November 11th
The Raccoon City cemetery, not really the place Leon expected to visit so soon, but here he was nevertheless. Standing under a dark green umbrella, Leon looked down on the tombstone in front of him. Ray & Crystal McCoy it read, date of death November 11th. «Just a cop-kill or was there something else?» Leon muttered under his breath. Asking around on the station was not a good idea, Leon tried that earlier this morning. Apparently McCoy was a guy just about everyone had to like. He had such a charm and wit about him that made it easy to connect with him, plus there was no celebrity he couldn't imitate. His Sean Connery act was a sure winner at any party. It wasn't hard to imagine what happened to the guys at the station when they heard what had happened, not just to McCoy, but to his family as well.
There was an outrage never seen before or since. It was border lining to a full scale war between the gangsters of the city and the cops taking the law in their own hands, leaving their badges at home. If taking out McCoy was meant as a message, it didn't come out quite as planned. So far that was the story, at least what could be found by talking to people, reading old newspaper clippings and browsing through the various files. Leon still wondered what was lurking off the record and he intended to find out. «Hey detective, got a sec?» A man asked behind him. Leon didn't even have to turn around to know who it was, he knew that voice.
Packing down his umbrella, Leon slowly turned around and came face to face with Dante. «You show up wherever I go, as if you and me were stuck in some sort of movie or something like that.» Leon commented dryly. «Word got around that you're sniffing around ol' McCoy's last minutes. Thought you'd come to my door knockin' sooner or later, so I figured what the hell.» Dante shrugged. «Got your iPod back?» Leon asked, just to check if Dante could keep his feet dry. «Yup, in perfect condition too.» Dante replied flashing a quick smile. You really needed to get up early in the morning to catch Dante off guard, Leon thought to himself.
Walking back to the car, Dante patiently tagged along waiting for Leon to take the first step. «What was your connection with McCoy?» Leon asked, pluming into the conversation. «McCoy was assigned to keep me on a leash, in fact he signed up for it voluntarily.» Dante replied. Leon halted in his tracks, while Dante kept on walking. «Keep you on a leash? Are you that much of a bad boy?» He demanded from Dante. «Oh you have no idea.» Dante answered, still walking. «And just how bad can you get if you go unchecked?» Leon insisted since for once he had Dante talking and was getting answers that somewhat made sense.
Dante paused in his walk and took a moment to look up at the sky. Then there was a quick sneeze and he turned to continue the conversation. «Bad enough to make devils cry.» He told Leon with such frankness that Leon found it hard to take it as a lie. «So that's it? You're as bad as they get, king of the fucking hill, even the mafia is afraid of you. Yet they feel that they can use you, control you, don't they? The truth is that things are the other way around, isn't it? You're the one using them to meet your own end, whatever that might be.» Leon summarized after a little thought. Dante on the other hand just winked at him, saying: «Seek and you shall find.»
Leon figured he might as well go the full mile, as Dr Wong had told him on their first meeting. «So how does Dr Wong fit into this image?» He asked Dante, whom for the moment was busy sending a SMS with his cellphone. «Huh? The doc? She's the forensic geek, so whenever I get a case that involves one or more dead people, I ask her for info.» Dante shrugged. «McCoy's killer, do you know him?» Leon then asked, feeling lucky. «Hell yeah.» Dante shot back immediately «What was your role in McCoy's death?» Leon finally found the courage to ask what he found to be a critical question. «I was his unofficial, off-the-record partner, you do the math.» Dante mumbled, obviously getting a little bored by the questioning.
The conversation pretty much ended at that point as an expensive looking limo came driving up to the two men. «Looks like my ride is here.» Dante sighed with a smile. «I might drop by your office one of these days Mr Dante.» Leon called after him as he took a seat inside the limo. «Sure thing.» Dante smiled before shutting the door. As the limo drove out of view, Leon thought what he should do next. He was close, so close he could almost taste it. Just that last nudge, that was all he needed at this point. A growling stomach gave him a reminder that lunch time was right around the corner, so he decided to grab a bite before doing anything else.
In the back of the limo Dante joined Joey, Tony and Luigi «So what's so fucking important that you needed to see all of us at the same time?» Luigi demanded with his usual tough face. A clam, though a little annoyed glance from Dante shut him up. «Spread the word, Leon S. Kennedy is McCoy's replacement.» Dante said folding his arms of his chest and lowering his head while closing his eyes. The three Italians glanced at each other before they reached for their cellphones and started to make calls to everyone that was anybody or just a plain nobody in the criminal underworld of Raccoon City.
Sitting in a café and enjoying some egg & bacon, Leon replayed his conversation with Dante earlier. As far as he could tell, it all made sense. It was just that something was missing, whatever it was. «Detective Kennedy?» A woman standing at his table asked him. Looking up from his plate he saw a beautiful blond woman with bright blue eyes. She was dressed in black leather from head to toe, solid boots on her feet and sunglasses resting on the top of her head. «That's me alright, what can I help you with Ms...?» Leon replied, hoping to catch a name. «Trish.» The woman supplied, offering her hand. «Pleasure to meet you, Trish.» Leon said with a polite smile as he shook her hand.
Trish took a seat opposite of Leon and rested her arms on the table, leaning forward smiling a little devilish smile. «I'm going to let you in on a little secret Leon.» Trish told him as if they'd know each other for years. «There's a blind girl in an orphanage called Laura.» She explained carefully. «Although blind, she... sees things other people can't see.» Trish carried on in a reflective tone of voice as she sunk back in her seat. «If you take her to the scene of the crime, she'll tell you what really happened.» She finished, taking a napkin and polished her sunglasses. It sounded weird, as if it was taken straight from an episode of X-files, but there was something about this woman. Leon concluded that it was her eyes combined with her almost seductive voice that made all doubt in his mind go away.
Tracking down this Laura girl wasn't hard and soon Leon found himself driving to McCoy's old house to see what the girl would tell her. It was a strange out of body experience, as if Leon was watching himself doing things he'd normally not do. Yet at the same time he wasn't raising any loud objections to these actions. In all honesty it was quite surreal. Parking in the drive leading to the house, Leon helped Laura out of the car and guided her into the empty house. The house itself had stood empty since the killing. Although it was for sale, no one seemed interested in living in a house that had a family of four killed. «What do you want me to do, detective?» Laura asked him in a timid voice.
Gently Leon's hand folded around hers as the two stood just outside the front door. «Laura, I want you to give me sight beyond sight.» He told her, though in his own head it felt like the words were being put in his mouth, they weren't his own. Despite feeling like a puppet tied to strings, Leon didn't struggle against his strings. «Of course detective.» Laura replied and gave his hand a little squeeze. Nothing in the whole world could prepare Leon for what happened next.
In what could be best described as a painful flashback, Leon saw what had happened on November 11th as if it was a movie dusty old black and white movie. The garden was covered in snow and tiny flakes of snow danced in the still air as a tall man walked up to the door and gave it a solid kick. The owner of the house, whom Leon identified as McCoy from photos he'd seen, came rushing. «What are you doing!» He demanded from the assaulter, but was gunned down with a short burst from a 9mm Uzi At the sound of gunfire, the remaining residents panicked and McCoy's wife dashed towards her husband crying openly.
Without any emotion, the gunman shot down the wife as well. The skinny looking daughter in her early teens froze solid in front of the big screen TV as the gunman entered the living room with long, clam and determined steps. «Mom...? Daddy...?» She trembled terrified as she looked down the barrel of the Uzi Another short spray of bullets splatted the daughters crimson red blood over the TV that was showing the late show with David Letterman cracking jokes as usual. The gunman stood motionless in the middle of the living room for a moment, towering over his 3 victims in a mute victorious pose.
The silence was chased away by a baby's cries from the master bedroom. Resuming his calm, steady and determined walk, the gunman followed the cries and paused over the baby that lied in his crib kicking his feet. The killer looked like hesitated for a moment, but eventually he picked up a small pillow and suffocated the infant. Letting out a heavy sigh, he walked with long strides towards the exit. McCoy, who's life was leaking out of his wounds managed to grab his killers ankle and caught his attention. Panting and bleeding badly, McCoy gathered the breath he needed to make one last cry: «DAAAAAAANTE!»
With the echo of McCoy's death cry still ringing in his ears, the vision Laura had given Leon ended as brutally as it had begun. «God-Jesus...!» Leon panted, feeling his knees trembling and his palms soaked in sweat. Dante was the one, he was the cop-killer. Why? The two had been partners, Dante told Leon that himself, in his own cryptic way. Why the cruelty, why not take out McCoy in the field, away from wife and children? A Yakuza thug was put in jail for the murders, but why? Wherever Leon looked at this final piece to the puzzle there was a whole army of whys demanding answers like an angry mob. «Laura... did you see it too?» He finally asked, lowering his head to keep him from throwing up. «Yes, but don't worry about me. I've seen worse.» Laura comforted him by stroking some gentle fingers over Leon's back.
Driving Laura back to the orphanage was done in silence. Leon couldn't bring himself to talk about anything, even something as neutral as the weather report. He was shocked to the very core of his being. Demons like Dante belonged behind bars or better yet; 6 feet under ground level. Leon promised himself and the deceased McCoy family that he'd bring Dante in and no sweet talking lawyer or intimidating gangsters would be able to save his ass. He'd take the law in his own hands if all else failed, right now, right here it didn't sound wrong at all.
The night was calm and perfectly still as Dante climbed up on the roof of his office. Carrying his iconic sword, Dante looked out over the roof. He'd rigged it with a steel frame that he hung bags of sand from for target practice. The wide open space of the roof allowed him to move around with great freedom. There wasn't much tactic involved in his training sessions, it was more just doing what felt right then and there. He was after all a natural in his trade. «Alright.» He said to himself before taking off his coat, leaving his torso bare and walked out on the center of the roof.
While Dante was preparing for a late sword play on his roof, Leon parked his car in front of the Devil May Cry office. In his outrage, Leon had forgotten common sense and haven't told anyone of what that girl had shown him at McCoy's place. Alone and only armed with his trusty sidearm, Leon was at least rational enough not to kick in the doors and go in with guns blazing. Securing the first floor, Leon slowly climbed the stairs to the second floor and again found nobody. The bike he'd seen in the garage suggested that Dante was in or would at the very least be close even if he'd gone out for an errand.
Several bags of sand was swaying back and forth as Dante had unleashed a series of quick slashes. The calm hissing sound of sand pouring down on the floor was interrupted by a metallic groan from the door leading downstairs. Curious of who his late visitor might be, Dante turned around and came face to face with Leon's gun. «Are you really that happy to see me?» Dante chuckled, taking a seat at the concrete edge of the roof, resting his sword on his right shoulder. «Drop the sword.» Leon grunted. «Ha?» Dante replied sounding quite surprised «DROP THE FUCKIN' SWORD!» Leon actually roared.
Dante made a baffled face, but after a short moment of thought, let go of his sword, making it fall down over his back and to the ground below. «Hope I didn't hit your car.» Dante smiled. A pause followed, as Leon seemed to be struggling to maintain his composure. «If you're trying to scare or threaten me by holding me at gun point, I can tell you right now that you're gonna need a bigger gun.» Dante finally broke the silence. «Why did you kill McCoy?» Leon demanded harshly. «What makes you think I did it?» Dante asked calmly. «Laura, the blind girl that gives people sight beyond sight or whatever the hell that thing was. Frankly, I don't give a flyin' fuck because at the end of the day I saw what you did on November 11th and I know that it was real.» Leon explained, locking his grip on his gun even tighter.
At those words Dante's calm expression hardened and became dead serious. «Who told you about that girl?» He asked in a ice cold voice that chilled Leon to the bone. «Some woman I met.» Leon replied, trying to shake off his fear. «Details please...» Dante hissed like a snake ready to sink its fangs into its prey. With a genuine fear for his own life, Leon gave in and told Dante what he knew. «Blondie, dressed in black, pretty blue eyes... called herself Trish.» Dante closed his eyes in thought, nodding a little to himself. «That one...» He said to no one in particular. «I'll need to have a chat with Trish. You and me can finish this later.» Dante finally spoke, rising from his seat.
Police training kicked in, loudly snapping inside Leon's mind and before he knew it Dante was lying on the ground, Leon's gun was smoking and the angry roar of his gun was still ringing in his ears. Stunned, Leon didn't move at all. Replaying the fraction of a second where it all happened in his mind, Leon realized that he'd shot Dante straight in the chest. This was bad, very bad. «Awh goddamn it all to hell.» Dante groaned as he rose to a sitting position. A wave of fear washed over Leon and in a mixture of panic, fear and fading sanity, Leon emptied his gun into Dante's naked torso.
Even after his gun was depleted for bullets, Leon kept on pulling the trigger. Dante lied motionless on the rooftop, his body covered in blood. «Oy... your shooting sucks.» Dante coughed as he rose yet again to a sitting position. «Just what the hell are you!» Leon demanded as he backed off in fear until his back was against the wall behind him. «Fuck if I know.» Was all a groaning Dante told him as his skin began to darken and huge bat like wings sprung out from his shoulder blades With demonic speed Dante's new and cruel face was just inches away from Leon's. «Let's do this quick.» Dante panted, his warm breath smelled blood.
Despite several bullet wounds in his torso, Dante grabbed Leon and tossed him around like a man sized rag doll before pinning him down on the ground and gave him a solid beating. Grunting in pain and with sadistic pleasure, Dante would kept on going until dawn, but he was brought to his senses when someone grabbed his right wrist. «That's enough. Your point is made. He's no good to you dead anyway.» A woman said with a soothing voice. «What do you know?» Dante turned over his shoulder still in an outrage, but his angry face opened up to wide amazement when his dead milky eyes meet the fair and clear blue eyes of Trish.
Letting go of Leon's beaten up body as if it was a ruined toy, Dante rose up, his demonic frame towering over Trish, whom didn't budge one inch. In fact she was glaring at him with angry eyes as if she was scolding a child. «Who died and let you in on my private affairs?» Dante asked after he managed to calm down, though his demonic features remained. «You can say what you want, but we're pressed for time. Since you won't get your ass in gear, I allowed things to speed up.» Trish shot back. «Pressed for time my ass.» Dante snorted. «Mundus is getting stronger by the minute Dante and since you haven't reached your full potential yet, you can't waste time like this. Get on with the program.» Trish pointed out. «Fuck that! I do things my way and that's final!» Dante barked back.
Trish sighed in disappointment, as if she was trying to make through to a spoiled child. «On your way to stop Mundus chances are good that you'll find the killers of your family, but you won't last long at this rate. I can help you confront Mundus and live to tell the tale, but only f you let me.» She made one last effort to make Dante understand. «Fine, I'll hear you out and take the things you have to say into account, but I won't make any promises.» Dante finally gave in.