The gas chamber was a suffocating nightmare, the air thick with a noxious haze that burned Rose's throat and stung her eyes. Each breath felt like a struggle, and panic swelled like a balloon in her chest. The acrid smoke that clawed at Rose's throat and burned her lungs. She struggled to breathe, each shallow inhale feeling like a jagged knife cutting deeper into her chest. She stumbled through the dim, flickering light, her vision blurring as she fought to stay conscious. "Ada!" Rose rasped, choking on the fumes. She could barely make out the figure moving through the haze, but she knew it was her because they'd been thrown in there together.
Her hands desperately searched for a way out, but the steel door had been bolted shut and the space between the door and the frame had been sealed. "I can't...can't believe you're...working with them," she ground out each word, wincing as the pepper-like spray tore at her throat. Her vision was going in and out and she couldn't get enough air.
"I work for who pays me the most," Ada replied, her voice as rough as Rose's. "You know that."
"You could have j-just ki-killed...m-m-me," Rose stammered as her legs gave out and she slid down the wall to sit on the floor, her head lulling dangerously. But she had to know. "You...wouldn't...be...i-in h-here...wh-why?" She fell into another round of harsh coughs.
"I...have my reasons," Ada breathed, stumbling around. She was just a silhouette to Rose, and she couldn't figure out what Ada was doing, but it didn't matter. She didn't have the strength to go on. It didn't matter, though. If she lived or died. The DSO would just send someone else. Someone stronger, and these bastards would not win.
She didn't know what happened. Her eyes closed, and she could feel her chest slowing in its rise and fall. It was strange, feeling yourself dying. Her lungs were constricting, begging for air as she suffocated, and she had to close her eyes because the gas was so thick she couldn't see anyway. Trying just caused her eyes to dry out and sting. Better to just shut them and greet death in darkness.
There was nothing in death. At least, nothing that she could tell about. There was no bright light. No warm voice to guide her on to heaven or hell. She was alone, and even that feeling was starting to fade away. The ability to think was ebbing away. Words jumbling into meaningless sounds until even that faded.
And then she felt a rush of air going up her nose and in her mouth and she sat up, her eyes springing open back to the present. She choked on the air and someone was holding her upright. Her eyes darted around the small office space. A desk with papers and files were messily thrown about. Books discarded everywhere. Something was on her face.
Her hands instinctively went to bat the plastic away, but the same hands that were holding her up yanked her wrist away and a woman was whispering in her ear. "It's alright. Breathe in and out slowly."
The voice was soothing. Smooth like velvet and comforted her. She knew that voice...what was her name? Rose followed her instructions, inhaling deeply through her nose and exhaling slowly out her mouth until she had a grip of herself. She turned and met the slanted brown eyes of her rescuer. She calmly lowered the oxygen mask and this time the woman let her. "Ada?" She asked, her voice a croak.
Yes, that was right. Her name was Ada. They'd been trapped together. Because Ada, her enemy, had chosen to save her life instead of end it.
"What's your endgame?" She asked, her voice still raw. Ada lowered her own gas mask again and threw it to the side, straightening herself out and standing up from where she'd been crouched beside Rose.
"Survive and I might tell you someday." Ada began walking towards the door.
"Wait!"
Ada paused, a sigh leaving her as she turned her head minimally, just so she could see Rose as she scrambled to her feet. Rose stared back, not really sure why she needed Ada to keep looking at her. Why did she feel like she had to keep the other woman in her sights? Her trust was misplaced, she knew that, but she felt that if she let the woman walk out that door without saying something...she was going to lose a piece of herself.
"Come back with me," she offered. "Whatever you've done...we can fix it."
Ada smiled bitterly, even a little bit sad that she couldn't accept the offer. Rose saw it, knew what the answer would be, and felt her lip tremble with the unspoken rejection. "See you around, kiddo."
Ashley leaned against Rose's shoulder, her eyes feathered shut even as she fought sleep. The branches of the flower bushes surrounding the fountain dug into their backs, but they all agreed that it was better than continuing as fatigued as they were. They were going on two days without food or sleep, and they had all decided to trust the water in the fountain and had used their hands as cups to drink from it. Thankfully, it had no taste, and Leon believed it was clean.
Leon himself was still dutifully standing watch, but he let his shoulders sag in relaxation as he too took a few minutes to calm down. He hadn't been pushed this hard since the training the DSO had put him through, and it was all muscle memory by now, but it was still taking a lot out of him. His one mission before this one, Operation Javier, had been tough, but at least then he had only needed to take care of himself. His partner, Major Krauser, had been a force to be reckoned with all on his own, and it'd been a shock to his system when he'd heard of his superior's death.
He had finished making a couple of new rounds out of brass casings he'd managed to keep ahold of and the gunpowder they'd found earlier and proceeded to walk over to a gate and tried to open it, beating his fist against it in frustration when it didn't budge. The leaves crunched as he forced his way past a decrepit-looking wagon and looked up at a hole in the wall that led into the area behind the gate. He turned back to the girls, almost feeling guilty. "Party time's up, girls. Time to go."
Ashley jerked in surprise, having been nearly asleep. She wiped the drool that had been about to fall off Rose's shoulder and blushed, hoping the agent hadn't noticed. Rose looked at Leon scornfully. "It's been like ten minutes," she complained.
"Ten minutes too long," he said warily. "You know I'm right."
Rose glared at the sky but nodded and stood up, pulling Ashley along. They joined Leon below the hole and he didn't even have to say anything, just got down into position with his fingers laced together in prep to boost one of them up. Rose bit her lip but stepped into his palms, steadying herself on the wall as he hoisted her up. Using her upper body strength, she pulled herself the rest of the way up and swung her leg over, then her torso until she was lowering herself back down on the other side. She dropped with a low 'oof' into a crouch, then hurried over to unlock the gate. Ashley was coughing harshly again, as she opened the gate.
Leon placed a comforting hand on Ashley's back as he guided her deeper into the darkness. The flickering torches on the walls cast long shadows, and a light drizzle began to fall, making the atmosphere feel even more foreboding. "This... looks like the right place," he said, glancing around as the area opened up.
Suddenly, Ashley cried out in pain and doubled over. Rose was by her side in an instant, gripping her arms to steady her. Leon whipped around, concern etched on his face, and rushed back toward them. "Are you okay?" he asked, worry lacing his voice.
Ashley straightened, her hands dropping from her head. "I... I think so," she managed, but then she grunted and collapsed forward. Rose barely caught her, struggling to keep them both upright.
"Leon, front pocket! I have first aid—" Rose started to say, but Ashley cut her off, her voice sharp and urgent.
"Instead of worrying about her... worry about your own skin." In a shocking blur of motion, Ashley grabbed Leon's knife from its holster and shoved Rose away with enough force to send her stumbling back. The blade spun in her hand, glinting ominously as she aimed it at Leon, bringing it down with alarming speed.
Rose's heart dropped as Leon caught the blade in his fist, halting it just inches from his chest. "Foolish little lamb!" Ashley hissed, her expression twisted.
"Ashley, what the hell?" Rose shouted, confusion morphing into horror as she lunged forward, knocking Ashley's arm away and pushing her further from Leon. Blood dripped from Leon's hand, pooling around the knife.
"Temperance, child," Ashley murmured, her eyes now bloodshot, black veins snaking across her pale skin like shadows from a nightmare. In a sudden, desperate move, she pressed the tip of the knife to her own neck, a thin bead of blood trickling down her skin.
"Ashley!" Leon gasped, his outstretched hand trembling as if he could stop her with sheer will. He was treating her like a frightened animal, but right now, Ashley seemed more predator than prey. This wasn't the Ashley they knew; it had to be the Plaga's influence.
Ashley began to back away, and Leon mirrored her steps, trying to maintain a connection. But just then, a heavy gate slammed down between them. Rose rushed forward, slamming against the bars.
"Don't!" she shouted, desperation in her voice, but Ashley's gaze flickered between her and Leon, lost in a battle within herself. Then, in a moment of clarity, she dropped the knife, whimpering as reality washed over her. "No! Stay there!"
But before they could even try to find a way to reach her, Ashley turned and bolted, disappearing into the shadows without looking back. Leon ran forward, gripping the bars, resting his forehead against them in exasperation. "Ah, shit," he sighed, frustration and helplessness washing over him.
Leon's communicator beeping interrupted whatever Rose was about to say. With a furrowed brow, Leon pulled it open and was surprised when Ingrid's face appeared in the small window.
"Finally! You guys are really hard to reach. I was worried," Ingrid complained.
"Don't you mean lonely?" Leon teased. Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes. "We've been busy. Things went to shit. We took refuge inside a castle, but Rose and I were just separated from Ashley."
The communicator began to static over, making Ingrid's response unintelligible. "Say-ing you-"
"Hunnigan? You're breaking up. Do you read me?"
The image distorted, cutting in and out and morphing Ingrid's face. "-eon-in!-chopper-st-"
"Damn it!" Leon cursed as the communicator finally went dead.
"Oh, that had to be on purpose," Rose groaned. "It was just working a second ago! And you wasted the good reception to flirt!"
Leon shot her an annoyed look. Rose returned his look, furrowing her brows at him to mock his contempt, then walked around an angel statue that guarded the entrance to a gazebo with another fountain. This one had greenish water from built-up algae, but at least it was better than whatever that black sludge inside had been. Her pants still stunk from running through it. Oh, what would she give for a hot shower right now?
She followed the mostly linear layout around a corner and grinned in relief when she spotted the blue flame in a sconce outside an unassuming wooden door. Leon hummed from behind her, obviously pleased as well. Rose pushed the door open, still smiling wide when she saw the array of merchandise and the cloaked man standing behind his table.
"Welcome, welcome. Got some new things that might interest ya!"
"Hopefully you've got plenty of ammo," Rose said as she dug out the perfume bottle and more money they had picked up along the way.
The cloaked man's eyes gleamed beneath his hood as he leaned forward, fingers splayed across the table. "Ah, you've brought some treasures! Let's see what you've got." He gestured for her to place the items down. Leon stepped closer, scanning the shelves lined with various trinkets, weapons, and potions. The cloaked man nodded approvingly, picking up the bottle of perfume and examining it with a practiced eye. "Ah, a rare find indeed. This'll fetch a good price—"
Leon placed three boxes of handgun ammo and two boxes of shotgun shells down on the table, as well as his shotgun. "We'll split these, and I want to upgrade this."
"And some extra magazines," Rose cut in. She looked up at Leon, who nodded his approval as the merchant happily added all the extra pistol magazines he had to the pile-six of them.
"Hahaha thank ya," the merchant chortled as he took the money remainder of their dues from Leon and stowed away the perfume bottle. Rose got to work loading 15 rounds each into the magazines-including the ones she and Leon already had on them, condensing three boxes into one. As she did, she felt the heavy feeling of uncertainty lift from her shoulders. Of course, she had plenty of faith in both her and Leon's abilities, but the last half hour of not having any ammunition at all had been very stressful. These lunatics had blind wolverines hidden away in their basement, who knew what else they could have come across...without bullets, they might as well put dresses on and dance a ballet instead of fighting their way out.
She loaded her shotgun and eyed the remaining boxes of ammo warily. "Do you have any compact bags?" She asked the merchant. She already felt pretty weighed down, and though she was sure Leon could fit more into his cargo pants, carrying around entire boxes of ammo was going to be annoying.
he merchant nodded, a glimmer of understanding in his eyes. "A wise choice, my dear. Traveling light can be the difference between life and death out there." He rummaged beneath his table and produced a small, weathered backpack with multiple pockets. "This should suit your needs nicely. Compact, yet sturdy enough to hold a decent haul."
Rose took the backpack, inspecting it closely. The fabric was frayed in places, but it felt durable. "How much?"
"Ah, I think ten is a fair price for this old thing," he replied with a grin, handing it over as Leon gave the money. "Just remember to keep your eyes open for the unexpected."
She raised an eyebrow, intrigued but wary and began loading the rest of the boxes into the bag before shrugging it on behind her shotgun that was strapped to her back. "What kind of unexpected?"
"Let's just say that not all treasures are meant to be found. And not all paths are as safe as they appear." He leaned back, crossing his arms as if satisfied with the ominous air he'd created.
Leon, now finished with his own preparations, interjected, "Thanks for the warning, but we'd prefer something a bit more concrete. Do you have any intel on what's lurking in the area?"
"Some strange buzzing, like large insects, fluttering of large wings. Aint seen nofin, but can hear em! They'll keep you busy for a while."
"That's just great," Leon says ironically. "Cos' boredom kills me."
They stepped out into the cool evening air and Rose adjusted her backpack, feeling the comforting heft of the ammunition inside. They stayed quiet, though Rose chewed on her lip as she started going over a speech in her head. She needed to clear the air with Leon, and with Ashley gone (for hopefully the last time), now would be the perfect opportunity to talk it out. It'd be pretty easy to just stay quiet and complete the mission and move on, but it was a small world when you worked for the government. They could be assigned to missions together again. But more than that, she wanted Leon to trust her because...well, she liked him. A lot.
Up another set of stairs and through another gate, they went back inside the castle. It was dark, with small candles barely managing to fight off a couple inches of darkness, and more chains were dangling from the ceiling. Rose shivered, unnerved by the similarities to the basement. She hadn't jinxed herself, had she? Leon drew his pistol, aiming it at a slumped figure before a ghastly display—a woman bound in agony, her head grotesquely shattered. It was as though someone had turned horror into a twisted form of 'art,' showcasing the horror inflicted by the parasite that ravaged her. As they edged closer, the unsettling murmur of whispers filled the air, yet the figure remained eerily motionless and Rose was confused to see two others in the same position, assumingly already dead. The other wall had wine barrels lined up, and she oddly craved a glass as she passed by, thinking about how thirsty she was, despite having just drank from the fountain.
Crouching low, Leon approached a polished wooden door, but his frustration was palpable when he discovered it was locked. Rose, biting back her irritation, turned and ascended a short flight of stairs straight ahead, only to find herself halted at a dead end. Resigned, she glanced back toward the room they had just exited, her nerves alight by how the whispering voices had gotten louder.
Leon loomed near the shrine, his expression darkening with disgust. "This is messed up," he muttered, his voice a rough edge of disbelief and revulsion. Rose agreed but didn't voice her disdain. "Anything up there?" He asked and Rose shook her head but turned as a piece of paper nailed to the wall caught her eye. She walked over and tore it down, reading out loud.
"The voice of pestilence dwells in the flames, leading the pitiful souls to salvation. Consign the crimson flame to its rightful place. For you shall be enlightened, and the path revealed."
She walked it over to Leon, who took the note from her hands and read it once over for himself. She looked around the room, mind whirring for some sort of explanation. Leon hummed, going to stand between two statues. One was holding a lantern with flames licking the air around it while the other was not.
"It's simple," he said. "We gotta find this 'crimson flame'."
The chanting was very loud now, echoing into the room and accompanied by clanging metal. Always clanging metal. A sound that would stay in her subconscious forever. Leon walked over to a barrel and pulled aside some torn drapes, crouching low when it revealed another room and a man dressed in red robes and a Rams head helmet. Rose quickly crouched, not wanting to be the one to get caught, and was very annoyed that they wouldn't get a moment to talk before being flung into battle once again. These cultists were everywhere.
She hoped Ashley was okay and hadn't been captured. She wished Ashley had kept Leon's knife to protect herself. She'd done well with the kitchen knife, and it had proven her point that giving Ashley something to defend herself with had been a good idea. Sort of. She did get a little too big for her britches and ran off. Twice. But her knife skills had been effective!
The man in the crimson robes stood tall, gripping a staff adorned with a lantern that emitted an eerie red glow. Just a few steps away lay their target—if they could only get close enough to snatch it from him.
Rose and Leon crept forward, staying low and blending in with the barrels and debris that offered them some cover. Each careful movement brought them closer to the robed figure, whose commanding presence seemed to draw the attention of a small crowd gathered at his feet.
As the man began to shout fervently about "glory to Las Plagas," his voice rose above the hushed whispers of the onlookers, echoing in the dimly lit space. A sudden puff of hot air surged through the room, accompanied by a flash of brilliant red light that momentarily illuminated the shadows. The crowd swayed, caught up in the fervor of his speech, oblivious to the two intruders just a few feet away. Leon shot her a quick glance, his expression serious and focused.
"Now," he mouthed, a signal for them to make their move. With the robed man's back turned and the audience entranced, Rose was about to reveal herself when the cultists' heads exploded without prompt, fountains of blood and other nasty fluids spraying the immediate area and coating the stone floor in slick goo. Another robed figure started making his way towards them, but luckily they hadn't been spotted. Leon swirled his finger around to let her know to turn, so they went back the other way and followed the path in the opposite direction they had been going in hopes of sneaking around the bulk of cultists. Eventually, there were stairs to the left of them, and stairs to the right.
Rose dutifully stayed right behind Leon as they chose the right-hand stairs. There was a red barrel at the top of the stairs with a yellow 'inflammable' warning label on it. They ascended the stairs quietly and Leon snuck up on a cultist, drawing out his knife. Rose watched in awe as Leon suddenly stood up, grabbed the poor soul by the head and shoved his knife into the cultist's neck as he brought him to the floor. There was another with a crossbow, his back to them as Leon repeated the action with him.
There was a lever beside the crossbowman, and Rose looked at Leon, who shrugged his shoulders and then gave it a harsh tug. The large chandelier that was in the middle of the room suddenly dropped like a hot potato. "Shit," Leon said in regret as the robed man on the other side of the room started shouting. He raised his staff and slammed it back down. A pulse went through the air, making Leon's head feel like he was being sucked through a tiny straw. He held his head, fighting against the immense pressure, and his eardrums felt like they were going to burst.
"What the hell was that?" Leon groaned when it was over. Rose grunted, shaking her head. She hadn't felt anything, but his reaction had scared the hell out of her.
"I don't know, but I blame you."
Leon didn't get to respond because a black-clad figure threw itself out of the doorway they'd just come from and wrapped his hands around Leon's neck. Rose reacted, putting a bullet in his knee and making it give out. Leon pushed the cultist away from him, only for Rose to be caught up in the grip of another that had snuck up behind her. Another of those weird pulse things washed over them. Rose gurgled her whine even though she had a man's hands wrapped tightly around her neck, her eyes watching as her partner struggled to stay on his feet. Leon grunted as he managed to kick his attacker off of him again and shot him down, then turned to where Rose was losing strength, her eyes becoming unfocused. He grabbed the cultist by the back of his robes and yanked hard, pressing the muzzle of his gun to the bald man's skull and pulling the trigger.
Blood splattered across Rose's face, but she couldn't bring herself to care as she folded forward and gasped for air, coughing with her hand gently feeling the bruises forming on her neck. She'd have an ugly necklace of purple, green, and yellow there soon enough and it wouldn't go away for weeks, she was sure of it. They didn't have time to recover. More were coming up the stairs and Leon round-housed one to the floor, using his knife to stab him in the head. Instead of dying, though, his head exploded. Leon leaped back, watching in horror as the other two from downstairs joined him. He helped Rose right herself and pushed her behind him as he fired at the red barrel.
It exploded into flames with a loud boom and Leon used his own body to shield Rose's, listening in satisfaction to the screams of the parasites as they burned to death. They turned around and narrowly avoided one of those worms with teeth as it shot out of the cultist's head and tried to devour theirs. Leon yanked Rose to the side and they bobbed and weaved around attackers to get to the other side of the room. The pulse rang out again, nearly knocking them both to their knees, but they caught themselves on the railing. Rose raised her gun behind her, firing at another red barrel to ward off the ones that had followed them. It exploded, and Rose was proud of how she only flinched. At the start of this mission, such a thing would have sent her into a panic attack with PTSD memories rendering her immobile.
She was growing and it thrilled her.
It was short-lived excitement. They were quickly surrounded and all but one of them had some form of parasite writhing around in the air, trying to either consume or lop off their heads. They both switched to their shotguns and stood back-to-back as they fired. It took two shots each for the parasites to die, but another just took their fallen brothers place.
Their breaths mingled with the acrid smoke and blood that filled the air. She could feel the heat radiating from the flames behind them, a reminder of their narrow escape moments earlier. The pulsating dread in the room matched the rhythm of her beating heart as the grotesque forms equipped with parasites encroached upon them like a tide of nightmares.
"Just keep moving!" Leon shouted, his voice a steady anchor amidst the chaos. She nodded, eyes narrowed in concentration, as they aimed at the next wave of horrors. The shotguns kicked against their shoulders, a jarring comfort in the cacophony of battle.
Another parasite flared up in response to their leaders chanting pulse-sending magic, its tendrils stretching toward them like grasping hands. Rose fired first, covering for Leon while he reacted violently, the blast reverberating through her body. It was an unending cycle of death and despair.
"It's the leader!" Rose called. "Whatever he's doing is causing your parasite to lash out!"
"Right!" Leon commanded, and they pivoted in unison, dodging the gnashing teeth of another worm-like creature that seemed driven by pure malice. Rose could feel the bile rising in her throat but swallowed it down, focusing instead on the precision of her aim.
With every blast, memories threatened to surface—sights and sounds from past encounters that had nearly broken her. But this time, the thoughts were pushed aside by the clarity of survival. She was no longer the scared girl who had hesitated in the face of a fiery death. She was a warrior, forged in chaos and blood.
The crowd of parasites shrieked, their sounds a ghastly symphony. Just then, Leon's shot connected with what seemed to be the last of them, a larger cultist whose twisted features contorted in pain. A satisfying crack echoed as the figure crumpled to the ground, its parasite severed, leaving only the pathetic shell behind. They wasted no time in sprinting after the leader who had evaded them and made a dash for the other side of the room once again. Every time they got close, he ran the opposite direction.
"Let's flank him," Leon suggested. "You go back that way, I'll keep going this way."
"No way," Rose protested. "They'll kill you if I leave you here."
Leon wanted to protest, but as his parasite demanded to show itself and heads exploded around him, he couldn't argue. He grit his teeth against the pain and nodded. Rose nodded back.
"Here, push this into the way and block them from sneaking up behind us. I'll cover you."
Leon quickly turned and knocked over the table and crates that were behind them, temporarily slowing their pursuers. Rose's gunshots were practically drowned out by the chanting and yelling and exploding of flesh that was going on around them, but once she felt confident enough, she grabbed Leon's hand and they sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them to the other end. Rose launched herself across a table once the red-robed figure was in sight, crashing into him as he tried to run away.
Her lip caught the horn on his helmet, splitting it open and making her hiss in pain, but she pinned him to the floor and wrapped her legs around him as she spun so that he was on top of her. Leon wasted no time in stabbing his knife into the soft flesh that was exposed between the helmet and the collar of his robes. She threw him off of her, sneering in disgust as his blood dribbled in a steady river onto her chest.
God, she was going to have a two-day shower when this was all done and over with.
With renewed strength, Leon took out the last cultist on this side of the barrier and Rose scooped up the red lantern. "Let's get the fuck out of here," she hissed and she limped down the stairs with Leon following closely behind her. They backtracked the way they came in, thankfully losing any pursuers, and found themselves back in the room with the statues.
"You okay?" Leon asked, noting that she was limping again. That last leap had brought the pain back into her leg from a dull throb to a full-on over-extended red hot pain.
"I'll be fine," she said through gritted teeth. She harshly attached the lantern to the statue, letting it fall and dangle above the floor in spite. Then, she finally gave in and dug out her painkillers, popping them in her mouth and chewing them. Her mouth was too dry to attempt swallowing them, and as badly as she wanted that wine, she couldn't risk finding Ashley and being doped up too badly by mixing drugs and alcohol. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to.
Leon eyed her warily but accepted her stubborn answer as the gate slid up over the door nestled between the statues. The next room had two suits of armor on every wall.
Rose glared at them, her mood now thoroughly sunk. "I swear to god, if those things come to life, I'm going to do something drastic."
Leon puffed out a laugh, fatigue grinding away at his mind and his body. Whatever that spell he'd been under had really done a number on him. Thankfully, the armor stayed in their positions as they moved through, taking an adjoining hallway through the now brightly lit castle until they pushed through into a room that looked to be like an old study. A large square window was open, swinging noisily on its hinges.
The hair on both their arms prickled, sensing a shift in the air. The scent of cherry blossom perfume lingered in the air. Leon readied his gun, and Rose scanned the area, her eyes darting everywhere for the source.
"You can stop right there, Leon." Ada's voice came from everywhere, surrounding them. Rose whipped around, aiming her gun at Ada as she stepped out of the shadows. Leon moved more slowly, turning his head before he moved another muscle.
"Put it down, Ada," Rose warned, tightening her grip on her gun. Ada scoffed at her without sparing her a glance.
"We both know you're not going to shoot me," Ada responded. She smirked at Rose's lack of response and stepped closer to Leon. "You wouldn't make me use this, would you?"
Leon threw his gun down, his hands up in surrender. "Well, after six years, that is one hell of a greeting...Ada." He suddenly turned, throwing his arm out and grabbing Ada's dominant hand, knocking her gun away from him. Rose rapidly backed up so she didn't get hit in the ensuing fight, Ada kicking upwards in a fan kick, forcing Leon away from her. Leon pulled out his knife, swiping at Ada as she evaded him. She caught his knife hand, only for him to switch hands and place the blade at her exposed neck. "Try using knives next time. Better for close encounters."
Ada smirked once again. "Not a bad move. Very smooth. Do you treat all your ladies with such care?"
"So it is true."
"True? About what?"
"You. Working with Wesker."
Rose's eyebrows shot up to her hairline in surprise. She knew Ada worked for the highest bidder, but...Umbrella?
"I see you've been doing your homework."
"Why, Ada?"
"What's it to you?"
"Why are you here? Why'd you show up like this? Why'd you pull Rose out of that house in the village?"
Ada makes a sound of indignation and Leon roughly pulls back, sheathing his knife and picking up his gun while the older woman repositions to keep both him and Rose in sight, her back to the window. "Leave the girl. She's lost no matter what you do. Get yourselves out of here."
"No way," Rose says. "We can't give up that easily."
Ada chuckles bitterly. "Right. How about we continue this discussion another time?"
Realizing what was about to happen, Rose scowls. "Are you always going to leave with a dramatic, cryptic answer?"
A bang and a bright light blinded them, forcing Rose and Leon to cover their eyes against the harsh attack of the flashbang. When their ears stopped ringing and Ada was gone, Rose sighed. "She's like freaking Batman."
Leon didn't answer, though. He was walking up to where something small and white was fluttering to the ground. Slowly, he bent and picked it up, his face getting colder and his entire body tensing up as he glared icily at the Polaroid picture in his hand. "What the hell is this?" He hissed, turning it so that Rose could see what was on it.
Rose stopped short, her entire body going still. The image on the Polaroid was...impossible.
It was her, maybe about sixteen years old, sitting on a chair and smiling at the camera. Her hair was really long, flowing down her back in silky waves, and she was wearing a silly party hat, white with pink, yellow, and blue polka dots on it. And Ada, half her face shrouded in darkness but between the curve of her lips, and the short, form-fitting red dress she was wearing, it couldn't be anyone but Ada. The older woman's hand was placed possessively on younger Rose's shoulder.
But Rose couldn't remember this picture ever being taken.
Now that she thought about it, all her memories from when she was a child were hazy at best...missing at worst. Rose echoed Leon's sentiment.
"What the hell?"