North American branch has no oversight over the South American region."
"Yeah, and a DSO agent, who should solely operate in United States soil, is now in Argentina, South America."
"Carlos, let's argue about this later. You have a new order."
Carlos stood still and tried to calm his racing heartbeat. He could hear five to six people—excluding potential snipers—on the same floor as he was. "What new order?"
"You are not to only retrieve the data from Linda Scott," said his handler, "but also execute her afterwards."
III.
09:12, June 28, 2021, Monday
La Pampa, Argentina
Carlos was surrounded by twenty gunmen and three snipers. He had been told that this guerrilla group was small but well armed and well trained, and Carlos could see that now as he observed that five of the twenty gunmen carried miniguns.
"Great," Carlos muttered, "just fucking great."
In the crossfire that followed, Carlos got nicked on his arm and cheeks and almost got shot in the leg. He managed to incapacitate the snipers and the five carrying miniguns, but there were fifteen who remained.
The metal crate he was hiding behind was almost shot to shreds. He dashed to another one, hiding behind it, but not before a bullet grazed his other arm. He gave three gunmen a bullet to their heads, and twelve men remained—twelve men who were quickly closing in on him.
"Shit," he cursed. He shot one in the stomach and another one on the leg, but his victory was short-lived when the ten remaining men surrounded him. In less than a minute, he was staring at the barrels of pistols, assault rifles, and revolvers.
Carlos gulped. He had a flash bang and a hand grenade, and he could—
In an instant, five of the men fell, their bodies unmoving. The remaining five looked around, trying to determine what was happening, and Carlos used this momentary confusion to eliminate four of his enemies. The remaining one tried to engage him in a knife fight, but the man fell sideways as a bullet entered his head.
Carlos stared at the dead and dying bodies around him. He had no compunctions killing zombies—after all, they were no longer human—but killing people…
The bullet came from a person at the observation deck on the second level. The person descended a stepladder, and Carlos judged this person to be a man based on his gait and built. But who knew? He could be wrong.
The man emerged from the shadows and Carlos let out a low whistle. "Well, well, well," Carlos said, "if it isn't my friend the pretty boy from last night."
"I was surprised too when I was given my mission directives," Pretty Boy said. "So when you said you worked all over South America…"
"Yeah, this was what I meant," said Carlos, keeping his tone neutral.
Pretty Boy extended a hand. "Leon Kennedy, DSO."
Carlos looked at the proffered hand before shaking it. "Carlos Oliveira, BSAA South American branch. My handler tells me that my target is a person of interest for the DSO." Carlos didn't bother keeping his tone jovial; he had questions, and if no one was willing to answer them, then he would get his answers one way or another.
"Yeah, she is," Leon replied. "I'm to get a copy of the data she has and take her back to the United States."
"Why get the data? That data was from Argentine researchers, which was stolen by a Russian. I could understand if you want the spy—she must be an American citizen, right?—but why the data?"
"That Russian researcher used to collude with Umbrella, and anything Umbrella is of interest to the US."
Anything Umbrella was of interest to Carlos too, but since its downfall many years ago…Well, it didn't mean that whatever hatred Carlos had for Umbrella has disappeared.
Carlos knew a thing or two about Russians working for Umbrella, but there was no way he was going to tell that to Leon. He was also not going to tell him about his orders to execute "Linda Scott," at least not until he knew what the American agent really was doing here.
Carlos turned around and beckoned Leon to follow him. "Linda Scott is being kept in the sub-basement." He led him to the room he had wanted to enter earlier, and then motioned for Leon to help him push a cabinet, revealing a secret stairwell that led deeper into the earth.
Leon snorted. "Here we come, 'Linda Scott.'"
Carlos looked at him curiously before going down the stairwell.
IV.
10:26, June 28, 2021, Monday
La Pampa, Argentina
They knew Linda was in the sub-basement, but they didn't know where in the sub-basement, so he and Leon split up, agreeing to communicate using their earpieces if they find her or something else.
Once alone in yet another empty room, Carlos contacted his handler. "The DSO wants a copy of the data."
"Let them have one," his handler replied. "The Argentine government approved of it. They think that giving the United States this data might foster a good relationship between the two countries."
"All right. Now you can tell me now why the top brass wants the spy dead."
"The BSAA didn't agree to it. It was Perez's order."
"Perez's, or the Argentine government?"
"We're still not sure. That's why the BSAA disagreed."
"But they still gave the order to kill her. Well, tell my commanding officer that I'm not executing anyone until I know what Perez's or the Argentine government's motive is." He turned off his earpiece, resuming his search for Linda.
He found her gagged and trussed in a storage room, but her eyes were calm; there was no sense of panic in her, as if she was unaware of the danger she was facing.
Well, they did say she was the best.
"Hey Pretty Boy," Carlos said to his earpiece, "I found her."
"I'm coming," Leon replied. Then, he asked something that made Carlos curious, although he couldn't pinpoint why. "Is she all right?"
"Yeah," Carlos replied as she removed the tape over Linda's mouth. "We're at the storage room under the stairs, the one with the metal doors."
"Got it."
"Perez wants me dead, doesn't he?" Linda said as Carlos cut her ties. She seemed nonplussed about the whole situation, which unnerved Carlos.
Carlos knitted his brows but didn't say anything.
She tried to stand but her knees buckled; she must have been tied up for quite some time. Well, she had been missing for more than twenty-four hours after all.
Carlos quickly tried to steady her, but she waved him off.
"That'll only make me feel worse," she said, stretching her arms and legs. "The data isn't with me. I knew Perez would want it so I hid it elsewhere."
"Where?"
"I'll lead you there. Have you seen my weapons?"
"Nah, but Pretty Boy has them. Found 'em in the room where these guerrilla guys stash their arms."
"Pretty Boy?"
Said Pretty Boy came into the room and gave Carlos a cursory glance before walking towards Linda.
"Pretty boy indeed," she said, smirking. Carlos noted the teasing tone in her voice, and Leon gave her her weapons, one which, Carlos noticed, was a grappling gun. Linda added, "Any mention of Umbrella and the US government sends its top agent."
"You all right?" Leon asked, his voice suspiciously soft.
There was a strange air about these two….
"I'm all right," Linda replied as she wore her shoulder holster. She ran her thumb across a small scratch on Leon's cheek. "Your BSAA friend here has been told to execute me."
Ah, Carlos thought. These two definitely know each other.
Leon looked at Carlos as if he were accusing him of committing mankind's greatest crime. There was a little bit of hostility on his face, and he looked like a lion about to mercilessly tear into his prey.
"Easy, buddy," Carlos said, raising his hands. "You have your mission objectives, I have mine." He didn't agree with his orders, not one bit, but he was essentially a soldier and he needed to obey commands. "But I'm not some mindless pawn." True, he needed to obey his orders, but he had a choice not to. Until he knew why the Argentine government and his superiors wanted this woman dead, he wasn't going to kill any more humans.
Linda touched Leon's arm as she walked towards the door. Carlos could see the tension immediately bleed out from Leon's body just with that one brief touch. He still looked distrustfully at Carlos, but for now, he seemed to have dropped the matter.
"Come on, boys," Linda said as she exited the room. "I heard from the grapevine that if I'm not dead by eleven a.m., our good friend Ronaldo Perez is gonna blow this place up."
"What?" Carlos said. "He didn't say anything about that!" Great. So another case of the higher-ups keeping him in the dark.
Linda looked at him. "I'll bet he also didn't say he's the one commanding the guerrilla group who abducted me."
Carlos stood still in his tracks.
It all made sense now. Perez was the one who requested to have the data back, and when Linda got it, he ordered his group of guerrillas to abduct her and take the data from her, and then eliminate her. But the data wasn't on Linda, so they kept her, probably tortured her, to ascertain where the data was, and when they got nothing, Perez ordered her execution to obliterate all evidence, and most likely because he was afraid of Linda double-crossing him.
They left the room with Linda leading them. She stumbled, and then Leon was immediately at her side, steadying her. She pushed him away but didn't reject the hand Leon placed on her elbow.
Double standards, Carlos thought.
"Did they do anything to you?" Leon asked, hints of anger creeping in his voice.
"Don't worry, Pretty Boy," said Linda. Carlos could hear the smirk in her voice. "Perez ordered them not to mess with me. Why do you think you didn't run into anyone on this floor?"
Leon chuckled. "Smart move from him."
"You know what's not a smart move? Having me tied up for more than twenty-four hours." She turned from Leon to Carlos. "Give him a punch or two for me, will you?"
Considering how dodgy Perez was being, Carlos found no problem agreeing to Linda's request.
V.
11:04, June 28, 2021, Monday
La Pampa, Argentina
No explosion happened.
Carlos told his handler and commanding officer what Linda had told them, and within minutes, a warrant for Ronaldo Perez's arrest has been issued. Authorities swooped down the abandoned metal factory, taking care of the bodies, evidences, and clean-up.
Linda led them to a group of rocks a kilometre away from the factory. She crouched, moved one of the rocks, and dug into the soil until she found what she was looking for—a microchip so tiny that no one would notice it unless they knew what they were looking for.
"Perez wanted this data but he couldn't get it back from the Russian without my help, and when I obtained it, he wanted it all for himself without interference from the Argentine government." She brushed the dirt away from the microchip and handed it over to Carlos. "The data, Agent."
"Thanks," said Carlos, putting it away in a secure pocket.
"But of course," Linda continued, "knowing my reputation, he probably got scared that I'll give the data to another party without his knowledge, so he wanted to eliminate me. He could have just told his little group of guerrillas to get rid of me, but instead he got the BSAA involved to lead suspicions away from him."
"Not a smart move, then," Leon commented.
"He even asked the BSAA deployment to be delayed because he wanted to keep pressing me for the data, but of course, I wouldn't tell him."
"Why wouldn't you?" asked Carlos. "He's the one who hired you to retrieve it."
"We'll get to that later," said Linda. "Anyway, things got worse when the DSO got involved. Perez probably panicked and wanted wipe out all evidence of his crimes, but he was working against the BSAA and DSO."
"When the Argentine government asked the BSAA to rescue you," Carlos said, "they did so discreetly, and made it sound like they wanted to interrogate you."
"They do," answered Linda. "They're aware of Perez's guerrilla group. They just wanted evidence, so someone much higher-ranking than Perez in the Argentine government introduced me to him, fake name and all, to get evidence. And they ordered me not to give the data to Perez." She smirked. "And I have the evidence right here in my pocket. Really, he made my job a lot easier when he had me abducted."
Carlos stared at her before laughing. "So Perez was right to be wary of you. You're really a double agent, huh?"
"Not always." She looked at Leon. "I'm assuming the DSO will want a copy of that data?"
"Yeah," Leon replied. "They also want me to bring you in for questioning."
Linda raised an eyebrow. "Do they now?"
"They do," said Leon, clamping a hand over Linda's wrist.
Without warning, a white, blinding light covered the surroundings and an impossibly loud sound rang in Carlos's ears.
Maybe it was stupid of them of give Linda her weapons back, but in Carlos's defence, it was Leon who gave them back to her.
When the effects of the flash bang subsided, Carlos saw Leon angrily kick a pebble and shake his head, muttering something that sounded like Women.
Carlos confronted Leon in the helicopter transporting them back to Buenos Aires.
"So this person you were supposed to meet last night…"
Leon looked at him. "Yeah, it was her."
"And the reason you couldn't meet her was because she had been kidnapped."
Leon nodded. "We were supposed to meet up but this whole shebang happened, and since I was already in the area anyway, my employer decided to deploy me to secure a copy of the data." He sighed. "They're always interrupting my holiday."
"I didn't see her give you the data, though."
Leon held up a flash drive with a small lion stuffed toy attached it. "Found it in my jacket."
"Well," Carlos said, taking a flask out of his vest and drinking from it, "if my girlfriend used a flash bang on me, I'd be royally pissed."
"She's not my…" Leon laughed lightly. "It's complicated."
Carlos offered him the flask. "Or so you've said."
Leon accepted the flask. "Cheers."
VI.
19:36, August 20, 2021, Friday
Buenos Aires, Argentina
"Hey Oscar," Carlos called, "two more rounds, please."
"Coming right up!" Oscar said.
Carlos turned to his companion and asked, "Then what happened?"
"Jill pushed it into the pool and electrocuted it," Chris answered. "Son of a bitch got fried in less than five seconds."
Oscar returned with their drinks. Carlos took a swig of his beer before saying, "That's supercop for you."
"Hey," Chris replied, clutching at his chest in mock-hurt, "I was a supercop too."
"That you were," Carlos replied, clinking his bottle with Chris's. "Now you're a BSAA agent operating outside of your jurisdiction."
"You know how the situation is," Chris said, laughing good-naturedly. His tone was more serious when he next spoke. "If it's about the Plaga, I can give you the contact details of someone who knows quite a lot about it."
Carlos's last mission ended just two days ago. It was particularly nasty and required help from the other BSAA branches, hence Captain Chris Redfield's operating out of his jurisdiction.
The data that he surrendered to the Argentine government two months ago was about the Las Plagas parasite and viruses derived from it. It turned out that it wasn't just Ronaldo Perez who was after it; other government officials were too. One got his hands on it and released it into an unsuspecting hamlet in Catamarca. However, the BSAA got word of it, and before the parasites could spread, the BSAA deployed fifty soldiers in the area, including more experienced agents from the North American branch.
"Yeah?" Carlos asked, munching on a peanut. "Who's this person?"
"Agent Leon S Kennedy of the DSO."
Carlos paused mid-chew, and then chewed again and swallowed his food before talking. "The pretty boy?"
Chris knitted his brows. "You worked with him back in La Pampa. You didn't read the files on him?"
Carlos snorted. "Just the Cliff's Notes version. I don't have the clearance for the rest. You know him?"
"He's a good friend of my sister's. He's also a survivor from Raccoon, you know."
Chris met his eyes. Out of an unspoken understanding, they clinked their bottles again and took a long, long swig.
"Why does he know so much about the Plaga?" Carlos asked.
"Back in 2004, he was deployed to the place where the Plaga originated," Chris explained. "I worked with him too during that New York attack."
"All right, give his contact details to me later." Carlos then munched on more peanuts.
Thinking of Leon made him think of that woman who had retrieved the data for the Argentine government. It wasn't her fault why Catamarca happened, but maybe if Carlos had just destroyed that microchip…
"Say, Chris," Carlos said, signalling Oscar for another bottle, "that Linda Scott woman on my report…"
"What about her?"
Carlos scrunched his nose. "Pretty Boy and not-Linda definitely had something going on. Kennedy confirmed it himself. Also, Linda Scott. Leon Scott Kennedy."
Chris's face took on a pensive look. "Was she Asian?"
Carlos narrowed his eyes. Chris has read his report about La Pampa, but Carlos didn't include any details about Linda's appearance, or her "connection" with Leon. Carlos has never even mentioned to Chris what she looked like. "How'd you know?"
"Short black hair, always wearing red?"
"How did you know, Chris?"
Chris gave a dry laugh. "You…don't have the clearance for it. Sorry, buddy."
Carlos shook his head. "I knew something was up when they deployed me practically blind. They knew all along about her identity? Had her on file or something?"
Chris didn't answer; he didn't even shake his head or nod. Instead, Chris said, "If you really planned on executing her as you were ordered…" Chris's face hardened. "…Leon wouldn't let you leave that place alive."
Oscar came back with his beer. Carlos took a drink before saying, "Somehow I got that feeling. You sound like you're talking from experience."
Chris looked angry for a moment; now he just looked sad. "You could say that."
This wouldn't do. They were supposed to be celebrating being alive after another hellish mission.
Carlos swung his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Hey Oscar, two shots of vodka!"
Chris shook him off. "Vodka? You're going to kill me."
Carlos scoffed. "The only thing I'm trying to kill is your bad mood."
The shots arrived and they both tipped their heads back, swallowing the liquid.
Just for the moment, Carlos wanted to forget the horrors of the world.
He felt an arm over his shoulder, and when looked up, a wide grin formed on his face.
"Hey, supercop!" said Carlos.
"I see you boys are getting started without me," Jill replied. She told Chris to move to another stool so she could sit between them.
"Jill," Chris said. There was a small smile on his face. "What took you so long?"
"Traffic," she replied. "Why are you two looking so gloomy?"
"Not anymore now that you're here," Carlos said before ordering three shots of vodka. "Finally, I get to spend my night with a beautiful lady instead of this old man over there."
"I'm not that old," Chris countered.
"You keep that frown on your face and you'll age ten years," Jill said when their shots arrived. "Bottoms up, gentlemen."
With Chris looking happier compared to earlier, Carlos smiled against the rim of his shot glass and let the alcohol slide down his throat.
A/N: So South America... I was torn between Brazil and Argentina, but I love Oikawa more than Hinata (sorry, sunshine ;u;), so Argentina it is.