Phoenix:

16.

Angel


2001


Siberia


It was a woman who broke Leon Kennedy's heart first.

And a woman who'd break his spirit second.

In all his life, women had been the bane of his existence. They dogged his steps from birth to the present. They tempted him with soft skin and smiles. They offered sin and sanctuary between their thighs and in their eyes. They lied. They deceived. They led him from his own righteous path to that of self-sabotage.

He could still hear his pastor's voice in church renouncing women's temptations as they might have done once in the Garden of Eden. He'd believed in the good book and followed the doctrine of his faith. He'd fallen first into the arms of a good girl from a good family.

And she'd broken his heart to run off to Hollywood with his best friend.

That was the heart of a boy who'd lost his first love. By the time he'd met Mira, he'd stopped being that boy...even if the hopefulness of youth couldn't entirely die under the training they shoved down his throat.

The cold seeped into the bones. It made your breath fog out and linger, a cloud of white with flecks of ice. The mountains watched, tall and curious, as the figures carved their way through the snow.

The mouth of the cave offered little respite as they ducked inside, and Mira uncurled the thick scarf from around her face. Her ushanka made her elfin face look small and delicate below the goggles she pulled from her coppery eyes. She glanced around the darkness and joked, "Jesus, I thought it was cold in Maine in the Winter. Clearly...I'm stupid."

Leon lifted his goggles and laughed lightly. "Nothing like the middle of nowhere to remind you how much you take a fire and a good steak for granted."

Eyes twinkling, Mira answered, "Always thinking with your stomach."

His eyes held hers as he answered, "Not always."

Her lips turned up as she shook her head, "Flirt."

He bobbled his brows. She chuckled and passed a hand over his arm as she crossed into the cave.

The OP was simple enough. Find the cave, locate the lab secured beneath, and set up a base of operations for the agents that would follow. Easy peasy and there was little opposition expected.

Besides, how much damage could nerds and scientists do?

Mira was small, delicate with skin the color of coffee with three creams and the kind of lineage that spoke of African American by way of Ireland. As she turned, Leon admired that bust barely hidden beneath the heavy coat and vest she wore with a lover's discerning eye. They'd come up together in training and partnered before on operations.

She was quick and sly, efficient in close-quarters combat, and clever as can be with espionage work. Where he kicked in doors, she sneaked through them, and it made them a very cooperative team in most circumstances. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.

And they'd found it didn't stop on a mission. As they fucked together with the same vigor.

He'd pursued her heavily during training. She'd had little resistance to him, being young and eager as he was for success and romance. They'd gotten involved before either realized they shouldn't. And when given the opportunity to back out, they'd pushed forward anyway, as the joy they felt with each other was hard to deny.

A long night following a bad day had netted them nearly a week of sweaty nights in tangled sheets. Mira came from nothing and had worked her way up from the bottom of a bad situation where she'd spent most of her life under the alcoholic rule of a shitty father in a failing trailer park. When she'd found herself in the military and transitioned to becoming an agent, she'd avoided being involved to keep herself respectable.

But she hadn't been prepared for Leon's charm and determination. Two months of back-to-back training and constant flirting had found her dropping her guards to be with him. Neither regretted it.

And he'd forgotten what it was like to be happy before he'd met her.

They made their wave deeper into the caves, carefully and comfortably with each other.

They located the lab easily enough and set up trackers and beacons. They moved among the nerds in their disguises and navigated halls mapping as they moved. It was a simple recon mission.

There was no way he could have known that nothing was ever that simple.

Back in their safe house, Mira slid naked atop him. They merged skin and sin and sex. They came together with wet tongues and bodies. He watched her breasts and body move in his arms as she rode him.

And he was content.

It had been a long time since he'd thought of what came after the fight.

As they curled together in the aftermath, Mira rolled her head over her shoulder to kiss him. A wave of warmth spread from groin to ground as he held on, lips and tongue twirling. Against his mouth, she murmured, "I love you."

And he returned with all the feeling he'd had gushing through his blood for months for her. "I love you, too."

It was easy.

It felt right. It was good. It was the first time in his life he could say it and mean it.

He'd been blackmailed into serving, but he'd fought for Mira because Mira was what the world needed. Her kindness. Her sweetness. Her strength and determination, and drive. The world needed more of Mira.

And he couldn't get enough of her.

They handled the infiltration of the lab together. They set up spies within the network. They did their jobs. Leon pretended to be a virologist and worked with other nerds on the basis of the T-Virus expansion that should have seen its death in Raccoon City.

But Umbrella was sly, and it had tentacles wrapped within tentacles within a pie of evil.

Peeling back the layers would take time and effort. But it offered them a toehold in Russia for what they were starting to understand was the hotbed of the Tyrant Program. The rumors kept turning out to have basis in fact. The facts were skewed, sure, but the rot beneath the surface had the stench of the former pharmaceutical giant all over it.

They existed in the hive of the mountains beneath a town you couldn't find on any map: Norilsk. In Norilsk, the sun didn't shine for an average of three months out of the year, and the cold sometimes bottomed out at nearly -30 degrees Celsius. It was, without a doubt, the edge of the world for weather. The city itself didn't allow for foreigners because of its richness in minerals and lack of available travel from Moscow, but it was suspected that Umbrella had made sure of it so they could continue their experimentation without interruption.

The other rumor said the former Soviets had kept atomic weapons within the city limits.

Nothing had ever been "proven", and they weren't there to make waves.

Leon made friends with the scientists. He made moves to secure himself in research. Mira worked her side of the fence in operations. They played their parts so well that within a few months of arrival, they were eyeball deep in the drama within the hive.

It was a dreary Tuesday when Mira arrived home to their safe house and shed her jacket to grunt and fall on her butt in a chair by the kitchen counter. Leon, little gold glasses perched on his nose as he read through reports and recon, glanced over at her, "Long day?"

She shot him a look. She shifted in the chair. When he waited, she finally stated, "I'm tired. And I miss the sun."

He laughed lightly, "I know. Russians are tougher than I am. I'm nearly desperate for some sun and surf right now."

Mira chuckled and rubbed a hand over her face. "I think I need a vacation."

Amused, Leon set his report aside, "Can I come?"

She considered him and shrugged, "Why not? You look good naked."

He grinned and studied her. The harsh climate actually made her look more beautiful somehow. Her skin was creamy. Her eyes sparkled. Her hair was curly and healthy. He figured he looked half dead from lack of Vitamin D most days. But Mira never looked anything but soft and lovely.

When she rubbed her tired face again, Leon offered, "How about a hot bath?"

And she grinned, "Oh, please. Please. I mean it."

He ran her a bath and sat on the toilet beside her while she bathed. She shaved her legs and complained, "Why do I bother? The hair might help stop the cold."

Leon, deadpan, returned, "It would certainly stop roaming hands."

She grinned. She slapped his knee playfully and shifted in the water. After a moment, he studied her pensive face and demanded, "Out with it. What's eating you?"

Sighing, she shifted in the water and confessed, "A helluva way to phrase it, I guess."

Brows arched, he waited while she added, "...it's a parasite."

He froze. Things fractured momentarily before she mused, "It's eating everything for the next seven months or so."

He was something of a genius, they said. But he was slow to get it. The second he did, Mira grinned, "Yeah. Turns out all this fucking in the cold made a parasite."

Pregnant.

Torn between fear and elation, Leon cleared his throat and glanced at her belly. She laughed and shook her head, "Nothing happening there yet, handsome. We got a little while still. But eventually, I'm gonna need to return home to get the right medical care."

Leon glanced at her face and let out a snort, "Jesus. What now?"

Mira shrugged. "I think now we have a baby."

After a few moments, Leon offered, "You wanna get married?"

Her droll expression made him clear his throat again. "Is that a no?"

"Do I want to be a shotgun bride?" Mira cocked her head, "Let me think on that."

Amused, Leon answered, "I love you. You know that. I would have asked eventually anyway."

"Right," Mira held his eyes, "this is still new, Leon. Still new and still good. Let's just see where it goes without honor making you wed the pregnant girl you defiled."

He chuckled. "What's your plan here?"

Mira smiled sweetly, "What else? Retire. Can't have a baby and be a secret agent, now can I?"

"You'd do that?"

Her look was very direct as she replied, "Happily. I didn't intend to meet you, Leon. And I definitely didn't expect this...but I can't think of a single reason not to take what I'm given and get out. Can you?"

Softly, Leon answered, "I can't. I really can't...but I can't get out, Mira. You know that."

She smiled again. "You don't have to. I know that. We'll take it one day at a time."

"You're ok with that?"

She kept his eyes and grinned, "I'm happy. I'm here with you. Let's just let it be."

So, they let it be.

On a Thursday, Leon was enjoying a bowl of borscht in the breakroom when one of the scientists came into the lab. He didn't look happy. In fact, he looked afraid. He joined Leon at the table, saying, "...someone is spying for the Americans."

Just like that, their cover was threatened.

The scientist added, "Executive Captain Vladimir is here. And he's...he's leaving no stone unturned."

It was time to get out. It had to be done quickly, and it had to be done quietly. An hour later, he found Mira in the operations lab and murmured, "Sign out and get to the evac point. Talk to no one."

She'd given him a calm look. "It's rumors, Leon. It's speculation. I'm inches away from securing the location for the TALOS project. If I leave now, it's all for nothing."

"If you don't, and they're onto us, neither of us lives to see the sun we've forgotten about."

Mira gave him a smile and shook her head, "Relax, tough guy. It's almost over. We'll be sipping virgin Mai Tais on the beach soon."

He eyed her, "Why is mine a virgin?"

"Because mine is," Mira teased with a smile, "and if it's good enough for the mother, it's good enough for the father."

She had a point.

He signed out for the day. He exited the lab and headed toward the rail station to get home. He waited on the platform, and she never came. By the time he boarded the train, he felt the dread in his guts that told him the rumors weren't rumors.

He waited at the safe house, and she never showed. He paced. He glanced at his watch.

In four hours, their evac would show up to take them away. If she wasn't there, they wouldn't wait for her. That was the rule. That was the protocol. There was no grace period for agents beyond enemy lines.

When the timer hit two hours, he couldn't wait anymore.

He went back to the labs.

It was stupid. It was wrong. It was erratic and emotional. He knew better.

But she was his. And he was going to get her back.

He was crossing the parking lot when a figure came out of the shadows. His hand fell on his knife before the willowy form of Ada Wong appeared in the fog. Shocked, he pulled the blade, and she instructed, "Leave it. There's no time."

His righteous anger at her former betrayal burned in his throat as he spat, "What are you doing here?"

She shifted in her trench coat and returned, "Warning you. If you set foot in there, you're dead."

His head tilted, "Why do you care?"

"I don't," she answered with a direct look, "but the people I work for do. You want Javier Hidalgo. He's a black-market weapons dealer out of Columbia. And he's doing business with the man you're here intending to take on."

Leon held her eyes, "Where is Mira?"

Ada tilted her head again, "Does it matter?"

He said nothing.

She held his eyes, "Oh, Leon...Leon...Leon...when will you learn? There's never a woman without a hundred other motives that you can trust. Never. Did you think this one didn't have any agenda but you?"

His look was cold. "She's not like you."

Ada smiled slyly, "No. No, she isn't. I never make the mistake of getting involved with my mark. But it doesn't matter now. Turn around. Go. Go to Columbia and stop Hidalgo. Forget your time here and run. Because you won't get another chance."

He glared at her. "Why in hell do you think I'd ever listen to you again?"

Her lips twitched, "Because you're not a fool. An idealist, sure, but not a fool. You never change. You still think people give a damn about other people. And that's going to make you do this - because if you don't, thousands of people will die from what that bastard in Columbia is cultivating. Stop him. Stop the spread. Leave this place to me."

"I want to see Mira."

Ada kept his eyes, "You can't."

He shook his head. He shoved passed her and started toward the lab. She called after him, "She knew the risk, Leon. She knew playing two sides came with consequences. She's not who you think she is."

He kept walking. Ada's voice echoed, "Fool. What will it take for you to figure it out? There's no happily ever after for people like us, Leon. There never was. And that woman you think you love? She doesn't exist any more than the FBI Agent you trusted in Raccoon City. This faith you have in people? It's going to get you killed."

He spun around. He stomped toward her twice, stopped, and demanded, "Why do you care, Ada? Why? Dead, I'm out of your way."

She gave him a cool look. "Because the world needs heroes, you Boy Scout. And dead, you're no good to anyone."

His eyes flickered angrily. "You think I'll help you?"

"I think you'll help anyone who needs you," she decided and backed up toward the fog, "and someone has to make sure that doesn't get you killed."

The fog swallowed her. He called, "Ada!"

And her voice came one last time, "Run, you fool, and save yourself."

Leon watched the fog for a moment. He hesitated. He didn't believe her. How could he? There was no way that Mira was a double agent. No way. She couldn't be. They screened for that. There were procedures and processes she couldn't have faked.

Ada was lying.

She was a born liar.

He made his way into the building. The second he crossed the lobby into the stairwell, a hand grabbed his coat and shoved him into the wall. Absorbing the impact, he went and stared down into Mira's face as she hissed, "Say nothing. Not a word. Not now. They know you're here. They're looking for you. Go down to the basement and out the side entrance to the alley. Cut across and take the goat path in the forest to the evac point."

She let go of him and shoved him toward the stairs. He went down them. He went woodenly. The world made little sense. As he moved, it fractured and fell into pieces.

He was at the side entrance when she joined him. She grabbed his arm and shoved him through the exit.

They ran through the fog and rain. They cut through the darkness.

As they came upon the evac point, dogs started howling. The wind picked up, and the sounds of heavy pursuit chased them through the cold.

They reached the clearing and found a helicopter waiting. She shoved him toward it as the sounds of pursuit turned cacophonous. "Go, Leon. Go."

He held her eyes and felt his soul shiver, "...was any of it real?"

The sad look on her face was followed by an urgent tone, "All of it was real, damn you. But it doesn't matter. It can't. I'm sorry. I am. But there's no time."

The moment shivered. It held. His voice came out cold and dead. "I would have married you."

The pain on her face echoed in her voice, "I know...I'm sorry. Go."

"Come with me."

She hesitated, surprised at the offer. He shook his head, "They'll kill you if they get their hands on you. Come with me...for the baby."

Mira shifted. She glanced behind her. "The people I work for, Leon...they'll never let me go."

"I can protect you."

She gave him a sad look. "No, you can't. No one can. There's no happy ending for people like us, Leon...no matter how much we want it." Mira pressed a kiss to his slack mouth and took two steps back, "I love you...you faithful, wonderful man. It's me they're after. I will hold them here...run."

She ran off into the woods as the bullets cut through the trees. There was no more time to think. No more time to regret. No more time to understand why she was playing both sides. He just ran.

He had no choice.

He left her behind and ran.

He leaped on the helicopter and watched the fog swallow the world. Why was she with him? He wasn't privy to anything she wasn't in their job. She could have learned anything she needed without bedding him.

Why had she?

He didn't know what to think. He didn't know what to feel. And the ghosts of what he thought he'd found chased him around the darkness as he dwelled in it.

Two days later, he was called into the office of the Adam Benford.

Mira's body was discovered not far from the evac site. She'd been tortured. She'd been torn apart by dogs. The message had been clear - that any who set foot in Umbrella's shadows would be ripped to pieces.

They'd known Mira was a double agent. They'd let it ride and watched her. They'd let it ride and never told him. Had they known he was involved with her? No one would say. No one would answer if he asked.

Everywhere he turned, betrayal ran red like blood around him.

It was the last time he trusted anyone but himself.

The last goddamn time.

He was done believing in people.

There was no hope for a new life for a man who should've died in Raccoon City.

As he stood on the shore during a stormy Sunday evening, he'd looked out across the horizon and tried to find the boy he'd been before a burning city. He'd tried to find the God who'd abandoned him during his darkest hours. He tried to find the belief that guided his life and choices.

He found nothing but clouds and sky.

And he stopped believing in anything but himself and the gun that hung ready and waiting beneath his arm.


2004


Serpiente Rojo, Spain


The crying pulled him out of the dark.

He came alive, chest on fire, body bowing. Atop him, the body held him down, lips beside his ear, voice begging, "Please. Shhh. Please."

And his eyes opened to find her above him, face wet with tears, hands trembling as she laid one over his mouth. She was filthy. She looked pale and tired. She looked beautifully ethereal like an angel calling him back from hell to breathe again.

He didn't deserve an angel.

But somehow, he'd found one in her.

Gruffly, he breathed, "Did you-"

"Yes."

"Was I-"

"Yes."

She climbed off him. She moved away. He lay on the table, breathing brokenly. His whole body hurt. He'd been dead. He knew that. He'd felt the warmth leave from tips of toes to nose. Dead.

She'd fucking brought him back.

He couldn't understand that. He didn't get it.

But maybe he did. Maybe he always had. Some people just couldn't let go. And she was one of them.

His eyes turned to her. She cried quietly but with her back turned so he wouldn't see her. She thought it was weak to care. She was wrong. Weakness came from caring about nothing. It came from having nothing to care about.

He hadn't had anything to care about in a long time.

He was starting to care about her.

Because she was a woman who knelt atop you and never gave up.

Hoarsely, he said, "Let's get moving."

Scheming and sly demons tried to chip away at his soul everywhere he turned. He was eyeball deep and sinking fast in the rot and ruin of resident evil. It lived in his guts and blood and tried to possess him. He wasn't entirely sure what was left of the man he'd been.

But she'd saved him. She'd kept him alive when she might have risked herself to do it. She'd brought him back from the dead.

He wanted to hold her. He wanted to be held. It wasn't time for that yet. Not now. Not here.

Not ever.

Because you couldn't hold onto an angel.

And he didn't deserve to hold her.

But he could damn well do one thing - he could save her - the way she'd saved him. It was the least he could do for her.

When she'd risked everything for him.

And given him back some piece of himself he hadn't even known he'd lost.


2005


He watched Ashley exit the church. She wore white, like a bride or a virgin, coming down the steps in a pretty white coat with her blonde hair curled and sleek. Her father, the most powerful man in the Western World, put a hand on her back to speak with the priest. He turned her to the side for a man in a blue suit to bus her cheeks with his lips.

He was older, looked prosperous, and lingered too long with his hand on her lower back.

Ashley smiled at him, but the smile was wooden.

Leon turned to Nora beside him and asked, "The man?"

She gave Leon a shrewd look. "Senator Effamingham out of Virginia."

"Married?"

Nora arched a brow. "Not anymore. The wife died a few months ago."

Leon licked his teeth, "Is Graham angling her toward something like that?"

Nora shifted where she stood. "He's wealthy. Successful. Barely thirty-five. It would be a good match for her."

Leon said nothing. He studied the handsome man as he made Ashley laugh. She touched his arm. He tried to take her hand, and she kept it to herself, leaning away politely to continue down the steps.

Effamingham was interested, but she wasn't.

She shifted her eyes toward the street. They found Leon and stayed with him for a moment. Neither smiled.

Ashley turned and headed to her car.

Nora said nothing until the First Daughter was gone into traffic. After a long silence, Leon finally remarked, "Why didn't you tell me you knew about Mira?"

Surprised, Nora glanced at his face. "Which part?"

He sighed. "All of it."

Nora shook her head. "I didn't know. Not then. No one did. Jack found out...and when he brought it to the attention of those above us, they thought he was involved with her. No one sold you out on it, Leon. No one said a word. Jack didn't either. He let them think it was him in bed with her. And they took him for a spy."

Leon glanced at her face. She nodded sadly and added, "Yeah. They burned his team in Columbia to show him what betrayal cost you. By the time they knew it wasn't him; it was too late. They'd made an enemy of their greatest ally. They hoped he'd die in the scuffle, but he didn't. And we both know what happened next."

Nora glanced down at his face, "It's not your fault, ya know. Not that you'll hear me or care. But what happened with her? It's not your fault."

Leon shook his head. He watched the people mill around the church before heading toward his motorcycle. "I didn't see what she was."

Nora eyed him and returned, "You a mind reader now?"

He gave her a cool look. "No. But I sure as hell should've known better."

Nora scoffed and laughed lightly. "You have a way of taking the world on your shoulders, Kennedy. When you should just realize - you're not God. You're not omnipotent. And you're human."

He glanced down at the church and thought about Raccoon City. He thought about all the death he'd seen since. He thought about all the things he'd done and what he'd lost.

And how he had nothing to offer a woman who looked like an angel in white.

"...there is no God." He said softly and had Nora sighing.

"No. No, there isn't. But that doesn't mean you can't still believe in something. My advice? Stop trying to carry guilt you didn't earn. We've got enough of our own without seeking out more."

He paused as he headed down the hill and returned, "I'm not good enough for her, am I?"

Nora glanced at his back and answered, "No. But is anyone? I don't think Graham would say yes to that."

"Does he know about us?"

Nora met his eyes as he looked over his shoulder. "What do you think?"

Leon nodded. He started down the hill again. Nora called, "Is she worth the risk, Leon?"

He paused. He considered. He finally answered, "Is anyone?"

And he kept walking.

He stopped believing in people a long time ago. This job didn't allow you to feel it and let it ride. It was a risk to get involved. It was stupid and dangerous and would probably break his fucking heart to try.

But he wasn't sure how much heart he had left anyway.

What was one more piece gone?

At least if he lost it, he'd lose it, this time to a woman who'd saved his life and somehow made him want to live it again.

And gave him something he could believe in.