"Hunnigan? This is Leon. We got him, Simmons. He's dead." Helena was more occupied with keeping her and Leon in the air, so she didn't bother adding anything to Leon's initial transmission to Hunnigan.
"Understood Leon. But…there's still an issue of your innocence. Leon, the Vice-President, er… the President is willing to give you a free pass, but Helena-" Hunnigan paused, and Helena felt her heart sink. "Helena, they want you brought into custody."
The small helicopter dipped and wavered as Helena jerked, shocked but not surprised. She had figured that the government would see her as an accomplice, even if they saw the evidence against Simmons.
Leon, however, was surprised. "What? That can't be right. Helena was forced to help him!" he growled, upset and annoyed. He pulled out the compact that Ada had left behind, and inserted the memory card into his phone. "Here. Ada left this memory card for us. It should have information to prove Helena's innocence as well."
Hunnigan shook her head though. "I don't think that will really help Leon, but we can give it a try. Apparently, Simmons had left some papers around, papers with your signatures on them, Helena, and their taking that as proof." She paused again, before whispering into her headset, "There was also some sort of video, apparently, that shows you agreeing to assist him. They're using it against you, Helena."
This time, Helena was surprised, and horrified. She managed to keep control over the helicopter though, as she replied. "What….? But, I would never…There is no way that's true!" She was okay with the prospect of being taken in if they'd known that Simmons had blackmailed her, but if they honestly thought she had been willing to assist Simmons…
"Hunnigan, what can we do? I'm sorry, but I'm not going to hand her over, not for something she had no choice in. We're partners, I can't let this happen." Leon scowled out the window, before turning to Helena.
"Leon…" Helena started, "Thank you. Sorry Hunnigan."
"It's perfectly okay," Hunnigan replied, and Helena could hear frantic typing. "They're just being thick-headed. I just wish I could do more to help. I've got the most experience here, now that Simmons is gone, and they still won't tell me anything." She sounded so annoyed, and Helena could imagine her scowling at her computer, angrily typing in god knows what. Hopefully sending along the data Leon had given her.
"So, what do we do then? Because I don't want people thinking that I actually helped him." Helena asked, finally navigating out of the city and over the country side. Looking through the window, she could see infected roaming around, and decided against landing.
Hunnigan grunted. "I'm not sure, but you need to get to that oil-rig, the ones I sent the B.S.A.A. to. I just heard from Sherry and Jake. They need an evac before it sinks. Can you get there?"
Helena checked the interments in front of her. "Yeah, we can get them. So long as Leon doesn't decide to start flying. You don't want to be fishing us out of the ocean." She smiled at Leon, who tried to look affronted, but instead sighed and shook his head.
"Just give us the coordinates, Hunnigan, and I'll try not to direct Helena into a mountain or something."
Hunnigan chuckled, but it was a distracted laugh. She sent Leon the coordinates, before signing off. "I'll keep in touch okay? And I'll let you two know what they say, after looking at what you gave me, Leon."
The oil-rig wasn't too far from them, so Helena changed their course, moving away from the countryside and towards the ocean. They both stayed silent for almost twenty minutes, until Leon couldn't handle it anymore.
"What the hell are we going to do, Helena? They're going to want you in custody the minute we touch down on American soil, if they don't try to make Sherry arrest you as soon as we pick her up."
Helena didn't want to answer, but she knew if she stayed quiet the entire flight Leon would work himself up into a fervour trying to figure out answers to his questions. "Then we cut coms. We keep in contact with Hunnigan only. Besides, Simmons was Sherry's contact, remember? As far as we know, no one else has taken over."
With the oil-rig quickly coming into view, Leon shut up again, letting Helena concentrate on getting them over to it before the entire thing crumbled, sinking into the ocean. As she made her way over the helipad, occupied by what she assumed Redfield had used to get there from the sight of a VTOL, Leon leaned out the side, trying to spot their two passengers.
"There they are, down there-" he pointed to an elevator, two figures standing near it. "Helena, how close can you get us?"
"They'll have to use a ladder, but they won't have to climb far." She replied, swinging over them.
Leon tossed the ladder out, and after a few moments, a very dirty, worn out, and half-asleep Sherry Birkin climbed aboard.
"Hey…" Sherry smiled at Helena, before collapsing in the back, covering her eyes and groaning.
"I hate China…" she muttered, and Helena had to agree.
"You're not the only one, Super Girl." Jake said, climbing up and sitting next to Sherry. It seemed like once they knew that the other was on board, they both relaxed, closing their eyes and slumping against each other.
Leon pulled the ladder up, before looking to Helena.
"They're cute." She whispered with a smile. "I think we should let them sleep though. Questions can wait."
"Yeah." Helena was content to pull away, when Hunnigan called again.
"Bad news. They're still not willing to clear Helena. Leon, they want you to take her in the minute you guys land."
"Even with the info from Ada?" Leon asked, tensely.
"Even with that. It proved that you two didn't actually start the attack, but it still implicates Helena in the death of the President. And, don't worry, I didn't tell the committee where you got that information from. Chances are, if they knew you got it from 'Ada Wong, the woman who caused an outbreak in Edonia, the woman who kidnapped an operative and a person of interest and held them captive for six months, and the woman who destroyed Langshiang', it would be thrown out and we would all be dragged in front of a judge." Hunnigan frowned. "How are Jake and Sherry?"
"Fine, I think." Helena said as she rose away from the destroyed oil rig. "Tired and worn out and filthy. Just like the rest of us." She started to fly off, lower than on her approach, when she noticed something bobbing in the waves. "Leon. What's that?" she asked, cutting off communications with Hunnigan.
Leon leaned over, peering down. "It looks like an escape pod. Should we stop and take a look?"
Helena wanted to say no. Helena wanted to fly away, find a hotel, take a shower, and sleep for a million years. Helena also didn't want to be labelled the accomplice of the man who killed the president, so she flew in closer while Leon tried to see who, or what was in the pod.
"I…I think that's Chris!" Leon said, motioning Helena to move a little closer. "But it's just him…didn't he have another soldier with him before?"
Jake answered him, blurry eyed and moments from sleep. "Yeah, he did. Saw em back on the rig." He yawned, closing his eyes again. Helena just looked at Leon.
"…Maybe there's another escape pod then." She said, even though she didn't believe it. Leon clamoured for the ladder as Chris looked up at the helicopter. Once Leon had tossed down the ladder, Chris climbed up, looking wrung out.
"Tough day?" Helena asked but he just grunted.
"Piers died. Let get the fuck out of here." He climbed into the back of the helicopter, taking the ladder from Leon once it was back in the chopper. "Let's get the hell out of China."
"Fuck yeah…" Jake muttered, before finally succumbing to exhaustion alongside Sherry.
The helicopter was big enough to hold six, but for now, Chris stood, facing away from Jake and Sherry, watching the sky through the windshield.
"Did you kill him? Simmons, the one who killed the President and started all of this shit?" Chris abruptly asked, and Helena nodded.
"Yeah…the bastard wouldn't stay down, but we finally got him. To think…this all started because he was worried what would happen if the President told the world about Raccoon City." Helena shook her head, and the helicopter once again descended into silence.
As they approached the shore, Helena gently set the helicopter down while Leon turned to rouse Jake, Sherry, and Chris, who'd fallen asleep not long after his question was answered.
"Hey, we're on solid ground again, but not out of China. Out of Lanshiagn though." Leon said as the three groggily opened their eyes.
"You all look like hell." Helena commented, and Sherry managed to crack a grin.
"I think everyone does." She replied, before untangling herself from Jake and climbing out of the machine.
Once everyone was out and awake, Leon started to talk.
"Guys, we have a problem. Simmons is dead, but he's still managing to sow some discord."
"What do you mean? Is there going to be another attack?" Jake asked, furrowing his brow.
"No, it's not that…Simmons…left behind some papers…That implicate me in the attack on Tall Oaks and the death of President Benford. " Helena said, ready for any reactions. Anger, shock, an attempt to bring her in even.
"And I'm going to help Helena go on the run." Leon interrupted, shocking Helena. "I'm going to need help getting her back into the states so Hunnigan and I can get digging, so we can prove that Helena was blackmailed into helping him." Leon said, as everyone else looked at him in surprise…
A/N: Chapter 2! :D Thanks for reading~
In the next chapter, Ada will complain because Helena stopped the story, and Helena will complain because the car Ada got was half empty. And she's hungry.