Author's Note: I don't own any of the rights to these characters in this story. It's just SAD, right? Oh, and so's the other non RE characters in here, you would start to notice if you do read books of multiple genres (though it won't be that obvious). FYI, this fanfic was written between caffeine induced hyperness and wild imagination driven in two am in the morning just because I had my bout of severe insomnia. I decided what the heck, I'll just have to do something other than to stare at my TV this early in the morning (well, it was this or back to Ultimate Vault Hunter continuation in Borderlands 2). The last bit of this story was continued a day later…Hey, I don't know why I'm telling you all this, since it's POINTLESS.
But I really do hope you all enjoy this. Sorry for the wait, I had to spend time perfecting this story's storyline in my head before actually writing it down.
XOXO
Degrading Conscience
2. The Higher We Are, The Harder We Fall
FIVE WEEKS AGO
Sherry Birkin had joined the DSO for two reasons. The first official one was that she was just following in the footsteps of one of the people she'd known. Leon Kennedy was one of the two people who had saved her back in Raccoon City, it was clearly fair that she would want to show what she was capable of by following in his footsteps.
The other reason was more personal.
She had wanted to prove to herself that she was completely different than her parents. Her parents who hadn't really cared about her back when she was ignorant to the world. William Birkin had literally turned himself into a monster in an attempt to fend his G virus from being taken by the Umbrella Corporation. Annette Birkin had died explaining nothing to her daughter. Sherry wasn't keeping herself blind, she'd read the files, known what her parents had done. It did a lot of good, explaining the moments when they had actually weren't there for her, the nights she'd been alone to tuck herself in bed, the times she had spent by herself. She'd seen herself as an independent child, not knowing what her parents had been doing all along.
Unbeknownst to her, they had also used her in a way. Thanks to them, she now had abilities no normal human should have. Which got her to a large amount of intrusive tests she'd gotten from all sorts of people she couldn't remember.
So, she had to prove to herself that she wasn't going to be the monsters her parents had become, to avoid that special place in hell that were reserved for people like her parents.
She was starting to regret at the moment. She could have lived a normal life, stayed far away from the bioterror wrecked world she lived in now. But it was too late. Neo-Umbrella, the new company that rose with Carla Radames's effort had been responsible for their actions in multiple places throughout the world and Derek Simmons, her supervisor once upon a time, had taken the fall. Carla (under the disguise of Ada Wong) in truth hadn't worked alone, there were traces of funds coming in from an unknown benefactor. Until recently, Sherry was just aware of the fact that Simmons was just a pawn for what's to come.
She was accustomed to be working alone. In fact, she wasn't sure that if the other agents were keen to be working with her. They didn't know how much of a freak she was and she didn't know if she could bring herself to tell anyone else besides Jake about her healing abilities.
Which probably led to this place.
What surprised her the most was the fact that this wasn't particularly hidden well at all. The complex that was built in the reserve seemed almost serene, though nobody would feel comfortable after seeing the holding pens. She was sure that the BOWs that were held for some sick experiment here were too weak to fight or had all the fight they had, beaten out of them. Clutching her Sig tighter, she made a swift turn at the cornering. There was no one. The building seemed vacated.
It didn't make sense.
She reached for the locked door, about to yank it open when someone else opened it. She aimed the gun at him until recognition sets in. She had seen him before, maybe they'd even had a small conversation in an elevator (when? she couldn't tell). He was of average height, slightly muscled, dark auburn haired and had one of those faces that could never reveal his age. Muddy green eyes that stared back humorously at her.
"What are you doing here?" she scowled.
Just then, the ground under her feet began to rumble. Faint booming noises could be heard. She looked behind her, eyes widening as she noticed roaring flames approaching them.
"What's is happening?" she exclaimed, running past him. That gave them time to bar the fire deterrent doors from the oncoming flames. Heat radiated around her, warm enough for it to be a worry.
"I'll explain later. We need to get you out", he said, grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her.
"No, let go", she pulled back. "Why isn't there anyone around?"
More explosive noises boomed around them.
"It's hard to explain", he winced.
"Are you working for or with them?" she had barely noticed how harsh she had sounded as she had demanded the answer from him.
"That I can assure you, Birkin. I'm never on their side".
PRESENT DAY
"They're being careful around you", her voice carried spite that his Sherry wasn't capable of, part of an accumulating evidence that she wasn't who she claimed to be. He ignored her. The DSO agent and the spy didn't seem to notice his on-going conversation with unreal Sherry. He was grateful of that.
"They think you're a loose cannon", Sherry told him, her voice still wasn't the Sherry he'd gotten to know.
You're not her. You're not her. You're not her. You're not her.
He chanted those words in his head like a mantra. It was the only way he could prevent himself from looking at her, from noticing how close she looked like his Sherry even if she didn't speak like the real deal.
This was proof that he was losing his head.
"Hey, hear that?" Leon called from the front, stopping the other two from taking another step. Jake strained to hear for any anomalies in the Neo-Umbrella facility. There was it, someone's hoarse cry for attention. It sounded like a yell that had a string of unidentifiable words and syllables jumbled up from the distance they were in.
Without a word, the trio raced towards the sound.
The tunnels of the facility that they'd taken were straightforward which probably would be a problem if there were a viral outbreak. There were no blind spots, every single passage was visible, every single room exposed. This was their advantage. They managed to get themselves towards some sort of observatory. Leon would have imagined something horrible but they just came upon a man yelling profanities in an one way glass enclosed room.
"Looks like the only living being we've encountered so far", Ada remarked, peering at the man who didn't seem to notice them.
"Get him out", Leon motioned for Jake to cover his back as he worked on picking the locked door on their right. "He'll sure have something to tell us about this place".
The shouting stopped.
"Ada, what's he doing?" Leon asked, still meddling with the lock.
"You'd better hurry on. He's trying to look through the glass", she purred.
"No harm done", he chuckled. It took him five lock picks to get the door to open. Before anyone could react, the man inside grabbed Leon by the front of his Kevlar vest and kneed him on the gut. Leon jerked aside, giving space for Jake to intervene. In a blink of an eye, it was over, with the Neo-Umbrella's former captive being shoved face first against the wall.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jake snarled in the other man's ear.
"You cowards, kill me already! All you people ever did was to lock me up and watch me like an animal", the other man spluttered.
In a manner of a reply, Jake rammed him against the wall . He caught sight of Leon shaking his head subtly at him, as if to say that violence wasn't needed at the moment.
"We're not Neo-Umbrella, you dope", Jake said, releasing the other man.
"What were you doing in there?" Ada asked out of pure curiosity since none of the other two were going to do the important questions.
The captive hesitated.
"It's a long story", he finally finished off lamely.
"We've got time", Leon shrugged.
"No, we don't. Sherry's still out there", Jake argued. Pulling out his handgun from his shoulder holster, he stuck it under the man's nose and demanded. "Who are you, tell us".
"Hunter Savoy, I work for the DSO…it's my first year".
"Then, you're in good hands", Leon said with a grin, shoving away the younger man's weapon. "You know a way out of this shithole?"
"I'm not sure", Savoy said shakily.
"Wait, DSO, right? Do you know Sherry?" Jake showed Sherry's photo to the man.
"I've seen her before. But no, we didn't actually talked much", Savoy said, looking apologetically at the mercenary turned BSAA agent.
"Boys, now that's all very sweet but have you any clue what this facility holds? If I'm correct, there's always a kill code that'll destroy any Umbrella owned facility. We could do some permanent damage here", Ada pointed out. "I mean, if you're up for it".
"No point in doing so", Leon snorted. "We could scavenge as much evidence as we can get. There should be leads pointing out where the other facilities are".
"Less explosive, but better", Ada sighed, getting up from one of the observatory seats that she was resting in when the boys were getting Savoy out. She stretched her lithe form languidly before carrying on the way they were going.
"Man, she's hot", Savoy muttered. That earned him a glare from Leon and a silent death threat form Jake (on Leon's behalf). Just as they were leaving, Leon noticed that there was a camera pointing towards the observatory room. He flipped it open to expose an old reel of film inside it.
Should come in handy if I got the time, he said to himself as he shoved it into the duffel bag.
It took them more or less half an hour to scout the abandoned facility. Savoy managed to fill them in on his mission, which was generally to report on any Neo-Umbrella activity to the management. It may seem like the new company had emerged on a global scale from the havoc it had wrecked earlier on. Even if the storm's calmed, there seem to be large possibilities that Neo-Umbrella was still going about, just maybe it was laying low for a while. Rather than to face another bioterror attack, it would be better to prevent it from happening. That was when Savoy came in, with a close unsanctioned mission with one of the BSAA's top agents, he had managed to get intel on a few possible places of the new company's whereabouts.
Savoy talked and they listened to his accounts.
Ada seemed amused by the fact that Carla, although dead, had still managed to leave a legacy behind. She still couldn't believe that the woman had managed to keep business ties going, even after her death.
"- and then this! Of all places, I wake up in here", Savoy said, excitement infused in his voice. They may have been the only people he had seen for weeks. He accounted how he had been fed, but for a day before they came.
"So, you guys know where you are?" Savoy questioned, motioning for them to follow him.
"Huh?" Leon grunted, holding a cardboard box filled with some interesting files he'd picked from some file room they'd passed moments ago.
"This elevator goes up to the main entrance", Savoy said proudly. "Looks like studying the facility's layouts before bedtime always pays off".
"Wait, how do we know that there's nobody up there who would be shooting at us when we stroll past the front doors?" Ada noticed how paranoia comes along with age as the three of them stared at Leon for his ridiculous question.
"They won't", Savoy shrugged. He was the first to get into the elevator, giving the others an odd look when they hung back. Ada sighed and joined him, deciding that if they had to take the damn elevator to get out of here, she would do just that. Leon followed suit. Then, Jake. It was as if the other two were getting reliant on her instincts.
They ended up in what seemed to be an old pawn store which had been closed. The three combat clad people shrugged off their gear. Once done, Ada managed the shuttered front door, letting the others out. The streets were crowded. Bustling people who either didn't notice that they were coming out of an abandoned store or that just nobody cared about them.
"Huh, whadaya know? Welcome to Rio de Janeiro, people", Savoy crowed, picking up a leaflet with the invitation to the Carnival on it.
LATER
They had their own room to themselves since Jake had agreed to watch over Savoy. Rio bustled busily around them, the thrill of the upcoming Carnival had brought in the stream of eager tourists. It was easy enough to blend in although they had to rely on Hunnigan to get them a place for the night.
She felt him caress her back, his hands were moist and warm, the rest of him smelling of soap-evidence that he'd just taken a shower.
"What is that?" he asked, murmuring the question into her ear. She knew he was looking at the two computers running the scans. One was from the DSO database, the other was from the list of government agents from various agencies.
"Running some scans to see if our man is who he is", Ada whispered back. She knew that it was probably paranoia that was rubbing on her but every single instinct screamed for her to thread carefully. She wasn't taking any chances no matter how good the story she was told.
She felt his hot breath against her neck. "Don't need to. Hunnigan's already doing that".
"Hmph, it's a lesser chance for us getting a false positive", Ada murmured. "And if you keep working that poor woman hard enough, you'll have to start paying her".
"Ada Wong with a good conscience, I starting to fall for her", he chuckled, turning her around on the stool so that they were facing each other.
She made a disapproving noise and slapped him on his arm. "But you already did. Don't get used to it".
He smirked, hugging her close. She knew he'd always reserved enough of his affection for her throughout the day, only expressing most of it when they were left alone together.
"We should really thank Hunter for leading us out. He sure proved himself today", Leon whispered into her ear.
"I don't think so", she murmured. He pulled away with a questioning look at her.
"You should see this", Ada said, hoping that it would be enough to explain. He stared at the two screens, processing this little bit of information.
"Shit", he mumbled.
Just then, his phone started buzzing.
"Hunnigan", Leon said, still distracted by what Ada had shown him.
"I ran the name you've given me through our database and came up with absolutely nothing. But the ID you've sent resulted with a name Dave Wright, who had joined around six months ago, former DEA agent. I'd expect for it to be a whole lot of paperwork trail but there's none on the man you requested", Hunnigan told them. "It's like he doesn't seem to have anything else besides his up front identity".
"We know", Ada said impatiently.
"What do you mean? Where are you two anyway?" the woman behind the desk asked.
"He's not who he says he is", Ada hissed, mostly to herself.
Leon and Ada promptly left the second question unanswered.
"Check on Agent Wright for his ID, it's probably stolen. Our man's not DSO at all", Leon pointed out, making sure that the picture on the computer screens was the man staying two doors away.
"Not DSO? Then who is he?" Ingrid could barely hide the surprise in her tone.
"CIA".
Author's Note: Well, this would mean the third chapter would be out soon, since I'm the kind of person who would come up with the plot's improvement at one go. If you do notice, most of my RE fanfics are interconnected and I'll leave the timelines to your good reader's imagination. You'll notice some reoccurring characters (villains and non-RE characters, which I'm inspired from elsewhere and aren't usually mine). So, keep reading and I'll appreciate some input on how this story may go-the ending in my head is kind of a bummer at the moment-so give me any requests sans character deaths. REMEMBER…Valuable inputs appreciated, reviews please and thank you. : D