Chapter 6: In the Works

Amelia sipped her coffee as she flipped through the paperwork detailing their mission. She pulled her hair back into a low half ponytail as she clicked the laptop on, her eyes still scanning through the mission. Years of research and input had made her a fast reader and an easy accessor of any situation. She lacked experience in field missions, but she was more than capable, having received a well rounded training. Her mind was quick and sharp, a great asset to the government.

Amelia's background had kept her in trying to break a virus strain, but in between she worked with the rest of the DOS in apprehending criminals, behind a desk of course. Leon called her work "connecting the dots," and her recent dots had led them to Russia.

Amelia was going through the grid they were assigned when the hotel door clicked open and then close. "Hunnigan just called. We got clearance."

"Mm?" She finished her coffee, "I'll get ready." Standing up she made her way to the restroom in a quick skip. She dressed as lightly as possible to retain flexibility, fixed her hair into a high ponytail, and armed herself with a handgun at her side and daggers. She was handy with daggers and knives, preferring these to weapons that needed bullets and those were finite. She pulled some gloves on and with a resolution to get this over with, the cold of Russia never quite agreeing with her, she went outside to meet Leon.

In the living room her partner was already ready and armed with all he might need. "Ready?" It was repetitive because with one look at each other the answer was clear, "Yes."

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A tall man, slim and unlike most men of common build, made his way through a deserted building. The cold crept its way between chacked walls, but this red head was content, whistling an old tune, tossing around the money he had just cashed in. Mercenary work was not easy, doing it that is, but the concept was and for that Jake Muller was very thankful for. He was not one to easily take orders, but anything that raked in a few extra coins than normal jobs would, well that was a different story. Mercenary work paid well. Who was right, whose side was better, didn't matter. Questions like those were left aside as the zeros were counted. Muller may not have been the happiest man qlive, but here and now he was content to have more than enough for a while. What'd he'd do now he hadn't thought about it. That question he always left last, after all mercenary endeavours never promised you a return home. It was this very question that he pondered as he munched on an apple. He imagined a nice warm place, plenty of food, he'd find a nice enough place to hole up for a while, till funds ran short.

Perhaps this was all custom. There was no real future in it, no real promise of a steady tomorrow, only mindless clogs turning like they had years before when it mattered to God only knew when it'd stop mattering.

Jake tried hard to envision an alternate tomorrow. He was a young man, barely in his twenties. There was no rush. Yet his heart yearned for something else. Loneliness was not suitable for any man regardless his age.

He furrowed his eyebrows, deep in thought. It was hard to see beyond the bleak horizon. It was all he saw, how could he believe in anything else? Jake turned his mind on something else and in this gap of thought felt the cold through his fingers. It was time to find a real place to turn down so with that in mind he stood up. He'd reach the nearest town the outbreak hadn't touched and where money was still well received.
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"It's isolated."

"Works best to our advantage." Leon pulled and pushed through ruins. They now trecked near old facilities rumored to have been previously occupied by bioterrorists. It was here that they hoped to find abandoned data, a lead of some sorts to undo a new strain that had just resurfaced based on older strains, but with a twist unlike any seen before. It was this new strain the DOS hoped Amelia could reconstruct and then with the help of other scientists, find a cure.

"Careful," Leon warned as he held out a hand to Amelia who jumped over a gap of floor. The strain was new, some from the BSAA were still unsure if it was even a new strain at all, but it had begun to spread in Russia in slow, widespread increments, but Leon had learned through his years in this business to never ignore a hunch. More than often they proved right. And with that mentality they trecked carefully.

Through rubble they made their way around an old headquarters where they found more than just remains of a crumbling building.

"Looks like they didn't have enough time for a thorough clean," Amelia noted as she rubbed her finger on a desk covered with soothe. Ashes lay round. Pieces of burnt paper scattered with the chill, but not enough to make out anything.

"Come on. Let's try to get underground." Leon led the way. They had to find alternatives what with no complete staircase, but eventually they jumped down on what had once clearly been a laboratory of sorts.

Amelia crossed her arms with one look at the place. Strange broken flasks, tubery, and steel utencils that once must of served mad men in creating God knows what lay round. Leon didnt hesitate in trying to gain access to their computers, but "useless, they're dead." He clicked away until he gave up and made his way to files left in half-opened cabinets.

Amelia strolled towards Leon and after a while crouched down next to him and began examining the files.

Most of the records were of experiments made. Cases, numbers, no names, the outcomes seemed unsuccessful and "far from what was mandated of us." And then in large red letters spelling TERMINATED stamped across most of the files.

A knot formed in Amelia's throat when she took into account all the people who must have endured torture from horrid experiments and then untimely deaths. She stopped reading the files and crossed her arms tightly around her. Leon who was crouched to her left felt her stillness and pulled away from the paperwork in his hands. His brows still knitted together he asked, "Are you alright?"

Amelia who held herself shook her head. "To think I could've been...in one of these..."

"Amelia.." his features smoothened as he reached a hand towards her's. She let him hold her. He stroked her hand gently, reminding her where she was and what had not been. He yearned to feel her smooth skin under his calloused hands, but both their gloves obstructed them from feeling eithers hands, just a distant warmth radiating from them two.

Leon meant to say more, but while he struggled finding the right words Amelia spoke up. "Thank you, Leon." With a pause added, "for then and now." She pressed on his hands and with a courage again regained she leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Amelia stood up quickly and without waiting for an answer began moving to the rest of the cabinets, "sooner we finish this sooner we can get back home."

"Yeah," Leon replied with a smile, glad to see her back to normal. "Let's wrap this up."

Several hours passed with the two of them absorbed with their work. They worked separately to cover more ground, faint noises of rustling papers, opening and closing drawers, the occasional struggle with a dent or tightly shut cabinet serving as the only reassurance of each other's presence.

Amelia pulled at a cabinet. She cursed quietly at how jammed it was. Stubbornly she struggled at it until it broke free. Inside photographs of animals mutated. She had gone through enough files regarding exploration of animal and human crossovers, stuff you could only imagine in your wildest nightmares and now proof that these things were not figments of a mad man but concrete objects, monsters brought to this plane and into existence. She gathered all the contents of this cabinet and closed it back shut. Upon closure a paper fell from underneath. Amelia picked it up. A list of names, color coded it seemed and most of all odd that it was handwritten. Only two names were written in red. The first was unreadable. The print was smudged, but Amelia brought the paper closer trying to decipher it. Melissa? N's? S's? An F? L? She eventually gave up. She went down the list of men and women to the other name in red. It clearly red Jake Muller. She thought for a moment but the name bore no significance to her and she put the paper down for a moment. Amelia found herself thinking once again that out of all those how many were volunteers. Knowing the answer a whirl formed at the pit of her stomach.

"Amelia?" Leon calles from two rooms back.

"Coming!" Amelia was quickly brought back to her senses. She hurried towards the voice with pictures in hand, quite forgetting about the list.

"Hunnigan sent us orders to retreat. Reports have reached regarding another outbreak, this time a giant BOS? They mean to quarantine the area. That's our cue to get the hell out of here."

"Right." Amelia gathered her belongings along with material they had found during the last few hours. "Let's hurry."

Just then gunshots were heard above them.

"This way," Leon pulled her the opposite the way they had come. The new way was winding, but at least the gunshots didn't sound so clear. When they reached a dead end a loud explosion rang right above them. The ceiling collapsed before them.

-end-

A/N: Next chapter should come along soon. It's already half finished. Hope you enjoyed this one. Feel free to review.