Sorry for the wait everyone. I didn't have internet for the whole summer and then I got caught up with school. :/ Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy. ^w^
Snow began to fall lightly as Ada and Carla ran through the forest. They were almost to the facility where the outbreak had occurred. There was a small town about three miles away from the facility, but Ada avoided it in case the infection had spread to the town. No need to get unnecessarily delayed by dealing with the infected. Her and Carla were only here to retrieve information.
Once again, Carla was dressed in attire that was completely inappropriate for the current weather. She was wearing a light cardigan with a skirt and heels, a crimson ascot tied around her neck. Her hair was up in a loose bun that actually looked good on her.
"At this point I think you're intentionally trying to piss me off," Ada grumbled as they reached the edge of the forest. They took cover behind a bush as she surveyed the valley below them. Ada herself was wearing a fur-lined parka and dark-wash jeans with leather boots and gloves.
"Excuse me if I want to be stylish," Carla replied in a low voice as she lifted the sniper rifle off her shoulder and handed it to Ada.
"Being that it's 12º F right now, you should be hypothermic."
Carla rolled her eyes. "We've been over this. I produce far more body heat than you do, so don't get your panties in a twist."
She huffed and let it be, training her sniper scope to the town below. It was as she had feared. There were fires and J'avo running rampant through the small town, as well as some reptilian monstrosities that she hadn't encountered before.
"We'll circle around to the north. There's a hidden service entrance to the facility on the northwestern slope. We'll get in through there."
They were currently standing on the edge of a 20 meter high cliff. To get to the northwestern slope, they'd have to repel down. They'd keep to the cover of the woods for as long as possible. Ada handed the rifle back to Carla to carry and pulled out her grappling hook.
"I can't believe you're making me lug your guns around like a pack mule," the woman complained as she retrieved her own grappling hook.
"Don't complain. I'm relying on you to be my backup. You're lucky I allowed you to come along at all." Ada shot the hook into the tree branch above her.
Carla followed suit. "I'm here because I want to try and contain the virus I created as best I can. Not to be your personal gun rack."
Well that answers that, Ada thought as she jumped over the edge and swung down, being careful to avoid the trees. She had been more than a little curious as to Carla's purpose here. A little voice told her there was likely more going on than just that, but Ada knew she'd find out eventually. She landed with Carla right behind her and they took off at a jog. Luckily, the service entrance was only about a mile from their position. The two made their way in silence, keeping their ears keen for any sounds of approaching enemies.
Ada had known that the lull in bio-terrorist activity following the incidents in China and Edonia would be short lived. Every time someone like Wesker, Simmons, or Carla was taken out, another would rise to take their place. She only wondered who was plotting behind the scenes this time. Intuition told her that the current outbreak wasn't an accident. Hopefully there would be some useful information at the lab to shed light on the subject.
"There!" Carla called out as they approached a break in the trees. A concrete cylinder protruded from the ground just outside the tree line. It had a steel cover that was secured with a large padlock and chain.
The two women approached it, Carla shaking her head. "Sloppy. No wonder there was an outbreak."
Ada drew her uzi. "I suppose they thought no one would try to open it. Most people would think it's just a sewer line or something." She shot off the lock and removed the chain. "Besides there's probably a lot more security inside the actual facility."
Carla lifted the lid. "I certainly hope so."
They both climbed down the ladder into the dark tunnel below. Reaching the bottom, Carla retrieved two flashlights from her bag and turned them on. Ada took one and clipped it to her parka. She then drew her gun and made her way down the tunnel with Carla following close behind. The information Ada had gathered said that the tunnel would lead them into the third level of the facility. The information she was after would be in the company servers on Level 5, the most secure level.
Coming to a fork in the path, Ada turned right and continued on. She took a glance back at Carla, who had been surprisingly quiet on their journey so far. When she did, she was startled by the intense expression on the woman's face. Ada quickly turned back around, figuring that Carla had her reasons to be so livid.
Wait. Why am I trusting her? With the way she has been manipulating me, I should be on guard. But, I'm not. She must be getting to me. Ada made a left and came to a steel door. This would lead them to level 3. I can't think about this now. Gotta focus.
She hacked the security system on the door and pulled it open. Carla breezed past her without looking back.
"You're welcome," Ada called to her indignantly as she shut the door behind them.
Carla pulled out her holo-cube and flipped through some files. "Go on ahead. I'm going to take a look at the labs on this level."
Ada crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "And I'm just supposed to leave you to your own devices in a compromised state-of-the-art laboratory? I don't think so."
Turning to face her, Carla rolled her eyes. "You still don't trust me?" she asked, walking toward Ada. "Even after all we've been through?" Carla wrapped her arms around Ada's waist, pressing their bodies together. She tilted her head, waiting for an answer.
Ada's eyebrows furrowed. "Especially after what we've been through."
Carla chuckled. "Aw, you're mad at me again. I should cheer you up," she teased as she leaned in, bringing their lips together.
Despite herself, Ada kissed back. Carla was the only one to be able to toy with her so easily. She made a note to work on that later.
Breaking the kiss, Ada sighed with frustration. "Just go check on the damn lab, would you? We don't have time for this."
"Thanks, babe," Carla said as she pulled away. After walking a few steps, she turned to the now fuming Ada. "Maybe getting you laid will improve your attitude."
With that, she left. Ada took a few moments to remind herself why it would be a bad idea to shoot the woman. Even though hiding the body here would be so easy. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then proceeded down the hallway.
Evidence of the outbreak was all around her. Papers scattered about, doors swinging precariously on their hinges, and periodically, Ada would pass a mutilated corpse. Her steps were light, quiet. She strained to listen for any noise, any sign that infected were nearby. Luck seemed to be on her side, as she hadn't run into any so far. But, Ada knew better than anyone that luck was a fickle bitch.
A clamoring up ahead drew her undivided attention. With a pounding heart, she ducked into a doorway. Cautiously, she leaned out just enough to get a look at the source of the noise. Four trained J'avo like the ones Carla had used entered the dark, desolate hallway. They seemed to be guarding the way to the elevator.
"Shit!" Ada swore under her breath. This was a bad place to be stuck in.
Consulting the floor plans she had acquired, she found a vent that she could use to get around the chittering infected. Quickly unlatching the grate, Ada crawled inside just in time to not be spotted. With a sigh of relief, she proceeded through the ventilation towards her destination. Peering through the grates as she moved, Ada observed how organized they were. Could it be that someone's improved the J'avo?
She shook her head and continued towards her goal. All that was someone else's problem until she was directly threatened, in which case the threat would be disposed of.
When she reached the end of the vent, she carefully dislodged the cover and slipped through. Ada landed lightly in a fairly large room that contained four statues on pedestals. On each of the walls behind the pedestals was a painting of what was depicted by the statues along with square recesses in the floor.
The Family, the shadowy organization supposedly running the world, was the only probable explanation for this esoteric, idiotic puzzle game in front of her. In all her travels, they were the only ones who did this kind of thing.
Seeing it made Ada groan. "For fuck's sake, not again. Why does the Family always insist on having these elaborate door locks?"
Trying to find the way to access the elevator, she examined the paintings. They would most likely provide clues as to the placement of the statues. After a few minutes, Ada had figured out what she needed to do and set about dragging the pedestals to their proper places and rotating them to the correct side.
"I'm tired of these motherfucking puzzles in these motherfucking facilities," she grumbled as she hefted the last pedestal into place.
The opposite wall lifted, making a loud grinding noise as it rose to reveal a large platform suspended in the immensely deep elevator shaft. A walkway extended out to meet the platform, lights flickering to life to illuminate the way. The metal was shiny and there seemed to be no evidence of grime. This probably meant that the facility was fairly new. Something for her to keep note of.
Ada proceeded to the platform, punching the button for Level 5. The metal walkway pulled away and the platform began a smooth decent. Level 5 was approximately 200 meters below Level 3 to prevent outside signals from interfering with the electronics. The system cut off all access during emergency situations and could only be reactivated manually by flipping five switches in the correct order. It was quite isolated from intrusion, which made it particularly annoying for her to access.
Carla's crackled into her earpiece, the stone of the mountain probably causing interference.
"Ada, I've got good news and bad news."
"Bad news first," she answered. Might as well get it out of the way.
"It looks like they've been trying to recreate the enhanced C virus that I crafted. From the notes I've been able to gather from up here, they've been mixing the C virus with the T-Abyss virus in an attempt to strengthen and expand the mutation range." Carla rattled off the information, a tone of worry creeping into her voice.
"This worries you?" Ada asked, trying to uncover more of the woman's motives.
"The T-Abyss variation of the virus is extremely resilient, being that it was derived from deep sea organisms evolved to survive volatile conditions. If they actually manage to replicate the advanced form of the C-virus I created, hosts will be able to mutate almost infinitely," Carla explained at length.
Ada's brows furrowed. "You and Simmons were hard enough to kill as it was. A virus that strong would be devastating."
"Exactly." There was a pause. "It looks like they were getting close when this whole shit storm started."
The elevator slowed to a halt and Ada waited for the walkway to fully extend.
"Well then, I think I'm ready for that good news now," she queried the other woman.
She could feel Carla's mischievous smile through the earpiece. "Your little boy-toy is here. And he's brought company, too. Oh, what was his name?"
Sighing heavily, Ada made her way to the Level 5 door. "Leon. I wonder what he's doing here." She smirked. "He hasn't seen me since China."
"Oh, can I mess with him? Please?" Carla sounded positively giddy. "It'll be hilarious."
"No," she replied in an adamant tone as she hacked the door code. "Get down here as soon as possible. We're here to get in and get out before the military blows this place sky high."
"Kill joy," was the last word before Carla disconnected.
It took several minutes to bypass the security system. Once she was through, the light turned green and the heavy steel door slowly lifted. She walked calmly down the well-lit, pristine white hallway. Here and there were intersections that led to high clearance offices. Ada took a right at the third of these and was stopped dead in her tracks.
Snowy white walls were painted red with blood and dotted with bullet holes. Limbs and hunks of unidentifiable flesh littered the floor with one or two amorphous infected slumped over, brain matter leaking from heads blown apart by a twelve gauge shotgun that lay abandoned and spent. Ada quietly drew her gun, the very air she breathed tasting of iron. Even after all these years, the scent made her want to gag.
She slowly advanced down the hallway, stepping gingerly between the grotesque disfigured corpses and spent shell casings. At the end there was a T intersection where the body of what was once a female scientist lay slumped against the wall. Cold fingers still desperately gripped the handle of a fire axe. Smeared in blood just above the woman's head were two words:
He lives
A cryptic dying message. Perfect. As if things weren't suspicious around here as it was, there's this obscure message that was so important that this woman spent her final moments writing it. Ada crouched over the woman's body.
"I hope it was worth it," she muttered softly.
Something caught her eye as she examined the words. An all too familiar symbol was drawn beneath the message. The dripping red umbrella symbol turned her stomach. It seemed there were still some ghosts of the old company that refused to fade. Somehow she always seemed to find them, even when she wasn't looking.
Trying to find some more answers, Ada searched the young woman further. The only thing on her was an ID tag that had been hidden by pale blonde hair. It read "Sharon L. Ashford." The name made Ada's blood run cold. No one had seen hide nor hair of the Ashford family for more than twelve years. If one of them was here, then this was no minor facility as she had been told. She was now certain that something major had been going on here and that, based on prior experience, there was a larger scheme in the works at this very moment.
A crackling in her earpiece made her jump.
"Ada, we have a problem," Carla's voice rang through the static. She sounded out of breath.
"What did you do?" she asked, her annoyance with the other woman returning.
Some gunfire rang out over the communicator. "I didn't do anything. Well, not much anyway. Your boyfriend and his brunette attack dog set off the goddamn alarm and now this place is crawling with J'avo. And…" she trailed off.
"And?" Ada inquired as she ripped the ID tag off the dead woman and headed for the door to the server room.
"Well…they saw me."
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed. "Who? The J'avo or Leon?"
"Both."
She groaned. "You had one job, Carla. One job."
More gunshots and shouting were heard from the other end of the receiver. "Hey, I'm not appreciating the tone you're taking with me."
"I really don't care what you think. I'm not the one who got spotted, now am I?"
"Tsk, tsk. Keep that up and you won't be getting any in the near future," Carla chided.
Ada rolled her eyes at the comment. "Just get down here without getting shot. Can you at least do that?" she asked in a condescending tone.
"Will do. Bitch," came the reply from the other end.
The way Carla had called her a bitch carried an odd tone of endearment with it that brought a smile to her face. This is one messed up relationship we've got going, huh Carla? Ada thought as she slid the ID card through the scanner. The light switched to green and she pushed open the heavy metal door.
Spreading out before her was the fairly large server room. At its center lay the main data bank, which she needed to access to get the information she came here for. Instead of trying to navigate through the maze of server towers, Ada opted to go over them. Using her grappling hook, she swung up and ran along the tops of the towers.
When she reached the data bank, she jumped down and looked for the access point. Finding it easily, she began hacking into the system. With all the commotion upstairs, Ada knew that time would be running short. After breaking through, she inserted the device she had brought with her. It would forward all the information to a private, secure server located god only knows where as the client had requested. However, as she initiated the sequence she slipped in a last minute protocol to copy all the information to her phone.
As she watched the progress bar tick along, Ada heard a loud bang from somewhere off to the left and up above her.
"I'm inbound." Carla's voice was faint in the room, but clear in her earpiece. "They're close behind me though."
"Try to lose them in the rows of servers. You should be able to shake them easily enough," Ada advised as she drew her gun.
She didn't honestly think Leon would shoot her, but she had to be prepared for anything. The sound of Carla's grappling hook latching onto a catwalk reverberated overhead. Faint but familiar voices came from the doorway Ada had entered through. Glancing back to the progress bar, she silently cursed. The download was going far too slowly for her comfort. Not that she didn't like Leon and company, she just knew that their involvement would surely impede her escape and time was certainly of the essence. As their footsteps raced closer, she stepped in front of the screen to at least keep the two agents' attention away from what she was doing until the information was sent.
Rounding the corner to her right with guns drawn were Leon and, oh, what was her name again? Ah yes, she believed the woman's name was Helena Harper. From what Ada had seen of her, Helena was a sharpshooter with mind just as keen as her aim. Aside from the red-hot temper, the curvy brunette seemed to be a model agent. A good fit for the often cynical, although quite chivalrous, Leon Kennedy.
The pair stopped about three meters from her. Ada holstered her gun and raised her hands.
"Ada," Leon called to her.
She smirked. "Surprised to see me? How long has it been?"
"Too long," he answered. He relaxed and lowered his gun, nodding to Helena to do the same. She seemed a bit hesitant, but followed suit.
"I'm impressed, Leon. You seem to have been able to keep a partner this time," she observed in the teasing tone that she always used with him. "Glad to see she's proved her metal."
"What are you doing here?" Helena asked, cutting straight to the point.
"What, indeed?" Carla's voice resonated from behind Ada.
At the sudden interjection, Helena raised her gun only to be taken aback by who she saw the voice belonged to. Leon just stood there, completely dumbstruck at the sight of two Ada Wongs.
Ada crossed her arms as Carla sauntered over, quite pleased with the effect her entrance had made on the two agents.
"Was the dramatic entrance really necessary, Carla?" she asked the woman that could pass as her twin.
"I couldn't resist," the woman answered with a devil-may-care shrug.
Helena's eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. "Carla?" She exchanged a glance with Leon. "As in Carla Radames?"
Carla made a dramatic bow. "The one and only."
"That can't be…" Leon murmured, completely bewildered by the sight in front of him.
Chuckling mischievously, Carla sashayed over to Ada. "You were right," she crooned, wrapping her arm around Ada's waist before there was time to react. "He's so cute when he's confused." This the vixen had purred into Ada's ear loud enough for the others to easily hear.
Careful not to reveal how Carla's breath against her skin made her tingle, she drew her gun and placed the barrel underneath the woman's chin.
"You have five seconds to get off me before I put a bullet in your head," Ada growled.
She could feel Carla's smirk. "Tsk. Temper, temper, Ada. It's no wonder you always work alone."
"Speaking of which," Helena cut in, trying to change the subject. "Why are you here?"
As if on cue, a beep sounded behind them signaling the download had finished. Ada pulled the device out of the access point and tossed it to Leon.
"Working, of course."
Leon raised an eyebrow at the device.
"There's information on what the facility was doing in there. Possibly even clues to my employer's intentions," she stated very matter-of-factly.
Helena looked at her with concern. "That's awfully charitable of you. What gives?"
Before Ada could answer her, Carla jumped in.
"Look, not that I don't enjoy all this lovely banter, but there's a self-destruct countdown over here that think we should be worried about."
Without another word, the group ran flat out towards the exit. Carla and Ada stopped in front of the ledge up to the door. Each stood ready to lift the others up. Leon and Helena immediately understood and didn't break their stride. At a full sprint, they used the momentum to launch themselves up onto the ledge. After those two were over, she and Carla shot their grappling hooks into the hallway and swung up and out of there.
When they were through, she turned to see Carla smash the control panel, causing the emergency blast door to seal the server room. They had only gotten about 5 meters down the corridor before the explosion shook the whole level. The deafening blast knocked Ada to the ground, flames and debris filling her fading vision.
As she came to, Ada was greeted first by a high-pitched ringing in her ears. Next, she felt the gentle shower of water from the sprinkler system soaking through her clothes. Her eyes fluttered open to see Carla crouched over her. She seemed to be talking, but Ada couldn't hear what she was saying. What she saw, however, left her taken aback.
The solid steel blast door was bent around Carla, who had blood running down the side of her face. A few small flames still sputtered, their light mixing with the slowly flashing emergency lights. But, this wasn't what caught her attention. It was the look on the other woman's face, the face that was a mirror of her own. Ada saw in those amber eyes not only genuine concern, but something she had never seen in Carla before: fear. The arrogant, cunning femme fatale had been replaced with a distraught young woman.
She didn't know why, but she enjoyed seeing this Carla. There were no lies here, no plotting, just pure feeling. It had probably been decades since her own face had been distorted by such raw terror. By now, her heart was far too hardened to be so moved.
And yet as sound began to return to the world, Ada felt a striking urge to reach out to this woman and comfort her. She let the feeling pass, however, opting instead to try and get up.
"I'm fine," she said, her own voice still sounding a bit muffled. "So stop your crying you sissy."
The concern on Carla's face was exchanged for anger and annoyance. "You need to get your eyes checked you hag because I wasn't fucking crying."
"Sure you weren't," Ada teased in an attempt at lightening the situation as she sat up.
Rolling her eyes, Carla shrugged the warped metal that was once the blast door off with a little effort. "Next time I won't do you any favors."
Catching the woman's arm as she tried to storm off, Ada pulled her back.
"Thank you. Really. You probably saved my life back there."
The water had begun to wash away the blood from Carla's face. The crying comment had been a dig, but now that she had a closer look Ada thought she saw tears being washed away as well. Her eyes wandered to the ripped sleeve in her hand where she noticed something much more important. She tried to turn the other woman's arm over, but was met with resistance.
"Let go, Ada."
It was a warning. It wasn't going to stop her though.
Ada managed to maneuver herself while twisting so that she could get a good look at Carla's forearm. When she did, she saw marks from a injector pen layered over one another. Some were more faded than others, which meant that she'd been injecting herself multiple times a day for at least a week.
"Jesus Christ," she whispered in shock. "I thought you said you had stabilized."
Carla stopped struggling, but didn't meet her gaze. "I said I had a prototype serum. It still needs work."
"You should've told me," Ada replied softly.
This brought a scoff. "Oh, you suddenly care now? And what would you—could you—have done if I'd told you?"
She had no answer. She wasn't a scientist in any sense of the word. So what difference did it make?
Ada placed her hands on Carla's shoulders. "You can't do this by yourself."
Finally meeting her eyes, awash with hidden pain, a silence stretched between them. After a few moments, Carla responded.
"You can't help me, Ada."
Despair hidden by stubborn resistance. It rang loudly in those words. Ada brushed the wet, disheveled hair out of her double's face.
"Maybe not." She paused, taking Carla's face in her hands. "But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try."
With that, she brought their lips together. She felt Carla relax into the kiss, arms wrapping around her waist. This was the only way she could reach out to her and Ada could swear she felt the damaged woman in her arms reaching as well.
When the kiss ended, she waited for some witty remark or sarcasm, but she received none. Carla merely rested her head on Ada's shoulder.
"Thank you."
It was barely audible, but those two simple words cut straight into a heart she had thought was too hardened to crack. Ada forced away the feeling for later. They still had to get out of here after all.
"Come on," she said, pulling away. "Let's go make sure Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum aren't dead."
This brought a weak smile back to Carla's face. "Right."
With that, they made their way over the debris to find Leon and Helena. They were by no means done with this mission.
I really liked how this one turned out, honestly. The real plot line has only just begun to be revealed. The part I love most about shipping Ada/Carla is their interactions. It's always a fun journey for me to write those two. I'll be better about updating I promise! See you all then.