A/N: Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Leon shielded Helena and Aliya as the bullet grazed his side and landed inches from him. Leon picked his head up slowly after a moment along with Helena, only to force the two of them down again when another gun shot rang out. The three of them waited until Chris and Jill kicked the door open, their guns drawn.
As quickly as the assault happened, it had stopped.
"Are you guys okay?"
Leon finally got up, letting Helena and Aliya up as well. Aliya looked around visibly shaken and confused but otherwise unharmed. Helena was also very confused about what happened, she had barely had any time to react when Leon grabbed the two of them and forced them to the ground.
"I'm fine," Leon nods, "what about you? Are you both okay?" He asks the two girls, still holding them both protectively.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Helena says with a nod.
"I'm shitting myself but other than that then yeah I'm fine." Aliya nods as Leon held his side and Helena forced him to sit down so she could look at the wound.
"Well, whoever it was seems to be gone now." Chris says, closing the kitchen window as Jill went to search the rest of the house.
"Upstairs is clear!" Jill called, coming back down the steps, and putting her gun away.
"They were targeting me and Helena."
"Makes sense. They take out the caregivers then they have easy access to the kid." The blonde says, looking at Helena briefly until she had to do a double take as she noticed the younger woman was wearing Leon's shirt.
Jill and Helena locked eyes and Helena just shook her head and gave her a look, telling her not to say anything. Jill just looked at Chris, trying to stay neutral but telling him with her eyes that she was winning the bet.
"We'll have to include more agents in the surrounding area. If they went as far as this, who knows what else they'll try." Chris says as Aliya went to the bathroom briefly, returning with a first aid kit for the graze in Leon's side.
"Yeah, no kidding. While you are here, can you stop at HQ and give this to Hunnigan?" He asks, grabbing the USB from the table and handing it to Chris.
"Yeah, no problem, what is it and where did you get it?" Chris asks as he took the item, looking it over.
"Ada showed up yesterday. How she got passed you I do not know, but she gave that to Helena. It has some files on it from C.A.T. Co."
"Do we still not know what C.A.T. Co stands for?" Jill asks, only for Chris to head out the door without answering her.
Jill shrugged and followed her husband out.
Leon looked at Aliya, who was trembling.
"Hey it's okay. Everything's okay." He says, reaching over to hug the young girl closely.
"Why did they try and kill Helena?"
Leon sighed, "because you know how there are people after you? These people will do anything to get you and that includes making sure that we are out of the way."
Aliya nodded, deciding to run to her room, making Helena sigh as she heard the door slam.
"She's just a kid. She shouldn't have to go through this."
"I know, Lena, but it won't be for forever."
Helena sighed as she got up from where she was sitting, her whole body hurt from when Leon had thrown all of them to the ground.
"I'm sorry, for hurting you."
Helena rolled her eyes, "yes because you should totally apologize for saving my life."
Leon chuckled as he got up himself and decided to go up to Aliya's room to check on her. He was surprised to find that her bedroom door was unlocked, half expecting her to lock it and keep them out.
"Hey, do you…want to talk about what happened?" He asks, looking at where Aliya was now lying-in bed.
Aliya shrugged, "I mean not really? There isn't much to talk about. It was just scary."
Leon nodded in understanding, "yes, I know. Just know though that me and Helena aren't going to let anything bad happen to you."
Aliya just shrugged as Leon came and sat down on the bed beside her. She hated this. She was a giant freak show experiment who was essentially in a witness protection of sorts because some assholes found her too valuable to just give up on.
"So, like, I heard you and Helena last night," She starts awkwardly, watching him rub the back of his neck, "are you two together now?"
"It's complicated."
"So…no?"
Leon sighed, "no."
"Well, why don't you try and win her over? Maybe bring her on a date but it's also not a date?"
"No offense but I'm not taking dating advice from a twelve-year-old who has never even kissed someone." He says, adding the last part half-jokingly.
"Uhm ouch, first of all. Second, bring her out to dinner, like disguise it as a dinner just between friends or something. She may just want to know that you're serious about her."
Leon rolled his eyes, getting up and leaving the room. He wasn't going to tell Aliya that he was seriously thinking about what she said and give her an ego boost. It wasn't that he didn't want to go out with Helena, he just wasn't sure about leaving Aliya by herself.
"I'll be fine if I'm what you're worried about. Just bring her to dinner…or a drink. OR I can just stay up here pretending I don't exist while you cook her dinner." She says, catching him before he left the room.
Leon didn't say anything as he closed the door behind him and went back down the stairs where Helena was cleaning the burned skillet in the sink. Leon sighed, unable to believe that he was seriously considering the advice from a twelve-year-old.
"Hey, Helena?" He asks, approaching where she was at the sink.
"Hm?" She says, briefly looking over at him.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner on Friday?"
Helena looked taken aback, "like as a date?"
"Not really as a date, but like friends?"
"Oh, sure I'd like that." She says, smiling faintly at him.
Meanwhile, two guards made their way to their boss's office at the C.A.T. Co facility after their failed attempt at getting rid of Leon and Helena. They entered the office where their boss waited with one of the scientists standing off to the side, overlooking the files on Aliya. Their boss was a petite woman with black hair and a fair complexion and was wearing a black pants suit with a red jacket.
"Well, how did it go?" The woman asked, looking at the board with her back turned to them.
"Sorry Natalia. We weren't successful."
The woman, Natalia, pursed her lips as she turned to face them. Well that certainly wasn't what she wanted to hear.
"Ma'am, it's important we get her back soon to run some more tests. If she doesn't get her medication to stabilize her, she'll snap." The scientist explains, making Natalia look at him.
"What happens if she goes too long between treatments?"
"Well," he starts, "she becomes increasingly aggressive and volatile. First it will start off as having a higher sensitivity to noises and then it will turn into migraines, her temper will flare, nausea, vomiting, and eventually seizures and a coma. In severe cases, she can even die. We're trying to produce a more permanent stabilizer for her. The T and G viruses are just so unpredictable running through her blood that it's hard."
"So, the viruses, while still in her blood, struggle when they intermingle with each other?"
"Yes ma'am. It's as if they fight each other to take over and every time we do run more tests, they're mutating but she's not turning. The medication just helps her to be less…erratic."
Natalia nodded and sighed, turning her attention to the two guards.
"Get her back or someone will be punished," she starts, approaching them both, her heels echoing on the floor, looking at the taller guard, "we wouldn't want anything to happen to your wife and son, James."
"Understood ma'am."
A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review