Chapter 15

The Martyr's One Weakness

Andrea Weissman's Apartment, 2003

Sherry opened the cream colored door and stepped into the apartment. She sighed at the mess of her role model's apartment. It was a well kept apartment. Medium brown wood floors covered the area of her apartment. Her walls were newly painted a bright blue. Several small painting covered her walls. All of landscapes. Some deserts, some valley filled with pink, blue and yellow flowers bundling in groups and beautiful forests staged in the fall. Autumn leaves spread across the forest floor, the morning dew slipping off the red and orange leaves dripping down to the small piles of snow and the frost coating the grass. 'Those were Andrea's favorite' Sherry thought as she examined the beautiful paintings.

The apartment was large. Sherry stood in the porch that lead to the kitchen/living by 2 steps that went down diagonally. Inside her living room, 3 bookcase lined the walls, all of which were either medical journals, studies on new scientific theories or action-adventure novels. A small drawer was placed along the wall as well and a large radio was situated on top of it. The drawers were filled with alternative music like the Barenaked Ladies, Coldplay, Foo Fighters and Flyleaf. A desktop computer sat on a desk on the far side of the room with 2 stacks of movies. All action or independent movies.

Something, Sherry discovered in the years she new Andrea was that she was terribly predictable. She loved medical science. Fall was her favorite season. She doesn't like thanksgiving dinner because, when she was little her grandmother served her family rotten vegetable puree. She loves The Strokes. Her favorite movie is Lethal Weapon. She has a huge crush on Brad Pitt and hates having nothing to do. So, she obsessively cleans. That was Andrea.

Sherry looked behind her to see. Andrea sleepily sitting in a wheelchair. They had just returned from the hospital after her failed attempt to kill herself. Andrea noticed Sherry gaze and looked up at her and smiled sadly. Sherry moved behind Andrea and pushed her into the apartment. And lifted the wheelchair down the steps and rolled her into the living room. She put one of her arm between Andrea and the wheelchair and slipped her other arm underneath her knees. Sherry then picked up the tall woman and placed her on the beige chesterfield. Sherry moved to the polished white kitchen and pulled out her cell phone and called one of her most trusted friends Leon S. Kennedy.

"Leon, I need your help."

"Sherry? I'm sorry I can't right now, I'm-"

"Please, I really need your help."

"What is this about?" Leon asked her.

"Can you come to the apartment complex on 21st street. Apartment 8.

"Okay." Leon responded and hung up.

Leon arrived at the apartment and knocked on the door. To see the clearly upset face of Sherry Birkin. And before he spoke she pulled him into the apartment and into the kitchen. "I need a favor." She told him. " This is my friend Andrea's apartment. I've told you about her, right." He nodded. "I need you to get her a job at the F.B.C as a field agent."

"I can't just give people jobs."

"I know but, she needs it."

"Why?" Leon asked. Sherry knew he wouldn't understand unless she gave him the most thoughtful and amazing speech about it. As much as he liked to deny it. He was a sucker for a emotion filled speech. Well, at least the ones Sherry gave.

"Leon, Andrea saved me just like you did. I owe my life to her and she needs something to care about again."

"And, why does she need to be a field agent."

"She's a medical scientist. She's a expert marksman and I know your department needs another medical officer that can combine herbs if necessary. And you need the support before you can go on that mission in Spain. And it means a lot to me. He looked to Sherry's face. She was looking up at him with big puppy eyes. 'Goddammit' He thought as he spoke against.

"Fine, I'll bring it up with my supervisors." Sherry smiled brightly then turned to the kitchen door.

"Now, to convince her."

Underground Facility Lower Levels

The blonde coughed as she pulled herself up off the ground. Her skin feeling sore from the heat that was radiating off the burning corpses of her fallen companions. They didn't matter, all that mattered was that Ada was escaping. She had get Ada or she wouldn't get her funding. Or Ada would find the trepas before Sheva had her chance. Carla couldn't accept either of those.

She stood up looking around to see 15 guards lying down on the floor around her. Their bodies burnt more severely as they increased in proximity to the elevator. Only one man sat alive in this hall besides Carla. He was pressed against the wall with his legs severely scarred from the intense burns trailing up and down his lower half to his lower torso. Carla turned to see the badly injured man calling out to her. She dazedly walked over to him and squatted down to eye level. The man spoke in a raspy voice to her.

"Help me..." She smirked down at the man and said.

"Sorry but, your not of any use to me." She moved her hand to the singed holster around his hip and pulled out the 9mm handgun and pressed it against the middle of the forehead.

"Please." He pleaded softly as she slowly pulled the trigger and bang. The blood quickly poured out of his head and down his face. Carla stood and examined the scene before her. The melted corpses around surrounded her as she thought 'If they were competent, they'd be alive.' She though about her options. She'd have to be smarter about this. Ada was indeed capable, she wouldn't underestimate her again. And she doubt that she was nearly as useful in a fight as Ms. Wong.

But, Carla had something Ada doesn't have. A stomach, she could watch a man get torn in half and feel nothing. Ada had a weakness, even for Ada's enemies she had remorse. An ounce of pity. This will be her fall, Carla needs to find someone the distant Ada has an attachment and kill them. Carla had her plan.

Carla moved quickly though the halls to reach the office suits. Carla soon approached her office. She slowly opened the door to see it undisturbed. She entered and pulled her chair back and looked at her computer screen. She turned it on a looked at her screen saver. It was a picture of a rocky canyon but, all the plant life was color corrected to be purple. She clicked on the database icon and it appeared. It looked like a generic search browser. She quickly typed in the name 'Ada Wong'.

200 results were shown and Carla begun to scour through the results. Only finding 3 articles that sparked her interest. The first was a detail retelling that one of Simmons moles picked up of an counter from the Raccoon City Incident between him and a one Leon S. Kennedy. 'How convenient.' She thought as she read into the romantic and possibly sexual relationship between them.

The second was another report on the outbreak in Spain and how she was involved. Again, another encounter between her and the blonde. She pulled up a picture and thought 'hmm, pretty boy.' And the last was a document about her psychological state. She was described as emotional distant, afraid to confront her previous actions and relationships and deeply manipulative. And that she uses this as a tool to complete her goals. Her skills are useful in her field but, it emotional stunts her from being able to develop thriving relationships. 'Good to know' Carla thought.

So, Leon... the leader of the group Sheva is traveling with. 'This will be a piece of cake. I'll threaten his life to stop Ada from interfering. And he can be used against Sheva' She smirked as the idea popped into her head. Leon S. Kennedy will be the first to die. Or, Chris. No, Chris is something she'd like to torture Sheva with. Maybe she'll only kill one of them and leave the other to live in a cell constantly reminded of their failure to save the other. Yes, Carla liked that idea but, she was getting ahead of herself. She needed to find Leon. He had to be up there in the museum with the rest of the team.

"Carla!" A voice sounded from her intercom. She moved towards her intercom and pressed the button to speak with the voice.

"Yes, what is it." She hissed.

"Miss Wong is advancing to the top level. And there is 3 people investigating near the complex entrance." It told her. The people were probably the rest of the team she hadn't got incarcerated already. Including the blonde leader. But, she had to get there before Ada reached the entrance. So, Carla rushed out and headed towards the staircase to attempt to get to the group before Ada escaped.

Bougouni Museum Basement

Leon stepped down the spiral staircase down to the basement. This is were they kept all of the retired exhibits. The whole room resembled the rest of the museum. Marble floors, dark wooden storage boxes and perfectly painted white walls. But, everything was covered in a fine layer of dust. The basement was humid and caused him great discomfort.

The older man and the tall woman followed behind him. Once they reached the bottom they glanced around the room. They're faces grew confused.

"They're not here." Andrea said slightly discouraged. They were looking for their companions Chris and Sheva. And this was the place they're last transmission was sent from. It was just a woman's voice saying 'You're friends are in trouble.' But, there was nothing in this room besides some old ruined paintings.

"We should look around, I guess." Drake spoke disheartened as they began to walk around the room. Leon paced through the room, occasionally looking behind the paintings. There was one painting there that he found particularly strange. It was a picture of a forest with snow on the ground. In Mali, snow doesn't fall. He gently pushed the painting to the side and examined the area behind it. And there clear as day was a transceiver. Most specifically, Chris and Sheva's transceiver. He picked it up and examined it.

"Leon. What did you find?" Drake asked as he and Andrea gathered around the blonde.

"It looks like their transceiver." Leon told them as he looked around the room. "So, they were here. Let's look around." They turned around and searched the surrounding area. They had searched for a long time to find nothing. In the dusty basement. Leon let out a deep sigh after they scoured the room for any clues to where they're comrades could have been taken.

"There's nothing here." He told the group as they gathered around him once again.

"Then, what do we do?" Drake asked.

"We are going to search the surrounding-" He interrupted himself when a door seemed to open out of the wall. As the white light flooded the darker room. As a tall Asian woman stepped out of the door way and smirked at Leon as she placed one hand on her hip.

"Well, long time no see." She spoke in her usual sultry voice as she quietly walked towards him.

"Ada." Leon said dumbfounded by her unexpected return. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I came to see what all the fuss is about. And trust me, Leon you don't want to know what goes on down there." She warned recalling her late partner.

"Were looking for the rest of my team."

"The slim dark-haired man and the young woman with the purple hair." She said slightly disinterested while looking at her nails. "If they're down there... I don't think they have long."

"We can't just leave them down there." Drake told Leon.

"Thank you for the warning but, we have to go and find our team." Andrea spoke politely to Ada.

"Fine." She said lazily waving her hand. "Your funeral." She twisted her head around to look at the open door and to see the blonde woman running up the staircase next to the elevator. She turned around and quickly slammed the wall-door shut as the blonde rushed gun in hand towards her.

"Leon move that dresser over here." She said pointing to the dresser on the far side of the the basement. And almost as if she mind controlled him, he quickly pushed the dresser in front of the wall-door. "If you really need an entrance there is one for waste disposal. If you go through the sewers. I'll take you there as a way to say thank you."

Ada started walking away to the staircase but, was stopped by Leon holding her wrist making her look down at him. "Ada, what are you doing here?" He asked. She looked down at him sorrowfully. He can't know the reason why. It was about her past, a thing she'd never tell anyone about. So, she responded how she always responds. Coldly.

"Meet me out by the street." She said as she shook his hand off and quickly went up the stairs.

"Ada! Wait!" Leon called out following her up the stairs. But, she was gone.

* Here is the chapter! I like Andrea. I think that if you've ever been depressed and felt like you had no way out I think you'd be able to understand how she feels. And Carla's planning on taking Leon down so, she can get Ada. Leon is her one weakness. And next chapter Leon, Ada, Andrea and Drake will be going through the sewers and we'll catch up with Sheva and Chris. I'd once again like to thank you for viewing, reviewing, following and favoriting my story. It helps alot. Hope you have a wonderful day!

-mrssherrymuller*