A/N: I am extremely grateful to Shirahane Aikawa and Mercenary Nemesis, for reviewing the last chapter and last but not the least all the readers out there reading this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or any of its characters; they all belong to Capcom.

Chapter 17

(Leon's POV)

"Leon", I opened my eyes to see Claire shaking me, possibly thinking I was sleeping but how could I sleep at a time like this. I just closed my eyes trying to suppress this searing pain in my heart, which kept on increasing and increasing as time passed, "You Okay?"
"I am fine", I lied, "Do you want something?"
"No, we are here to call you, they have already started the interrogation", Claire said looking a little distressed. I looked at John by her side and he didn't seem happy about it either.
I looked at my watch, "It's 6:00am, weren't they going to start it at 10:00?", I asked them.
"Yes, but Feisher thought you'd would interfere, so when he saw you were sleeping, they decided to do it. You know, she could break any moment and admit that she killed those men", Claire replied, those words make me jolt right up from my chair and hurry towards the interrogation room.

"Leon, what about them", I looked back and saw Claire pointing at my pets. When I went home to get clothes for Kate, they got in my car and weren't getting out no matter how hard I tried, so I had no option to bring them here. I also tried to lock them in the car but they jumped out of the open car window, as if they sensed Kate was in trouble. Shadow almost ran a million times to the room where Kate was held and her cat which slept day and night, night and day hadn't slept since she got here and kept searching for Kate and would sometime run after Shadow to Kate's cell, until we decided to lock them up with me in my cabin and now before I could answer Claire they ran to me, "Maybe we should take them with us", she suggested and I just nodded.

We all hurried towards the interrogation room and spent, more than six tormenting hours, seeing Kate being mentally tortured by each and every Agent that were present in the office building. Standing there and watching Kate being tormented by different tactics like threatening to cut her fingers or putting a bullet through her head, wasn't easy, since all we could do was protest before she got. It wasn't an interrogation, it was more like making her down mentally so she confesses that she murdered the men, even if she hadn't.

I could feel everyone's anger. Claire was the only one who was openly expressing what she felt. Chris was cracking his knuckles, as restraining himself from punching someone. John's one foot was tapping non-stop on floor. Jill kept giving death glares to Feisher and Ada who were standing with us enjoying Kate's miserable condition, laughing sickly. But no matter what the agents did or say, Kate had only one thing to say, that she didn't kill anybody, crying all the time. And now she had reached a stage, where she was keeping her hands over her ears and was repeating that she didn't kill anybody like a hysteric between her interrogators' loud shouts.

"They are stressing her too much", Rebecca said and I looked at her as she looked at me at the same time, expecting something.
"Well that is what we do to get the truth out don't we", Feisher said; he was standing by my side his arms crossed smirking like a devil. I looked back at Kate just to see one of the Agent's crossing his limits, as he slapped her so hard that she screamed in pain and almost fell off her chair. And Shadow immediately started barking angrily, he looked back at me, whine and then looked in Kate's direction and bark.

"I am going in", I said, not able to stand this anymore.
"You're not Kennedy", Feisher said stopping me.
"Give me one good reason", I tried hard not to punch him.
"I gave you this case only on one condition, you're not to interfere in standard procedures", he reminded me, "Plus it's not like we haven't dealt like this to anyone before, you've yourself done that many times."
"They all were dangerous men", I said shaking with anger, "She's a woman", there wasn't a single female Agent in there with her.
"Man or woman law is same for everybody", he said smirking.
"I am going", I told him being firm about my decision.
"Don't forget the condition, Leon", Feisher repeated still not budging from the spot.
"To hell with your condition, I am not bending it; you're the one extending it", I almost shouted at his face; he seemed terrified and froze to the spot as I passed by him out of the door.

I heard a whine and spotted Shadow, he was holding Kate's cat in his mouth, which he set down when I looked at him, "Help me with this boy", I said and he barked, "You too Cookie", and she mewed. And I felt really stupid in front of these animals since they knew better what was wrong and what was right.

I pushed open the door and the Agents inside looked at me, "Get out, I'll take it from here", I said walking towards Kate, who had her head down on the table as she wept, "It's an order!", I said and they all hurried out. I walked to Kate's side and sat by her, "Hey", I said and she looked at me through the corners of her eyes and resumed her position, "Look who's here to meet you", I said keeping her cat on the table and Shadow barked happily, "They were missing you, so I have come to take you back this time."

"Even though you think that I killed those men", she asked sobbing and looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. There was a hand mark on her left cheek and I felt angry at myself for not coming earlier. I didn't think much about anything and pulled her in a hug.
"Let's go back home", I said to her and grabbed her hand as we pulled away from each other.

We walked out just to be stopped by a bunch of Agents and Feisher, "You are not taking her anywhere, Kennedy", he said angrily.
"She didn't do anything, to stay here", I told them pulling Kate behind me, protectively.
"She killed those men", Ada said supporting Feisher.
"She didn't kill anyone", I repeated the words Kate was repeating this whole time.
"Do you have proof?", Feisher asked me.
"Do you have proof?", I asked him back.
"We picked up her fingerprints from the murder weapon", Ada said reminded me.
"It was the kitchen knife which she uses no doubt it had her fingerprints. It wouldn't be a surprise if it had my prints too", I told her in a matter-of-fact tone.

"In fact it does have his prints", Rebecca said supporting me.
"But your clothes weren't soaked in victim's blood", Ada said again, "And she was near the scene of crime too."
"Is that so, well Greg should be arrested because the body was in his car", John said taking his position in front of me.
"Also I remember the guys examining the whole place had blood on their clothes, why aren't they arrested?", Claire stepped in front of me.
"We got it when we were examining the scene of crime", Feisher gave the explanation.
"Do you have proof?", David asked stepping in front of us, he was missing all this time.
"Mr. Trapp you too", he said shocked to hell and I couldn't help but notice a sly smile on his face.
"Well somebody framed her and I believe she has to go back, BOW or not, she's a woman and she can be bailed out any time until she's declared guilty", David said holding out the papers, "Straight from the magistrate. So can we leave now?"

Feisher snatched the papers from him and read it in total shock and then David asked again, "Everything in order Mr. Feisher?", he asked smiling as it was our turn to smile slyly, "So may we take your leave then", he said looking at other Agents who were blocking our way and they all sided to make way for us. I looked at Kate just to catch her before she fell, as she fainted.

"Hospital quick!", Rebecca said checking her and we hurried her to a hospital.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story. I apologize for any typos or mistakes in the context that might have caused an inconvenience. Feel free to share your views about the story.