Word count 9,858
Leon let out a sigh of relief when he finally was able to enter the church Aeon had told him to check out.
He had needed to do far too much for his liking to get inside that church. First he had to deal with all the infected villagers on his path, then he had to make his way through a number of undergrounds paths, and then when he had finally reached said church, he'd found it locked, with some kind of artifact behind the church being protected by an altar with strange symbols on it he had to somehow put into order.
At least he'd found out a note saying that the key was hidden somewhere beyond the nearby lake.
He wasn't really eager to find out what "Del Lago" was, no doubt some kind of monster that would try to kill him (because knowing his luck, it could be nothing else), but at least he got confirmation that Asley was indeed in the Church.
Nonetheless, he continued on the narrow path he was on between the hills-
*CRASH!*
-Oh fuck!
Leon's eyes went wide when a couple of villagers pushed a massive boulder down the path he was in, and he promptly turned around and began running like hell when the boulder began rolling downhill straight towards him.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon-" he whispered to himself while running as fast as he could while the boulder came closer, gaining more and more speed-
There!
Leon jumped on the side, an opening in the narrow path he was on letting him jump out of the boulder's way.
For a moment he caught his breath, watching the massive round boulder eventually crash against the wall of the path he had been on and shatter into pieces.
He sighed deeply. "Damn, Aeon really wasn't joking about the Indiana Jones traps… Great, just great."
He shook his head, and then kept going, noticing that the numbers of villagers began to swiftly drop in the area until there was no one in his way anymore.
Where are they? He wondered.
The answer came when he arrived at the lake, and noticed two things.
One, the presence of several ISIS soldiers in the area.
And two, a number of corpses of villagers on fire that the ISIS soldiers were keeping an eye on… and the burning corpse of a gigantic lake monster laying dead on the ground near the lake.
Well, I guess I know what "Del Lago" is, after all… Leon noted.Though damn, what the hell did ISIS do to it? A good chunk of it seemed to have exploded into nothingness!
The ISIS soldier tensed at his arrival, before relaxing when they recognized him.
"Hey there! What are you doing around here? Weren't you supposed to head to the church? At least, that's what we heard." shouted the closest ISIS soldier.
"I was, but the door's locked and apparently the key is somewhere beyond the lake!" he shouted back, relaxing slightly at the presence of friendly soldiers.
The ISIS soldier nodded in understanding, while the others returned to keep watch on their surroundings for any incoming villagers.
"Well, you're in luck!" replied the soldier. "Our boss just killed off that ugly bastard over here-" he waved at the burning corpse of the lake monster "-a while ago, and now we're just making sure this area is properly cleansed of hostiles before we join back up with the frontlines. So you should be able to cross the lake without issues, though once on the other side I'd be careful, we're still fighting it out over there."
Leon glanced at the burning monster. "Aeon did that, huh? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Though I supposed I owe him one, I sure as hell wouldn't have wanted to fight this thing in the middle of the lake."
Leon and the soldier went to get him a boat to cross the lake, catching up on things and receiving the story of how that giant monster died from the soldier's awed account.
As Leon expected, the story was short but pretty crazy, which was no surprise considering it involved Aeon fighting seriously… Well, probably.
He could never tell with Aeon if he was fighting seriously or if even a monster the size of Del Lago was barely an inconvenience for the man.
Either way, the crossing of the lake was strangely anti-climatic, and soon enough Leon was on the other side, eager to finally get the key he needed to enter the church and get to Ashley.
What was confusing was that he found a note in a building on the other side which told him more precisely where the item he was seeking was, and the way it was written…
Well, it sounded like Luis Sera. Did the man escape somehow? If so, that was good news.
In any case, with better intel of where to go, it didn't take long for him to come across a nearby dam, and once the river's water was turned away it opened a path to a secret entrance, which led him to an item with the insignia of the cult.
Leon was also trying not to think too much about the fact that somehow the Shady man had somehow crossed his paths twice more, each time having seemingly calmly waited for him to show up before showing him his wares.
How the hell was the man able to go faster than him and get his hands on new stuff to sell he had no idea, and frankly to desire to know.
At least he was useful, and while Leon had his theories (up to and including Aeon trolling him at the same time he was helping him), he knew better than to expect a straight answer out of the shady man.
Still, it's been a while since he last gave a status update, so…
He activated his communicator.
"Ingrid, It's Leon. I found the church Aeon told me about, but the door was locked. I managed to track down an item that should allow me to open the door, however. Also, I found a note which seems to indicate that Ashley is indeed kept in said church."
"That's good news, Leon." Replied Ingrid, a measure of relief in her voice. "I was getting worried about the lack of updates. Either way, if you've got the key then head back to the church. Ashley's safety is our immediate priority."
"Copy that. I'll call you again when I've made more progress. Leon over and out."
Leon put his communicator away and, after yet another encounter with the Shady merchant, made his way out of the cavern he was in, only to find himself in the middle of a camp of the villagers.
Leon tensed as the villagers blocked the ways out with heavy wooden doors, before blinking when a group of villagers proceeded to open massive steel doors in the nearby cliff side of the hill.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long to find out why the doors were closed, as a giant monster proceeded to burst out of the now open doors and then crushed, kicked and tore apart all the villagers which had foolishly granted it freedom.
The giant tried to do the same with Leon, but his quick reflexes saved him and he jumped backwards to avoid a monstrous fist the size of his torso.
The giant obviously didn't appreciate his prey's survival, as he roared in Leon's face (and he couldn't help but recoil violently at the horrendous smell of it's breath) before trying to grab him.
Leon dodged the giant's hand and brought out his plasma gun, firing several times at the monster.
Good news, each shot tore chunks of flesh from the monster and made it more and more angry.
Bad news: an angry giant is a faster giant, as proven when Leon failed to dodged the next attempt at grabbing him.
"Arrgh!" he shouted, feeling the giant's grip threaten to break the majority of the bones of his body.
The giant smiled cruelly at his scream of pain… Until Leon bared his teeth and growled, before lining up a shot at the giant's unprotected face and fired.
The first shot caught the monster in the forehead, the strength of the shot violently forcing the head backward while the giant roared in agony, and then the second shot burned straight through the now visible throat of the monster.
The giant's roar of pain turned into a weak gurgle, and as it fell to one knee Leon lined up his shot one last time.
For a second, man and monster stared at one another… and then Leon fired again, the bright blue bolt of plasma going straight through the monster's right eye and cooking it's brain and the parasite within.
Leon gasped as he was released, the grip of the monster turning slack in death, and both Leon and the giant crashed on the ground, though Leon was the only one still breathing.
He coughed, grimacing at the pain his body was in from the too-tight grip of the monster, before taking a bundle of green and red herbs and using them to heal himself.
He sighed in relief once the pain was gone, and then stood up again.
Before blinking once the howl of a dog echoed in the village.
He looked up, blinking again when he recognized the dog in question.
He had helped said dog a while back, and now here he was again.
The dog stared at him for a moment, before walking away.
"... Huh." he muttered. "Didn't expect to have a spectator." he said with a wry grin.
Shaking his head, he went through the now open paths leading beyond (a grenade made quick work of the wooden doors) and eventually made his way back to the church.
He had to put down two enraged dogs on the way, and the way a bunch of tentacles burst out of the back of the second made it clear the reason for their murderous intent was not natural.
Still, he successfully made his way to the church, unlocked the door with the item he found bearing the insignia of the cult, and then entered it.
Time to find Ashley Grahams at last.
The church itself was pretty small, but it just meant the cultists put their insignia everywhere in some desperate attempt to make it seem more important.
Of course, getting to Ashley couldn't be simple. Oh no, he had to actually use some kind of coloured projectors to unlock the way forward, since apparently what the building lacked in space the cultists also decided to make up for it by creating tunnels all over the place.
Still, eventually he reached a now open steel door, carefully opened it and stepped inside-
And then froze as a young woman ran in front of him to pick up a bit of wood on the ground and then threw it at him (said wood completely missing him) before screaming "Don't come closer!"
"Ashley! Take it easy." he replied, stepping forward, but Ashley ran towards a corner of the room, looking at him with fear in her eyes. "No! Get away from me!"
"Calm down." he said gently, putting his gun in his holster and coming closer, kneeling by her side. "You're gonna be just fine. My name's Leon, I'm under the President's orders to rescue you."
Ashley, who had closed her eyes in terror at his approach, suddenly jerked and stared at him with wide eyes.
"What?! My father?!" she exclaimed, leaning forward.
"That's right." he confirmed with a smile. "And I'm going to get you out of here."
He waved towards the door. "Now come with me, there's no time to waste."
He turned away, Ashley nodding and dutifully following behind him.
Leon took out his radio.
"It's Leon, I've succeeded in finding my subject." he reported.
"Good work, Leon!" replied Ingrid, the relief and happiness at the news clear in her voice. "I'll send a chopper over right away."
"Copy that. Where's the extraction point?"
"There's another trail that you can use to get out of the village. The chopper will pick you up beyond there." she explained.
"Got it. I'm on my way." he promised, before putting back his radio at his waist.
"Come on, follow me." he said to Ashley, who nodded.
"What's going out here? I heard what I think were explosions and more…" she asked.
Leon snorted. "Yeah, no surprises there. Ever heard of ISIS? Or Insight Corp?"
She frowned in thought. "I think? My father definitely mentioned the name, at least."
Leon smiled. "Not surprising. ISIS is the armed branch of Insight Corp, and their goal is to fight against Bioengineered Weapons of War. Like, for example, the parasites the cult who kidnapped you make uses of. So when they found out you had been kidnapped, they investigated and found out about the cult, and decided to mount a full-scale offensive against it. What you heard was the sounds of the small-scale war going on outside, as ISIS soldiers fight every cultist who calls this place home. ISIS's leader is an old friend of mine, and he's the one who told me you were hidden here."
Leon shook his head, keeping his ears open for any sounds of incoming cultists as they made their way through the stone corridors of the church towards the exit.
"So basically, I'm here to bring you back home safe and sound, and ISIS will be the ones to destroy this cult for good, to ensure they never harm anyone else ever again."
"I see…" whispered Ashley.
She looked like she was going to say something else, but her words were forgotten in the face of the cold, calm voice which suddenly spoke up when Leon and Ashley reached the main entrance of the church.
"I'll take the girl."
They both turned, Leon levelling his gun at the man in dark blue robes and a thoroughly disturbing staff in his right hand.
"Who are- wait… Saddler." hissed Leon, his finger ready to press the trigger of his Las-pistol as ISIS's intel allowed him to recognize the leader of the cult and the mastermind behind Ashley's kidnapping.
"Indeed, I am Osmund Saddler, the master of this fine… religious community." calmly replied Saddler, seemingly uncaring of the gun pointed at him.
"What do you want? What's the point of all this?" questioned Leon. Since the mastermind of this mess was right there, he might as well get some answers straight from Saddler's mouth.
"To demonstrate to the whole world our astounding power of course. No longer will the United States think they can police the world forever. So, we… kidnapped the president's daughter, in order to give her our power and then… send her back." he declared with a smile, his strange green eyes staring straight towards Ashley with visible glee.
Leon dared to take his eyes off Saddler to glance at Ashley, who had gone pale and was visibly shaking in fear.
"No…" she whispered in horror, a flash of horrifying understanding passing through her eyes.
"Leon… I think that they put something in my neck!" she exclaimed, her left hand resting on the side of her neck in memory of the implantation of the parasite.
Leon turned grim, before looking back at Saddler.
"So that's your plan, huh. Using the daughter of the US president to get access to the White House and the people there, to infect them in turn." he said darkly.
"Indeed. Oh, there will be one hell of a party when she returns home to her loving father." Saddler declared with relish, malice dripping from every word. "But before that, I thought I might bargain with the President for some… donations. Believe it or not, it takes quite a lot of money to get this church up and running." he finished, looking upwards at the symbol of the cult above the altar.
"Faith and money will lead you nowhere, Saddler." Leon replied. "Besides, I do believe you're about to be too dead to worry about either, soon enough. I can't imagine that your master plan included ISIS showing up in force to wreck your little cult, did it?" he mocked.
For the first time in the conversation, Saddler sneered in rage, his grip tightening angrily on his staff.
"An unexpected complication, I will admit. But ISIS underestimates the power that we possess. So far, they have done much damage to our outer territory… but they have yet to truly hit the most important parts of our religious community. I assure you: When they do… We will be ready." he swore, eyes flashing with cruel anticipation.
Leon merely snorted at Saddler's words. "Right, you're somehow going to take the army that took back Raccoon City by surprise. Somehow, I think ISIS aren't the ones underestimating people, here." Also, I'd love to see you try to fight Aeon. I'd be good for a laugh, that's for sure.
"We shall see. For now-"
The doors of the church bursted open, two men in the same robes as Saddler pointing weapons at him from the entrance.
"-I do believe you have more pressing concerns to worry about." coldly finished the cult leader.
Leon took Ashley by the arm and ran to the side, the shots missing them by a hair's breadth before Leon jumped through one of the church windows, Ashley following suit while tightly closing her eyes in fear.
Leon ended the fall in a roll, while Ashley grunted when she fell hard on the ground.
He turned, kneeling by her side. "You're okay?" he asked in concern.
"Leon… What's going to happen to me?" She asked instead, looking up at him with wide, trembling eyes.
"Don't worry. If they know how to implant these parasites, they have to know how to get them out too. All we have to do is find out where they keep the equipment for that." he replied, before helping her get to her feet.
"If you say so." she said, looking a bit hopeful but mostly scared.
He smiled at her. "Hey, it's fine. Worst comes to worst, I can just ask Aeon, the leader of ISIS, to help you out. If anyone can do it, it's him. Now come on, let's get out of here before more cultists show up."
Ashley swallowed nervously but agreed, and soon enough they made their way out of the hill the church stood on and into the lands beyond.
Leon had to be extra careful, as he now had to protect Ashley while also killing the villagers who tried to kill him, but thankfully none of the villagers were armed with guns, so that made things easier.
So for a while, Leon simply walked while gunning down anything that moved in their way, a silent but wide-eyed Ashley following closely behind.
Her silence didn't last forever however, though Leon easily understood why.
Meeting the Shady Merchant for the first time definitely warranted a reaction of some kind, even by his standards.
"So, what are you buying?" the man asked, his thick accent only making things more surreal as he opened his coat to reveal all the guns, ammo and more he had on him.
"Errr… Leon?" whispered Ashley behind him, staring at the man with disturbed fascination. "What the hell is up with this guy?!"
The man's eyes met her own, and Leon could see the way his eyes crinkled in amusement, while Ashley flinched and tried to hide behind Leon's back.
He sighed. "Don't worry about it." he replied. "He's friendly, I promise." Or at least, I hope so, he thought but did not say.
Ashley sent him a dubious look, but outwardly didn't comment, so Leon got some more ammo in peace and then left, Ashley almost glued to his back while the Shady Merchant chuckled disturbingly. "'Till next time!" he told them, and Leon had no doubt that there would be a next time, especially with the disturbing way the man seemed to always know where to be in order to stand in Leon's path.
After going further, killing a number of wandering villagers and meeting the Shady Merchant once more (with Ashley once again hiding behind Leon's back), Leon had just taken his first step on a wooden bridge leading towards his extraction point that his radio chimed in.
"Leon, I have bad news." grimly declared Ingrid immediately.
Leon sighed. Of course things couldn't be simple…
"I'd rather not hear it." he snarked to her.
"Well I'm afraid I have to tell you anyway." bluntly said Ingrid. "We've lost contact with the chopper, someone must have shot it down, one of Saddler's cultists no doubt."
He grunted. Should've known. "Great."
"We're prepping another chopper for you. Meanwhile, I want you to head towards the extraction point." finished Ingrid.
"Very well. But I should tell you that we've confirmed that Ashley is infected with the same kind of parasites that the cultists have. I know that Aeon and ISIS have a secondary objective of gathering all the data on the parasites that they can get, but as it is it means that Ashley herself is a security risk." Leon grimly reported.
There was a moment of silence, and then Ingrid sighed. "Copy that. Not unexpected, but certainly unwelcome. If we don't have any ways of freeing her by the time you get her back home, we'll have to detain her until we find a solution. Hopefully ISIS can help us. For the time being, let's just focus on getting her out of here. Having the daughter of the United States President in what is essentially a war zone full of B.O.W's is giving a lot of people gray hairs right now, including said President. The sooner she's out of Spain, the better."
"Agreed. If there's nothing else, I'll get back on leading Ashley to safety."
"Please do."
Leon put his radio away, before Ashley spoke up.
"I guess that getting out of here won't be as easy as we hoped, huh?" she said softly.
Leon glanced at her and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, just because we're delayed doesn't mean we can't get you out of here. I'll just take a bit longer."
Ashley nodded glumly.
Leon stared at her for a moment, before his expression softened. "That's not really what's troubling you, is it?"
She scoffed bitterly. "That obvious, huh?"
She sighed.
"You're right. It's just… Even if I get back in the US, I'll still have that damn parasite in me. I saw what it did to the villagers. To say nothing of…" she shivered, looking ready to vomit.
"Of what happened when your shots decapitated them, and the parasites bursted out of their headless bodies! It took everything I had not to scream at the sight…" she looked away, trembling and pale.
Leon sighed, then put a hand on her right shoulder. She looked up at him, and he smiled kindly at her.
"It's okay to be scared." he said gently. "You're a civilian, one who never had any experience in combat. And here you are, in the middle of a war zone with monsters and cultists and worse. But I promise you: I will get you back home, and you will be freed from the parasite in you. And the cult who hurt you so much will die to the last, ISIS will make sure of that."
She looked at him for a long moment in silence, before speaking up again. "You really think so?"
His smile widened. "I know it." he swore.
After all, he had the ultimate trump card: literal gods on speed dial.
You can't do much better than that.
Though the irony of gods fighting a cult wasn't lost on him…
Either way, Ashley looked at least marginally less pale and terrorized, so he gave himself a mental pat on the back and turned away, moving onwards to where the extraction point was.
Hopefully with a chopper ready for evac, this time.
Naturally, they had not taken five steps out of the bridge after crossing it when a massive number of villagers showed up, on both sides of the bridge, effectively trapping them between both groups.
"What are we going to do, Leon?" Ashley cried out.
"Hate to say it but we're sandwiched alright." he declared, before looking around.
His eyes fell on a nearby cabin, and he pointed at it.
"Quick! In that cabin!" he shouted to her, before running towards it. At least, it should make a better defensive position than out in the open, he thought grimly.
Leon kicked the door open, quickly searching for hostile and, on seeing none, took Ashley by the arm and dragged her swiftly inside, before closing the heavy metallic door and leaning towards it, both hands gripping his gun tightly.
"Leon!"
His eyes darted towards the voice, before widening as he instinctively caught a wooden bar thrown at him by Luis Sera, the man smirking at him while leaning against a wall on the opposite side of the room they were in.
"Small world, heh?" the man said with amusement, while Leon turned away, focusing on barring the door firmly shut before anything else.
"I see the President has equipped his daughter with ballistics too." Luis declared with growing amusement, his eyes falling towards Ashley's chest.
Ashley blinked in shock, quickly looking down at her chest before moving towards Luis with a scowl. "How rude!" she exclaimed angrily. "And I don't believe there is any relevance with my figure and my standing."
Her scowled deepened. "Who are you?"
"Ho ho! Excuse me, your highness!" mockingly exclaimed Luis, while Leon decided to ignore the drama going on in favor of more properly checking out the cabin for hidden entrances… or emergency exits.
"Perhaps the young lady would like to introduce herself first, before asking someone else their name?" sarcastically asked Luis with a smirk, performing a mocking bow towards Ashley.
"My name is Ashley Graham, the President's daughter." coldly replied Ashley, staring at Luis like he was some kind of particularly foul-smelling piece of garbage that she was forced to stay in the presence of.
Luis glanced at Leon, deciding to cut short the drama in favor of a very important question. "Is she… well you know…" he trailed off, asking whether or not they should be worried about her turning on them at any moment.
"Don't worry. She's good." he replied, not wanting to reveal too much.
Ashley flinched slightly and looked away, while Luis, after a moment of silence, shrugged.
"Eeeh, never mind. There's supposed to be some kind of obvious symptoms before you turn into one of them anyway." he said calmly, walking around before casually crossing his arms and glancing at a visibly nervous Ashley.
Said girl glanced outside-
And then stepped back with a sharp intake of breath as she pointed outside with fear. "Here! Look!"
Leon tensed at the sight of dozens of villagers coming closer to the cabin, and immediately rushed towards the windows. "Ashley! Upstairs!" he ordered.
Ashley rushed to obey, while Luis and Leon both went to the windows and began shooting at the incoming villagers.
At least Leon had a couple of grenades on hand, so that certainly helped, but he still couldn't help but have flashbacks of Raccoon City, as dozens of villagers rushed towards the cabin without any concern for their lives, their only desires limited to victory or death.
Which ironically was exactly the position they were forcing Leon and Luis in. Ashley would survive in the worst case scenario, but only for a time, as the parasite would take over and effectively kill her as surely as a being torn to pieces would.
For a time, the world reduced itself to several things: Shooting, reloading, shooting some more, while occasionally screaming orders to Luis who thankfully obeyed without question, his previous laidback behavior nowhere to be seen in the face of seemingly endless waves of villagers willing to pay any price to get to them.
Leon was starting to seriously feel the pressure of the constant combat, sweat falling down his face as the cabin flashed with red laser bolts and he and Luis were forced to fight a fighting retreat towards the stairs when salvation suddenly was delivered with brutal, merciless precision.
Specifically, the sounds of laser and plasma fire suddenly picked up sharply from the outside of the cabin, and Leon all but collapsed on his knees, amongst the corpses of villagers who came far too close for comfort, in exhausted relief when Aeon and a handful of ISIS soldiers gunned down the last of the villagers before turning towards him and Luis, who promptly took a seat on the stairs and groaned in relief at the intense minutes of fighting coming to a close.
"God I could kiss you right now." tiredly exclaimed Luis, and Aeon threw him an amused look.
"I'm not into guys, sorry." he joked.
Luis snorted. "Me neither, so I guess I'll settle for the most grateful Thank You! of my life and leave it at that."
"Probably for the best." agreed Aeon with amusement, before his eyes flickered first towards Leon, then towards the stairs where Ashley's face could be seen peeking cautiously towards the newly arrived soldiers.
Aeon, being Aeon, naturally promptly smiled and waved.
Ashley blinked and waved back, looking a bit confused.
Leon sighed.
"Aeon, meet Ashley Graham, daughter of the US president. Ashley, meets Aeon Muradasilova of Insight Corp and leader of their military branch: ISIS."
"So you are the ones Leon talked about…" said Ashley, coming down the stairs to stand in front of them, glancing curiously at the heavily armored soldiers.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady." declared Aeon with a smile, and before Ashley could blink he bowed, took her hand and kissed the back of it, causing her to blush brightly.
Then he straightened, looking her in the eyes with a grin and a wink, causing her blush to deepen.
Aeon glanced at Leon. "So you talked about me, heh? Good things, I hope?" he joked.
Leon gave him a flat look, though his lips twitched in amusement.
"Down, you horndog. What would your wife say?"
Ashley blinked and scowled at Aeon-
"That she would love a threesome, much like she loved all the ones we had in the past?"
- And the blush returned in full.
Leon sighed, while Luis was looking at Aeon with respect. "Damn, amigo. How did you manage to convince her?"
Aeon gave him an amused glance. "She was the one who was all for it from the start."
Both Ashley and Luis blinked, before Ashley's blush went even redder and Luis began laughing loudly.
Leon rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, your love life is worthy of a novel in its own right. Now, not that I don't appreciate the rescue, but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be leading the assault against the cult right now?"
Aeon shrugged. "Heh, things are proceeding well enough that ISIS doesn't need me to hold their hands right now. Jill and Rebecca are still fighting in the mountains, and Chris is still bashing his head against the cult's warship, while the rest of ISIS is still slowly squeezing down towards the cult's headquarters. So instead, I decided to track you down, figuring that enough time had passed since the last time you got into trouble that you probably needed some help again. And I was right!" he cheerfully declared at the end.
Leon opened his mouth.
Closed it.
"I hate the fact that I can't argue that…" he grumbled.
"Don't worry, you too will one day learn the subtle art of getting in and out of trouble! I have faith in you!" dramatically declared Aeon, giving him a thumb up and a grin for good measure.
"Subtle art?!" incredulously shouted Leon. "You solve most problems through judicious amount of firepower!"
Aeon lifted a finger. "First, it works!" cheerfully declared Aeon, and Luis snickered. "And secondly-" a second finger rose "-There is never enough Dakka." he said with a wise nod.
Ashley mouthed the word "Dakka" with a confused look on her face, but Leon merely facepalmed.
Trust Aeon to introduce him to things like Warhammer 40k just so he could make references like those to people who would get them…
"Anyway, what's the plan now? Because the bridge I took to get here is-" he glanced out of the nearest window "-no longer a thing. As it is, I don't think we have a choice but to keep moving."
Luis glanced at Leon, then at Aeon and Ashley, and began walking towards the door.
"I forgot something. You all go on ahead."
"Luis?" asked Leon, confused about the sudden change of mood in the man.
"What was that all about?"
"Leave him be." said Aeon, and this time his voice was serious. "He's got a few things he needs to figure out by himself."
Leon glanced at him curiously, but Aeon said nothing more.
"Alright. So, I take it you will go your own way again? After all, you've got your own mission."
Aeon nodded. "Indeed. I'll keep an eye on your progress, but getting Ashley out of this mess is your job. I'll focus on keeping the cult focused on ISIS, rather than you. Though I heard that the cult recently shot down an US chopper, so I assume that evac was pushed back?"
Leon grimaced. "You assume correctly. Ingrid told me that another one is on its way, but it'll take a bit of time for it to arrive."
Aeon sighed. "Figured as much."
"Also…" Leon trailed off, glancing at Ashley, who turned uncomfortable as she flinched under his gaze.
Mostly because she knew what he was about to say, if the way her left hand went to her neck was any indication.
"She's infected." said Aeon, not as a question but as a matter of fact.
The ISIS soldiers behind Aeon twitched slightly, but otherwise didn't react. Ashley, on the other hand, visibly winced.
"She is." Leon said simply.
Aeon stared at Ashley for a long moment, seemingly deep in thought, before turning back to look at Leon.
"If you are going to extract her soon, then I suppose we can focus on freeing her once she's safe back in the US. Still, I'll make sure ISIS keeps an eye out for any cure or indication that the cult knows of one. If the extraction keeps being delayed for some reasons, then it might be wiser to put it off entirely until we have found where the cult has hidden said cure. It would be… bad if she lost control right when she's in a chopper or something. A flying chopper really isn't the best place for a potential life-or-death struggle."
Leon nodded grimly.
Then Aeon clapped his hands, a bright smile on his face, making Ashley almost jump in shock at the unexpected action.
"And on that cheerful note, I've got more cultists and monsters to kill! So I'll leave you to your mission, while I go deal with mine!"
And then Aeon turned, eyes twinkling with mirth as he once again kissed Ashley's hand and left after giving a rather dramatic farewell speech.
For a moment, Ashley and Leon stared at one another, once again alone in dangerous lands.
Then Ashley spoke up. "Is he always so…"
Leon snorted. "Over the top? Dramatic? Laid back?"
Ashley nodded.
Leon stayed silent for a moment, before sighing deeply.
"Not always, no. He likes to play it up, be dramatic and loud and cheerful, but makes no mistakes. That man is the most deadly killer in the entire world. He fought against monsters that even I can scarcely imagine, and he did it alone. And won. If he is like this, it's because he had a choice: either let the horrors he witnessed turned him grim and dour, or become the opposite: be cheerful, loud, optimistic, in complete defiance of what he should have become after all he went through."
Leon snorted. "Honestly, it's no surprise he chose this path. It's one more form of defiance against all the horrors he went through and fought, so obviously that's what he would choose. But… Even so, while his cheerfulness is not a mask, not a lie… it's only part of him. Because beneath that still remains the killer who fought and killed monsters far greater than we can have nightmares of. There still is the cold-blooded Hunter who held no mercy, no pity, nor the slightest shred of kindness against his foes. And that's one monster Aeon keeps only for situations where it is needed. And…"
Leon hesitated, before sighing yet again. "As much for my friend's sake as it is for the world, I hope that he doesn't need to call on that part of him again, if possible. Not even the outbreak of Raccoon City truly warranted him to go full Hunter. And knowing what I do of what made him into who he is now… I shudder at the thought of anything warranting him to go back to full Hunter."
There was a moment of silence in the cabin, before Leon shook himself off and then smiled at Ashley.
"In any case, we should be going. The sooner we are out of this place, the better."
Luis Sera left the cabin behind, ignoring the surprised call of Leon at his sudden departure.
He has been thinking hard ever since he first met Leon about what the man said about the pretty Asian, and the more he thought about it, the less he liked it.
He didn't think that Leon lied to him. Especially when he was, indeed, here to save the daughter of the US President.
And as for Aeon and the rest of ISIS… well, he and Leon obviously knew and trusted each other. And Luis had caught a glimpse of Aeon killing the cultists. The man was deadly, incredibly so. The number of perfect headshots the man had been able to fire in a handful of seconds had been as awe-inspiring as it had been terrifying.
Interestingly, he didn't think that that little show in the cabin had been a lie. Aeon really enjoyed the banter with Leon, and while he had flirted with Graham, Luis suspected it was partially to get her mind off how close to disaster the situation had been before ISIS arrived.
And as far as Luis could tell, it worked like a charm, the girl too focused on the handsome man flirting with her to focus on how close to being captured again she had been.
The fact Aeon made it seem so natural was… well.
He wasn't someone that should be underestimated, his instincts as a cop screamed that truth to him.
Which still left a question: what now?
Leon had to extract Graham, but she was still infected, and he had no idea how to cure her.
If Leon brought only a mindless slave to Saddler back in the US, he doubted this whole mess would end well.
Thing was, Luis actually knew where a lab containing a drug which would slow down the parasite's control was, and maybe even-
He paused, as his eyes caught a flash of red.
Ada Wong.
He plastered a smile on his face. No need to let her know the game was up.
"Hey, senorita! There is light, and some smoke to go with to make my day?" he cheerfully asked.
Wong crossed her arms, looking at him calmly.
"Where's the sample?" she asked, her eyes checking him out for any hint he may have what she sought on him.
Luis shook his head, smiling at her. "Okay, we skip the foreplay. As a matter of fact, I was just going to get it." he declared, spreading his arms wide. "Where's the love, baby?" he couldn't help but snark.
"Sounds like fun to me." she said, her voice even and expression placid, hiding whatever her true feelings were behind an emotionless mask. "Just hurry up."
Luis passed her by, before pausing.
"Okay, lady. Where do you stand in all of this?" he finally asked, deciding to be direct. "Exactly what kind of group are you working for?"
"There are some things in the world that you are better off not knowing." she replied. "This, is one of them." she declared, the slightest hint of a threat in her voice.
Luis shrugged, a small smile on his lips that did not reach his eyes. "Fine, I can take a hint. I don't care who you are, as long as you take care of that old man and his religious friends." he lied, walking away.
Unseen by Ada Wong, he closed his fists, a dark look in his eyes.
Well then. That was by no mean a confession, but it certainly was enough to make it clear that he couldn't trust her.
Sorry, Senorita, but I've got a much better understanding of the factions involved in this mess, and yours is no friend of mine.
He wasn't sure he could fully trust Aeon and ISIS yet… But he felt he could at least trust Leon, and that was enough.
Now then, I've got a lab to raid…
Leon led Ashley deeper into the hills. From a left-behind message he found from a cultist, there were only two paths forward: one full of cultists, and one blocked by another one of the giants he had killed some hours ago now.
After a moment of hesitation, he'd decided to go through the way guarded by the giant. Arguably no less dangerous than a group of cultists, but at least Ashley wouldn't risk getting shot or anything like that.
And it will hopefully be easier to protect from one enemy, even a giant, than a group of them who could use their superior number to pin him down while others get to Ashley.
Besides, they came across the Shady Merchant again, so Leon got his hand on a grenade. That should help a great deal.
They turned a corner-
And Ashley inhaled sharply in shock behind him at the sight of one of "El Gigante."
Leon merely scowled at the thing, took out his grenade, and waited.
The giant roared at them.
With a smirk, Leon threw the grenade in his open mouth.
The giant blinked, looking confused at the small bit of metal in his mouth-
And then Ashley let out a small squeal of shock as the giant's head exploded into gore, his headless body remaining standing for a few seconds before gravity took its toll and it fell, blood and gore falling from the smoking remains of the upper body of the monster all over the ground.
Leon wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from the corpse.
Ashley, however, promptly ran to the side and began vomiting.
Leon grimaced. Yup, should have seen that coming. All things considered, for a civilian she lasted longer than I thought.
With a sigh he glanced around and, once satisfied no other hostiles were around, went to rub Ashley's back and speak gentle words of comfort to her.
It took a few minutes, but eventually Ashley took a deep breath and nodded at him, still pale but less so now.
"Thanks." she said softly.
Leon smiled kindly. "It's alright. You're a civilian, this kind of stuff isn't something you're used to. Honestly, you did pretty well handling it so far. But there's no shame in being repulsed by that kind of horrors, Ashley."
"You don't seem troubled by it, though." she pointed out.
He sighed. "I was there in Raccoon City, Ashley. And I've seen many horrifying things since, too. I'm just… used to it, I supposed."
Ashley glanced at the broken corpse and grimaced. "How can you even get used to all of this?!"
Leon smiled wryly. "Human beings are stronger than you think. See enough horrors, and you start being used to it."
He shook his head. "I'm nowhere near as bad on the subject as Aeon is, but I've seen my fair share of blood and gore these last few years. It barely fazes me anymore."
She gave him a long look. "I'm not sure that's a good thing."
Leon fell silent. Those words unfortunately hit harder than he would have thought.
"Maybe not. But I don't think I had much of a choice in the matter."
This time it was Ashley who fell silent, a slightly pitying look in her eyes as she looked at him.
Leon turned away. "Come on, let's get going."
Ashley dutifully followed, her eyes lingering on Leon for a moment before she looked away, a frown on her face.
They kept walking in silence after that, Leon focusing on killing any threats on their way and Ashley moving onwards with a thoughtful frown on her face, occasionally glancing either at Leon or at the corpses of the cultists he left in his wake.
For a time, nothing really significant happened, beyond Ashley and Leon finding a sacrificial altar of some kind with fresh blood on it, the sight of which made Ashley shudder at, and the occasional meeting with the Shady Merchant, who seemed to delight in the suspicious glares Ashley sent his way each time.
Well, that and all the money that Leon was giving him, that too.
Seriously, no wonder Saddler had monetary problems, there is money scattered all over the place! Don't these people know of bank accounts? Or hell, damn wallets? Leon thought incredulously as he pocketed even more money seemingly left behind by a villager.
Finally, they reached a large building, and Leon glanced around, but saw or heard nothing.
That only served to make him more suspicious, however.
He glanced at Ashley. "You better stay out of this place until I've made sure it's safe. Go, hide."
"Okay." she whispered, before going to hide nearby.
Leon sent one last suspicious glance around… and then he opened the door to the warehouse he stood by the side of and entered by a side door.
Seeing nothing, he cautiously began moving forward, pausing at around a third of the way in towards the other side of the building.
For a second, nothing moved-
And then he turned around, plasma gun going up, only for a very large hand to close around his armed right hand and another to take him by the throat and raise him up in the air.
Leon gasped, choking for air as he stared at Father Mendez who had somehow once again snuck up on him.
The man sneered, before throwing Leon upward, Leon gasping in pain as his back hit a large wooden beam before he fell on the ground with a pained groan.
Not again! He mentally complained, angry that Mendez managed to get the first blow once more.
Father Mendez turned around, bending the iron handles of the doors into the warehouse to stop anyone from going in or out, before turning back to face Leon once more.
He walked forward, closing his right hand into a fist and then threw a brutal punch downward at Leon.
Leon rolled to the side a second before the blow would have hit, glancing around for anything that might help-
Until his eyes fell on a barrel of oil.
He kicked it towards Mendez, the oil splashing down on the man's boots, making him look down with a growl.
"Hasta luego." Leon muttered with a cold smirk, before firing towards the puddle of oil at Mendez's feet.
The man recoiled in pain as the plasma bolt burned his feet and legs, but Leon had already jumped to the nearest cover as the heat from the plasma got the puddle of oil on fire, which promptly spread to the barrel of oil.
Leon grimaced as the sound of an explosion echoed across the warehouse, the temperature suddenly going up from the explosion, before he glanced back at where Father Mendez stood.
And his eyes promptly went wide when he saw the man's clothes burn away, revealing a thoroughly inhuman being previously hidden away underneath the corrupted Father's thick clothing's.
The man's wounds obviously kickstarted extreme mutations, as his spine suddenly elongated to a monstrous degree while two new clawed limbs bursted from his back and his hands gained wickedly sharp looking claws.
"Yeah, no. In Aeon's own words: Fuck that!" he muttered, priming a grenade and throwing it at the monster in front of him.
The thing that was Father Mendez screamed as it exploded, taking a step back, but quickly recovered and began to advance once more.
Leon's eyes narrowed, and he brought up his plasma gun to bear, shooting the monster several times in the elongated spine.
Surely, if he could cut the monster in two it would kill it!
Well, that was the hope anyway, but apparently hope really was the first step to disappointment as a fourth plasma shot severed the lower half of Mendez's body with the upper half… and Leon promptly discovered to his shock thatboth parts kept on moving towards him anyway, independently of one another.
"What I wouldn't give for a flamethrower right about now." he grumbled, cold blue eyes ensuring that plasma shots after plasma shots were fired towards the knees of the man's lower half and the head of the upper body.
And when he finally managed to put down the lower half, the upper half began to jump from wooden beam to wooden beam to avoid his shots.
Leon growled as another shot missed, before he stopped firing.
If Mendez wanted him, then he was going to have to get close.
That's when he needed to shoot.
His eyes followed Mendez's upper body as it swung from wooden beam to wooden beam-
Until finally, the man made the mistake of lounging towards Leon.
Got you! He thought with grim triumph.
He squeezed the trigger, a blue plasma bolt flying fast enough that Mendez could only widen his eyes in shock before it slammed into his chest, burning a see-through hole where the man's heart should be.
The half-corpse fell to the ground, Mendez coughing blood once before finally going still, at last granted the mercy of death.
Leon slumped, the tension leaving his body at the sight of his victory against someone who had rapidly became a thorn in his side in this mess of a mission.
He walked closer to the corpse, noticing that the red eye of the man had apparently popped out of his skull in death.
Leon frowned, recalling a passage he read from the notes of the cultists talking about how to pass beyond the doors leading out of these hills.
Am I really…? He thought, before grimacing at the reminder of what kind of madmen he was dealing with here.
With a grimace, he picked the eye up and pocketed it with a slight shudder.
I really hope this thing will indeed come in useful later, or Ashley will be right to be concerned about me going insane when she sees this.. He thought dryly.
And speaking of Ashley, he needed to get back to her. The doors he took to go in were a no-go, but the building had been set on fire, and parts of it had collapsed as a result.
Careful to avoid getting burned or getting hit by a falling wooden beam, he made his way out of the building, sighing deeply in relief at the sight of Ashley still being safe and waiting for him, her eyes going wide at the sight of him before she rushed to his side.
"Are you okay, Leon?!" she exclaimed.
"I'm fine." he waved her off with a smile. "You should see the other guy."
She glanced at the burning building, biting her lip. "I heard the sounds of fighting… screams and roars, and the building caught on fire, and I just… I just…"
He put a hand on her shoulder, smiling kindly. "I'm fine, I promise. Let's just keep going, yes? The sooner you're back in the US, the better."
She looked at him for a few seconds before nodding.
"Right."
Leon gave her one last smile before leading her onwards, eventually finding a closed door that should hopefully lead deeper towards their objective.
Leon's eyes narrowed as he stared at the red eye of the carved face within the door, before he took out the red eye belonging to Father Mendez and put it in front of it.
A red light suddenly shone out of the carved face, and Leon heard the door unlock.
He opened the door and went through-
Before pausing at the sight awaiting them.
They could see a castle nearby, one currently being assaulted by ISIS forces, the sounds of lasers and plasma fire echoing in the air alongside the screams of hatred of pain of the cultists and the occasional explosion.
"That's not something you see every day." Leon muttered, while by his side Ashley looked with wide eyes at the modern, real-life reproduction of a castle assault currently going on.
It was easy to se that ISIS was winning, superior equipment, training and tactics allowing them to easily make progress, but even so it was still a actual fight as the cultists had numbers with unbreakable morale on their side, on top of better knowledge of the battlefield and better defensive positions.
They cautiously walked closer, until they came across one of ISIS' soldiers who seemed to give orders to those around him.
The ISIS soldiers turned to glance at their arrival before most of them turned back towards the castle, the occasional flash of red or blue showing them taking pot-shots at the remaining defenders who dared to show their faces for more than a quick look.
"What's going on there?" asked Leon.
The man in charge grunted and pointed at the castle.
"That's Ramon Salazar's castle, one of the leaders of Saddler's cult. We've started laying siege to it around an hour ago, and while we've made progress, the sheer number of cultists on top of the various traps within the castle have slowed us down."
Leon frowned. "What about Aeon?"
The ISIS soldier glanced at him. "What do you think?"
Leon snorted. "Inside the castle?"
"Obviously." replied the soldier with some amusement.
"Well, we still need to go beyond it, so…"
The soldier stayed silent for a time, before shrugging.
"Well, you've got a few choices. Wait here until we crack this place open and conquer it, help us take it over, or try to make your way around it."
Leon glanced at Ashley, then looked back at the soldier.
"I'll take option 3. In any other time I'd help you, but-"
"But you're on VIP guard duty, I get it." nodded the soldier, who then turned towards a nearby soldier. "Oy, Bards! Get your team up here, you're escorting these two around this damn castle!"
"Sir!" saluted the soldier, apparently called Bards.
"You're sure about this? If you need these soldiers for the assault-"
The ISIS soldier waved Leon off. "We've got the boss in there, I'm not worried. Now get going, a warzone is no place for a civilian VIP to be in."
"Very well. Thank you." replied Leon, before he and Ashley joined up with Brads.
"Right, as you've heard I'm Brads, the sergeant in charge of my team. This is Corporal Winter-" a woman with a plasma rifle waved "-this is Corporal Briggs-" a man with a laser shotgun nodded "-Specialist Jackson-" A large man with a massive plasma cannon gave a quick salute "-and Corporal Tracks." A soldier with a laser sniper rifle took a shot towards the castle, before grunting in satisfaction a moment later.
"And we're the lucky ones to get you around this place and beyond it. So stay close to us, keep your heads down, listen to instructions, and you'll be just fine. Got it." the Sergeant finished, looking at Ashley especially.
The young woman nodded.
"Good. Then let's get going, there is no need to waste time."
I shot yet another cultist in the head, the red-clothed man's headless corpse falling dead on the ground.
Honestly, a part of me was currently gleeful right now. I was actually assaulting a castle with an army at my back!
How could I not be gleeful about that?!
Of course, the ones I was fighting weren't a medieval army, but a bunch of cultists which were all infected with monstrous parasites.
And at the difference of the regular villagers, these ones were the actual cultists of Saddler. Stronger, tougher, faster than the villagers, especially those clothed in red, they were also much better armed.
Their sense of tactics still sucked for the most part, but I couldn't deny that throwing explosive barrels with catapults and shooting at us with actual cannons were definitely a step up from pitch forks and axes.
Also, this whole castle had to have been built by the same kind of madmen that Umbrella loved to employ, because the sheer numbers of deadly traps and secret paths were mind-blowing.
I paused as I heard footsteps coming closer, holding a closed fist up for the benefits of the ISIS soldiers behind me-
And then I relaxed when Luis Sera of all people stopped, blinking, at the sight of me and the ISIS soldiers behind me.
"Aeon!"
"Luis." I greeted. "What are you doing here?"
"I went to get something for Ashley-" the man paused, patted himself all over and then paled. "What… oh, shit!" he cursed, turning to look behind him. "I must have dropped it when I was running away from them!"
"Dropped what?" I questioned.
"A drug that would stop Ashley's symptoms." he answered, sighing. "She's infected, right? Coughing up blood?"
I nodded. "As far as I know, yes."
"Dammit!" he cursed. "The eggs have hatched. We don't have much time."
"We can help, if you want." I proposed.
Luis shook his head. "You've got your hands full as it is. I'll go back and try to find the damn thing."
I hummed. "And why do you-"
He raised a hand. "It makes me feel better, and let's leave it at that." he replied tiredly, before walking away.
I looked at him leave for a moment, before turning to look at the soldiers behind me.
"Right, we're getting closer to where Ramon Salazar is. Keep your eyes peeled, I'd prefer to have him dead quickly but a guy like that won't show himself without an escape plan."
I stepped forward after they all acknowledged my words.
Right, time to go kill one of the leaders of this damn cult.
Honestly, what was up with me and having to kill mad religious leaders experimenting with things better left alone?!