When the sound of a coward fall silent
Another day at the office. Ada stood bent over yet another pale and cold corpse, her fingers pushing torn flesh aside as she looked deeper into the wound with a flashlight mounted on her head. No difference from the others, is what she'd like to tell herself. Truth was, this was everything but the same as the others.
Main difference laid in the fact that this was someone Ada knew, from back in her college days. The two had spent the evening on the town, catching up with times long since gone. After a pleasant time, they've headed back home. Along the ride, Ada's friend died. Nothing really special peer see mind you, it's what people eventually do – die that is.
Even so, it felt odd, looking into the guts of a friend. Was she sad? Ada couldn't tell, she'd grown emotionally numb a long time ago. Come to think of it, it was how she was wired up right from birth. Never really truly merry or having any cheerfulness to spare. By all means there was hardly any reason to complain. After all, it was this lack of emotion that made Ada able to do her job as well as she did.
There were times though, when Ada did envy those who could cry and laugh until their faces turned bright red from ear to ear. Sighing to herself, Ada shook her random thoughts away and started over with the job, giving it new focus. Once she was done with this one, there were 8 others waiting in line. Wondering why she'd picked her friend first, she eventually agreed with herself that it was small service on her part. For old time's sake.
At another part of town, Leon was examining what was left of the el-train. Initially wondering why he was sent over to this site, as it was reported as an assault, upon arrival he understood why. This reeked of Dante from miles away. He had no idea what to do with this, where to start for example? With the blood on the floor, walls and occasionally on the ceiling? Or perhaps with the numerous bullet holes? How about the slash and cuts all over the walls? There was even a hole in the ceiling in one of the wagons.
Taking into consideration what he had learned about crime scenes at the academy, this one didn't make any sense. Well, Leon could dismiss a lot this to Dante's credit, but there were elements that hinted about Dante's guarding devil being around. Ada was the only survivor of this incident, though Leon was uncertain if she'd even talk about anything at all.
After telling the C.S.I team to just carry on as usual and leave all their files and findings on his desk, Leon headed over to Dante's Devil May Cry shop in a faint hope for some details. «Hey, anyone home?» Leon asked into the store. Not a soul replied. That could be good and normally it should, but then again if Dante wasn't in, odds were high that he was out wrecking havoc somewhere, which of course was bad. Well whatever, back to the station Leon figured and left the shop.
The moment he sat down in the drivers seat he got a call on the police radio. They wanted him to come back A.S.A.P. Details where a bit sketchy, but that wasn't really a newsflash. He wanted to go back either way, so Leon didn't press the issue. The receptionist would have the details apparently.
Once back at the station, Leon walked up to the receptionist and asked what his call was about. «Oh yeah, about that.» The receptionist said. «Dr Wong complained about some bugs in the basement so she called in an exterminator.» Leon frowned. So? You've got bugs, you call the bug killer. Nothing shocking about that.
Leon wasn't sure why he was needed in all this. When asking about it, he was just asked to go down to Dr Wong and she'd fill him in. Heading down to the forensic lab in the basement, Leon could hear someone argue from the hallway. Stopping in the lower half of the stairway, he decided to listen in.
The voices were a bit muffled as they were behind closed doors, but form what Leon could tell it was Ada and someone else. «...death and carnage is in your shadow, wherever you go! You're no different than the things you kill!» The calm and indifferent Ada sounded quite different when she was raising her voice in anger. «There are limits! And if I were like them, you and I wouldn't have this argument 'cause you'd be DEAD!»
Back and forth it went, not really breaking new grounds or making any progress one way or another. In the end, whomever Ada was arguing with left with a loud banging of the doors and stomping in the hallway. The person didn't come up the stairway where Leon was standing, but whomever it was clearly left. There was a back door leading to the ground level at the other end of the hallway. From what Leon could tell, the person used that as his or her exit.
Judging it safe to come out, Leon headed down the last few steps and saw the room to the forensic lab wide open. Hesitating a little bit, wondering if it was such a good idea to walk in on Ada now, Leon figured he'd take his chances. Just start off slow he reminded himself. Inside the forensic room Ada stood in the back, on the far side of a bed with a dead person on it. A small tabled with medical tools at her left hand side.
It was clear to Leon that she hasn't noticed his arrival yet and that she was clearly still shaken by the argument she had a few moments ago. Resting her right hand on her face, her shoulders trembled at an uneven rhythm in sync with her sob filled breathing. Her lips were crudely bent downwards, distorted with uncomforted feelings.
Unsure of how to break the ice, Leon just went for the classic approach. «Uhm.. knock, knock.» He said a little loud. With a sharp sniff Ada raised her head and looked straight at Leon with tear wet eyes. It was only for a moment, but Leon was convinced that he'd seen beyond Ada's mask for the first time. She did however do a remarkable job at regaining her composure. If Leon had blinked, he'd missed it for sure.
Almost as if Ada wanted to say something, but held her tongue and said something else instead. «So you're here. I take it you've heard?» She said, returning to the dead body in front of her. Leon had so many things he wanted to say, but the right words didn't come his way. In the end he just tagged along even if he knew it was wrong. «Yeah, the receptionist asked me to come down here.»
Closing the door behind him, Leon carried on. «What's with the bugs and exterminator?» Ada's breathing was still a little shaken, but her voice was steady and indifferent in tone as always. «Big bugs Leon, big as dogs. I'm pretty sure you can guess what kind of exterminator I've called for, right?» The pieces fell together at that point. Not all the finer details, but at least it gave Leon a vague idea and a rough overview.
Ada had called for Dante regarding these dog sized bugs. When he arrived, the two got into the argument Leon had overheard. Chances are good that they talked about whatever went down on the el-train. «Is he here yet?» Leon asked, hoping his playing dumb would smooth things over. «Yeah, he just went outside to catch some fresh air.» Ada said, though it was painfully clear that she'd seen through Leon's little trick.
The atmosphere kept getting unpleasant and the overhanging silence didn't lighten the mood the slightest. Suddenly there was this distant sound that began to grow and fill the room. It was almost like a wet, sticky sound. Close to it was periods of short buzzing sounds, like a big fly was fooling around. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.
It gave Leon a bad feeling and Ada didn't look too good either. Quietly she reached for a scalpel on the desk. «They're back...» She whispered. What was back? The dog sized bugs? Where would they come from? Not the door. Even a dog sized bug can't move it unless it happens to know how to open one.
Carefully drawing out his gun, Leon used his left hand to motion Ada over to his place. Slowly she took one step at the time closer to Leon. Both of them looked up at the ceiling and along the walls, trying to follow the sound with their eyes. The buzzing sound had ground louder and it did actually sound bad enough like a dog had grown fly wings. As sick as it might sound, Leon was unfortunately not all too surprised if that happened to be the fact.
One of the doors to the corpse shelves slided slowly open. Ada didn't notice as her back was facing it, but Leon peeked over her shoulder and into the dark shelf. A pair of big red orbs looked back at him. «Ada, run for the door. Get Dante.» Leon whispered quietly while slowly bringing in gun about for an aim.
Hearing what Leon said and seeing where he was pointing the gun, Ada swallowed hard. With a quick glance into Ada's eyes and a sharp nod of his head, Leon signalized to Ada to go for it. A split second later Ada shot towards the door like a speeding bullet, slamming it hard behind her. Leon couldn't blame her, it was for the best to contain this thing, whatever it was. Besides, Dante was right around the corner... hopefully.
The creature in all its hideousness jumped out form its hiding place and hovered in the air. With a low and loud buzz, its fly wings swung about rapidly. The six legs were dangling lazily under the body and it tilted its head back and forth while eying Leon up and down. Not really interesting in starting conversations, Leon steadied his aim and pulled the trigger.
A splash of mustard colored goo shot out form the back of the abomination and clung to the wall behind like wet glue. Shaken around by the recoil and impact, the bug regained its balance and proceeded towards Leon. «Just drop dead already.» Leon said with clenched teeth and pulled the trigger again 3 times. After the third shot landed the bug dropped to the ground and twitched around on its death bed. A small minute later and it went still.
The door behind opened Leon and Dante stood smiling in the hallway. «Shooting live shots in a police station. You're either dumb or you're well connected.» He smiled at Leon. «Given the circumstances I dare say they'll let this one slide. Just what the heck is this thing?» Leon shot back. Dante walked in and looked down at the dead bug.
He tapped it lightly with the tip of his boot to make sure it was dead. «Beelzebub.» He said, as if that said it all. «Please, don't hug all the cozy details for yourself.» Leon said with sarcasm. Dante just ignored the comment and picked up the dead creature by one of its legs, turning it around.
«This evil spirit inhabits the body of a fly. Its hideousness is not too different from its appearance and movements.» Dante said as he dropped it in the trashcan with a wet thud. That was pretty much obvious Leon grumbled to himself in his head. «We've got a leak ladies. Spirits are coming about and take flies as their physical manifestation. These bodies gets twisted and distorted out of proportions due to the nature of said spirits.» Dante carried on.
Cut out trying to sound like Discovery channel, Leon frowned. «There's a sewage disposal plant just behind the station, that is the source of the bugs.» Ada shot in. Dante nodded slightly, then headed back out to the hallway with Leon close behind.
As they started to climb the stairway, Leon noticed that Ada followed them. «Doc...» Dante said over his shoulder. The trio stopped in their tracks. «You're coming with us?» Dante asked Ada. Leon glanced from Dante's back down to Ada at the bottom on the stairway. She just nodded.
Leon stomped down the stairway and locked himself into the underground weapon storage next to the forensic lab. Once inside, he walked up to a shelf and grabbed a Browning HP pistol along with a few spare clips. After locking up, Leon headed over to Ada and planted the gun in her hand. «This weapon doesn't have too much power, but can fire fairly quickly.» He told her. She wrapped her fingers slowly around the handle and rested her finger at the side of the trigger. She'll manage, Leon thought to himself. «There's a path leading from the precinct underground to the sewage disposal plant. We should be able to access the Beelzebub through there.» Dante grumbled and carried on climbing the stairway.
As the trio walked through the halls and corridors of the precinct, they caused quite a stir. Dante walked up front in his usual manner, paving way through whomever came up ahead with his confident stride and serious glare in his eyes. Either he was keeping up character or he was pissed because Ada was tagging along, invading his turf.
Leon and Ada followed close behind, flanking Dante on both sides. Not that many noticed, but Ada made no effort in hiding the gun Leon had given her. Had Dante not been here, Leon was confident that someone at some point would stopped Ada to ask questions about the gun. Speaking about questions, Leon wondered how chief Irons would handle this one. He suspected that chief Irons would give him a solid scolding when this was over. Assuming the precinct was still standing when that time came that is.
Just like Dante had pointed out, there was a passage underground. Standing ankle deep in dark and chilling cold water, the trio took a moment to let their eyes adjust to the darkness. «Ada, just stay close to me okay?» Leon whispered. He had no idea what kind of experience Ada had with firearms let alone a live firefight with dog sized insects and he knew that Dante could potentially loose it when the going got tough. He had done it to Leon, when they fought those Bloody Mari at Salvatore's mansion. Back then Leon had been lucky, but Ada might not. She was after all the source of Dante's annoyance, so there was no telling what might happen.
Dante drew out his dual hand guns and cracked his knees a little before quietly walking down the narrow hall. It was barely a door wide, with rough and uneven rocks for walls. A thick carpet of mud rested under the ankle deep water. At least Leon hoped it was mud and not something else. A belching sound came up front and the three stopped moving.
Only a few dull drops of water falling from the ceiling kept the silence away. One moment dragged its feet slowly into the next. Suddenly one of Dante's guns slashed through the silence with a shockingly loud bang. The walls kept the sound close, making it sting deep in their ears. Dante didn't seem to bother, but both Leon and Ada reached for their ears and closed their eyes with pain.
A soup like goo came pouring down from above and ran pulpy over Ada's hand. She looked up and saw a blue Beelzebub standing upside down on the ceiling. Glaring at it with rage, she raised her gun and pulled the trigger. Not a sound. Looking at her hand, Leon could see that there was something that was wiggling all over it. Like dozens of maggots.
Ada wiggled her hand around, trying to shake of the filthy maggots. «The blue Beelzebub's vomit appears to be maggots, but they are really a form of evil power that prevents you from firing when in contact with it.» Dante called out before he let loose another round, splatting the one that hung over Ada. «Try wash them off in the water.» Leon suggested while keeping a lookout for more bugs. «Or go home...» Dante snorted.
Somehow the trio managed to cut through the narrow hallway and carried on to the sewage disposal plant. Here they stumbled over some employees that were dead and partially eaten. It was not a pretty sight, considering that these things adapted the flies way of eating. A lot of flies can take in only liquid foods. They spit out saliva on solid foods to predigest it, and then suck it back inside. They also regurgitate partly digested matter and pass it again to the abdomen.
As a result, the bodies had entire limps seemingly melted away from the saliva, along with deep cuts into other parts of their bodies. While trying bravely to keep his lunch down in place, another Beelzebub came around the corner and zoomed past Dante heading straight for Leon.
Reacting on instinct, Leon raised his gun for an aim and pulled the trigger, sending two rapid shots at the abomination. While stunned, the Beelzebub didn't take any damage. Up ahead, Dante stood with one foot on top of a greenish Beelzebub to keep it pinned down and lazily fired multiple shots at point blank range. With a slippery wet splashing sound the green bug died.
Leon tried again to shoot down the flying Beelzebub and this time it went down without a hitch. «The large green Beelzebubs serve as an evil power supply for the blue airborne Beelzebubs. They seem to be stronger, since they have larger physical mass.» Dante explained, drawing out his sword. Grotesque feeding sounds could be heard just a few feet away. The trio got ready for another round.
They looked on and saw a green Beelzebub feasting on another poor soul that had fallen victim to their onslaught. «The green Beelzebubs feed on the dead and absorb their evil powers, and become even stronger. After feeding they become agile and more dangerous.» Dante warned Leon and Ada. With that said, Dante launched his sword into the bugs back, ending the short trip with a stony clang as the sword went straight through and hit the concrete floor under the bug.
Dante walked up to get his sword back with Leon and Ada close behind watching his back. From under one of the instrument tables yet another green Beelzebub came crawling. Taken by surprise, Ada turned away by reflex. Not wasting a second, the hideous creature jumped up and landed firmly on her shoulders. Folding its jointed legs around Ada's shoulders and ribs, she cried in pain and agony. Leon wasn't late to react, whipping up his gun and shot the bug in its side multiple times.
Stunned but not dead, the bug dropped to the floor, landing on its back. Dante wasted not time. He walked over and shot it once for each step he took and kept firing even after he ran out of bullets. An empty clip slided out of Ebony and clinkered with a cold metallic ring as it bounced off the floor. He turned around and looked at Ada, furious. «Never turn your back to the Beelzebub! It will grab you with its frontal limbs and try to break your back!» He snapped at her.
Motioning Leon to follow suit, Dante walked ahead, slapping a fresh clip into his gun with swift and angry movements. Leon glanced over at Ada, who was trembling. Again, Leon wanted to say something, anything, but the right words didn't come is way. In the end he gave her a faint smile and a nod.
Leon caught up with Dante and wanted to give him a little piece of his mind even if Dante wasn't in the mood for it. Before he got that far, Dante started talking. «It is most vulnerable after being hit, when it is on its back. Blast it with an attack from above, but watch out for the poison it spits out.» He told Leon while still pressing on. «Dante, hold on a sec.» Leon urged him.
Stopping, Dante merely waited for Leon to speak up again. «What about Ada? Can't you cut her some slack?» Leon spoke up. «Told her to go home, didn't I?» He grunted back, clearly displeased. Yeah, you did but even so, Leon thought and was about to say too. Looking back, Leon noticed that Ada had regained her calm again and was apparently ready to press on. She had spirit, though that might be all there is as well, Leon thought as his face grew worried.
Dante took a deep breath, then spoke up. «Doc... go home.» Ada responded by cocking her gun. «I hate taking sides, but I think Dante's got a valid point. This isn't your league Ada. I mean, I can follow...» Leon started, but Ada cut him short by firing her gun into the floor. She was trembling with all her might. Her shoulders so tense, they looked like they were inches away from cracking apart. Her hands ice white as they were locked around the gun as if her very life hung by its thread.
A trembling sigh came out from Ada's mouth. «I... I am... so...» she began, struggling with making rooms for her words between terrified breaths. «...sick and... tired of being a coward, a helpless fool. This is my first time... but everyone has to start somewhere, right?» A nervous smile and a weak laugh. More Beelzebubs came up ahead. Seemed like their little secret was out and the whole place had come to silence the intruders.
Dante holstered his gun and rested his sword on his shoulder. «Doc, just go home already.» He said, walking towards the Beelzebubs. Seeing there was no point in arguing, Ada turned around and took a light jog backtracking to the precinct.
Leon and Dante on the other hand stuck around and swiped the whole place clean. They even managed to find a few survivors that had locked themselves inside all sorts of places; restroom, closets, smaller offices and workbench rooms. At the end of the day, the duo sat down for a breather. Leon let his mind drift to what Ada had told them before she left. «Do you think Ada made it back?» He asked Dante. «Sure hope so.» Dante replied.
Maybe it would be a good idea to give Ada some gun training, Leon wondered. Should be alright, there's the shooting range they can use and getting a gun is no problem in this city, legal or otherwise. If Dante can get away with walking around with two hand cannons, Ada should be able to get a normal gun without a hitch.
Dante rose to his feet and started to head for the exit. Leon mentioned his idea for Dante as they came outside. «As long as it is for defensive purposes, I don't mind. Knock yourself loose.» He said to Leon, patting him on the shoulder. It made Leon feel better about the idea, having Dante's blessing and all. «You better not plan on adding her on our future field trips though.» Dante warned with a clear and sharp edge to his words.
A chill crawled up and down Leon's spine, the wet sweat marks on his shirt crew suddenly ice cold. «I can't loose her Leon, that's why we've gotta keep her safe, got it?» Dante said, turning over his shoulder, glaring deep into Leon's eyes and beyond. The next second Dante flashed a smart grin and said: «Buy me pizza?» The two spent the rest of the way home arguing why Leon should buy Dante a pizza.