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44. Leon

Leon was walking around the flower garden with the phone pulled up to his ear. The place was where Sanaya grew the flowers that she sold in the flower shop and was one of Claire's favorite places. Ironically Claire's office was right under it as well.

"The hospital won't let me out just yet…" Helena said through the phone, "so I guess I'll be missing the fun today."

"She won't be bothered considering I told her you need a couple of weeks to heal that leg."

"Oh, come on. I decided to sign up for a race. I'll be just fine."

"Well, I don't think she'll be annoyed to have you, just sitting around anyway, so I don't see why you can't join the fun despite the leg."

"Great, that's what I wanted to hear." Helena said approvingly, "so, are you going to the Christmas party after all?"

"I won't take that pleasure from Clara, even if it means I've got to stand her stalking the whole night."

"Look at the bright side. Maybe if you show up with your wonderful wife, she'll finally give up on you. Then again…"

Leon knew what had gone through his partner's mind. She would give up until his arrangement with Claire was over. But did he want it over?

" When do you leave the hospital? "

" This afternoon, supposedly…why? "

" Clara might want to give you a visit…"

"Is she always such a mother hen?"

"You have no idea…" Leon chuckled, "she used to scold me all the time for not having proper meals whenever we talked on the phone."

"Funny. Ironically, she doesn't seem to follow her own advice, huh?"

"She puts everyone before herself, so… Yeah."

"How's her injury….?"

" wow…. Fully?"

"Yeah…"

" judging your excitement, I suppose it isn't necessarily good."

"It is good… It's just it'd never happened before, and I'm afraid of what it could mean."

"Okay, the almighty Leon S. Kennedy is afraid. I never saw that coming."

" I'm not fearless. On the contrary... "

" No, you're not, especially if it is about someone you love. I've been there, okay? With Deborah…" Helena said, "Hey, it is a good sign. I would be worried if you didn't have those fears. If you're not scared to lose someone, you just don't love them enough…"

Leon snorted. He would have never imagined himself receiving love advice from Helena and even less regarding Claire, but there he was.

" I'll call you later. Chris and Rebecca just arrived. "

Leon put the phone down just in time to find Chris and Rebecca entering the garden. The short woman seemed excited as a kid.

"Agent Kennedy! It's so great to see you again."

"Dr. Chambers…" Leon greeted them.

"Just call me Rebecca. We are friends, aren't we?"

Rebecca was so innocent that she was almost adorable.

"Leon…"

"Chris…"

"Wow, you two haven't changed…" Rebecca laughed, "how's your wife agent Kennedy?"

"Workaholic as ever." Leon replied, "I hope that your arrival will persuade her from overworking herself."

"Hopefully, I can be of help!" Rebecca smiled.

"Shall we?" Chris asked.

Leon nodded. He looked around to make sure no one was around before leading them to the labs. Rebecca was more than impressed with the place, and Leon could tell that Chris was, too. None of them seemed bothered by the strict safety protocols.

They passed the office cubicles, which were empty except for Wallace. The man was in the middle of a match, but he energetically greeted the new arrivals and told them that Claire and Hiwamura had moved down to biomedical.

Biomedical was the highest security level in the lab. It was where they worked with all the infectious agents, and it was divided into two areas: the general lab and the biosafety one. Claire and Hiwamura were currently in the latter.

He had never entered that area since he saw no use to his presence there, so whenever Claire was working on something, he would stand at the glass window to watch. He'd found it funny how she seemed to move so smoothly with a hazmat suit.

"So this is where she works?" Rebecca said excitedly.

"Not really. Her haven is in another lab down this hallway: genetics." Leon explained, "she spends more time there. This is more of Hiwamura's territory."

"Oh…"

"That's the corpse from yesterday. "

"So it seems."

By the time Leon had turned back to the glass, Claire had already noticed their presence. He saw her walk to the communication panel and turn on the switch.

"Hey there…. I didn't expect you to be here."

Leon smiled. He knew that she was specifically referring to Chris and Rebecca. He could almost see the slight hint of panic at the idea of her brother watching over her neck.

"Didn't you get the notice that Rebecca was joining the team?" Chris asked.

"Oh, I did. I just didn't think it'd be today."

"I hope it is not a bother. I was excited to see how you worked."

"Of course, it doesn't bother us. Want to come in and join the party? I can't promise to drink, but I'm sure you'll find it entertaining. Our guest of honor is handsome…" Claire said with her typical sarcasm. Only Claire could come up with such a joke.

" For today, I think I'd like to watch first… "

" Okay, your loss," Claire replied, winking at her, " I'll leave the channel open so that we can talk…"

Claire turned around when Hiwamura let out a surprised groan. They couldn't see what was happening, but by the looks, it wasn't something positive. The two women had opened the bag, and Leon caught a glimpse of its content.

Something seemed off about the corpse, but Leon could not say what. He leaned against the glass and saw Claire telling Hiwamura something.

"Claire...what's wrong?" Chris's voice asked. He could hear the sudden tint of concern in his voice.

Claire didn't answer. She raised her hand, signaling him to wait, and continued giving instructions to the Asian.

"What the…?" Chris said, frustrated.

"You were never the patient type, huh?" Rebecca chuckled, "I'm sure she'll tell us soon enough…"

"How can you be so calm?"

"You forget I work in this business." the small woman said, "I don't see "alarm" in her attitude. It's more like…urgency."

"Urgency…?"

"Yeah...look how fast and precisely she is working on that thing…" Rebecca pointed, and both Leon's and Chris's attention focused on Claire.

She was working diligently and amazingly fast. Leon had never seen Claire in full action in her lab, but he had to admit that he was impressed.

"Oh...those don't look too good." Rebecca commented, "I wonder if this new virus caused it."

"What?" Chris asked.

Like Leon, Chris's medical knowledge was limited to wound care on the battlefield.

"The organs are pretty swollen, and that color...I'd dare say the thing was suffering severe septicemia. I've seen the autopsies from other strains, but this is the first time I see organ damage like that. I'm guessing Claire thought the same. "

"Maybe that's what killed it…" Leon said.

"Maybe…" Rebecca said, grabbing her chin.

"Or maybe the assholes are just like that…" Chris growled.

"That, too. I'm sure Claire is up to something, though."

"ARen't you regretting not stepping in now?" Chris teased.

"Please, Chris. I'm the new guy. There's a common rule between researchers. You can't just step into someone else's lab, just like that."

"It's just a lab. Besides, Claire was inviting you in."

" it's a tacit agreement."

Leon shook his head. Chris seemed to be making random conversations to distract himself from any possible worry. While Chris and Rebecca were chitchatting, Leon kept his eyes on Claire.

Like he had told Helena, the events from the day before had left him in an anxious state, but Claire seemed alright.

Eventually, seeing that the two women were going to take quite a while on their current tasks, Sanaya had come to call them to the offices where they could sit and have a cup of tea. Chris had been a little reluctant, but he had eventually agreed.

"Are you coming with us, Mr. Kennedy?" the Indian asked him.

"I'll stay a little longer. Can you distract Chris? It will give me a chance to warn Claire."

"Of course," she answered with a smile.

Leon had the suspicion that the Indian knew about his relationship with Claire. Perhaps she had seen it even before he had noticed his own feelings. After all, he had come several times before to get flowers for her memorial, and he would have spoken about Claire with fondness.

Chris and Rebecca had agreed to walk away after m he promised to notify them if anything happened and an offer of touring the research complex.

Some minutes later, it was only him, standing in front of the glass, watching his girlfriend-wife work. After some minutes of cutting and digging, Leon saw her get ready to leave the place. He didn't need to be told where she had gone to know. After a month and a half of living together, Leon already knew where Claire disappeared when she wanted to run away. She was either in her lair, in the genetics lab, or the greenhouse. Considering the situation, Leon assumed she was not in the latter.

"Wow...I expected someone else…" Claire snorted, "Then again, I doubt he would have found his way here in the first place."

"I also doubt Chris would have knocked…"

"He probably wouldn't. " she chuckled, leaning against the chair. The picture made him smile. " Where is he now?"

Leon entered the small office and settled beside her. It was a matter of time before the tour through the complex would bring Chris to that place. For the time being, he would at least enjoy a little peace with Claire.

"Driving Sanaya and Chambers mad probably. Sanaya offered to give them a tour around the complex. "

"Ah, bless Dhriti. She's the sun."

There was an evident sign of relief in Claire's look, and he couldn't help but smile. Chris was probably a handful as a brother. Claire and Chris's relationship often made him think of his siblings. Maybe he should call home for the holidays.

And tell them that I got married.

The sole idea was slightly amusing. Leon could picture his mother fanning about it and asking him to bring his wife home for dinner and his sister. She would demand to meet her. It would be an interesting thing to witness.

Leon suddenly realized that it wasn't time for him to be thinking about such things.

"So what are you doing?" he said, trying to pull his thoughts back on track.

"What I do best." Claire replied, "Analysing DNA. Oh, by the way. I found this."

Claire handed him a small plastic bag with a single worn bullet inside. It took him a minute to recognize what it was.

"One of my ammunition?"

"Yeah, it technically killed the thing."

"Well, that's a lead. It means to reduce the killing to one of us."

Seeing Claire's clueless face, it was obvious that she had forgotten that she, too, had been using the same ammo since she had been using one of his handguns. For some odd reason, the look of total confusion in the women was adorable.

"Oh, yeah… I forgot"

Leon shook his head to hide his smirk.

" So… What got you so worked up in there? "

Claire sighed. There was a slight switch on her demeanor, and he sensed her worry. It was a strange perk of living practically 24/7 with her; he now found it extremely easy to read her body language. Leon could tell when she was sad, worried, or sick. His mother always said that couples that were meant to be could tell each other thoughts even without words. He was sure that Claire was as good at reading him as he was with her now. The agent tested his hand on her lower back and began tracing circles gently.

"Something odd happened to the corpse." Claire said, unconsciously leaning against his touch, " the best way I could explain it would be that it…" lost" its mutation… at least, phenotypically? "

" What? Is that possible?"

" Well, it is rare, but not necessarily impossible. Gene expression can be turned on or off, depending on different aspects. Either way, I think something happened, and this thing was regressing to its basal form. "

"So it became human again? "

" Ah… Almost. Whatever happened to that thing was causing a severe infective reaction. The organs showed discoloration and inflammation, which can often point to…."

"Septicemia…"

"Yeah…" Claire said, surprised, "well, some did some studying."

Claire's look of shock was priceless. The woman didn't expect him to know, especially when Leon had so clearly stated that these subjects weren't of his liking.

" As much as I'd love to take that compliment, no. The credits go to Chambers. She commented on that earlier when she saw you take out the organs."

Realization dawned on the woman's face, but he also caught a hint of disappointment. Perhaps, she thought he was starting to like the topic.

"Ah...yes, of course. Rebecca. She would know…" Claire nodded, "And there I thought you were finally finding a taste for these things…"

"Perhaps...a little…"

It wasn't the subject that had gained his interest, but rather the woman who represents it. However, Leon did not make this comment out loud. He didn't want to sound too corny, even if he knew Claire wouldn't judge him for that. She loved to tease him about how uncharacteristically romantic he was, but she had also admitted that she loved that trait.

"Chris is going to enter this room any time, and he'll throw a tantrum if he finds us like this." Claire laughed.

"I don't see why. We are talking about work," Leon smirked.

"Yeah, work."

A loud beeping interrupted their little moment of peace, and Claire walked around the desk to attend the incoming stand where he was watching the auburn headed answer with her no-nonsense face.

"Saya, what's up? Hopefully, you got me some juicy gossip."

"If a virophage is juicy gossip to you, then yes."

"A virophage? That's what you found?"

"Come to the cell culture lab, and I'll show you. I already called your brother, so be ready for the science chat o, and bring Kennedy in. He might be interested."

"Okay… we are on our way."

Claire clicked shut the call and looked at Leon. The agent had his eyebrow raised in a frown.

"Virophage?"

"Just like the name suggests, it's a virus that" infects" other viruses. "

" So… " he said, following her out of the lab," let me see if I recall, there is a virus that infects first then a second one infects the first?"

" Yeah, you could say so. "

" But if we know this virus works like that, then what's so amazing about finding it in the corpse?" "Handsome and smart. That's what we will find out right now."

Chris and Rebecca were already in place when they arrived. The first thing the two Redfields did at sight was to hug each other. Both Rebecca and Leon gave them their space.

Hiwamura was sitting at a microscope, fidgeting with the equipment. As soon as Chris had released Claire, she called her to go and look.

"What do you think?" The doctor said, "I already consulted Dr. Chambers, and we both agree it looks like a virophage, but you're the expert on those RNA/DNA bastards, so…"

" It looks like a virophage. It isn't the two original strains, that's for sure, though it is similar. It looks like this one works a little differently from normal virophages." Claire said, looking through the small slide," Sputnik, which is the only known virophage, infects pre-infected viruses and hijacks the mechanics inhibiting the spreading of the primary infection. So basically, they work by interference. This one doesn't."

"How do you know?" Rebecca asked curiously. Leon had heard about Chambers's research talents, but by the look on the woman's face, he could tell she wanted to hear more from Claire.

The youngest Redfield turned to the computer. Soon, a live feed of what she'd been seeing under the lens appeared on the screen. To Leon - and Chris- it only looked like a lot of dots and bubbles, but to the women, the image was like an interesting book.

"Look. The virophage infects the pre-infected cells and releases new viral particles to infect new cells. That's what is expected for a normal viral cycle, but look here…" Claire said, pointing at the screen, " the virophage also attacks the" clean" cells. That's not common behavior expected for virophage."

"So the virophage is selective? But aren't they supposed to infect only cells carrying the host-virus…"

"Precisely...hence why I said it behaved curiously."

" It isn't infecting all of the healthy tissue..." Rebecca observed," How does it choose what to infect and what not? "

" Mmm, there's the question…" Claire replied, "How was the histology? "

Leon and Chris soon lost track of the conversation, and the two men stepped aside to let the women discuss freely. None of them were too interested in the technical parts of the subject. Leon would wait until later when Claire gave him the "dummies version", while Chris was only interested in the final results.

"I must admit, she looks better today." Chris whispered to Leon "I was worried all yesterday."

"I was too…" Leon admitted.

Chris couldn't imagine the level of concern that had tormented the agent the night before. Unlike Leon, Chris hadn't spent hours holding Claire's bleeding body, fearing he wouldn't wake up again.

Even though the doctor and Claire herself had claimed that she was fine, Leon had sneaked into her room to check on her several times. To his comfort, Claire seemed to be sleeping peacefully and without nightmares. That was a novelty, considering that since her return from Wales, there had not been a night when she had not had one.

"Did you get any news about yesterday's attack?"

"No...the bastards are silent…" Chris said, shaking his head, "Jill got the security recordings of the mall. Hopefully, she will find something to corroborate their presence there."

" If she does, then Claire might be at more risk than we thought."

"Yeah, that's precisely what worries me now. I just don't understand these assholes..." Chris sighed, "All terrorist groups have a motivation...a goal, but Mobius doesn't seem to have any goal in particular."

"Except for getting Claire."

"Yeah, those fuckers…"

The two men's attention switched back to the ladies. Claire was typing something into her laptop while Rebecca and Hiwamura were chatting in front of the screen.

"Oh, so you're back…" Claire teased when they joined them again, "Don't worry, you didn't miss too much?"

"Did you figure out whatever you were trying to figure out?" Chris asked, and Claire smiled, amused.

"I've made my conjectures. This virophage has selectiveness regarding which cells infect, degrade, or leave alone. Judging by the phenotypic changes, I dare say the virophage degrades virus-induced mutated cells but leaves alone the basal ones, in other words, the healthy cells. That explains why the corpse changed."

"How come?"

"Claire thought the new virus was responsible for "regressing" the mutation."

"Is that even possible…"

"Theoretically speaking, it is…" Claire shrugged, "I mean, it happens, and usually it's been associated with immune modulation. For example, spontaneous regression cases have been reported often in melanoma and cutaneous basal cell cancers. This cancer is associated with induced mutation; in this case, the CDKN4 gene mutation contributes to the development of malignant melanoma and plays a significant role in spontaneous regression. Certain conditions may trigger the immunological response that eventually induces mutated cells into apoptosis…"

"Right…that means...?" Chris said, and Claire rolled her eyes.

"You need to go slow on him…" Rebecca laughed, "Here, let me translate. What Claire means is that under a certain situation, the immunological system could attack mutated cells."

"So this thing's immune system was what killed it?" Leon asked.

"Yes...and no…" Claire shrugged, "Technically, its official cause of death would be hemorrhagic shock caused by a rupture in the coronary artery due to a bullet. "

"However, these creatures are supposed to be regenerators…" Hiwamura said, "The...injury would have healed in less than 1 minute…."

"But it didn't…" Chris said, "And that killed it…"

"Well done, dearest brother of mine. It seems you still have some hopes," Claire laughed, and it made Leon smile, "Yes, so realistically speaking. It was this virophage who killed our guy."

"And that also means that maybe we can use this virophage to create a potential cure to this strain!" Rebecca said with excitement.

"So you can use this to make a vaccine?"

"More like a potential biological antiviral…" Claire said, "but we need to figure out where the strain came from and study it first. I wouldn't bet on it as a vaccine. I won't be putting an active virus into healthy people..."

"Claire is right. This virophage seems promising as a countermeasure to already infected people. However, as a preventive measure, it is too early to confirm. We'll have to study it first…" Rebecca said.

"Is there any chance you can isolate the virus from these samples? Maybe you could try to clone them?" Leon asked, and he caught Claire's amused smile.

He didn't need to ask to know what she found amusing. His weeks listening to Claire's science chatter had made him learn a couple of things or two.

"I guess we can try. However, without a pure sample, we can't be 100% sure that it will work as it should."

"If only we could know where that thing came from?" Hiwamura sighed.

The discussion was suddenly interrupted by a beeping sound. Claire turned back to her laptop and began typing.

"What the fuck…?" Claire said, making everyone look at her.

"What happened…?" Hiwamura asked with a frown.

"My sequences are out. I ran the virophage through the software to see if we could locate its part and maybe try to reverse engineer it..."

"Oh, right...so how much Frankenstein is it?" Hiwamura chuckled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I got 100% coverage…"

"Wait. What?"

Saya and Rebecca were visibly surprised, and Chris seemed confused. He couldn't blame him. A month ago, Leon would have stood in the same position. That was another of the many things he'd learned from Claire. A 100% coverage meant that its genetic code had matched completely with something from the database. Usually, the coverage would be from 70 to 20 % for the bioengineered viruses since they were a jigsaw of many other things. Getting 100 % was so rare that he couldn't blame Hiwamura and Chambers for being shocked.

"It's 100 %? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, or you can complain to Wallace. He designed the blasting software."

Hiwamura pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed the back of her head.

"Well, that's a new one. Not necessarily bad news. I mean, I guess I've gotten used to the challenge, so. This time was just a little too easy. So what is it? Sputnik? Zamilon? Mavavirus? Those are the only virophages that could be in that database…"

Claire smiled strangely. It wasn't a sincere smile, but rather it seemed to hold an air of irony.

"Look at it yourself…"

Rebecca and Hiwamura approached the computer and stared at the computer. Both women looked shocked at first, and their expression soon turned into utter disbelief.