My great thanks to HighFlyingWings, who kindly chose to use some of his free time to be my beta reader!
June 30th, Tall Oaks Cathedral.
It didn't take long for the creature to reveal itself, while every civilian ran back towards the entrance of the Cathedral in terror.
The B.O.W., standing taller than Summer, growled as every shot of Summer's sword-gun disintegrated chunks of its body, before it tried to charge at her with another shriek, while releasing some kind of blue smoke from all over her body.
Unfortunately for it, that was the worst thing it could have done.
Before the wide eyes of everyone watching, Summer cut one of its arms when it tried to clawed at her, punched it in the face when it staggered back, swept it off its feet, and then fearlessly walked on top of the fallen monster, uncaring of the blue smoke surrounding her, before jamming the business end of her gun in the open maw of the monster, and firing.
A green flash filled the cathedral, before the monster released one last burst of blue smoke from its body and finally died.
Summer then calmly walked off the monster, her full-body armor protecting her from the mutating smoke, and gave a thumbs up at Helena and Leon, who had watched everything from their spot on the balcony.
They glanced at each other, Helena blinking.
"Are all ISIS Hunters like this?"
Leon snorted. "Honestly? This was pretty mild."
He shook his head and went down back at ground level, leaving Helena to open and then close her mouth, before deciding that frankly it was better to not question things and just roll with the punches.
Besides, she still needed to find her sister.
Still, Leon couldn't help but cautiously approach the corpse of the monster, afraid it would release more of that smoke near him, but thankfully that didn't happen.
Helena visibly hesitated as well, and quickly made her way around the corpse and to the newly revealed passage.
"Step back a bit." ordered Summer, and both agents blinked before obeying.
Then Summer aimed her gun at the monster and began to systematically disintegrate its body.
When she was done, she nodded. "There, no need to worry about the civvies now." she declared, inclining her head towards the stunned-looking civilians in the background.
"Should we really leave them there?" questioned Leon.
Summer glanced at him. "And what? You want to bring them with us?"
Leon grimaced. "That's fair…" They couldn't go outside since there were plenty of zombies, nor could they follow them into the depths of this place…
He sighed, but nodded and took a few steps towards the terrified civilians.
"Alright everyone, please stay calm. No zombies can enter this place as long as the gates are closed, and as long as you stay there you'll be safe."
"But the monster-" argued one of the civilians, but Leon interrupted him.
"-Is dead, and we'll get into the depths of this place and clean it out of hostels. Don't worry, everything will be fine."
"And there's heavily reinforced doors blocking the way in from the passage." revealed Helena, after scouting the passage a bit further. "We'll close those doors behind us, and like that nothing will be able to get here."
"You can't stay?" asked one of the women in the group towards Summer, who shook her head.
"As much as I'd like to, we really need to investigate this place. So stay there, wait until reinforcements arrive, and don't do anything stupid, and you'll be fine. I promise."
In the end, it took a few more minutes of reassuring them that they'd be safe, and that they didn't need to worry, before their little group of three could move on, but thankfully the sheer speed with which Summer had killed that B.O.W. seemed to have convinced these people to not be too worried.
So with that taken care of, they went into the depths of this place, eager to find what Simmons was hiding there.
What they quickly found was a research laboratory, along with a number of cells holding the infected forms of what had to be former test subjects.
They made sure to kill everyone they came across, Summer taking to the task with almost palpable religious zeal and righteous anger.
It was to the point that even Helena noticed it, and decided to speak up.
"Are you religious, by any chance?" she questioned while glancing at Summer.
"I am." she instantly replied, a measure of pride in her voice over it.
"I see. I guess seeing all of this-" Helena waved at the corpses of infected, bloodstains everywhere, and horrific cells surrounding them. "-underneath a cathedral must be enraging."
Summer grunted. "It is. But I'll help make sure that the guilty party for all of this will pay, so it's… tolerable. For now."
"Tolerable in the sense that you'll gladly brutally kill Simmons for all of this?" inquired Leon.
Summer glanced at him. "Of course."
Leon snorted. "Yeah, that sounds like someone following Aeon alright."
He could see Summer standing straighter at the acknowledgement, though to Helena he made it sound like Summer was following her boss' example, they both knew he meant something else in this case.
"Well, tell me if you need help. I'll gladly hold the bastard down while you get to work on him." darkly muttered Helena, a dark gleam in her eyes that had Summer chuckling approvingly.
"I'll try to remember that before disintegrating his head." Summer replied.
Helena sniffed. "Make sure to kick him a few times first, disintegration is too quick for a monster like him."
"Ladies, can we please postpone talking about murder until after we clear out this place?" deadpanned Leon.
"Right. Come on, let's go find where that bastard hid my sister." growled Helena, quickly walking forward with Summer at her side.
Leon sighed. Great, now he had to handle not one, but two bloodthirsty women at the same time…
He shook his head. Well, no rest for the weary, might as well keep going.
They had to open a number of cells and kill the infected within, then open the doors leading onwards via a series of codes, but eventually Helena opened a room, paused, and then got inside slowly, visibly lost in her memories.
The room was spartan, two chairs, a simple light barely lightning up the room, and old gray walls made it quite clear that this was at best an interrogation room.
Despite that, Helena paused near one of the chairs, and scowled.
"Wait… I remember this place! Deborah must be close!"
"Come on, no point wasting time then." commented Summer, and they quickly went through a nearby door leading to more gray-walled corridors.
"Please be okay…" Helena muttered under her breath, eyes showing clearly her fear and hope in equal measure.
"She'll be fine." promised Summer.
Helena whirled to look at her, eyes flashing. "How do-"
"She will be fine." Summer repeated, something in her voice making Helena pause, her anger disappearing like smoke.
"... I hope so. God, I hope so…" Helena whispered, before picking up the pace.
Leon glanced at Summer for a moment, before looking away.
He was starting to wonder about how much like Aeon she actually was… And how much said god was watching over her.
They kept moving forward, coming across several labs with corpses of test subjects or outright zombies, and while they ignored the former for the time being, they made sure to quickly put down the latter.
Helena kept muttering to herself as every room they cleared did not show signs of her sister, crossing corridors, prison cells, and bloodstained labs with increasingly frantic energy.
Eventually, they came into a lab obviously more important from the others considering the high-tech equipment all over the place within it, with many infected cocoons of people suspended in liquid tanks, and they cautiously made their way through it before stopping at the end of the room.
"What are all of these things?" questioned Leon.
Helena shook her head. "None of this was here three days ago." she replied, sounding as confused as he was about this place.
Summer however went straight to an old VHS and showed it to Leon.
Leon took one look at the words written on the side and blinked.
"Happy birthday, Ada Wong?" he read, confusion flooding him before understanding dawned, and his eyes met those of Summer behind her helmet.
"Carla." he muttered, and Summer nodded sharply.
They quickly started the video recording, and got exactly what they suspected.
A cocoon like those surrounding them, which suddenly burst open to show off a naked Ada Wong coming out.
And at the end, a man was seen coming into view, the ring on his thumb marking him as Simmons'.
Then the video ended.
Leon was silent for a moment, before glancing at Helena.
"Was that what you wanted me to see?"
"No! I…" Helena looked lost and confused, glancing at the screen with incomprehension.
Then they turned, and contemplated the other cocoons in the tanks in the labs.
Leon grunted. "Fucking Simmona… Can't handle being told no by Ada."
Helena glanced at him. "That woman, or whatever… You know her?"
"It's complicated. I know the real Ada Wong, not this fake created by Simmons." he admitted with a sigh.
"The real Ada Wong?" questioned Helena.
Leon grunted. "Simmons cloned the woman who became my girlfriend. And said evil clone is now running around the world causing chaos and death everywhere she can. Needless to say, neither I nor Ada are happy about that."
Helena opened her mouth.
Closed it.
"What the fuck?"
Summer snorted.
"Yeah, that's a pretty good reaction to this mess. Unfortunately, it's true."
Helena blinked once, then twice. "But… But why? How? What does Simmons have to gain from doing this?"
Summer sighed. "Simmons became obsessed with claiming Ada Wong, who just so happens to be one of the best spies in the world. However, Ada Wong told him to essentially get lost after Raccoon City, and Simmons replied by deciding that, since the real Ada Wong was unwilling to be his, then he'd just have to create his own. Long story short, a lot of people died, he eventually succeeded, but the process went wrong and now the clone of one of the best spies in the world has been working for years to see the world burn. And meanwhile, the real Ada Wong, Leon over here who is her boyfriend, and some others are trying to stop her at all cost. Who do you think informed the US government of Simmons' plans? The real Ada Wong ended up coming across the plan for Tall Oaks, and wasted no time informing ISIS and Leon."
Helena blinked slowly. Then she gaped in stunned silence for a while more, before shaking her head.
"You know what? I can have my freak-out about all of this later. For now, let's just keep going, we still need to find my sister."
"Fair enough. Someone else can deal with this later." replied Summer, who sent a subtle wink at Leon.
He smirked after a moment as comprehension dawned. Right, Aeon did warn him that Ada was around, and now he knew why, she was here to gather and destroy all the research of this place.
Well, fair enough. He was more than happy to see this place gone, along with any hopes of anyone else trying to clone his girlfriend.
Seriously, he was so glad he knew what was going on, or he'd been so incredibly confused right now after seeing this video.
Well, either way, they kept on moving forward. Passing through more corridors they arrived in a wide open series of rooms, ones full of infected, and with the systems down requiring them to activate back several entrances to be able to keep progressing.
"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" complained Helena, while all three of them fired into the growing mass of drooling undead trying to get at them.
"It keeps you sharp! If everything was easy, the moment it would no longer be, you'd die quickly." replied Summer, casually decapitating three zombies in a single swing of her weapon.
"Yeah, well that's all fine and good but not when I'm trying to save my sister!" snarled Helena, viciously slamming the skull of a zombie against a nearby wall to the point the head popped like a balloon.
Leon skillfully shot three zombies in the head, blowing their brains out, before moving forward.
"Less talking ladies, more killing!" he called out.
"Speak for yourself!" cheerfully replied Summer as she killed yet another group of zombies. "I'm the one who killed most of these guys!"
"It's not a competition!" complained Helena while slamming her boot down on the head of a crawling zombie.
"If it was, I'd have left you in the dust ages ago!" cheerfully taunted Summer.
"What I'd like to know is how many of these zombies are there? They are coming out of the air ducts seemingly without end!" noted Leon.
"Note to self: When I'm back with the leadership of ISIS, recommend a thorough cleansing of this place. Or a very big bombing run, if need be." muttered Summer.
"I've got it!" shouted Helena, a moment before the last door blocking the way opened…
To reveal a red-skinned zombie.
The zombie took one look at Helena standing nearby and leapt with shocking speed-
Only for a blast of emerald green coming from Summer's gun to catch it in the face.
Its headless corpse promptly fell on the ground in a heap.
Helena blinked, then let out a shuddering breath as she nervously glanced at the zombie who almost got the drop on her. "Thanks."
Summer shrugged. "This place is crawling with infected, obviously there would be something waiting for us behind every door. Still, be on your guard, there is no such thing as a safe spot in this place."
"Lesson learned." dryly replied Helena, before moving onwards.
They found themselves in a long corridor, unfortunately one leading to places full of zombies.
Pressing forward, the sounds of laser fire filling the air along with the emerald green light of Summer's gun flashing nigh-on continuously, The moans of zombies only growing louder despite the sheer slaughter they inflicted on the horde attacking them, and every corner revealing only more infected, Leon could feel the sweat falling down his face as he kept firing, headshot after headshot taking zombie after zombie down for the count, Helena and Summer doing the same, though Summer had taken to be in front of them and cut with the sword part of her weapon anything that managed to get close to them.
Bodies began piling up the corridor, forcing both humans and zombies to watch their steps lest they fell over the slick blood on the ground or the corpses everywhere.
Oh, and then one of the screamer zombies showed up. Because of course it did.
"Summer!" shouted Leon, though the Huntress had already begun to shoot in its direction.
The bad news was, that the sheer number of zombies in the way really made hitting anything long distance complicated in the tight confines of the corridor.
The good news was that Summer apparently didn't care about the odds.
Somehow, at the exact second when the zombies shifted to advance, when a small opening appeared with clear line of sight towards it, Summer immediately snapped her gun up and took the shot, the green blast arcing between the rotted flesh of zombie after zombie to slam straight into the face of the Screamer, who died right then and there as its head found itself with a massive hole in it.
"Nice shot!" exclaimed Helena, clear awe in her voice, before her expression hardened. "But there's too many of them. You might be able to handle it Summer, but not Leon and I."
"Agreed. There's a garbage chute further ahead. You see it? We can take it and get out of this corridor." replied Summer.
"You want us to go into the garbage chute?!" exclaimed Helena.
"You've got a better idea?" Summer questioned.
"... Fucking hell, I'll need so many hot showers after all of this." grumbled Helena, but she didn't hesitate to cover their advance towards it.
Once they had reached it, Summer barked an order for the two of them to go through first, and while Helena visibly hesitated at leaving Summer to cover their retreat, a second barked order saw her quickly jump in.
Leon didn't waste any more time than necessary either, and soon jumped into it without hesitation.
Summer, without Helena around to watch her, suddenly smiled, her eyes glowing.
"O Good Hunter, Bane of Evil, Slayer of Beasts, strike down those who fell into Evil's grasp! Let all transcend into greatness!"
She closed her eyes, clapping her hands together-
Reality shuddered
-and every zombie in the area suddenly bursted into unnaturally shifting and moving black flames, collapsing on the ground into small piles of ashes who were swiftly incinerated to nothing as well.
In seconds, the horde assailing her was nowhere to be found, as if erased utterly from existence, while the air around her smelt of warm blood, starlight, and flowers whose smell instinctively relaxed her, which she knew from her time in the Hunter's Dream were Lunar Tears, just… more.
Taking a deep breath, noticing that the very aura of this place no longer felt suffocating and filled with horror, but instead calm and satisfied, as if the souls of those who died here had found peace at last, she smiled, and then followed the others into the chute, to wherever her god would guide her to in order to ensure that evil would be struck down at the end of all of this.
-
Leon, Helena, and Summer ended up in what looked like the corridors of a mine, though they quickly moved onwards once Summer had arrived. They still needed to find where Helena's sister was, after all.
"So back at the lab… That tape…" began Helena, sounding hesitant to ask more. "She's actually a spy, and your girlfriend? The real Ada, I mean."
Leon smiled. "Yeah. It's a long story. We were… kind of friends and enemies at the same time. She originally was a mercenary who primarily worked for a group called the Organization. They wanted to exploit B.O.W's for a number of reasons. Ada was sent to gather samples at Raccoon City, and it was my first day as a cop. I was just arriving in the city, when everything was going straight to hell. Long story short, we ended up working together to survive, and eventually… Well, I found out what she was really after. We faced off for a moment… before we ended up separated. I thought she died, but some time later I was fighting a Tyrant and a rocket launcher just so happened to fall by my side."
He shook his head. "Long story short, we ended up meeting again eventually, and while we were effectively on opposite sides, we still tried to look out for each other."
"Then what happened?" asked Helena, sounding fascinated.
"Manhattan happened. Manhattan and Aeon. Ada was sent there to gather samples of the virus, Aeon intercepted her. Somehow, the whole thing ended with the Organization fighting itself before being taken down entirely, and Ada wisely choosing that in the end, working for the good guys was a much better decision." Leon replied with a smirk.
The look on Ada's face when the Organization went down had been very, very funny. It was really rare for Ada to be so thoroughly outplayed, and Leon had to carefully hide just how much amusement he took in seeing the normally unflappable Ada Wong digging a hole in his apartment from all of her frustrated pacing.
"And since you already knew each other, she went to you for help in helping her switch sides." finished Helena.
"Correct."
"Huh. And here I thought the whole evil spy going good out of love was just cliché… Shows what I know." Helena mused, sounding amused.
"To be fair, their dancing around would have probably continued if not for Aeon doing the bad cop routine to Leon's good cop and helping completely destroy the Organization." pointed out Summer.
"How did he do that, anyway? Taking down this Organization? And by the way, zero creativity. The Organization? Really? Of all things to call themselves…" Helena shook her head.
"He basically found the names and resources of every leader of the group before telling them that they either played nice or they would all burn. Half chose to listen, half chose not to. But since any member of their group trying anything would mean the whole group would burn, both sides ended up fighting each other, either for survival or ambition." explained Summer.
"And by the time the dust settled, Aeon sent the data he had of the remaining resources they possessed first to other criminal groups… and then to the cops. The end result was that the Organization burned from inside and out, and the criminals were all arrested. It was a complete victory across the board." finished Leon.
"Damn. Talk about playing them like fools." Helena replied, a measure of awe and respect in her voice, before she shook her head.
"But enough talking. Let's keep going. Surely we'll find a way out of these damn tunnels eventually!" she growled, before picking up the pace.
Leon and Summer followed, going through tunnel after tunnel until they finally reached a wide open area, full of stone archways and waterfalls, and in the center of it all lay on a wooden platform an unconscious woman in a nightgown remarkably similar to Helena.
Apparently, they found her missing sister.
"Deborah!" Helena screamed, before running as fast as she could towards her.
Leon and Summer followed, keeping a close eye on any potential hostiles in the area, though for the moment at least they seemed to be safe.
Helena threw herself on her knees before her sister, frantically shaking her awake. "Deborah! Deborah, can you hear me?"
A groan escaped her sister's lips, before she slowly blinked.
"Helena…?" she whispered, staring in surprise at her sister.
Helena visibly almost collapsed in relief, but before she could hug her sister Summer stepped forward, took out the syringe that Aeon had given her before they left on this mission, and stabbed her in the arm with it.
Deborah grunted in pain and surprise, while Helena jumped back in shock, before glaring upwards at Summer.
"What the hell did you do-"
"She's infected." came the calm answer, but both Helena and Leon stiffened at the words, Helena going white in horror.
They both turned to look at Deborah, who began shuddering-
And then she jerked and began puking loudly on the ground, shudders of pain wracking her.
"What's going on? Summer, what is happening to her?!" shouted Helena, voice and expression filled with terror, while Leon tightened his grip on his weapon, just in case Deborah turned into a zombie, but Summer calmly raised a hand. "She was infected with a different strain of the virus, experimented upon by Simmons. Aeon knew that was a possibility, so he gave me a cure. What's going on is that her body is rejecting the virus violently. Give her time."
They all stared at Deborah, who kept retching and puking for a time, before she finally calmed down.
When that happened, she fell back on the ground with a deep groan, and Helena immediately went back to her side.
"Deborah! Deborah, how are you feeling?"
She coughed, before smiling weakly at Helena.
"I'll… I'll be fine. That was…" she grimaced, shuddering for a second, before sighing in satisfaction. "That sucked, but I'm feeling better now."
She looked up at Summer with gratitude. "Thank you for that. I'm not sure what they injected into me, but I felt horrible." She shuddered in fear. "It felt wrong, and left me with a horrible fever, it was so hard to think…"
"It's okay, you're safe now. Everything will be alright." gently said Summer, before she glanced at Helena. "Could you help her move? She'll feel weak for some time."
"Of course!" jumped Helena, who wasted no time in helping her sister stand, before passing one of her arms around her shoulder and then looking back up at Summer with a tremendous amount of gratitude in her eyes.
"And… Thank you. Thank you so much for curing her. If she had turned…" Helena violently shuddered in horror and fear at the thought.
Summer smiled warmly behind her helmet. "Thank Aeon, not me. He's the one who knew what Simmons would do to her, and got everything ready to save her. I'm just the one he chose to carry out his Will."
Leon glanced at her as she said those words. He could tell there was a lot more to them than a simple attempt at deflecting gratitude. There was genuine, unbreakable belief, and absolute conviction that everything really was Aeon's work.
Which, considering what he knew, was easily understandable.
And beneath that there was a hint of pride, that she had been chosen for this.
Still, even Helena noticed the weight of her words, though after a moment her expression hardened, a look of determination on her face.
"I'll make sure to thank him too, then. And if you or he ever need help, with anything, just tell me and I'll do it, no questions asked."
Summer chuckled. "I appreciate the thought, but let's focus on getting out of here first, yes?"
Helena nodded, and they looked at Leon who smiled. "Come on, then. Let's go see what else this place holds."
They started moving, Summer and Leon shifting in defensive formation since neither Helena nor Deborah could really focus on protecting themselves right now. Helena muttered gentle encouragement to her sister as they began walking, though Leon was far too focused on listening for anyone coming towards them to really listen.
They began going down, down into the old, half-rotten wooden stairs of this place, all the while the occasional zombie stood in their way and the ceiling of this place began to fall down.
Apparently, Simmons never bothered to properly take care of this place for some reason.
Still, with both Leon and Summer covering their advance they made good times, easily killing anything dangerous crossing their paths while Helena and Deborah spoke in hushed whispers to each other.
Then Leon almost jumped in surprise when his radio crackled to life, Hannigan's voice coming through.
"Dammit, Leon, Helena, where are you? I can't pinpoint you at all! What the hell is going-"
Interference came back, and her voice was lost. Leon tried to call her, but got nothing.
"You can give her a report once we're all out of here." calmly pointed out Summer.
Leon glanced at her. "Wouldn't ISIS ask for a report too?"
Summer glanced at him, and through her helmet he saw her smile… and her eyes glow for a second.
"... Right, never mind."
"What?" asked Helena, who caught just enough of the byplay to be confused at the lack of answer from Summer mixed with his sudden acceptance.
"Nothing. Let's just say that ISIS has their way and let's leave it at that." Leon replied, and while he could see that Helena was curious, she took one look at Deborah, glanced back at Summer and nodded, apparently having decided that whatever secrets they possessed, she would not seek to learn them if they wanted to keep them.
They kept going, crossing old wooden bridges and stone buildings in the depths of these caverns. Leon had to wonder how old all of this was, because it had to be at least centuries old. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that some of the buildings had existed since the first European colonists to reach this place set down to build the city.
When they reached another large platform, Leon and Summer paused at the sight of who was waiting for them.
Ada Wong smiled, before stepping forward. "Well, are you trying to see if I'll be jealous, Leon? Traveling with several beautiful women by your side, while I'm going around all alone… How naughty of you."
Leon snorted, then grinned. "Happy to see you too, Ada. Your investigation going well?"
Ada grinned back, then took him by the front of his clothes and smashed her lips against his.
After a moment she pulled back, smirking widely, eyes twinkling.
"Much better, now." She gave a look at the women behind him, and he had to hold back his amusement at seeing Ada so visibly staking her claim.
"You've found Simmons' lab, then?" inquired Summer, all business, and Ada nodded, expression turning more focused. "I did. It's been taken care of."
She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped when the entire area trembled.
They looked up.
"But this isn't the time or place. These walkways won't hold. We need to keep going."
"Agreed. Come on, let's keep going." agreed Helena, glancing with concern at the ceiling, before looking back at Ada. "But… Just to confirm, you're the one who found out about Simmons' plot, weren't you?"
"I did." calmly replied Ada.
Helena smiled. "Thank you. You saved so many lives thanks to that, including the President's."
Ada shrugged. "I don't really care about him, politicians come and go. But I know that Leon would be sad if his friend died, and as adorable as his kicked-puppy looks are, he's more fun when he's at his best."
Her smile turned cold. "Besides, I'm all for screwing up Simmons' plans right now."
Leon grumbled under his breath about "Kicked puppy looks", and Summer was visibly amused by the byplay, but with the room still shaking, Helena visibly chose to leave things at that and merely nodded before guiding Deborah onwards.
As they kept going down into the caves, Ada threw something at him that he instinctively caught before looking at it.
Then he blinked.
"A ring?" he said, glancing up at Ada and half wondering if she was seriously doing what he thought she was doing.
Knowing Ada, it was frankly 50/50.
She smirked, visibly amused by his reaction.
"Don't get the wrong idea, it'll make sense later."
He shrugged, crushing the feeling of disappointment he felt at those words, and just pocketed the ring for the time being.
"Ok."
They kept going, the now group of five going ever onwards and deeper into the earth, carefully making sure to avoid any falling debris from the slowly collapsing caves.
Still, they were easily able to handle the few zombies standing in their way, until they reached the bottom of the caves and found a mine cart. After a moment staring, Summer sighed and got inside, grumbling about evil bases, mine shafts, and mine carts, grudgingly followed by everyone else as they all understood that it was the only way out.
"All aboard? Then here we go!" declared Leon, and with that they were off.
"Let's hope this is a non-stop ride out of here." he muttered.
"I wouldn't count on it." cheerfully declared Ada.
"Yeah, it won't be that simple." sadly sighed Summer, and Leon grunted, suspecting that Aeon was letting her know what awaited them.
"Of course it won't." he grumbled.
"Deborah, how are you doing?" asked Helena, and her sister smiled. "Better, now."
"Can you stand on your own?" questioned Leon.
Deborah pursed her lips. "Maybe? At least for a little while."
"Good. Because I've got a bad feeling about all of this…" replied Leon.
Helena opened her mouth to say something, but instead her eyes widened. "Duck!" she shouted, pushing her sister's head down while doing the same, and Leon, Summer, and Ada wasted no time following suit.
And not a moment too soon, as a palisade of wood passed just above their crouched forms.
"Oh great, just what we needed." grumbled Leon as they all cautiously peaked out to see what lied ahead of them while their cart kept going down more and more tunnels.
"Explosive barrels!" shouted Summer suddenly, and Leon wasted no time shooting them.
"Great, more trouble!" he groaned, before now carefully avoiding either getting a palisade to the face or an explosive barrel killing them all.
When finally they reached the end, they knew it was the end mostly because the damn path just opened up straight down on more wooden platforms.
"Hold on and be ready to jump!" shouted Summer, and they all screamed when the cart found itself freefalling, only for them all to jump and crash painfully on various platforms.
A rather impressive series of loudly shouted curse words followed, but thankfully everyone, even Deborah, managed to stand up again without anything more than some new bruises and creative insults hurled at Simmons' way.
Still, once everyone regathered they took stock and decided where to go from there.
Which is when Ada's PDA began blinking and chiming for an incoming call.
She pursed her lips, then glanced at Leon, smiled, gave him a quick kiss "for luck", and then turned away, declaring over her shoulder that she'll no doubt find them again later, before leaving.
Then Leon's PDA chimed as well, and Hannigan's voice finally reached them when he activated.
"Leon, where are you?"
"In an underground area below the cathedral. We found Helena's sister, along with a lab of Simmons, and… more." he replied.
"I see. When can you get back up top?"
Leon frowned. "Not sure. Any reason why?"
"We found Simmons. He's going to China." came the tired, but satisfied answer from Hannigan.
"China? What is he doing over there?" questioned Helena.
"Unknown. Which is why we'd like to send you over there to find out. President's orders."
"How are things up top?" asked Leon.
"Things are going well. ISIS and the army have the situation under control, and a good chunk of the town is under control, with the vast majority hopefully pacified by sunrise. The President has been evacuated, and will soon address the nation over everything that has happened. We expect that no one will be happy to hear about Tall Oaks' outbreak, but all things considered, it could have gone a lot worse."
"I see. That's good to hear." Leon sighed, a measure of tension in his frame relaxing at the good news, before he nodded firmly. "Alright, we'll try to get back up as soon as we can. I'll contact you again once we're up top. Affirmative?"
"Copy that. Take care, Leon, Helena. I've got to get back to checking a thousand other things, to verify that Simmons doesn't, or no longer has access to our databases. See you later."
The call ended, and they glanced at each other.
"China? Why China?" muttered Helena.
"Doesn't matter. We'll find out once we get there." replied Leon.
"ISIS can get you there quickly." spoke up Summer.
They glanced at her.
She shrugged. "ISIS has been reinforcing Asia for some time. Neo-Umbrella HQ's is somewhere there, after all."
Helena frowned. "You think… That's why Simmons is going there?"
"Only one way to find out what he's after. No point wasting time thinking about it, better get moving." replied Leon, who glanced at Deborah. "Also, I'd really like her to get to a proper hospital soon, just in case."
Helena's expression hardened, and she nodded. "Fair enough."
"There's a door there." pointed out Summer.
They moved towards it, opening it thanks to two levers and going into a corridor lined with lit-up torches.
"All of this really belongs to Simmons?" wondered Helena, glancing around.
"With that lab of his sitting right on top of us? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yes."
"Don't worry. This place will be properly investigated once we're out of there." said Summer.
"Considering how big this place is, and how dangerous, I can't imagine that it won't take a while." mused Leon.
Summer shrugged. "At worst, Aeon will use it for a Hunter expedition."
Leon snorted. "That'd do it."
"Your boss would really consider this place for a training trip?" questioned Helena.
"Of course not." replied Summer. "There are nowhere near enough traps and enemies for that. At most, it'd be a relaxing trip."
Helena and her sister stared at her.
Leon shivered as he considered what Aeon considered "appropriate" for training. "Yep, sounds like him."
"... I'm now almost afraid to ask what your boss considers a proper challenge."
""God-slaying."" came the immediate answer from both Summer and Leon.
There was a moment of silence as they kept walking through the corridor.
"The worst part is, I'm only mostly sure that you're joking." Helena muttered to herself.
Leon and Summer glanced at each other, saying nothing.
"... You know what, I'm not sure I want to know."
"Wise of you."
"Yup."
They kept going, until both Leon and Summer paused, holding a hand to stop Helena and Deborah.
"What?" Helena asked, seeing nothing besides a corner before them.
Summer slowly took a step forward.
The ground before her sank slightly, and large rotating blades came out of the walls to cut through the legs of anyone moving further.
"... Ah."
Leon eyed the rotating blades. "So, how do-"
Summer raised her weapons and shot the rotating blades, disintegrating them instantly.
"-that works." finished Leon after a moment of staring.
Summer smirked.
"Overwhelming firepower covers a multitude of sins." smugly declared the Huntress.
"You know, I'm a bit terrified of what will happen to the world when those weapons make it to every army." said Helena, looking at her weapon with a mix of desire and fear.
"You don't have to worry, those guns are for Hunters only." Summer replied.
Helena gave her a look.
"You really think that the various governments will accept that?"
Summer raised an eyebrow back at her.
"You really think that they can afford to not accept that, considering how much they have to lose if they piss off Insight Corp.?"
Helena paused. "Are you saying that First-World governments have less power than Insight Corp?"
Both Leon and Summer stared at her.
"You've seen what Simmons was capable of. You really think that Insight Corp. wouldn't be a thousand times worse? We wouldn't even need to do anything besides publicly denounce someone, the public would do the rest." declared Summer.
Helena and her sister stared at her.
"... Well today really is a day full of revelations." she muttered, before shaking her head and moving forward.
Of course, that's when more zombies showed up.
Leon sighed even as he shot them in the head. "Why is it that the dead can't stay dead?"
"Hey, blame the evil organizations of this world, they're the ones responsible." replied Summer.
"I know, but seriously, this is really ridiculous how often this happens in this world." he grumbled.
"We're working on it!"
They turned the corner, turned another corner-
And found themselves facing a corridor filled with flames.
"... That will leave more than just a few mild burns." declared Helena, staring at the raging inferno somehow kept continuously going.
"I've got this."
"Wait, what are you-"
And then Summer casually walked into and disappeared into the wall of fire.
"What." bluntly said both sisters, staring dumbly at the flames.
Leon stared as well, before he nodded. "Definitely trained by Aeon."
The fire cut off, and they walked forward, finding Summer leaning against the wall near a richly decorated door, grinning widely behind her helmet.
"See? Problem taken care of!"
Helena sighed. "I know that you've got armor and some kind of energy shield, but really? Do all Hunters just casually walk into fire like that?"
Summer shrugged and whispered something about Aeon and "Raging storms of fire and magma", and something about…
"Giant Demon fire dog?"
What?
Leon shook his head, no questions, that way lies madness and grinning Aeon.
Actually, that was the same thing.
"So, how do we open this door?" he asked instead, much safer that way.
"Something about 'Set forth evidence of kith and kin', whatever that means." said Summer.
"Kith and kin? Simmons' family tree?" he muttered, frowning in thought while staring at the door.
Helena nodded. "I think you're right. Probably just as rotten as he is. But what does it mean by evidence?"
Leon paused, before his eyes widened. "Wait a minute… the ring Ada gave me!"
He took it out of his pocket, and examined it.
Helena and Deborah blinked at his words, while Summer's eyebrows rose.
"A ring? When did she give you a ring?" questioned Helena.
Leon didn't reply, instead he carefully inserted it in the middle of the door, where a hole for it resided.
He ignored the whispering from Deborah, though whatever it was seemed to both amuse Summer and make Helena sputter in denial.
The moment the ring was in, the door shifted open, and Leon grinned. "Bingo! Thanks for the gift, Ada."
Of course, a few zombies chose that moment to attack, but they were very quickly cut down by both Summer and Leon, with Helena choosing to simply keep watch over her sister.
Soon, they entered the newly revealed passage… which revealed a flooded area.
"Looks like we're going to need to get our feet wet." pointed out Leon.
"You should get on my back, Deborah." said Helena, glancing at the near naked form of her sister with concern.
Deborah took one look at the water, then grimaced in agreement.
They walked a little bit forward, before freezing in place when, right in the middle of the flooded area, a massive aquatic form showed itself in the water before going back down.
"That's… a very big fish." muttered Summer, clutching tightly her weapon.
Helena was a lot less calm in the face of what might be a building-sized aquatic monster.
"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed. "What the hell was that?!"
"One of Simmons' pet monsters, I assume." replied Summer, frowning in concern as she glanced at them.
"A pretty big one, too." muttered Leon, memories of other massive monsters he had crossed paths with in the past flashing through in his mind.
At least it's not a giant crocodile this time, he thought with relief.
One time had been more than enough of that.
"Alright, I'll go first, but make sure you all stay together." declared Summer, giving them a hard look, before she kept walking forward, though Leon noticed how she was actually moving cautiously for once.
Leon followed, then the two sisters, and he shuddered at the cold of the water.
"Brr… ugh, just once, I'd like to find a place flooded by warm water, you know." he grumbled, looking upwards toward the sky.
There was a second of silence… Before he blinked when the water suddenly warmed up.
Summer shifted to give him a look, a measure of surprise in her eyes, but Helena said nothing, so apparently only he was the lucky one to get warm water, though the fact that Summer caught on to what happened…
Well, either way… Thanks, he muttered to the sky.
They kept going, Helena still carrying her sister on her back and Summer cautiously moving onwards, until they found their way barred by a door made of steel bars.
Then Summer raised her gun, fired, and kept firing until the door had a hole big enough for everyone to pass through.
Then she passed through, radiating smugness.
That smugness stayed for less than 10 seconds before she tensed, shifted faster than Leon could follow, and the air was filled with a green flash before something caught her by the leg and dragged her under the water.
"""Summer!"'' they all screamed, only to see her get back up several feet further ahead, near a second path forward.
"I'm fine!" she shouted. "The big bastard didn't like to get a disintegration beam to the face, though he was big enough to survive."
She got back on her feet, glancing at the water for a second before looking at them.
"We'll have to take both paths! Make sure to keep an eye at the water at all times!"
Leon, Helena, and Deborah shared a look, but they did as ordered, all three of them glancing around cautiously.
Working together, they were able to deal with every barred door on their paths, until Leon, Helena, and Deborah found themselves with rotating blades in their path once more.
"Dammit." cursed Leon, before he frowned in thought. "They're higher, we should be able to crawl underneath."
Both sisters gave him a look.
"Look, I don't like it either, but we need to keep going or we'll be stuck here."
Sure, they were on a stone path right now, so no giant fish monster to worry about, but even so, they still needed to keep moving.
"I'll go first, then you two follow me."
With that said, Leon began crawling forward, grimacing as the blades passed close enough above him that he could feel the wind generated by their passing on his skin.
The sisters followed suit, Deborah more hesitantly, but with gentle encouragement from Helena she slowly, but surely succeeded until she fully passed through well enough to get up again.
At which point both sisters wasted no time hugging and whispering to each other.
Leon looked away. Poor girl seemed to have been a civilian, all this mess really wasn't something she was ready for. Thankfully, having her sister here really helped her keep calm.
They almost had an issue with a missing crank required to open the next door, but by that point Summer had managed to get on the other side of the door… and just blasted the thing with her gun, solving that issue very quickly.
Then they put themselves before a steel door, activating the levers…
And the ground fell underneath their feet.
While both sisters screamed, both Summer and Leon cursed Simmons and Aeon's names.
The first for owning this place, the second because he was probably taking quite a bit of amusement at the endless stream of nonsense they had to deal with.
-
Getting on their feet, they all glanced around, and Leon frowned.
"Welcome to the center of the Earth." he rumbled.
Which was fair, as the dark cavernous space they were in was obviously far beneath the surface, and yet there were still old ruins littering the area, and a waterfall was once again visible near one of the walls, plunging deep in the darkness surrounding them. Luckily, they had fallen on one of the fallen pillars of the ruins around them, so they didn't just fall to their death.
On the other hand, they were most likely even further away from the surface than before.
Leon glanced at the sisters, feeling relieved at the fact that somehow Deborah hadn't gotten anything worse than a few bruises from the fall, before looking around.
Well, there was a path forward, though gods only knew where it led.
"Come on. We will get out of here." firmly declared Summer, who once again took the lead.
Deborah was visibly getting rather terrified at the entire situation, and once again Leon was glad that Helena was there, as after a few seconds of furious whispering between both, she managed to calm her sister down.
Seriously though, couldn't Aeon have warned them about the trap-
False door, only a wall behind, trap only way out still left relatively standing.
-Ah. The whisper made him blink, the scent of blood, starlight, and flowers filling his nose for a second before disappearing like smoke.
Well then… Nevermind.
Hard way it was, then.
They kept moving, moving from stone pillar to stone pillar, old, rotting wooden bridges linking them together, while more zombies kept appearing, some of the bodies obviously centuries old, still armed with axes and wearing old armor and helmets.
Still, they made good time. Nothing present could pose a threat to Summer, much less with Leon backing her up.
The closest to actual danger she faced was when one of the stone pillars began crumbling under her weight, forcing her to climb up the broken stone pillar while a number of zombies tried to crawl after her.
Still, she made it to safety, and brought down a wooden drawbridge that had stopped the rest of them from moving onwards.
"Pretty elaborate bridge system in here." pointed out Helena. "Someone really thought this place through."
"Right. Which means there's got to be a way out." Leon replied, though he had gotten confirmation from Aeon already.
He couldn't really admit to having that confidence from the god speaking in his head, though. Well, not with Helena and her sister at least.
They kept moving, until they found their path blocked by a boulder.
Leon opened his mouth to propose that they would push it out together, only for Summer to step forth, mutter something to herself-
*BOOM!*
-and then punch the boulder out of the way, the massive rock flying off into the depths below.
There was a moment of silence, as Leon, Helena, and her sister stared at Summer.
The Huntress shrugged. "It felt right somehow." Then she frowned. "Though it felt like someone else should have done that…"
Leon decided not to ask. That way lay Aeon and general craziness, he just knew it.
Those two usually walked hand in hand, after all.
"Let's just go." he said instead, and no one disagreed.
Of course, not 5 minutes later and the entire cave began to shudder, and Helena began cursing. "Shit, run, everything is falling apart!"
They ran, Helena still carrying her sister, jumping from collapsing stone pillar to collapsing stone pillar, before their path was once again blocked by a boulder. Summer didn't even punch it, she outright kicked the thing so hard it flew off into the distance, making Helena and Deborah gape at her, though they soon started moving again as everything around them kept on falling apart.
Then, because apparently Aeon really hated them, the water that had apparently been contained in the upper levels broke through… and fell right on top of them, sending them all into a sharp descent into the depths of this place, spluttering and trying not to drown, the two sisters desperately trying to hold onto each other, with Summer, in her full-body armor, the only one safe from the sudden flooding.
"Oh God! What do we do?!" screamed Helena, while Deborah was now just screaming in terror.
"Hell if I know!" admitted Leon.
"Hold onto each other, and don't let go!" shouted Summer, and a moment later it felt as if the water themselves shifted to better help keep their group together.
The tunnel they fell down went deep underneath the earth, but eventually they came out in what appeared to be underwater ruins.
The problem, of course, was that air was scarce, and they could only find it in small openings in the rock creating natural air chambers.
Once again, only Summer was truly safe as she had her own air supply, though as it turned out she had a solution to their problem.
Taking out what Leon was pretty sure was a crystal of Dust, from what little he knew of the things, she created a strong current that sent them speeding up along the tunnel, though because things could always get worse, their old friend the giant fish monster returned all of a sudden to smash apart the way forward, forcing them to use a smaller passage to keep going.
One filled with undead corpses… who were thoroughly uncaring of the fact that they were underwater.
Thankfully, they somehow managed to pass through everything with only a few close calls, meaning that Helena's sister was only mildly traumatized rather than outright catatonic.
And then, the giant fish monster showed up again.
This time, it took Helena by the leg and swam away, leaving her sister, Leon and Summer to quickly try to grab on to her or the monster to not get left behind…
Before they were all dragged through the waters.
Through what Leon was pretty sure was an outright miracle of Aeon, they all managed to not get sent wildly through the water, and instead, even succeeded in getting the monster to eventually let go of Helena, in no small thanks through Summer outright putting the barrel of her gun against the flesh of the monster and beginning to fire over and over again.
Needless to say, the monster didn't like that at all, and seconds later, they were all sent flying into the air as the monster resurfaced and jumped out of the waters, before going back in.
Leon came out of the waters with a gasp, before wincing when Helena's scream of pain reached him.
Apparently, she ended up on the shores of this place, rather than the waters, and didn't take the landing well, on top of whatever injuries she took from the fish monster..
Summer came out of the waters nearby, followed by Deborah, whose eyes widened at the sounds of pain coming from her sister.
"Come on, we need to get to her!" she shouted, before visibly pushing past her exhaustion to start swimming as fast as she could towards the hard ground.
Leon did the same, though Summer let herself fall back underwater.
The reason why became quickly clear, as a green flash illuminated the waters not long after.
The giant fish monster was trying to eat them yet again.
And yet again, Summer welcomed it with disintegrating beams of green light.
Leon and Deborah swam as fast as they could, and after some time, they noticed that Helena was leaning against an outcropping of rocks to shoot at the giant fish monster as well.
Not long before they reached the shore, a massive explosion in the waters echoed behind them, and as they turned they saw the broken, bloodied carcass of the giant fish monster float to the surface, its body littered with bloody holes and one seemed to be an impressive explosion that blew up its entire head to meaty chunks.
"Damn." Leon whispered, "Summer really got that thing good."
Then they reached the shore, at which point Leon took one look at the drenched Deborah and promptly looked away, giving her his jacket to cover herself with, which she gratefully took.
Then Summer came out of the water, expression clearly satisfied.
That changed however when Helena limped her way to them, a smile on her face looking more like a pained grimace as her left leg was dripping with blood.
"Helena!" shouted Deborah, running towards her sister and then helping her sit down, in an inverse of what had happened before, with Deborah being the one helping Helena instead.
Leon and Summer came closer, though Summer was the one who took one look at the leg and frowned, before bringing out a syringe with some kind of red fluid in it.
"Right, with a wound like that, better to make sure." she muttered.
"What is it? It's not Medi-gel." commented Deborah, while Helena glanced at the syringe curiously while gritting her teeth in pain.
Summer hesitated, and Leon's eyes narrowed.
Before he froze.
He had a suspicion on what this was.
And since Summer was a Huntress…
"Summer. Is this what I think it is?" he asked, eyes fixed on the syringe she was holding.
Summer paused, then looked at him.
"Her leg is badly wounded. That thing's teeth were pretty big. Medi-gel would help, but she'll be stuck in a hospital for a while just to make sure she's healed." she calmly explained.
And that'll take her out of this investigation, she didn't say, but Leon heard it all the same.
He pursed his lips.
"Is that dangerous?" wondered Helena, Deborah looking at the syringe cautiously.
"Dangerous?" repeated Leon. "Yes and no. It's just…" he glanced at Summer. "You're sure he would approve?"
"As long as it's for an emergency… and just one dose won't have any side-effects." replied Summer.
"What kind of side-effects? What is this?" questioned Deborah.
"It's…" Leon hesitated, then sighed. "It's one of the greatest secrets of ISIS. That thing, in enough quantity, helps create Hunters."
Both sisters stared at the syringe. While Leon knew that the Old Blood by itself wasn't quite enough to create Hunters of the Dream, it certainly was an important part of the process.
"It's also a miracle of healing, too." Summer added. "Stronger than medi-gel by a lot."
"And you're going to use it on me?" asked Helena, still not taking her eyes off the miracle healing liquid.
"We can create more, it's just… There are reasons we don't want to flood the world with this. Nothing bad, but…" She hesitated. "Well, among other reasons, this would destroy the medical field as you know it. Every issue would be cured with just this." she held up the syringe. "All of them."
Helena swallowed. "That's…"
"Can you keep it a secret? Both of you?" asked Leon.
The two sisters looked at him, then at Summer… And Deborah nodded. "I don't know much about what's going on, but I owe you my life. It's the least I can do to repay you."
Heleba sighed, nodding. "She's right. I told you, if you ever needed anything, I would agree. This is little in comparison to what I already owe you."
"Very well then." Summer injected the content of the syringe in Helena's leg, who shuddered immediately.
"Oh, wow." she whispered, blinking rapidly, while her mangled leg fixed itself perfectly in seconds.
Deborah stared in shock at the fully healed leg, before shaking herself off and looking at her wide eyed, blankly staring ahead sister.
"Helena?" she asked worriedly.
Helena shuddered, before letting out a deep breath. "Sorry about that. I don't know what that thing was, but it felt like I just got through a sugar high, but times a thousand. I feel… strong. Breathtakingly so."
She glanced at Summer. "Is it like that for you?"
Summer smiled. "Even more… At all times."
Helena shuddered. "God, no wonder you Hunters are so strong. The effects are gone, but I still feel better than I ever remember being."
"Is it really safe?" wondered Deborah.
"Completely. It's… a long story, but let's just say that ISIS' boss made personally sure of that."
The two sisters stared at her. "There's a story there."
Summer laughed. "Oh, you have no idea." she shook her head. "But what matters is this: it's completely safe. Nothing, and no one, can change that fact."
Helena nodded, tested her leg, then cautiously stood up… before smiling.
"Well, it certainly does as promised. There's not even a scar to show for what happened, nor a slight feeling of pain."
She looked back at Summer. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with us."
Deborah nodded.
Summer smiled as she stood up. "Good. Then come on, let's get going. I'm getting tired of underground dungeons full of monsters."
Leon had strong suspicions that she wasn't talking about the one they were in.
-
A.N: Alright! Here is the next chapter in which we continue the events of Resident Evil 6!
More changes in this chapter, as Summer's presence and the knowledge of Carla means things end up going a lot better for our heroes. Leon isn't incredibly confused about what's going on, Helena doesn't lose her sister, the civilians in the cathedral don't die, etc.
Also, so many boss fights are trivialized by simply having the good guys given the weapons and powers they need to win the fights. Justy having Summer around by itself resolves a lot of problems.
Also, Resident Evil 4 Remake trailers and gameplay showing are out! The game looks amazing, though whether he is as good as it looks remains to be seen.
At least Ashley looks amazing?
Also, I added the part at the end because seriously, big ass shark catch someone in its maw, and the heroes just… Walk it off? What the hell? So here there's an actual reason Helena doesn't lose a leg or something.
Still, with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this update! Next time, we continue RE6 with the end of this part of the game, and the start of the China adventures! In which villains and heroes and monsters gather, oh my!