CHAPTER 3:

Leon Scott Kennedy

"Hey hero." Jake said as much as he could in that cocky tone he's rather fond of, waving his unrestrained hand in greeting.

The last time Leon had seen Jake was a few weeks ago when he arrived in China, and they hadn't gotten of on an easy foot. It was only when Sherry stepped in that they were stopped short of whatever fight that might have taken place, and after realising they both had somewhat of the same goals, which involved protecting Sherry and bringing a stop the the man responsible for the chaos, they started working together.

"What the hell?" Was all Leon managed to get out, the room was still dark, but he could see the hand that was free from his grasp waving at him.

"What the hell?" Jake asked incredulously at Leon's words, before pointing at the knife still at his throat in annoyance. "What the hell!"

Realising that he still held Jake in his death grip, Leon released him, then walked over to his left to turn on the kitchen lights, flooding the area in its brightness and now revealing both men who were in the room to one another.

Jake had changed since last he saw him, he had a different aura about him, one that still spoke danger of course, but one that also spoke a goodness, a will to do good in the world, a will to fight and bring hope to the helpless, to those who cant fight for themselves, to those who don't know how. He wore a thick grey coat that went to just below the hips, the collar turned up around his neck and black fingerless gloves. A tight fitting black T-shirt underneath, dark blue and somewhat faded jeans with a brown belt and black leather combat boots laced up.

He looked at the agent across the room in what was probably annoyance, straightening his coat and flexing his obviously sore arm, he expected a few things from the hero he'd heard so much about from Sherry, but being held at knife point as a greeting wasn't part of his list. Then again, he did 'break' into his home unannounced... Maybe he deserved it.

Leon looked at him in confusion, this is not what he was expecting in the middle of the night. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, nice to see you too, hero." Was all Jake said to him before turning around and grabbing something off the kitchen counter.

Leon watched his back, wondering what the ex-mercenary was doing. "How do you know where I live? And the window-"

"I did some digging, but that's my secret." Jake said, interrupting the agents question. "Oh yeah, and the window- wasn't easy, if that will make you feel any better." Turning around, with one of Leon's beers in hand, he looked at the older man, and arched a brow, smirking. "Expecting someone else?"

Leon glared at him, before looking down and realised he wasn't wearing a shirt, only dark grey pants. His hand still held the knife, though a little more at ease.

"You still didn't answer my question." Leon said as he turned around and headed over to his bedroom, picking up and sheathing his knife then proceeding to where his draws were, pulling out a black T-shirt and slipping it on over his shoulders.

"I was in the neighbourhood " Jake replied dismissing any other possible reason for his appearance His eyes watched Leon from where he stood, catching sight of a scar on the agents back, left shoulder. The scaring tissue of what his mind identified as a bullet would, one that was left untreated for a while. Including the gash on his right upper-arm. 'So the hero has battle scars.' He thought, drinking some of the beer in his hand.

Leon turned to look at Jake, seeing the man in his apartment and drinking his beer. So that's why he was in the kitchen... "I wasn't expecting you, for starters." He said, walking over to the kitchen and opening the fridge, grabbing a beer himself. Looks like he wont be getting much sleep now after all. "Lets just say some weird shit has happened lately " Leaning against the counter in front of Jake, he signed. He was so tired.

Jake looked at him, standing awkwardly in Leon's apartment 'The agent looks like shit', he thought. It was obvious to the ex-mercenary that the hero hadn't slept in a few days. Although life for Jake has changed since China, since meeting Sherry, he still held onto his previous life's lessons and skills. As a mercenary he was trained not to care for other's well being, a solo man, always worked alone. Trained to kill without mercy, to take what doesn't belong, to rebel against the law. The only thing he was taught to take in account about was the money.

But someone changed all that.

He was now standing in an Agents home, beer in hand, looking at the other man who was clearly edgy and tense, and a strange uncalled for feeling of wondering, no, wanting to know; why?

He was concerned. Now isn't that a strange word these days? He wasn't too sure if he wanted to feel that way for someone he hardly knew. He wasn't sure why he is even here in the first place. 'Why did she put me up to this?' He thought bitterly Then thinking, 'Why did I even agree to it?'. Of course. He'd accepted because of that same feeling he'd felt for her. Concern. Damn it.

"So..." Jake started, looking at the agent across from him, then shrugging his shoulders in a bored fashion. "I hear you've got yourself a little problem."

Leon looked at him, though darkly, curious. "Apart form the one currently standing in my home, drinking my beer."

"You really didn't know I was coming?" Jake asked, taking a drink.

"No. Should I have?"

There was silence for a moment, awkward, painful, annoying silence. Jake hated it.

"She didn't tell you?" Ok, this was getting really annoying, really, Jake made a mental note to always read the fine print before signing up for anything in the future.

Leon looked just as annoyed as he did. "Who didn't tell me what?"

Jake signed, bringing up a hand to rub at his head. "Damn it, super girl." He muttered. About three days ago he got a call from her, something he wasn't expecting so soon after the whole saving the world thing. To say he was pleasantly surprised was one thing, but when the reason to her calling came through, he was a little shocked. After all, why would he do something like that?

"Super girl?" Leon asked as he watched the younger man, and for some reason, he had a feeling he knew as to who Jake was referring too.

"Sherry was suppose to call you, well, that's what she told me anyway." Jake shrugged starting to think that maybe his presence wasn't needed. "Dude, you need to call her." He didn't want to stay any longer than necessary. No, wait, he was going to finish this beer and then go.

"I don't have her details." Leon looked at the man, seeing the confusion at his statement.

"What?" Jake paused mid drink, looking over at the agent in question. "But you and Sherry go way back, surly you must have-"

"Its not that simple." Leon cut him of, walking around him to go sit at the table in the middle of the room.

"Not that simple?" Jake was getting pissed.

With his back to the man, standing next to the table, just short of sitting down, Leon replied, "I haven't had contact with Sherry since Raccoon."

For some reason, that made Jake angry. "So you haven't spoken to her in over ten years?" When his angry tone didn't get a response from the agent, Jake walked over and grabbed his shoulder before the man could sit down, and turned him around to glare at him, but the face that stared back at him was blank. "Look," Jake spat, "The time I spent with Sherry trying to save the world, things between us weren't just black and white, but she told me things, things that wouldn't have been easy. She told me about Raccoon, that her parents created the virus she was infected with, and that you saved her, you made it your duty to get her the vaccine and to get her out of there. Even though you didn't have to. She has since then looked up to you, she made it her duty to join the government, her duty to protect and find justice. She made it her duty to make you proud." Jake's voice was rising as he stared into the blue eyes of the other man. "And the moment she was out of your grasp you walked away, leaving her to be a human guini pig for years! What kind of hero does that?!"

At Jake's words, Leon pushed him away, angry at the ex-mercenary, but more angry at himself. The meaning behind Jake's words struck hard, and it made feel like guilt was swallowing him whole, he understood every bit of Jake's anger. He turned away from the younger man, feeling the burning in his back as the eyes followed him, he pulled out a chair and sat down in the now tense quiet room, bringing the cold beer to his head as years worth of memory's and thoughts ran through his mind in jumbled heaps.

Jake looked at him, waiting, for what he didn't know. He just mentally counted down the seconds of his patience which he was never really good at. The room was silent for a while, so silent that so much as a single drop of water on the floor could have sounded and echoed, but doing nothing the break the tension that had gathered. After a long and yet short moment, Jake was about to down his beer and leave, when a voice stopped him.

"We had finally gotten out, the nightmare that was Raccoon, it was over. Well, that's what we thought. Sherry was scared, she didn't know what was going to happen after. Neither did I, but I told her that I would be there for her, that I will help her in anyway I could." Leon's voice was soft, yet steady and strong. Taking his time with the memory, a memory he hasn't told anyone, that no one other than himself and the government know. "We radioed in for a rescue, and a short time later we were picked up by a helicopter by the government. When we landed, we were escorted into a building, then were separated, Sherry was taken away from me, I tried to get to her but they wouldn't let me."

Jake stood there for a moment, before walking over and taking a seat across of Leon. He didn't speak, just sat there waiting. He could tell this was going to be a long conversation.

Leon continued, staring into space. "Next thing I know, I'm in an empty interrogation room, a two way mirror was in front of me, and a voice was talking through the speakers, wanting to know everything about what happened in Raccoon. From the time I entered the town to the time I left, every person I met, everything that was discovered about the underground Labs, the Virus, Doctor Birkin, every small detail. At first I didn't answer any, I wanted to know where Sherry was, I wanted to see her, to know that she was safe. I was tired, injured, and the last thing I wanted to do after that ordeal, was talk about it." He pause, taking another short moment to think, the beer in his hand now sat forgotten on the table. "After a while, I told them everything, everything I knew about what happened, about Umbrella, about the virus and experiments that were in the facility, the people I'd talked to and met, and in return I wanted to know what they were going to do with Sherry."

"I'm missing the part that explains why you left Sherry alone afterwards." While Jakes anger had calmed a little, he was getting agitated. The man in front of him looked up, anger briefly flashed in the blue depths before he signed, looking down again.

"They told me she was being looked after, taken to a medical wing to go through examinations of the virus that she had been infected with. I knew what they were getting at, and despite my efforts I couldn't stop them. I'd never felt so angry, I couldn't help but think it was my fault, I thought we were being rescued, but instead it was out of one hell hole and into another. The government wanted to cover up the incident, any survivor was considered an asset with valuable information, the moment we stepped out of Raccoon City's borders, was the same moment we became targeted, and not just by the government. I was given two options. I work for them, they wanted someone with my skill set. The other option was that if I didn't work for them, that things could get very bad for me very quickly." Leon paused, looking at the man straight in the eyes who was sitting in front of him.

"I accepted their job offer on one condition. That Sherry was to be given a home, a family, and education, anything but the life of a human test subject. It was the least I could do, the best I could to to make her life more comfortable than what they had intended. So I handed my life over to the government, in exchange for Sherry's." Leon finished, looking at Jake.

Jake looked back at him, his anger was replaced by understanding. Although he still didn't understand some aspects, like what happened after, but he now knows there was far more to the Raccoon City incident than just the outbreak, but to the people who were involved. Its an un-ending trail, a trail that branches out, making its way into every corner, a virus. "Does Sherry know...?" He asked, feeling the previous tension in the air ease.

Leon shook his head, "No. She had enough worries, I didn't want to burden her with the weight of my choice."

"What about after? Did you try to contact her?" Jake asked, still wanting to know why he hadn't spoken her in all the time that had passed by.

"I never stopped trying. I tried for 3 years, but the government kept it wrapped up. I wasn't allowed any contact with her, I couldn't know where she was, how she was doing, or who her foster family were. I was being watched by the government, they were keeping tabs on me at that time. It wasn't until in the past year that I caught wind of a young agent joining the Secret Service under the name of Birkin."

That was different. Jake hadn't heard anything like that before. "Then why would the government hire you if they didnt trust you?"

Leon looked at him, then shrugged his shoulders. "To make sure I didn't step out of line. Its easier for them to keep me under their watchful eyes if I worked for them."

"And easier to ghost you should you step over, no questions asked. Huh." Jake sat back, a frown creasing his features. "Who would'a thought, I always knew the government were dirty." He said, finishing off his beer.

The silence stretched in the room, Jake was now beginning to see where Leon was coming from. If he was in the man's shoes, he probably would have done the same thing. When he first met him in China, and Sherry called his name, Jake's interest perked when he caught sight of the man he'd heard a little about, the man who survived the horror that was the worlds worst, and who was the reason why Sherry was amongst the living. At first glance, he was dissapointed, the man wasn't who he was expecting, he wasn't as tall as he would think, not as strong by appearance but after Sherry confirmed that this was the man she told Jake about, he looked back and could see the fierce will power and fight that the man held in his eyes. A survivor, one who fights for a reason not of his own.

Then came the fight against the B.O.W, and the government man surprised Jake again with how well he held things together, how he handled his very small armed supply, nothing but 2 Wing Shooters, 9mm rounds and a knife. There were marksmen who would use shotguns and grenades, good marksmen who would use machine guns or forms of assault rifles, and then there were great marksmen, these few individuals would go for the handguns and sniper rifles, even knives. Leon was one of those few men, every shot was calculated in a split second, hitting its intended mark centre. A class that Jake too was part of, but he didn't expect it coming from this government man.

It was when they were being gunned down by Simmons' men that he'd had a little more time to study the man. He thought that it was something that the agent signed up for, made it his life job to work for the government, a childhood dream. But after everything he'd just been told, he know's now that the man was a prisoner to his own reasons, like what Jake was when we worked as a mercenary. They didn't have a choice, they did it to help someone else, and now when that reason is taken from them, they are left to the job they took, with nothing to go by other than the simple face that they cant simply leave it. They are already in the deep end, with no way to break out of it.

"So you going to tell me why your here?" Leon's question brought Jake back to the now, as he looked at the agent. Fair enough question.

"Like I said before," Jake started, picking up from where they left of before the previous discussion. "I hear you've got yourself a problem. Involving lost data and the victims I'v seen on the news in the past few days."

Leon looked at him, frowning slightly. Yeah, there was the information on the news, but what's that got to do with Jake breaking into his apartment?

Jake continued, "Yeah, your a popular man, Kennedy. The report the CIA found is causing a bloody frenzy. What's in the report that's got everyone diggin'?" He asked, curious, before adding with a sly grin. "Nothing on me, is it?"

Leon laughed dryly, taking a swing of his beer. "Huh, I wish." His response caused Jake to lift a brow.

"Really?" Jake's tone drawled out.

"Really." Leon confirmed, before his tone turned serious. "Because what's really on that report, is far less pleasant than you. Its information on a mission I did personally for President Benford, a cover story was created to cloak what really happened, and if that cover is blown and the information becomes transparent, lets say it will be the start of global chaos." He signed, adding, "And that's only one report they have hold of. If they release any other information, information like Raccoon, like China, -just, pray that doesn't happen."

"Wait, hold on a second." Jake lent forward, "How many files are we talking about here?"

Leon looked at him, deep in thought, before making a decision. Strangely enough, he trusted Jake. "The DSO arn't the only ones to loose information, but the BSAA as well. Information on Umbrella, on Tricel, of mission reports and updates, including information on our own agents and upcoming operations I'm talking about everything, Jake, everything we know about Umbrella and their leftovers. Virus', locations, names, right down to the people who were involved, and their details."

Jake couldn't believe it. "How is that even possible?"

Leon shook his head, "I don't know, but I'm starting to get this feeling, that who ever we are dealing with here, have eyes and ears within the government. I'm not talking about a rookie, I'm talking about someone who would need experience, someone who's been on the job for a while, working there way up the food chain. We're dealing with one of our own."

"But the information was stolen from E'World, so what makes you believe its from inside the government?" After what Leon told Jake about what the government did to him and Sherry after Raccoon, the thought of a inside man working on causing global chaos seemed like a decent possibility. That, and well, Simmons was the National Security Advisor, and he killed over 70,000 people, including the former President.

"Because their tracking my movements. An employer at E'World doesn't have the Intel on how to do that."

This shitty situation just got shittier.

"How do you know their tracking you?" Jake asked, there has got to be something.

Leon glanced at him for a second, the days recent events playing over in his head like a movie. "We have a suspect that has not been introduced to the public, a man who we believed who I now know, killed those four people. He was waiting for me outside the grocery store this morning. He knew exactly where I was and when. That's why when you broke into my apartment I was edgy, If that man could track me in a public area, then why not here?"

Thinking about the rather tense greeting they had, Jake understood. Leon has every right to fight before thinking when he finds an intruder after what had happened that day. So Jake forgave him, yeah, he really did deserve it. 'Maybe I should stay after all.' He thought, before something else hit him. "You were shopping?" He asked, looking at the agent in mild surprise, before a smirk lit up his face.

Leon glared, "Shut up." Before standing up, taking both the empty bottles and putting them in the bin.

Jake laughed, shaking his head. "Sorry Hero, I just can't picture it."

"Then don't." Leon didn't miss the nickname Jake was so fond of using, and guessed they were now on even terms, if not good, but even.

Jake stood up as well, rubbing at the side of his head, looking around the apartment. "Nice place you got here. So what happens now?"

Leon glanced at him, walking over to the window and locking it, drawing the curtains to close. "Well, I don't know what your gonna do, But I'm going to try and get more sleep. You really need to pick better times for a visit, and knock next time."

"Maybe," Jake shrugged his shoulders, "But that's not really my style, you see, knocking is boring This way was so much more interesting." Crossing his arms in front of him, feet firmly on the ground, Jake made a point that he wasn't moving.

"Right. Interesting." Leon took one look at the ex-mercenary, signing, before walking over to a small wardrobe next to the bathroom, he grabbed out a extra blanket, before walking to his room and taking a spare pillow off his bead. Turning around and throwing them at the younger man who caught them with ease. "You got the couch." Was all he said, before turning off the lights and proceeding to his bed, laying down, with a shirt on this time.

Jake blinked at the darkness, before his eyes adjusted, and after removing his shoes and coat, belt, cloves, and the gun he concealed under his coat, he sat down, nodding as the couch was more comfortable than he though.

It took him a moment before he grew tired, the days events and travelling catching up to him, thoughts ran through his mind as he lay there. The things that Leon told him, about his life of how he became a government agent, and the recent events of missing data and information, seemed to slowly piece itself together. Unfortunately the picture of the puzzle was still unidentified, and the thought of the suspect tracking the agent lead Jake to grab his gun and place it within easy reach on the coffee table next to him, should something else go south tonight, he wanted to be ready for it.

'The man truly is a hero.' He thought, Leon sacrificed his life for Sherry, and in ways Jake realised with startling truth that they both were not as different as he thought. He too had given away his life to become a mercenary, to try and get some money for his mother who was ill. He'd started at the age of 19, accepting any job thrown at his way, and when he lost his mother to the illness, years later, he is still caught in the life of a mercenary, and probably would be for life if Sherry hadn't come along. Sherry, the girl who wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for Leon...

'All right super girl.' He thought, determined now. 'Lets get to the bottom of this.' He was here now on request of Sherry, and he wasn't leaving until the threat had been dealt with.