Fluffy and Awesome!

Chapter 3: He Won't Save You.....Only I Can

Monday came around quicker than you expected. It was as if that whole ordeal on Saturday took up your whole day. And Sunday went by so fast as well that you took a look outside and it was already night time. 

A deep sigh escaped your lips as you stepped out of your car and headed to your office. 

“Good morning Doctor, how was your-Oh!” Diana gasped at the sight of you. 

“Good morning” you yawned sleepily. 

“I'm assuming you got no sleep at all?” 

“How'd you know?” You playfully teased as you entered your office and went to your keurig machine to brew yourself a hot cup of coffee. 

“Mhm” Diana shook her head softly with a smile as she grabbed the IPAD and began to explain the agenda for today.

“Shall we begin?”

“Yeah, I'm listening” you nodded as you grabbed your coffee cup and walked over to your fridge to pour in some creamer. 

“Okay, so the DSO will be arriving shortly to pick up the cadavers for transportation. The lab is going to be under maintenance for at least two days, so, Director Eric wants you to move your work to Lab B. And then-”

“Oh not Lab B, it always smells like deep fried grease in there” you sighed softly, putting your creamer back in your fridge and shutting it. 

“Well, hate to break it to you Doctor, but it didn't seem like he gave you a choice in this decision” she chuckled. 

“Just my fucking luck. What else?” you chuckled along with her. 

“The last thing on the agenda is that Director Eric is going to be making a surprise visit today to discuss the lead on the bio-terrosim report that came from the DSO.”

“What?!” You nearly spit out your coffee upon hearing those words.

Diana's gaze shot up from the IPAD, “What's wrong, Doctor?” She spoke with concern laced in her voice.

“When did he decide this?”

“Uhh-” Diana scrolled through the IPAD. “Looks like yesterday night he sent the order.”

“Of course, the bastard lies and shuts me down when I had brought up the dozens of bodies. But now all of a sudden he has a change of heart” you grumbled, taking a sip of your coffee. 

Then your gaze looked up at Diana who stood there awkwardly. 

“Please don't tell him I called him a bastard.”

“I won't Doctor y/n, I've known you for a long time and I wouldn't dream of selling you out to that asshole.” 

You laughed loudly at what Diana called him. “Thanks.”

“Excuse me, is this Doctor y/n's office?” A man called from the outside of your office. 

“Yes, and you are?” Diana spoke for you. 

“I am Seth Farlow, I am from the DSO agency and I've come to pick up the cadavers.”

“Oh yes, please do follow me.”

As Diana left to show the DSO personnel where the bodies were, a lone man stood just outside your door, watching you carefully.

You didn't notice their obsessive stare as you sat at your desk and continuously drank your coffee. 

“Ah…” the man breathed softly, covering their neck as much as possible. 

“Bring me a lock of her hair…” a voice echoed in his mind. 

“Okay, got it” Seth nodded to Diana as he returned from the lab to brief his team. 

“Philip, you okay?” 

Philip adjusted his stance, “Yeah I'm fine.”

“You sure? You're sweating like crazy brother?”

“I told you I'm fine” Philip brushed aside his worries and followed Seth to enter the labs.

Once Philip was inside, he caught a glimpse of Diedra's lifeless corpse sprawled across one of the examination tables. 

A low rumble escaped his throat as he felt the connection between him and Gideon drag along the synapses of his nervous system.

Glancing back at the DSO disposal crew who were coming up with the plan to move the bodies in an orderly fashion, Philip decided to approach Diedra and search through her pockets. 

“Ah” he mumbled underneath his breath as he pulled out the lock of your hair that Diedra had cut from your head. 

“He will be pleased” he smirked, shoving your hair in his pocket and then walked out of the lab without saying a single word. 

Though, he stopped in front of your office, watching your movements carefully and jotting down pertinent information that he could bring back to Gideon. 

“Can I help you?” Diana stood from her desk. 

“Yes, can you make sure that this envelope goes to Doctor y/n?”

“Oh…of course?”

“Thank you” he flashed her an eerie smile and then left like a ghost in the wind.

“Knock, knock” Diana smiled as she announced herself. 

“Yes?” You smiled, pushing up your glasses slightly because they always seemed to slide down your nose every so often. 

“This is gonna sound weird but this DSO agent asked me to give you this envelope.”

“Really?” You chuckled as you stood from your desk and approached her to take a look at what was inside.

“Yeah, he seemed off too…like he smiled at me in such a creepy way” Diana shrugged and turned to leave your office.

“Maybe he just likes you” you laughed as you peeled off the seal. 

“Honey I'm married, he can try all he wants” Diana laughed at your joke from afar. 

You shook your head softly and slowly pulled out a photo.

Your smile instantly faded at the sight before you. It was a picture of you walking into your workplace, holding your bag, hoodie, and important files.

“What the hell?” you gasped as you dropped the photo on the ground and rushed to Diana's desk. 

“Diana!”

“Woah, you okay sweetie?” she gasped in worry. 

“Who gave you that photo again?”

“A DSO agent. He came in with the disposal team.” 

“Oh my gosh” you quickly rushed down the hall to the elevators.

“Doctor! What's going on?”

“I'll be right back!” 

You rushed towards the elevator and went down to the lobby where the main entrance was. 

You then stepped out of your workplace, your breathing uneven as you searched everywhere to find that man that left the envelope.

“What the hell is going on…?”

“Do you want me to take her now?” 

“No….” Gideon's voice echoed along Philip's ears. 

“I must eliminate the obstacle that is keeping me from fully having her.”

“The obstacle being Leon Kennedy?”

“Yes, once I remove him from the equation, nothing will prevent me from obtaining what is mine.”

Philip's lips curled into Gideon's obsessive smirk as he watched you from afar, his eyes dead set on taking you but he had to remain composed and follow orders. 

You soon grabbed your phone and dialed Leon's number worriedly.

“Hey Leon…I'm sorry to be calling you over and over again. But I need your help.”

Philip growled angrily upon hearing Leon's name slip past your lips so elegantly. It was as if you were in love with him, something that Gideon loathed entirely. 

“She keeps speaking his name, Doctor Gideon. I think we need to act fast before he takes over her life.”

“Agreed. First, I must meet with Zeno to discuss the work that I've accomplished. Once that is done, I can begin subject testing.”

“Understood Doctor Gideon. I will continue monitoring her and Leon. Once I gather enough information, I will bring them to you, along with the lock of her hair.” 

Gideon abruptly stood from his chair at what Philip had said. “You gathered a sample of her hair?” 

“I did.”

Gideon hummed in pleasure that he was soon going to hold a piece of you that he has forever longed for. 

“Excellent work Philip~”

A few minutes passed as you waited patiently on a bench for Leon to arrive at your workplace. “Leon, where are you?” 

Soon enough, a black Porsche came strolling into the parking lot, a sign that Leon had arrived.

“Phew” you smiled happily, standing from the bench and approaching the driver’s side.

“Sorry I’m late y/n, I was checking out the locations that Sherry had sent me” he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned his body to face you. 

“Oh? What locations?”

“The locations that Doctor Gideon might’ve frequented at or owned.” 

Your throat tightened at the sound of Victor's name. “Did you find him yet?”

“No, didn’t get a chance,” he admitted. 

“You okay, though?” his voice softened. “You sounded uneasy on the phone” Leon gently rested his hand upon yours where it sat atop the car door. 

“Want to grab a drink and talk about it?”

Click. Snap. Click 

“I-”

“Y/n?!” 

Quickly turning your head towards the side, you saw your boss heading straight for you with a disappointing expression written across his face. 

“Oh shit..” you gulped as you adjusted your attire and turned to face him.

“Hello Mr. Kennedy” Eric spoke his name with distaste.

“Director Eric, Still making everyone’s day a little brighter, I see.”

“Careful Leon. One call from me to your boss, and you're done.”

A quiet chuckle escaped Leon. “Yeah? Get in line.”

“Eric, I-”

“Y/n, I told you that you can’t be discussing pertinent information with other DSO agents. Listen, I respect you and the work that you do. But….I can’t keep covering for you. And now with this incident with the laboratory doors, I don’t know.”

“But Eric, you have to listen to me! I was not sharing sensitive information to Leon nor was it my fault what happened in the lab!” 

“She’s telling the truth, dick-head” Leon defended you without hesitation. “She called me because someone was threatening her. If you don’t believe me, go pull the security footage.” 

“We did, and you know what we found” Eric turned his attention to Leon. “You, destroying CBR property.”

“What?” You gasped, unable to believe what your boss had said.

Leon’s expression darkened, “You sure about that?” 

Eric folded his arms, “The footage speaks for itself.”

“What footage?” you asked. 

“The footage of Mr. Kennedy’s forced entry into a secured laboratory area.”

Leon scoffed, “Yeah. Because y/n was trapped inside with a woman who tried to kill her.”

Eric’s jaw tightened, “And yet all the cameras show is you breaking down a reinforced security door.”

“Because the cameras conveniently don’t show what happened inside.”

“Conveniently?” Eric repeated. 

“You heard me.”

The tension between them was almost unbearable from where you stood.

“Eric, please” you stepped forward. “Leon came because I called him. He was trying to help me.” 

“And now we’re dealing with damaged laboratory property, a compromised crime scene, and a report that makes absolutely no sense.”

“It makes sense because I was there when it happened! When Diedra sliced her own neck and tried to kill me!” you snapped. 

For a brief moment, silence fell over the parking lot. 

Eric pinched the bridge of his nose, “Y/n, I’m trying very hard to help you.” 

“Then listen to me.”

“And I’m trying very hard not to have Internal Affairs breathing down my neck because one of my chief medical examiners is involving outside agents in an active investigation.”

Leon let out a dry chuckle. “Trust me, Director. Nobody here is having a good day.”

Eric shot him a glare, “And you’re not helping.” 

“Wasn’t trying to.”

“Something is wrong with the footage, Eric” you interjected, voice firm despite the frustration building inside you. “Professor Diedra was the one that broke down the laboratory door.”

Eric stared at you for a moment before shaking his head, “That’s impossible.”

“It isn’t.”

“The footage shows Leon causing the damage, not her” his gaze briefly shifted toward Leon.

“Unless you’re suggesting that someone tampered with CBR security footage.”

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting Eric!” 

“Y/n” Eric signed heavily. “I understand you’re upset.”

“Upset?” you repeated. “A person I’ve known for years tried to kill me!”

“And yet the only evidence I have shows Leon Kennedy forcing entry into a secured laboratory.”

Leon scoffed, “Convenient.”

“What was that?” Eric asked.

“Nothing.”

“No, please. Elaborate.”

Leon’s expression darkened again. “I said it’s convenient.”

The two men stared each other down.

“The camera somehow missed the part where Diedra lost her damn mind.”

Eric let out another deep sigh, “Or perhaps they didn’t.”

Before Leon could respond, you spoke up, “Eric, listen to yourself.” 

“You also knew Diedra for years. She was the one that referred me to you.”

“And I’ve known you for years,” Eric replied. “Which is why I’m trying very hard to understand why you’re defending this story.”

The accusation hit harder than you expected. You couldn’t understand his thought process right now. He had your back since you started and now all of sudden, he wasn’t believing you. 

Far away from the conversation, hidden amongst the departing employees and evening traffic,  Philip watched everything unfold. 

A smile slowly spread across his face or rather….Gideon’s smile. The expression looked wrong on Philip’s features. Unnatural, Predatory. 

Through the hive connection, Gideon observed the scene as if he was standing there himself, watching every frustrated word, every doubtful glance, every crack forming between you and the people trying to help you. 

A low chuckle rumbled through his chest from miles away. Replacing the footage had been the first step. A simple adjustment, a single alteration to the truth. Yet already the consequences were proving delightful.

Eric doubted you. Leon was becoming frustrated. And you….were beginning to question your own reality. That is exactly what Gideon wanted, isolation rather than using force. He wanted to sever the bonds connecting you to those around you, then when the time came, there would be nowhere left for you to run. 

“Excellent…” Gideon murmured to himself.

His fingers slowly traced over one of the photographs Philip had taken of you with his phone. “Just a little longer, my beloved.” 

His smile widened, “Soon, there will be no one left for you to trust but me.”

“Eric…the DSO came to pick up the cadavers. I’m…I’m going to take a few days off with your permission.”

“Alright. Take some time to rest after what happened. But when you return, I want this-” he gestured to the two of you. “To stop.”

As Eric left, soft tears began to drip down your face. You didn’t know what was happening. It was as if your whole life turned upside down the minute Diedra almost tried to kill you.

“Hey…” Leon quickly stepped out of his Porsche and embraced you tightly.

“I don’t know why he didn’t believe me,” you cried softly.

“I don’t know either” his hand rubbed slow circles across your back as he gently rocked you against his chest. 

“Maybe he’s stressed.”

“That’s not helping” you sniffled.

A small chuckle escaped him, “Okay. Then maybe he has a stick up his ass.”

Despite your sadness, you couldn’t help but laugh at his joke. 

“There she is,” he smiled.

“Listen to me, y/n. Whether or not Eric believes you, I believe you. He just doesn’t want to admit the truth that someone probably hacked into his highly secured company and doctored footage.”

“Yeah maybe…thanks Leon” you pulled away from him and wiped your tears with your sleeve.

“Want me to take you home?” he asked, using his thumb to gently push your chin up.

“Please.”

Crash!

“Huh?” you jumped at the sound. “What was that?” 

“Hmm?” Leon looked around the parking lot, trying to locate the origin of the sound. “Must've been a tree snapping?”

There was no tree that snapped. In fact, it was Philip who punched a light post so hard that it came crashing to the ground. He had watched the whole ordeal between you two and Gideon was most displeased. 

After reaching your place, Leon walked you to your door, his hands buried deep in his pockets. 

“You okay?” You asked him, noticing the subtle change in his demeanor. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking about what Eric said….”.

“You shouldn't give it much thought Leon. He, as you put it, has a stick up his ass” you giggled, grabbing your keys and unlocked your front door. 

Leon let out a quiet chuckle, “A big one.”

“Do you wanna come in?” 

Leon looked at you for a moment and then his expression softened. “You don't want to be alone tonight?”

“...No.”

He nodded at your request and gently pulled you in close, “You got some popcorn?”

“Movie night?!” You gasped happily.

“Hell yeah” Leon snickered as he walked you inside your home. 

The minute you two entered your home, Philip quickly took a snapshot of the moment. He was going to gather all that he could for Gideon. 

“I'm returning to your laboratory, Doctor Gideon. I've gathered sufficient photographs of Leon and y/n.”

“Understood.”

After closing the connection between Philip and himself, he exited his lab and proceeded down the halls.

“Doctor Gideon” a voice called as they effortlessly followed beside him. 

“Yes?”

“The integration of the strain has proven successful to the other subjects and we began to test their compliance on an artificial hive connection.”

“And? What were the conclusions?” Gideon sternly questioned. 

“The notes were...’Complete compliance across all subjects with no notable side effects or possible divergence from the connection.’”

Gideon let out a pleasing hum from his chest, “That is excellent work. Did the others test how many subjects a single individual can be connected to?”

“Uh…a moment Doctor” the man searched through the notes on his clipboard. 

“Ah, yes we did test the number of connections. For a single individual, they can be connected to around fifty hosts. However, the minimum of fifty connections can be bypassed as seen here in this diagram” the man turned the clipboard around to show Gideon. 

Gideon paused in his steps to lean down to take a look at the diagram and was impressed by how quickly his subjects worked and gave him results.

“To explain the concept to you Doctor, a singular hive master can connect to fifty hosts or subjects. Those fifty subjects can in turn make their own connections to others using the regurgitation method that Professor Diedra used back at y/n's laboratory.” 

“Impressive.”

“Therefore, those subjects can control others as well, but their goals are aligned with the hive masters' intentions.”

Gideon returned to his original height, a pleased smile tugged at the corners of his lips. 

“Excellent…excellent work, Jonathan.” 

“I must admit, I am thoroughly impressed. The integration rate exceeded my expectations."

Jonathan straightened proudly, “Thank you, Doctor.”

He then gestured toward the adjacent laboratory, “Shall we prepare the injection?”

“The serum derived from fifty successful subjects is ready for injection.” 

A low hum escaped Gideon, “Yes.” He folded his hands behind his back. 

“Prepare it immediately” his expression darkened slightly. “And ensure the sample remains refrigerated, the last thing I need is for weeks of work to become compromised.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Jonathan nodded. 

“I'll oversee the preparations personally.”

“Good” Gideon turned towards the hallway so that he could continue walking forward. 

“I must speak with Zeno regarding a matter of importance” a low chuckle escaped him. 

“By the time I return, everything should be ready.”

“It will be, Doctor.” 

Jonathan inclined his head respectively, “We'll be waiting.”

“Excellent. Then today marks another step forward toward evolution” a pleased smile spread across Gideon's face.

“...and she will finally understand what I've built…” he spoke low and excused himself. 

The doors soon slid open with a whoosh as he entered the main hall of his Chronic Care Center. He glanced around, searching for Zeno’s whereabouts. 

“Victor” Zeno’s voice abruptly sounded beside him. 

“Zeno, thank you for taking the time to visit my center again” he glanced down at him. 

“Hm” Zeno returned a small smirk. “What is it you wanted to discuss?”

Giden folded his hands behind his back as he began to explain the progress he had made. 

“I have created a hive connection strain that allows the user to connect to multiple subjects at once. And it allows for those subjects to make connections of their own.”

“So, you're creating an army of obedient subjects that are at your beck and call?”

Gideon frowned, “If you insist on reducing weeks of scientific achievement to such simplistic terms..”.

A smile tugged at the corner of Zeno’s mouth, “I'll take that as a yes.”

Silence followed, then Zeno’s expression became more thoughtful. 

“Interesting. And where does she fit into all of this?”

Gideon's jaw tightened, his hand curling into a tight fist at who Zeno was referring to, you. 

A knowing smile spread across Zeno’s face. “Ah. Creating armies wasn't enough. You want to observe her, get her in a vulnerable state so that she can come crying back to you. Am I getting warmer?” 

“Careful, Zeno.” 

“There he is,” Zeno let out a soft chuckle as he lit a cigarette. 

“You told me that she would create the ultimate strain. That she would be the goddess of death and chaos. But all that I see now and continue seeing is your blatant obsession with her” he let out a puff of smoke. 

“I did promise you that she would, why do you keep doubting my abilities!?”

“Because she isn't here!?” Zeno shouted back at him.

“You think I can simply go to her residence and snatch her up like a lost pup? You are mistaken then.”

“You did with Grace Ashcroft.”

Silence filled the room again as the words he spoke settled in the air like a toxin. 

Gideon's posture slowly straightened as every muscle in his body tensed. 

“Am I wrong?” Zeno turned to face him with an arrogant smirk.

Gideon’s serpent eyes narrowed. 

“You amaze me, Victor” Zeno exhaled another cloud of smoke. 

“Your lies” he stepped forward. 

“Your excuses” his smirked widened further. 

“Your clouded judgement with this girl.”

“You compare her to Grace?” a low growl escaped Gideon's chest. 

“I compare results.”

Gideon let out an angry huff, “She is nothing like Grace.”

“Then prove it. I want her here now. I want to know everything she knows about the Cody Virus. I don't care if you have to drag her unconscious body into this facility….I want my strain.” 

For a moment, Gideon said nothing. His chest rose and fell in steady waves, until a dangerous smile formed at the corner of his lips. 

“You presume I haven't already considered that.”

Zeno’s smirk faltered faster than it appeared. 

“The difference between us…” his eyes gleamed. “...is that I understand her.”

His smile widened further than it could, “You see an asset,” his voice lowered. “A resource to exploit.”

“But y/n has never responded well to force” he chuckled. 

“Pressure creates resistance” a low hum escaped him, his hands folded carefully behind his back. “Trust creates cooperation.”

Zeno stared, unimpressed by his words, “Trust?” He laughed

“How exactly do you intend to build trust when you are going to abduct her from the comfort of her own home?”

Gideon's smile vanished from his face as irritation flickered behind his pale eyes.

“A bargaining chip” Gideon reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a photograph. 

Without a word, he tossed it onto the floor between them.

Zeno glanced downward, curiosity briefly crossing his face. He bent down and picked it up, a soft huff escaping him. 

“Mr. Kennedy….”.

A low, venomous growl rumbled in Gideon’s chest, “Leon Kennedy has become….problematic.”

“Jealous, Victor?” Zeno smirked. 

“No.” His answer came too quickly and sharply, which only made Zeno’s grin widen. 

“She trusts him,” his gaze darkened. “Listens to him”. 

“And that makes him dangerous.”

Zeno studied the photograph, “You intend to use him?”

“I intend to remove an obstacle” his words came out cold and measured. 

“Y/n has always cared too deeply for others” his eyes lingered on the photograph. “If she believes he's in danger…”

A faint smile returned to Gideon.

“....she will come to me willingly.”

Zeno let out a dark chuckle, using the tip of his cigarette to singe the corner of the photograph. 

The image blackened and curled, until it dropped to the floor where he crushed it beneath his heel.

“And after that?”

After a moment of silence, Gideon took a breath in, “I will show her the truth.”

Zeno raised a curious brow, “The truth?”

“That everyone eventually leaves. Everyone disappoints. But I never did.”

“Once she sees the world for what it truly is…” his gaze drifted towards the laboratory doors. 

“...she'll understand that I was the only one who never stopped searching for her.”

“So, it was never about evolution, wasn't it?”

“No.”

“It was always about bringing her home.”

Gideon's head turned slowly to Zeno, his expression darkening within seconds. “She is everything. The special one…my special one.” 

“You wouldn't understand because you view everything as a tool. A resource. Something to be exploited and discarded when it has outlived its usefulness.”

Gideon let out a soft chuckle as he approached the same doors he entered from, “Once I'm finished here, we need to take a flight to Valdelobos, Spain.”

“Why?” 

Gideon paused in his tracks, slowly glancing over his shoulder. “Because that's where Leon Kennedy was first introduced to Las Plagas. And….” He let out an insatiable groan. 

“....that's where I can ensure that he has no way of returning home.” 

Zeno nodded as he grabbed his phone, “I'll make the arrangements then.”

Without another word, Gideon entered through the doors to head down the halls to the lab to begin the injections. 

“Decent movie” Leon yawned, stretching out his arms. 

“Mmm” you nodded, resting your head on his shoulder and your hands against his chest. 

Leon glanced down at you, a small smile peering across his lips. “Hm, someone's tired.”

“Yeah..” You sleepily spoke. 

“Come on then” he chuckled, setting the empty popcorn bowl on the table in front of him and hooked his arm underneath your knees. 

He carried you up the stairs and towards your bedroom, gently laying you down by your stuffed warriors and tucked you in. 

“G'night kiddo” he whispered close to your ear before seeing himself out.

After trailing down the hallway and down the stairs, he shut off your television and grabbed the popcorn bowl to wash. 

While in the kitchen, he scrubbed away at the buttery streaks that littered the bottom of the bowl. But his mind kept drifting back to this Doctor Gideon. Who was he really? Did he have any connection to y/n? Why was he so difficult to find?

Suddenly, a knock came upon your front door. 

“Huh, it's the middle of the fucking night. Who the hell is delivering packages this late?” 

Quickly shutting off the water, he set the soapy bowl in the sink, dried his hands, and rushed to the front door. 

“Hello?” he called, but noticed no one was there.

“That's strange” Leon shrugged, about to close the door but noticed a package just beneath his feet. 

Bending down to pick up the package, he looked at the label, his brows narrowing in suspicion. This wasn't an ordinary package delivered by a corporation, it was a personal package, designed specifically for you. 

Leon turned at his heels and entered your home with the package, making sure to close and lock the door behind him. 

As he entered the living room, he set the package down on the coffee table and grabbed his hunting knife. 

Using slow and careful movements, he cut the tape at the top of the box, making sure not to pierce too deep to puncture anything that could release any toxins.

Once the tape was fully cut, Leon opened the box and noticed the contents. It was a stuffed bear dressed in a medical uniform and a box of chocolates. 

“What the hell?” He reached down to grab the stuffed bear, examining it for anything out of the ordinary. 

“Who's knocking so late at night?” Your groggy voice echoed along his ears. 

“Hey sleepy head. It was just someone dropping off a package for you.”

“A package?” You rubbed your eyes and approached beside him.

“Oh my gosh, look at this cute little fellow!” You giggled, snatching the teddy bear from Leon's hands and cuddled close to it. 

“They also brought you chocolates.”

“Really?” You gasped, looking down in the box and pulled out your favorite type of chocolate. “Awww these are my favorite.” 

“Hmm seems like you have a secret admirer” Leon playfully teased you as he sheathed his knife. 

“I doubt that, maybe it's just-” you paused when you saw what else was in the box. 

“Y/n? You okay?”

You slowly set your teddy bear and box of chocolates down and grabbed the photo at the bottom of the box. 

Shock was written across your face as you carefully examined it.

“What is it?” He inched closer to you and glanced down at the photo, his heart sinking deep into his chest. 

“Leon…it's a picture of you…and me….from today” your voice trembled. 

“What the hell?” Leon took a hold of the photo and read the message that was written across the top. 

“Mr. Kennedy, has anyone ever taught you to not meddle in affairs that do not concern you?” 

“This keeps getting weirder and weirder, Leon” you walked around your coffee table and sat down on your couch. 

“Listen, I need you to stay inside for the time being while you're on your break from work.” 

“What? But what about getting groceries or…like..helping you with the investigation?”

“I will bring your groceries, just message me what you need. As for the investigation, I can't let you come with me.”

“What?!” You shot up from your couch cushion. “But Leon, I thought we were doing this together?”

“We were, but that all changed when you almost got murdered by someone you knew.”

“Okay, but you were there to save me.”

“Y/n….what if I can’t get to you in time?” he paused in his words as he set the photo down and approached you. 

“Leon I-”

“I can’t lose you…” he whispered, holding onto your shoulders tightly. “...especially now when these things are showing up at your door, unannounced.” 

“So what, I’m on a fucking house arrest? What if these fuckers come to my house and try to kidnap me? I’m better off being close to you than away from you, Leon!”

“No…” he released your shoulders and turned to head to your front door. “I’m going to send two DSO agents here so that they can monitor outside your home. Please try not to go outside.” 

As Leon exited your home, you swept everything that was on the coffee table onto the floor as a boiling rage filled you. “What the fuck has gotten into him?!”

“Sherry? Yeah….we have a problem. I think whoever this Doctor Gideon is….is targeting y/n.” 

The next day arrived as usual as you stood in your kitchen, cooking yourself some eggs and bacon, still hurt by how Leon left you last night. You knew he was doing what was best for you, but you felt that if you were closer to him, you could be protected while also providing him as much support as possible. 

Glancing back at your living room, you noticed the stuffed bear and box of chocolates still resting on the floor where you had left it. 

Your face scrunched up in anger as you finished cooking, set the food on a plate, and stormed into your living room. 

You gathered everything up, including the box and picture and headed outside of your home to toss it in your garbage. 

“Fucker…” you murmured underneath your breath as you tossed it in your garbage and slammed the lid shut. 

You let out a deep sorrowful sigh and turned to head back into your house. You didn't want to throw those things out, especially the teddy bear. But whoever had sent it, was clearly threatening Leon. 

“Y/n!” familiar voices called to you. 

“Huh?” you gasped, turning around and noticed Ben and Xander trotting towards you with boxes. 

“What the heck are you two doing here?” you laughed. 

“Phew” Xander set the box down in front of you, Ben doing the same. 

“We heard what happened at the lab from Diana and wanted to check to see if you were okay?” Ben smiled.

“No, I wanted to check on her and you just wanted to call her” Xander crossed his arms. 

“Shut the fuck up!” 

You let out a soft giggle and glanced down at the boxes. “Thank you guys but…what's with the boxes?” 

“Oh, since you are going to be on a break for a little while, we wanted to bring you the files from your office in regard to the bodies we did autopsies on.”

“Oh…Eric didn't give you any trouble?” 

“No…I mean…” Xander rubbed the back of his head worriedly. 

“We got fired,” Ben bluntly said.

“What?!” You shouted. “Why?!”

“This fluffy bastard broke into the restricted area and took classified files.”

“Xander….”

“Hey! I was trying to help you out, y/n! It wasn't my fault that those bastards are keeping so much from you.”

“What?” You questioned in worry.

“Guys, not here, can we go inside?” Ben tried to act secretive because who knows who was listening. 

“Right…come on.”

After they got inside, you paced back and forth as you read the files in the box. 

“Mm man this bacon tastes amazing” Xander hummed hungrily.

“Shh…” Ben scolded him as his attention turned to you. 

“You guys didn't need to get yourselves fired for this.”

“It's not a problem y/n, we would do anything for you. You literally hired us for goodness sake. Gave us the clothes on our backs” Ben spoke with appreciation of all that you did for him and Xander. 

“Yeah” Xander joined in on the praise while continuously munching on some bacon. 

You flashed them a smile, remembering that day like it was yesterday. 

They were two interns interviewing to be your lab assistant. Ben was kind and always followed the rules to the dot. Xander was a bit head strong and loved to crack jokes, but his eye for detail was marvelous. 

You were torn on who to hire because it had to be a singular individual. You were going to hire only Ben, but then you decided to call your boss to your workplace to show him that you needed these two. 

You spoke highly of the two, how they both completed each other and that their skills were beyond other interviewees. 

He was reluctant at first, but decided to agree after finding their backgrounds to be of excellent material. And because Diedra spoke highly of you and your abilities. 

“But why would they hide this from me?”

“Which document is that?” Ben asked.

“It's about my previous research. But it was completely sealed. No one should have access to this?”

“No one should, that's why we got copies of the reports. Someone accessed those restricted files without Director Eric's knowledge.”

“What…?”

“That's why he didn't tell you. Because there is a huge leak in the department and they are trying to figure out who.” 

“They want to keep it off the record so that they won't lose their government funding” you tsked. 

“That or……they're trying to protect you.”

“Protect me? By not informing me of something that is important to me?”

Xander grabbed a napkin carefully, looking at you with soft eyes, “Y/n…”.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Xander was the first to stand after cleaning his hands of the bacon grease and approached you slowly. “Diana and Walter….they….they were murdered last night….”.

“No…” your heart sunk deep in your chest, tears forming in your eyes. 

“She called us last night, to let us know that you were going to be on break for a while and that you were in danger. So, we asked her if we could go to the office to gather some of your things and important files in case someone tried to use them against you.”

“And…” you let out a shaky breath. 

“They were fine when we hung up the phone….until we found their butchered corpses hanging from the fluorescent laboratory lights..”.

“No!” You screamed, feeling light in your legs. 

Xander quickly jumped towards you and caught you before you fell. 

“But…why….what…” you gripped onto him tightly, not understanding what was happening. 

“That's why we got fired…because we broke into the restricted area to get you everything you need to find the son of a bitch who's been doing this” Ben approached beside you to embrace you with Xander. 

“Why would they kill them? What purpose does that serve?!”

“I'm guessing when they didn't get the answers they wanted….they butchered them…”.

“But we know they were after you y/n…they wanted to know everything about you. What you did there, the experiments you ran, every single detail of your personal life” Xander rubbed your back softly. 

“They even ransacked your office. Important files were taken from your desk…”. 

“What?!” You pulled away from his chest to look at them both in utter shock. 

“Yeah, Eric's too much of a coward to tell you that you're in danger and prefers to keep you in the dark. But I know he should've at least told you that you need to be careful” Ben admitted.

You pulled away from Xander for a second to grab a napkin to wipe your tear stained face. “I think I know who did this…”.

“Who?” both said in unison. 

You shook your head softly and pulled away from them, “Someone I used to know and I'll leave at that because I don't want you two to be next.”

“No, we have to know y/n, so we can protect you” Xander pleaded with you. 

“She's right Xander…if we want to keep staying alive we have to stay neutral” Ben gently placed his hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

“I'll be okay, Xander. I just…can't let you two die because of me.”

“Philip” a low voice called to him.

“Yes, Doctor Gideon?” Philip stood at attention, his hands clasped behind his back in respect. 

“Where are the photographs?” Gideon slowly approached him. 

“Right here” Philip turned around to grab the photos from his satchel bag and handed them to him. 

Gideon accepted the photographs from Philip, studying each one with meticulous precision. “Hmm” his thumb traced over one of the images. 

“Leon seems to have made himself rather….indispensible” he looked down at him, his expression as rigid as stone. 

“Philip.” 

“Yes Doctor, I know what you’re thinking…but I have promising updates” he lowered his head respectfully. 

“Enlighten me on the ‘updates,’ Philip” Gideon set down the photos beside him on the laboratory table and clasped his hands behind his back. 

“I successfully delivered the package to y/n’s residence, just as you instructed.” 

He paused for a second. 

“I also visited her workplace and gathered several of her personal items.” 

A faint smile tugged at Gideon’s lips. 

“And?”

 Philip hesitated briefly, “Two individuals who were close to her…” his voice remained steady. “...have been permanently removed from your path, Doctor.” 

A slow, agonizingly perfect smile stretched across Gideon’s face, radiating a charm that felt less like warmth and more like a closing trap. 

Without raising his voice, he raised his arm and motioned with his two fingers to someone in the room. 

Philip turned his head towards the direction of Gideon’s gesture and noticed three individuals approaching. 

“I want the pressure increased” his tone remained calm and measured. “I do not care how you accomplish it. I want certainty in her life to begin unraveling” he slowly paced before them. 

“I want doubt, a seed planted here, a coincidence there, a familiar face acting….unfamiliar” he stopped walking. 

“When the time is right…..she will begin questioning everyone around her.” 

Gideon’s attention drifted towards one of the photographs resting upon the table that had Leon standing beside you with a smile on his face. 

The mere sight of him holding you caused his expression to harden. 

“And Leon….” a quiet chuckle escaped him. “He believes he is protecting her” his smile returned. 

“How admirable” his amusement vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “I want that confidence dismantled. Not through brute force, through failure” he looked back at the three subjects.

“When she is alone…..when she begins questioning everything she believes…” his voice lowered. 

“Notify me” a dangerous calm settled over the room. “I will speak to her myself, no one understands her as I do.”

The room remained deathly quiet, the three individuals attentively listening to their ‘hive’ master. 

“And hear me well” Gideon’s gaze sharpened and the warmth in his voice disappeared entirely. 

“If any one of you so much as lays a hand upon her without my express permission…” he approached them with his towering figure. 

“....your final breath will belong to me.” 

None of them spoke, but understood their orders and the consequences that beheld them if they failed. 

After several agonizing seconds, Gideon gave a slight nod. “Go.” 

The three subjects turned immediately and disappeared into the maze of corridors. 

Philip remained behind, watching, waiting. 

Gideon picked up the singular photograph of you, his thumb brushing lightly across your smiling face. 

“Just a little longer….” his voice barely rose above a whisper. “My beloved.”

Philip then turned towards his satchel and pulled out the remaining items that he had taken from your office and the lock of your hair. 

Gideon glanced over to his direction and examined the items that lay scattered across the table. “She is just as I remembered her~” he chuckled as he took a hold of [Your favorite item or object]. 

“Phew, okay, in and out” you pulled up your hoodie and stepped out of your car into the pouring rain. 

With a little help from an old hacker buddy of yours, you copied Leon’s messages from Sherry of places that had Victor’s LKL. You knew that this was a crazy overstep, but you had to help Leon, especially when he had a target on his back. 

“Okay, no going back now….” you locked your car and rushed towards an opening in the metal fences.

“What the hell do you mean you lost her?!” Leon shouted through his phone.

“I’m sorry sir, we tracked her leaving her house at 2:40 pm…but lost her at the intersection.”

“Fuck me…” Leon hung up the call, his hand curling into a worried fist. “Dammit y/n, what the hell are you doing?” 

“Apparently, Victor was last seen here five months ago gathering something” you murmured to yourself as you approached the doors of the building and used your flashlight to get a look inside as the rain poured above you.

“Looks abandoned” you shrugged, grabbing the door handle and opening it, the sound of its hinges screeching along your ears.

“Needs some WD-40” you joked, trying to self-soothe because you were a nervous wreck. 

Letting the rusted door close on its own, you continued down the halls of the abandoned Chronic Care Center that Victor used to work at. You raised your arm slightly, using the flashlight to illuminate your way through the center. 

“Ugh” you growled in disgust at the sight of mushrooms growing on bodies that lay scattered along the floor. “What the hell was going on here?” 

You soon arrived at an office scattered with papers and decided to start looking there. But as you entered, you shined your light around, noticing that nature had taken its course. 

“Jeez, what the hell is this?” You questioned, noticing the hardened vines. 

Trying to maneuver as best as possible, you hopped over a couple of them to get to the back. 

“Made it!” You chuckled, looking around with your flashlight again, searching through piles of paper and other things that could help you find where Victor could have ended up? 

Although, as you looked around, a soft sliding sound could be heard behind you, as if something was dragging itself along the eroded floors.

“Huh…this says that Doctor Gideon had to close this center due to the mutated growth of plant life? And that all staff are to be relocated to-” you gasped, trying to figure out where he would be right now, but the piece of paper was torn away in the exact spot where the location was listed. 

“Dammit!” You tossed the paper, rubbing your face in frustration. 

“I guess I gotta keep looking.”

A low hungry growl slowly erupted from behind you, sending a wave of chills down your spine. 

Turning your head slowly to see what was making that sound, your heart sunk in your chest at a flower with sharp teeth staring directly at you. 

“Oh shit..” You quickly scrambled to your feet to try to run but it caught you in its softer vines. 

“Ah! Let go!” You screamed as it bound your legs and held your wrists above your head. 

“No, stop it- Mmm!” You struggled against it as it silenced you. 

The plant creature grumbled hungrily as its flower leaned close to you, trying to assess how ripe you were. 

Watching it with fear, you shut your eyes tightly, preparing for it to devour you whole. But as you waited, nothing seemed to happen. 

All of a sudden, the softer vines began to caress your body, forcing a soft whimper out of you. “Mm…mm!” 

The plant creature snickered at the sounds you made, enticing it to continue doing more bizarre behaviors. 

“Mm..mmm” you cried out as two vines tore off your hoodie and your shirt, leaving you semi-exposed. 

You continued struggling as much as you could as one of the vines slithered up your stomach and pushed its way past your bra.

“Mmmm!!” You arched your head back, your legs shaking uncontrollably at this unwanted touch. 

You shook your head, trying to understand what was going on? Why was this plant creature doing this? Wasn't it going to eat you? 

The vines curled around your bosom, flicking carefully at your sensitive buds. 

“Mm..” You let out a soft moan, feeling a strange feeling rising deep within you. 

CLICK…BANG!

You winced as you were dropped to the floor by the plant creature, its body releasing an agonizing screech. 

“Come on!” an unfamiliar male voice called to you. 

You quickly looked up and jumped to your feet, rushing towards him as quickly as you could. 

The man fired another shot and grabbed your hand to pull you towards a safe area. 

The plant creature tore through the walls chasing after you two, trying its very best to grab you. 

“Ah!” You screamed as it almost took your head clean off when it side-swiped the ceiling above you. 

“Keep running!” The man fired another shot and then dragged you down the corridor that led to the lab. 

The creature paused in its tracks, a low growl erupting from deep within it and then it slithered away. 

You panted heavily, trying to catch your breath after nearly getting eaten, fucked, and murdered by a damn mutated plant. 

“Why…why didn't it follow us?” 

“Because it's scared of whatever is in the lab down below” the man reloaded his weapon. 

“There's a lab in this place?” You questioned curiously. 

“Yeah, but it's not a good idea to go down there.”

“Why?” 

“You sure ask a lot of questions without so much as a thank you.”

You let out a soft sigh as you grabbed your head, “I'm sorry, thank you…for saving me.”

“Hm, no problem doll face” he unzipped his jacket and handed it to you. “Might wanna wear that before that plant creature catches your scent again.”

“Oh…thanks...” you blushed deeply, pulling on his jacket and zipping it up to cover your exposed upper half. 

“So, why did that creature want to fuck me?” The words were out of your mouth before you even had a second to process how absurd the question sounded.

The man let out a soft chuckle, “These mutated plants have different instincts. Some hunt and kill for hunger while others tease their food and devour their….well um…orgasms.”

“What the fuck?” 

“I know, it sounds strange. But these plants have had a chance to undergo evolutionary changes to help them survive. This place has been abandoned for months, so it was only a matter of time before they started to adapt and get creative in finding other sources of food.” 

“That’s impossible” you shook your head in disbelief. “How could plants like that have the possibility to undergo significant evolutionary changes in a few months? Usually that takes years?” 

“You’ll have to thank Doctor Victor Gideon for that. The one who created this shithole” the man spit on the ground in disgust. 

Your stomach churred at the mention of Victor’s name again. “I see…”. 

“So, care to explain why you are exploring an abandoned Care Center all by yourself?”

“I should ask the same about you, Mr.?” you crossed your arms. 

“Phonex. And my business here is classified to outsiders." 

“Huh, if it's classified, why should I tell you my reason for being here or my name?” 

Phonex smiled at your response and tilted his head to the side slightly, “You don't have to tell me anything doll face. I'm just curious.” 

“My name is y/n” you flashed him a smile and turned to face the stairs that led deep into the lab. 

“Woah, woah! What are you doing?”

“I'm going down there. I want to see what exactly Doctor Gideon was doing.”

“Are you insane? If that big ass creature outside doesn't want to go down there, why should you?” Phonex shrugged. 

“Because…I have to find out where he is. He's….doing so much harm to the people I love and-” 

Phonex raised his index finger and shook it after hearing what you said, “You know him personally, don't you?”

You slowly looked down, ashamed that you once knew him. But he was different back then. Filled with so much joy and love for the world.

“Yes I knew him. Which is why I have to put a stop to this. I can't let him continue to hurt others.” 

Phonex nodded in respect and checked his weapon to see if it was loaded. “Then let's get your answers.” 

You smiled softly, shocked to find that this stranger was willing to go to the depths of hell to help you put an end to the madness that Gideon was causing.

“Thank you.”

“Alright, alright, don't get all mushy with me” he chuckled, heading down the stairs first so he could scope out the area for any hostiles.

Following closely behind him, you took in the area before you. There was dried blood splattered across the plain walls along with broken vials and syringes on the floor. It looked like a massacre happened here.

“Huh..” You paused in your tracks as you approached a desk that had cabinets. 

As you searched them, you found a document that had pertinent information of Gideon's location.

“Ha, he's located at the Chronic Hill Care Center?” You quickly grabbed your phone from your back pocket and began to take photos. 

Phonex continued further down the lab and noticed a secured area. “Hey, doll face, come check this out.” 

“Coming” you set the paper back in its drawer and rushed towards him. 

“Now don't you find this a little suspicious?”

“What do you mean?” You asked with confusion in your voice. 

“This place has been abandoned for months, everything is either damaged or so old that if you touch it, it'll turn to ash.”

“Okay?”

“So, why the fuck does this door have power still and looks brand new?”

“You're right” you gasped, touching the door gently. 

“Please input a blood sample” a robotic woman's voice rang out.

“Blood sample?” Phonex questioned, glancing down at the needle that protruded from the wall. 

“What blood sample is she-” you squeaked as Phonex grabbed your wrist and slammed the palm of your hand against the needle. 

“Ah!” You winced, feeling a sharp radiant pain shoot through your arm.

Once Phonex released your hand, he noticed the lights on the door turning green and slowly opening. 

“What the hell was that for?!” You clutched your hand in pain. 

“Sorry, I just remembered you said that you had a connection with Doctor Gideon, so I assumed he would use your genetic signature.” 

“Warn me next time at least” you let out a sigh of annoyance and proceeded further into the lab. 

As you two followed the corridor, there were other rooms that contained brand new medical equipment. Some even had live specimens that were being experimented on. 

“What the fuck is going on here?” You gripped your chest worriedly until you entered a singular room that looked like an office. 

“Seems cozy” Phonex commented as he began to search through the books and other items. 

You, on the other hand, approached the desk and pressed the ‘enter’ button on the computer. 

“Say hi y/n!” Victor's kind voice spoke through the speaker.

“No, come on! I have cake all over my face!” Your voice from years ago laughed. 

A soft gasp escaped your lips as you sat down on the chair and watched the video that Victor had taken of you two on your birthday.

“Happy birthday beloved!” 

“Victor! Oh my gosh, you shouldn't have!” Your old self hugged him in the video after he had given you a necklace that had the Rod of Asclepius. 

“Anything for you, y/n.”

Soft tears dripped down your cheek once the video shut off. “Victor…” you whispered his name as if he was there. 

“Hey…you okay?” Phonex awkwardly asked, approaching beside you to rest his hand on your shoulder. 

“No…I…..I miss him…but…he's..hurt so many people…people that I love” you cried. 

“I see…” he nodded, removing his hand from your shoulder to give you some space. 

When you felt the weight of his hand leave your shoulder, you decided to check the computer for anything else that Victor had left. 

Soon enough, another video popped up and you clicked on it. 

“Hello. My name is Doctor Victor Gideon and today we will begin experimenting on sialis Derto, the common flower” Gideon smiled as he approached the flower and applied two drops of an unknown liquid. 

Soon enough, the flower began to grow vines and expand exponentially. 

“Doctor, it's growing too much! We need to initiate lockdown protocols!” One of his lab assistants worriedly spoke. 

“Wait, wait!” Gideon told them to relax as he approached the towering flower before him.

“There we are. Good boy” he hummed softly, grabbing a rotten carcass he had brought with him and handing it to the flower. 

The flower sniffed it cautiously before devouring it whole in one gulp. It soon purred pleasantly and nuzzled its petals against Gideon. 

“You see gentlemen, ladies” Gideon bowed his head to his one female assistant. “Once you prove to these glorious creatures that you mean no harm….they will let you in.” 

You couldn't believe your eyes at what you saw. It was magnificent but also terrifying to see such intelligence from Victor. 

“I told you he was the one that created that freaky thing from upstairs” Phonex commented, shaking his head in disappointment. 

You remained silent as you typed away at the computer, trying to find more information on Victor. 

Suddenly, the doors to the office shut and the floor beneath you began to move like an enormous elevator. 

“What the hell?” Phonex gasped as he held his weapon close.

“Oh shit..” You gasped as you realized there was something deeper in the Center. 

Once the elevator stopped, you rushed out of the room and down the hall. 

“Y/n wait!” Phonex called after you.

You soon arrived at this strange wall that had a graduated Erlenmeyer flask of some sort of virus within it. 

“Oh my gosh…I think I know what this is.” 

“What is it?” Phonex asked while out of breath. 

“It's a strain of virus that allows the user to be in a hive connection with thousands of hosts.” 

“No, it can't be. This serum was used on that plant, remember? From the video?”

“Yes, but he refined it. This is the original strain. The one that can impose significant damage to a major population of people.” 

“I'm sorry, I'm so fucking confused right now. How do you even know this?”

“Because I know him! Victor was always obsessed with control and evolution….” You turned towards him, tears swelling in your eyes. 

“This virus strain can be manipulated into anything that you want. It does however, have a major genetic factor of control within its genome, which is a suitable strain to create a hive connection. But it still can be created into any virus you wish, toxic or therapeutic.” 

“This can't be fucking real” Phonex approached closer to the flask to examine it further.

“Yeah…” you quickly grabbed the flask and held it in the air, about to destroy it so that Victor nor anyone could have such power in their hands. 

“Wait” Phonex grabbed your wrist before you could break it. 

“What are you doing? I need to destroy this sample.”

Phonex let out a soft sigh as he grabbed his gun from his holster and pressed it against your temple. “I'm sorry, doll face, I need that virus.”

“You bastard…you knew exactly who I was…didn't you?”

Phonex smiled softly as he took a hold of the flask in your hands, “I did and I needed your blood for this to work.”

“Why are you doing this? That virus could kill millions if manipulated into a toxin…”. 

"I have my orders," he sighed softly.

With a reluctant motion, he holstered his weapon before retrieving a small vial from his belt. Carefully, he poured the strain into it, ensuring not a single drop was wasted.

Once he was finished, he casually tossed the empty flask onto the floor. It shattered upon impact, shards of glass scattering across the laboratory tiles.

He then secured the filled vial inside his holster before returning his attention towards you.

“You're a fucking monster” you shook your head, wanting to charge at him but it was no use. 

“Come on, let's get you out of here” he offered to lead you outside the Center. 

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“I said let’s go! Unless you want to be eaten by that fucking monstrosity out there?” he forcefully grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards the direction of the platform that you descended from.

“Stop! You’re hurting me!” you cried out in pain until you noticed an unfamiliar figure stepping into view. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Phonex released your wrist and pulled out his weapon. 

A soft chuckle escaped the stranger’s lips, their head slowly tilted to one side, “Hmm..”.

“I see you continue surrounding yourself with….inferior individuals, my beloved” their smile widened unnaturally. 

“Victor...” you murmured underneath your breath as you slowly stepped backwards, fear written across your face. 

Phonex glanced back at you, noticing your subtle step backwards and a shift in your expression. “Shit…” his head snapped towards the direction of the stranger and held firm in his stance. 

“Where is he?” 

“Who?” Phonex responded, assuming he was talking to him. 

The stranger noticed the color drain from your face, a slow knowing smile spread across his lips. “Ah…” 

A quiet chuckled escaped him, “So your white knight has left you all alone…what a tragedy~”

Behind him, a deep, rumbling growl echoed throughout the corridor. The grotesque flower creature twisted its massive body, vines scraping against the reinforced doorway as it forced its way inside. 

“Fuck..” Phonex broke his stance and slowly walked backwards. 

“Tell me, my beloved….how many times must Leon Kennedy fail before you understand?” 

The stranger took another step closer. 

“He cannot protect you. He never could” His expression softened into something almost affectionate.

“But I can. I have always been the one willing to cross every boundary for you” he chuckled.

“Why do you insist on fearing the only man who has never stopped searching for you?” 

Your chest tightened, “No…..I’ll never believe you” your voice trembled.

The stranger signed, almost disappointed. “You will,” he smiled again. “In time.” 

“No! Phonex watch out!” you cried out.

The creature lunged, its vines lashing towards him like whips.

Phonex threw himself aside, narrowly avoiding the first strike before raising his weapon. Several shots rang throughout the room as the rounds tore into the creature’s flesh, but it barely reacted. It kept advancing. 

“What the hell are you?!” Phonex growled. 

Another vine shot towards him, slicing it away with his combat knife before firing again.

For a brief moment, it looked as though he had gained the upper hand, but a massive vine tore through the air with terrifying speed and pierced his head. 

“Phonex!” You screamed. 

Phonex fell to his knees in defeat and slumped limp onto his side, blood pooling around him. 

“As predictable as ever,” the stranger murmured. 

The flower creature slowly turned towards you, its vines coiling around your wrists and waist before lifting you effortlessly from the floor. 

“Ah!” you cried, struggling as your back struck the cold concrete wall. 

The vines tightened just enough to keep you pinned in place, preventing you from moving or running. 

The stranger approached with slow, deliberate footsteps, each one echoing through the room. 

When he finally stood before you, he tilted his head ever so slightly.

The smile on his face wasn’t his own anymore, it was Victor’s. “My beloved~” 

You turned your gaze away from him, unwilling to meet his eyes after all the pain he has brought upon you. 

The stranger only leaned closer, his lips hovering inches from your ear, “I can make all of this stop.”

You whimpered softly, his low voice sending a wave of chills down your spine. 

“No more running. No more bloodshed. No more people dying because they chose to stand between us.”

“Please….I want this to end…” you begged, tears filling your eyes again. 

“I can end it. But once you accept the truth that Leon Kennedy is not coming. That he isn’t here. And that he has failed to protect you.” 

“I won’t” you shot a defying glance at him. 

The vines tightened their grip on you, sending a sharp pain through your body. “Ah!” 

“Tell me that I am the only one that can protect you” he brushed his cheek against your face.

“N-No…” your voice trembled.

“You are still clinging to hope?” He pulled away from you. “Look around you y/n!” he gestured towards Phonex’s corpse. 

“How many more people must die before you realize what your faith in him has cost?

You let out a defeated whimper, shutting your eyes tightly, wishing that this was a nightmare. 

“Tell me….who will save you now?”

The answer caught in your throat as you tried to think of ways to escape this endeavor. But with the last ounce of strength within you, you looked up at him, not with trust, not with love, not with hope, only exhaustion. 

“You…”. 

Chapter 2: You Were Always Destined To Be Mine

“Argh….my head” Diedra let out an agonizing groan, moving her hand to grip her forehead but her arm couldn't move. 

“What?” she gasped, her eyes adjusting to the bright surgical lights that illuminated the area she was in. She then glanced down, her eyes widening at the sight before her. She was strapped to an examination table, her wrists and legs bound tightly, preventing her from making any sort of movements. 

“H-Hello?” She shakily called out, looking up and scanning her surroundings. 

She was in a strange laboratory, filled with specimens, opened cadavers, and vials and syringes filled with black writing veins. This place seemed inhuman and very much dangerous. 

Turning her head more to the right, her heart sunk in her chest at the sight before her. 

“Thomas!” She screamed. 

Thomas had been flipped upside down on an examination table, two IVs stuck in his arm, collecting his blood in a sealed container. 

“Let us go!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. 

Suddenly, heavy footsteps entered the laboratory, a sign that someone had heard her shouting and came to investigate.

“Professor Diedra Wilson” a low, rumbling voice rang along her ears. 

“W-Who are you?” Diedra stuttered. 

“It is such a pleasure to be meeting you once again, Professor.”

“Again? I've never met you in my entire fucking life! Let us go now!” 

The towering shadow loomed just beyond the darkness of the lab, their enormous silhouette moving carefully, studying her every reaction. 

“You don't recognize me? What a pity. I remember you though. Professor Wilson…the woman that introduced me to someone very close to my heart….y/n.”

Diedra's jaw dropped at the mention of y/n, her favorite student and alumni from a couple years back. 

“V-Victor…?” She gasped. 

Gideon emerged from the shadow's, a wicked grin plastered along his face. “Aww, so you do remember me. I should feel honored” he slowly approached her, his heavy footsteps sending a chillful wave down Deidra's spine. 

“Victor…what happened to you?” She questioned in shock, his appearance confusing her the most. 

Gideon approached the side of the examination table, his body leaning forward so that his face could stare down at her.

“Where is she?” He calmly asked.

“Who?” 

“Y/n.”

Diedra stayed silent, not wanting to give him the location of where you worked. She couldn't do that to you, especially when you two had gone your separate ways.

“Y/n please!” Victor's voice called to you as he followed closely behind you 

“Victor, leave me alone, okay!”

Victor quickly leapt forward, his hand grabbing your arm and spinning you around. “Why can't you tell me what I did wrong?”

You snatched your arm away from his grasp, anger clearly written across your face. “Fine, I'll tell you. The reason why I've been ignoring you is because you accepted that job at Umbrella. I told you, that place is bad news. I know for a fact they are doing experiments on people and building weapons to hurt innocents! But you didn't listen…you just went ahead and got the job.”

“Y/n…I did this for us!” Victor shouted, frustration cracking through his voice.

“So we could finally have a future together!”

His breathing became uneven as he stepped closer toward you.

“Don’t I get a say in my own damn life?!”

“No!” Tears burned within your eyes as you shook your head violently. 

“No, Victor….you did it because you are obsessed with human evolution.”

Your voice trembled with heartbreak, “You genuinely believe that the weak deserve to perish so the strong can rise!” 

Victor's expression hardened instantly, “You don't understand..”.

“No…I don't need nor want to understand you anymore. You don't care about us….”

Those words cut deep within him, his body sinking deep into the ground like the roots of a tree.

“You only care about creating something beyond humanity.” 

“Y/n…” was all that came from his mouth. 

“We're done.”

After you entered your home, he turned around and headed to his car. As he got inside, he gripped onto his steering wheel tightly, a boiling rage rising within him. Then he shouted to the top of his lungs, punching the glass window beside him, cracking it, and cutting his knuckles. 

“Ah…I'll show you y/n….”

“I'll show you the incredible things that I can create” his expression darkened with determination. 

“I will save this miserable world….even if you refuse to understand that” he breathed out slowly and then started his car, driving off into the night. 

The next morning came quicker than Victor expected as he entered Professor Diedra's office.

“Oh, hello Victor. I wasn't expecting you today? How can I help?” Diedra smiled pleasantly as she stood from her chair. 

“Uh…I um…was hoping you can uh email me my transcript for this class.”

“Oh…uh….of course….I will send you all the information tonight.”

“Thank you so much” Victor nodded in thanks and turned around to leave her office. 

“Victor, are you feeling alright?” Diedra asked with concern laced in her voice, hinting at his bandaged hand. 

“No…I'm not” he turned his head to her. 

“Oh, what happened, if you don't mind me asking?”

“Y/n…left me….”.

“Oh, I'm so sorry Victor.”

“I am too.” 

His fingers tightened around the strap of his bag.

“But it’s alright…” He lifted his gaze toward her again.

“She’ll come back to me once I create something capable of changing the world.”

A strange grin slowly spread across his lips. “Something extraordinary.”

Goosebumps crawled violently across Diedra’s skin.

The look in his eyes no longer resembled the brilliant young man she once taught. It looked fanatic. Obsessive.

Victor calmly adjusted the sleeve of his coat before heading toward the office door.

“I will await your email, Professor Diedra” He paused briefly.

“And thank you…”A faint smile crossed his face once more.

“For the wonderful four years you’ve given me.” 

Then he left the office. Leaving Diedra standing there in stunned silence as unease slowly settled into her chest.

“…My God.”

“I don't know where she is, Victor.” 

A long sigh escaped Gideon's lips after hearing her blatantly lie to his face. 

“I wonder what would happen if I entered a mutagenic strain into your body? Would it change your genetic make-up….or further degrade your body and twist it into something inhuman?”

The very words he spoke sent a tremor down her body. This wasn't the same Victor…he changed…. .

“You're fucking crazy….y/n made the right choice to leave you.” 

Gideon's expression darkened as he stood to his original height, a slow burning fury igniting in the pit of his stomach. 

“She saw what you were becoming!” Diedra snapped. 

“You were brilliant, Victor, but completely consumed by your obsession with evolution!” 

“And now look at you!” 

The laboratory fell silent again. Then Gideon let out another sigh. 

“How…disappointing” he turned toward the nearby table where several syringes rested within metal trays. Dark fluid moved unnaturally inside each vial. 

Diedra's fear immediately returned, “No….”. 

“Do you know why I've always been fascinated by human evolution, Professor Wilson?” Gideon flicked the vial with his index finger before turning around to approach the examination table. 

Diedra struggled violently against the restraints, tears overflowing down her cheeks, trying everything she could to get out of this situation. 

THUD. THUD. THUD. 

He leaned in close to her ear, his lips creaking into a devilish smile. “It's because humanity has always resisted progress…and yet….they always submit eventually.” 

“No!” Diedra screamed as the syringe entered her vein, agony exploding through her nervous system.

Blackened veins rapidly spread beneath her skin as her body convulsed violently against the table restraints. 

Philip entered the laboratory, standing by Thomas's drained corpse. Watching. Waiting. Listening. 

Slowly, Diedra's scream faded, her body going limp. Then her head slowly lifted, blank eyes staring forward. She was connected now to Gideon. 

Silence settled over the laboratory once more. Philip then stepped forward slightly and lowered his head toward Gideon. 

“Doctor Gideon,” he spoke calmly. 

“I have identified several additional subjects with promising compatibility.”

A faint smile spread across Gideon's lips as he pulled the syringe out of her vein. “Excellent, I'll prepare the blood samples generously provided by Thomas.”

As soon as Philip turned to exit the laboratory, Gideon leaned in close to Diedra's ear. “Where does she work?”

Diedra loudly gasped, her pupils dilating further as Gideon searched deep into her memories. 

“I wanted to tell you that I got a job at the CBR as their chief medical examiner!” 

“Oh my gosh that is amazing y/n! I'm so proud of you!” Diedra hugged you tightly.

“Thank you!” You giggled happily. 

“Ah. And how is Victor?”

Your smile faded at the mention of his name, “I don't know if you heard but he and I are no longer together.”

“Oh” Diedra nodded, already knowing this information, but tried to downplay it. 

“Yeah…he chose to work at Umbrella when I specifically told him not to. They're corrupt and the way they operate is inhumane. I'm shocked that they are still running.”

“Hmm, yeah, they are a shady corporation. I'm so sorry sweetheart that you're going through that.”

“Thank you Professor Wilson. I feel so ashamed to say that I miss him but…I don't know if I want to even ask him to come back…”.

“That is for you to decide my dear~”

Gideon’s eyes drifted open, a radiating warmth filling his cold body, “She yearned for me. Wanted me to come back…”. 

Diedra blankly stared at Gideon, her free will being controlled by his mind. “Do you wish for me to find her?” 

“Yes. Go to where she works. Document each finding and bring them back to me” he ordered her, determination written across his face. 

“As you wish, Doctor Gideon” she nodded obediently.

“And….bring me a lock of her hair” He released her from the restraints and turned to continue his experiments. 

“Ah, home at last” you sighed deeply, shutting your door behind you and kicking off your shoes. 

Yet, your mind kept racing with thoughts and questions. How was this possible? How can corpses with no vital organs and blood flowing could come back to life and mutate? 

Shaking your head, you went upstairs to change out of the dirt-ridden clothes you wore. 

“Jeez, what a fucking day” you let out a deep sigh, returning to your seat on the couch and pulled your laptop onto your lap. 

Typing away at your reports, you began to compare the notes Leon had provided to you. You jotted down the similarities, the location of the incision sites and markings, anything that could prove patterns. 

You had to collect enough data to present to your boss. You knew he told you to basically stand down, but that wasn't you. You had to do something before things got out of hand. 

“I fucking knew it!” You shouted to the top of your lungs as if the whole world could hear you. 

“I knew it had something to do with the T-Virus. Can't believe Umbrella after being gone for all this time is still fucking us in the ass.”

Gathering your belongings, purse, keys, laptop, hoodie, you rushed out of your home; of course locking it behind you to not let the creeps in.

As you got in your car, you called your secretary. “Hey Diana sweetheart, I am so sorry to be calling on a Saturday but do you know if the DSO came to pick up the cadavers?”

“Oh hello Doctor y/n! No worries at all! No, the DSO hasn't come to pick up the cadavers. They said they're gonna do it first thing Monday.”

“Gotcha, okay thank you! Enjoy your Saturday!”

“Oh? Alright, have a good afternoon doctor!” 

After you hung up, you turned on your car, and sped out of your driveway to head to your workplace. 

Once you arrived at your workplace, you shut your car off, pulled on your hoodie and grabbed your belongings.

“I can't believe I'm here at work on a mother fucking Saturday” you chuckled, proceeding toward the front entrance.

“Do my eyes deceive me?!” 

“Oh shush Walter, I am only going to be here for an hour at most” you smiled cutely at your favorite security guard. 

Walter let out a chuckle as he stood from his chair and handed you the key to the upstairs offices. “Just don't make a mess. Carla just cleaned.”

“Oh don't you worry, I'll make a mess and tell Carla to make you clean it!” You laughed, grabbing the key and flashing him a wink.

“Get outta here” he shooed you away with a laugh and sat back down to continue monitoring the security screens.

You soon approached the elevators, pressed the top floor button, and patiently waited for the doors to open. 

As you waited, a woman who seemed off entered the building. Her movements seemed erratic, inhuman even. 

Walter immediately stood from his chair, placing his hand cautiously on his weapon as she approached his counter. “Can I help you?”

“I'm…looking for…Doctor y/n” the woman spoke in a calm yet eerily manner. 

“I think you got the wrong place ma'am” he lied, not wanting to put you in any sort of imminent danger, especially when she looked suspicious. 

Overhearing the conversation, you turned your head towards them, your heart sinking in your chest when you realized who it was. 

“Professor Wilson?” You gasped, rushing towards her. 

Diedra turned to look at you, her pupils were pin point and her face seemed like it was drained of all its color. “It's been such a long time y/n” she smiled. 

“Uh…I got this Walter…thank you” you placed a gentle hand against her back and guided her to the elevators. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, don't worry" you gestured for him to relax. 

“I wanted to see how you were doing after all these years.”

“I'm doing fine Professor, why don't you come up to my office and I'll get you a bottle of water.”

“Oh you are too kind,” she smiled. 

“Of course, how can I not be to my favorite professor” you smiled and then looked up to see where the elevator was. 

As you were distracted, Diedra pulled scissors out of her pocket, took a hold of a long strand of your [Your hair color and what type like curly, straight, braided, etc.] hair and cut it. 

“Huh?” You turned to her, noticing her shifting in her stance and shoving something deep in her coat pocket. 

A couple minutes passed as you allowed Professor Wilson into your office and offered her to take a seat on any chair she preferred. 

“Here we go,” you smiled, handing her a cold water bottle from your fridge. 

“Thank you my dear” she smiled, opening the water bottle and taking a few sips. 

“So, how are things?” You gently plopped down on your office chair and awaited her response.

Her expression changed suddenly. Her pupils dilated further and her head hauntingly tilted to the side. 

“I haven't seen your radiant beauty in so long that I needed to see you for myself and of course…see how you were flourishing in your new job.”

Your soft expression disappeared at the way she spoke and tilted her head. It seemed all too familiar of someone you knew a long time ago. 

“Professor Wilson…are you feeling alright?”

“I am doing-” 

“-Just fine” Gideon hummed hungrily as he saw you before him. 

You looked absolutely ravishing and surprisingly adorable with the glasses you had on. [You can add your own special item if you don't like the glasses idea! Like imagine your character having something particular to your outfits or your likes lovies!]

“I've found you at last” he opened his eyes, a wicked grin curled at the corners of his mouth. He couldn't believe his very eyes when he saw you through Diedra's vision. 

“Okay” you nodded worriedly, standing from your chair and kneeling in front of her. 

You slowly grabbed a hold of her cheek, pulled down her lower eye lid and noticed strange black tendrils wriggling around. 

“Oh shit….”

Before you could react, Diedra’s hand suddenly snapped around your wrist with horrifying strength before slamming you backward against the nearby wall.

“Ah!” you gasped for air, struggling against her grasp. 

“Submit yourself to me willingly. If you continue resisting…” Diedra’s head tilted eerily to the side. 

“I will continue creating strains capable of infecting every person unfortunate enough to cross my path.”

Your eyes widened, breath hitching in your throat, “V-Victor?” 

Diedra’s lips curled into the same malicious grin that you once knew all too well, sending a wave of goosebumps across your skin. 

“Come back to me y/n” her voice softened. “And no one else needs to suffer.”

“No…this isn’t possible” you struggled against her grasp before using your legs to shove her backwards. 

Scrambling to your feet, you ran out of your office and down the hall to your lab. “Shit, shit, shit!” you cried out as you grabbed your ID and scanned it against the scanner. 

After the doors opened, you pulled it shut, looking through the reinforced glass window to see where Diedra was. 

Diedra slowly stood at the end of the hallway, Victor’s unsettling grin still stretched across her face.

“Y/n…..you continue resisting fate…”. 

“....yet you were always destined to return to me~”  

Quickly ducking down to your knees, you grabbed your phone from your pocket and called Leon.

“Hey, look who’s calling m-”

“Leon!” you cried his name.

“Y/n! What happened?!” he worriedly asked, his playful demeanor shifting to a serious one. 

“I need you to come to my workplace….my professor…she’s trying to hurt me or something!” 

“What? I’m coming, hold on!” 

After he hung up, you heard soft tapping against the glass window of the laboratory doors. 

“Oh fuck me…” your head slowly looked up to Diedra staring down at you. 

“Let me in~”

You rushed to your feet, slowly walking backwards as she tried to open the sealed laboratory doors. “Go away!” 

“Awww, my sweet y/n. I won’t stop until you are mine~” Diedra balled her hand into a fist and punched the reinforced glass, cracking it. 

You let out a yelp, rushing deeper into the laboratory and hiding behind one of the gurneys in hopes that she wouldn't find you there. 

BOOM

The loud sound of one of the laboratory doors bursting open echoed along your ears, soft taps of shoes entering after, a sign that Diedra had made it through. 

“Y/n, where are you~?” her voice hauntingly rang through space. 

You covered your mouth tightly, body shaking uncontrollably, a million thoughts running through your mind. You didn’t know what to do, especially to someone you’ve known for years. 

Diedra shuffled towards one of the gurneys, her balance now showing more unnatural movements. With a quick pull of the white sheet, she was presented with a male cadaver laying lifeless on the stretcher.

“Hmm” she let out a soft chuckle, using her hands to open his mouth. “I know those beautiful eyes are watching me, y/n….”. 

“....let me show you how much I’ve accomplished over the years~”

Shortly after she spoke, Diedra regurgitated a black viscous fluid into the male’s mouth.

You watched carefully from afar, a grotesque expression crossing your face. “What the?” you whispered to yourself.

As soon as she stepped away from the body, it began to convulse violently. Then a loud groaning sound erupted from his throat as he was brought back to life.

“Do you see it now, y/n?” Victor’s voice echoed through Diedra’s throat with unsettling calm. 

“Do you finally understand what I have become?” 

“For years, humanity has rotted beneath the weight of weakness…” her head tilted slightly.

“Humans have always been fragile. Calling me insane for envisioning something greater.” 

The corpse suddenly sat upright with a violent groan. 

“But look closely, beloved…” Diedra’s voice softened at the name she had given you. 

“This is not death” her fingers brushed carefully along the side of its face almost lovingly. 

“I have rewritten the limitations of the human body itself” a low growl vibrated through her chest. “I command life, infection, the very thing humanity fears most.”

Diedra’s eyes slowly lifted towards where you hid, “And through all these years…” A smile spread across her face. 

“....every discovery….strain…evolution….was built with you in mind~”

You watched her carefully, your body and face frozen with fear. 

“I wanted a world where nothing could ever take you away from me again” her voice lowered into something almost painful.

Silence filled the room briefly until Diedra’s smile widened further.

“But you abandoned me…” the lights in the laboratory flicked ever so slightly. “...you left me alone in a world too small to contain what I was becoming..” 

“Now look at me…...look at what your absence created” her expression darkened with obsession. 

“I have longed for your presence my beloved…..” a deep rumbling growl escaped from her chest. 

“....and now….I found you…..and I don’t intend on letting you slip through my fingers again~”

Without you noticing, the male corpse took a hold of you from above the gurney you were hiding behind.

“Ah!” You screamed, struggling against the corpse’s grasp as he pulled you onto your feet and dragged you towards Diedra. 

“There you are~” Diedra hummed as Victor would, using the back of her hand to carefully caress your cheek. 

“This can’t be real…you….you aren’t Victor…” you cried softly. 

“Oh….” Diedra tilted her head once more, Victor’s grin still etched across her face.

“I know you ache for me to consume every part of you…” her voice slithered warmly through the dim room as she leaned dangerously close to your ear. 

“After all…” A soft chuckle escaped her throat. “...I know your body better than anyone else ever could~”

A pleasurable chill shot violently down your spine, your legs trembling uncontrollably as a result. 

“Ah…” you let out a soft moan, a deep blush forming across your cheek. “No…it…it can’t be….you’re a monster!” you screamed. 

BANG

The head of the corpse holding you whipped back, their body toppling backwards onto the cold marble floors. 

Diedra’s head snapped towards the direction of the shot, her expression hardening. 

“Leon!” You gasped in relief.

“Y/n, come on” Leon gestured you to come on over to him with a tilt of his head. 

Ushering past Diedra, you rushed into his arms, holding onto his chest tightly. 

Leon immediately wrapped an arm securely around you, pulling you tightly against his body while keeping his gun trained forward. 

“You okay?” he asked lowly. 

You nodded shakily against him, your fingers desperately grasping at the fabric of his jacket. 

But the moment Victor witnessed you run willingly into this stranger’s arms…something inside him snapped. 

Deep within the hive connection, a violent surge of rage erupted through Gideon’s body. The emotion bled directly into Diedra like poison flooding into her veins. 

A deep animalistic growl rumbled unnaturally through her chest as Victor’s fury overtook her completely. 

“You cling to him…” Diedra’s voice trembled with restrained wrath. 

“....as though he could ever protect you from me” her hollow eyes stared directly onto Leon. 

Leon’s jaw tightened instantly, “Yeah? Wanna test that theory?” he flicked the switch of his Requiem weapon, a sign that it was loaded and ready to be fired. 

A distorted laugh suddenly escaped Diedra’s throat, but beneath the laughter was unmistakable jealousy. 

“I guess……..the next move is yours……Leon” Diedra shrugged her shoulders and walked over to a tray of surgical equipment. 

“Professor please, you have to tell us what we can do to help you” you pleaded with her, naively thinking that this whole situation was because she got infected with a virus and was exhibiting signs of delirium. 

Her eyes looked towards you, her hand picking up a scalpel ever so gently. “Do you know why I take delight in utilizing a scalpel, Leon?”

He remained silent, his expression unreadable but he was determined to protect you no matter the cost. 

“Because they carve through the human flesh without the slightest difficulty” Diedra smirked and traced the sharp scalpel across her neck. 

“No!” you screamed, pulling away from Leon and charging towards her.

“Wait y/n!” Leon gasped, rushing to stop you.

Blood dripped from her neck like a never-ending waterfall, her body going limp and falling to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.

“No, no, no!” you cried softly, cradling Diedra’s head to comfort her in her last moments. “Please god no!”

Leon holstered his weapon, eyes heavy with sorrow as he watched you cradle her close to your body.

“Diedra…” you cried, tears dripping down your eyes. 

“I'm sorry y/n…she's gone…” Leon kneeled down beside you and gently caressed your back. 

“Who could have done this to her?” You looked at him with tearful eyes.

“I don't know..”.

“I looked under her eyes and saw black tendrils moving. They looked exactly like the tendrils in these cadavers here.” 

“Are you sure?” His brows raised in suspicion. 

“Yeah….I think she was infected with something.” 

Suddenly, black tendrils slowly slithered their way out of Diedra's neck. 

You gasped, watching in curiosity as they moved and squirmed around as if trying to find a new host. 

“Shit. I've seen this before” he leaned in closer to you to get a good glimpse at it.

“Really? Where?” you curiously asked. 

“In Valdelobos, Spain. I was sent there to rescue the president's daughter, Ashley.” 

“Holy shit. Wait, maybe if you search the cameras of the local airports, you could see who took a trip to that town? Find out who's been extracting the viruses from there and spreading them?” 

“I would have to search through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, y/n. We don't have that kind of time, especially with this bio-terrorist on the loose.”

“Get Sherry to do it. I'm sure she can come up with an algorithm to find specific characteristics in people that seem out of the ordinary.”

“How do you know about Sherry?” Leon cracked a curious smile.

“I do my research, Leon,” you chuckled. 

“I can see that. And what specific characteristics would you want so that she can set the parameters?”

“Look for strange mutations and odd behavior. Typically, bio-terrorists give themselves away simply by looking different than the normal person or they act extremely nervous.”

“Are you sure you aren't a DSO agent?” 

“Leon” you sighed cutely, playfully shaking your head. 

“Just tell Sherry to do that. Now, help me with Professor Wilson's body…”.

Leon nodded, carefully grabbing her corpse and lifting her up to place her on an empty examination table, being careful not to let those black tendrils come into contact with his skin. 

“I'm going to step out for a second to call Sherry. Are you going to be okay?” Leon softly asked. 

You fell silent for a moment as you placed Diedra's cold hands on her chest, tears beginning to form in your eyes.

“No..” You fell apart quickly and rushed into Leon's arms.

“Oh” he gasped, not expecting your hug but ultimately wrapped his arms tightly around you.

“Hey…hey shh…it's okay…you're going to be okay” he whispered calmly to you, rubbing your back gently to ease your sadness. 

“I knew her for years. We’ve talked so many times. She even invited me to her fucking anniversary party….and now…she’s gone..”. 

“I know, but it’ll be okay.” 

“Oh my gosh, Thomas!” You gasped, pulling away from his embrace. 

“Who’s Thomas?” 

“Her husband…I-I gotta call him…he’s gotta-” you began to panic. 

“Y/n!” Leon grabbed a hold of your arms tightly. 

“Huh?” you snapped out of your racing thoughts. 

“Breath with me” he inhaled softly, pressing his hand gently against your chest.

You nodded, taking a hold of his wrist and following alongside him and taking a deep breath in. 

“And out” Leon let out a gentle exhale.

You also exhaled, shutting your eyes and trying to calm yourself down. 

“Good. Now, take a second to collect your thoughts and then call Thomas.” 

“Okay” you opened your eyes to look into his soft blue ones. 

“You can’t let yourself get this way, y/n. I cannot bear to see you get hurt because of this” he soothingly caressed your cheek. 

“You’re stronger than you realize~”

You smiled through your gentle tears, bringing him into another hug. “Thank you Leon….you’ve always been there for me and….I just…can’t thank you enough…”. 

“You need to thank me. Your presence brings me all the comfort I need” he chuckled, leaning his cheek against the top of your head. 

“Argh!” Gideon grabbed one of the surgical trays and launched it across the room with such force that it cracked a section of marble on the wall.  

Philip heard the commotion from the lab and rushed in, “Doctor Gideon, everything alright?”

“No…” Gideon growled lowly. 

“Nothing is alright, Philip.”

The laboratory fell silent. 

“Professor Diedra was merely a means to an end. She failed to obtain the information I required and now she is wasted flesh.”

Gideon’s breathing deepened, “But that is not what concerns me.”

The metal beneath his grip groaned loudly, “Leon Kennedy…” The name dripped from his lips like poison.

Gideon said nothing for a split second as Leon’s name echoed in his thoughts, then-

CRACK

The corner of his laboratory table folded inward beneath the sheer force of his grip.

“He held her!” a deep growl rumbled from his chest. “He touched her…and she ran to him” the words seemed to physically pain him. 

Glass vials along the table began rattling from the force of his agitation.

“When she was frightened…” Gideon’s eyes narrowed. “When she needed comfort…” his voice dropped even further. 

“She sought him….”.

Suddenly, his hand swept across the entire table, glass shatting across the laboratory floor, experimental samples bursting apart and equipment clattering against the walls. 

“That should have been me!” He roared in seething rage. 

Gideon’s chest rose and fell heavily for a moment….but then slowly.… a cold, calculating, and terrifying smile peered across his lips. 

“Very well~” he straightened to his full height. 

“If Leon Kennedy insists on placing himself between us…” A low chuckle escaped him as he turned to face Philip who remained silent but observant.

“Then I shall learn everything there is to know about him. His habits. His weakness. His fears” his smile widened even further.

“And then….” a hungry growl escaped him. “I will decide what to do with him.”

“Hey Sherry, can you do me a favor? Yeah, can you search through the CCTV footage of the airport in Spain after I rescued the president’s daughter, Ashley?” Leon spoke through his phone. 

“No, just find anything out of the ordinary. Like things that would tie someone to committing acts of bio-terrorism.” 

“Thanks Sherry, I still owe you one.” 

After Leon hung up, he looked towards you as you frantically called Thomas’s phone.

“Is he answering?” 

“No” you looked up at Leon who approached you. 

“Hmm…something must’ve happened to him. Do you know their address?”

“Yeah.”

“Send me it.” 

“Oh no, you aren’t going alone.”

“Y/n…” Leon tiled his head slightly. “You need to stay here.”

“I am not staying here and besides…I don’t want to find out what Carla is going to do to me after she finds the laboratory doors have been blown open” you chuckled, rushing past him to head to your office and make some calls about the damages to the lab.

After a few minutes of calls and getting reprimanded from your boss about the lab nearly being torn apart, you and Leon had finally arrived at Diedra’s address.

“This the place?” Leon asked as he put his Porsche in park in front of the home. 

“Yeah” you leaned down a bit to take a good look at the house for anything out of the ordinary. “There’s lights on but…why isn’t Thomas answering?” 

“Come on,” Leon said as he stepped out of his car and shut the door behind him. 

Doing the same, you shut the door behind you and followed him. However, this whole scenario was strange. Thomas worked from home and he always had his phone on. So, why wasn’t he answering?

As you both reached the door, Leon made the first knock, leaning back to check for any signs of movement.

“Thomas?” you called, reaching to grab the doorknob but the door hauntingly opened by itself. “What the fuck?”

“Stay close” Leon sternly said, pulling out his requiem weapon and loading it. 

“Okay” you nodded, following closely behind him, making sure to look for any clues of what had happened to Thomas.

Leon soon caught the sight of the blood as he entered the living room and lowered his weapon when the realization hit him.

“He was here…” his jaw tightened. 

“But someone made sure he didn’t leave on his own.” 

“What do you mean?” you ushered past Leon and stopped in your tracks when you noticed a pair of eyeballs on the floor and a pool of blood.

“Oh my gosh….” you covered your mouth in shock. 

A sudden ring emanated from Leon’s pocket, giving him a heads up that someone was calling him. 

“Hello?” he answered his phone, his eyes lighting up at the sound of Sherry’s voice. “Hey, that was quick. What’d you find?” 

You turned your body to face Leon, waiting for him to tell you who was responsible for so much destruction.

“Okay” he nodded, moving his phone away from his ear after putting it on speaker and scrolling through his messages to find the email Sherry had sent him.

“Y/n was right about the characteristics. I found one odd person that entered the airport and sent his photo to your email Leon.”

“Did you get a chance to get a facial recognition scan?” he questioned. 

“Yep. And I found out that his name is Doctor Victor Gideon.”

Your heart sunk deep into your chest at the sound of that name. “What?” you rushed over to him and looked at his phone, noticing a tall figure in a snake print coat ominously passing through the airport. 

“Oh fuck me…” you murmured underneath your breath, your body beginning to tremble. 

“Hey, you okay?” Leon looked at you worriedly. 

“Ah….” you shut your eyes tightly, the memories flashing through your mind of what happened in the lab.

“I know you ache for me to consume every part of you…~”

Those words echoed along your mind, but instead of Diedra saying it, you saw Victor standing there in the lab with you. Saying those exact words bit by bit. 

She wasn’t just infected with a virus, Victor was controlling her….and apparently he had finally found you. 

“Y/n? Do you know him?” Leon’s soft voice brought you back to reality. 

“No…” you lied, opening up your eyes to look at him. “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

“Are you sure? You were shaking after Sherry mentioned his name.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” 

Leon let out a gentle sigh as he took Sherry off speaker and asked her if she could find any relevant information about his place of business and if he owned any properties. And to also send a team of agents to his location to scan for any evidence that could be used to locate this Doctor Gideon. 

Once he hung up, he placed his hand against your back, “Do you want me to take you home?”

“Yeah….I’ve had a long day and….I want to be home.”

“Okay, let’s go” he flashed a reassuring smile to you before helping you out of Diedra’s house.

Once you made it back home, you changed out of your clothes and sat on your bed with a worryful expression written across your face.

How was this possible? How could Victor do all this? And why….did you lie to Leon about not knowing him? You knew everything about him. You dated him for fucks sake….but you couldn’t stomach telling him that…especially when you now knew that he would stop at nothing to obtain you. 

“Oh Leon” you cried out his name as you gripped onto your stuffed bear, wishing that you had the strength to tell him about Victor but you didn’t want him to worry more than he already was.

“How many subjects do we have so far, Philip?” 

“About forty, Doctor Gideon.” 

“Excellent” Gideon chuckled as he looked down through the observation window into a room that contained around forty chambers filled with Thomas’s spliced blood. 

“Begin by transferring the subjects into the chambers” he ordered, casually grabbing a file that contained the necessary sequences he had to follow to properly administer the strain into each subject.

“Also, make sure to properly connect the oxygen masks to their mouths, I wouldn’t want them to suffocate before integration with the strain.”

“Yes, Doctor Gideon” Philip nodded and went about to do just that. 

Gideon let out a low, hungry chuckle at the sight before him. He was on the verge of creating something far greater than Elpis. Something that would reshape the future itself. And when that future arrived….he would finally reclaim the one person who had haunted his every waking thought. You. 

Chapter 1: The Echoes of Victor Gideon

“Hey Victor, wait up!” 

“Oh, well look who decided to show up to get some coffee with me” Victor laughed. 

“I'm sorry, it isn't my fault that exams are hitting me hard” you chuckled, hugging his arm gently because he was….well…you could say a rather tall individual. 

“How are they going anyways?” He continued forward down the line of people waiting to get their order taken by the barista. 

“They're good, and yours?” 

“They're…decent but I can manage” he smiled, pushing a strand of your hair behind your ear. 

“When we graduate, I want to introduce you to my family…”.

“Really…you'd think they'll like me?” He asked nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

“They won't just like you, they'll love you,” you smiled, standing on your tippy toes to give him a kiss.

That memory of you still lingered in his mind. You were all he thought about for years. Even after his body mutated and contorted to something inhuman, his heart still belonged to you. 

“Y/n…” Gideon whispered to himself as he looked down at the syringe he was filling, the memories distracting him from his work. 

“Dammit!” He slammed the syringe down on his laboratory bench and stood from his chair. “I need to find her….or I will never get my work finished…”. 

“Good morning Doctor Y/n.”

“Good morning Diana, what is the scope for today?” you smiled as you walked into your office and grabbed your lab coat. 

“Uh, well the director sent us around 20 bodies all with the T mutations and 1 singular body that has a rather strange growth that he wants you to examine” Diana scrolled through the IPad in her hand that contained the information sent by him.

“Oh fuck me” you groaned as you reached for the IPad and took a look at the information. 

“Oh I also wanted to let you know that a Leon Kennedy called in regards to the dinner reservation he made for tonight.” 

“Oh shit I also forgot about that too” you sighed deeply. “Thank you Diana, I'm sorry I just keep forgetting shit!”

“No worries ma’am, it happens to the best of us.” 

“Thank you. How's Jimmy by the way? I heard he just turned 10?” you chuckled, shutting off the IPad and slipped it underneath your arm to carry it. 

“Yes his birthday was yesterday and I want to thank you so much for the gifts you got him. You did not need to buy him that PS5. That is way above what I can afford.”

“Oh shush Diana, you and your son deserve the world” you smiled, rubbing her arm and then walked past her. 

“Now you had better bring me some cake the next time I see you,” You laughed as you headed down the hallway towards the labs. 

“I will!” Diana called to you as she returned to her reception desk.

Another deep sigh escaped your lips as you grabbed your ID card and swiped it over the card reader. Once it turned green, you opened the door and began to suit up with the proper PPEs needed. 

“Morning boss, how did you wake up this morning?”

“That's none of your business Xander” you chuckled, setting the IPad at one of the desks and approaching the first body laid on the examination table. 

“Ooo she got you there Xander!”

“Fuck off Ben!” Xander laughed as he rolled the examination trolley over to you. 

“Boys, boys. We can play house later, for right now we got an order from the director and I don't want him up my ass complaining that we didn't finish these bodies.”

“Sorry boss” they both said in unison as they began to work. 

Soon enough, you grabbed a scalpel to begin cutting away at the skin of this mutated person. 

“Ben…please make a note that subject 2169A has a strange growth of roots across their lungs.” 

“Roger that boss” Ben typed away at the keyboard of the computer that was in the lab. 

“So Doctor…you free tonight for some dinner?” Xander raised a brow. 

“Ben can you also make a note about people needing to mind their own fucking business and to stop trying to get into women's pants.” 

“Yes Doctor,” Ben laughed hysterically. 

“Ugh…fine missus stuck ass!” Xander pouted behind his face shield and grabbed the medical scissors for you.

“Careful Xander, I'm still your boss” you smirked playfully, handing him the scalpel and then grabbing the scissors. 

“Errr Xander got burned again!” Ben called from behind the computer screen. 

“Okay boys seriously back to work” you shook your head and continued the examination. 

In due time, you and your team finished examining each body, including the one singular body that the director asked you to personally look at.

“Phew, good job boys, my ass is now safe from being devoured by the director.”

“Woah, major pause!” Ben shook his head with a chuckle. 

“Yeah, you gotta be careful with those words boss” Xander finished sewing up the last body and made sure to walk over to the sink to wash and disinfect his hands.

“Oh hush both of you” you walked over to the IPad and checked to make sure that everything was done. 

“Ben, did you make sure to sign the bottom of the page?” 

“Yep, signed and dated it.” 

“Okay…good” you mumbled underneath your breath and walked over to the entrance of the lab to get changed and disinfected. 

“Xander, you also made sure to check and mark each tag on the body's right?”

“Yeah” he nodded, drying his hands with the paper towels he grabbed. 

“Alright. Good work boys, I'll see you next week and try not to party too hard.”

“I know I won't, but Xander is another story.”

“You just don't know how to party bro!” 

“Oh suck it” Ben flipped him off jokingly. 

“Good night boys” you laughed, exiting out of the lab and heading back to your office to gather your things. 

“Okay, purse, hoodie, car keys, and tumbler” you checked to make sure that you didn't forget anything and proceeded out of your office.

“Have a good night Diana” you smiled, waving goodbye to her. 

“Good night y/n!” Diana waved back to you before she went back to typing the end of day report. 

As you headed towards the elevators, you grabbed your phone and dialed Leon's number. 

After a couple of rings, a deep, gravely voice answered. “Hello?”

“Hey Leon! I'm sorry about the delay, I'm gonna head to the place right now “

“Well, well, nearly a whole day and now you decide to call.”

“Uh excuse you, I've been busy with work. What have you been doing? Jacking off? Ugh…kill the visual Jesus” you playfully faked vomiting after what you said. 

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny, y/n,” Leon spoke with a soft chuckle. 

“And for your information, I have been working. I actually picked up a new case. Bodies have been turning up with these… strange markings and cuts.”

“What?” Your brow raised in confusion, remembering the first body you examined having inflicted markings on them, same as what Leon was describing. 

“Yeah, I don't know but they're saying that someone or something is creating these wounds.”

“Tell me more when I get there, okay” you entered the elevator and pressed the garage floor. 

As the elevator began its descent, your mind raced with thoughts about the new information that just came into light. Who was this new character in town, creating and spreading infections to harm innocent civilians? Why were they opening up cadavers and etching markings on their inner organs? And…why now?

The elevator doors soon swung open, allowing you to exit into the garage. 

With quick steps, you reached your car and entered the driver's side once you unlocked it. 

“I'm gonna have to schedule a meeting with Eric…there are far too many bodies dropping” you went to grab your phone and dialed your boss's number.

“Hello?” A gruffly voice spoke on the other end of the call. 

“Hey Eric, I'm sorry to bother you so late at night but we need to schedule a meeting in regards to the mutations.” 

“Good evening y/n, I'm doing fine, how are you?” Eric chuckled. 

A soft sigh escaped you, “I'm sorry Eric, how are you really?”

“I'm fine y/n, thanks. I know you're doing fine by the sound of your voice. But more importantly, why do you need to schedule a meeting?”

“I think we need to discuss our next steps in regards to the mutations that we've been seeing.” 

“Care to elaborate?” 

“Well, the body you told me to examine had very strange markings and I think it stems from someone experimenting on them. I also heard from a DSO agent that they have a new case that's similar to the body's that we've been-”

“Let me guess, you got the info from Leon?” 

“Umm…well..”.

“Y/n…how many times have I explained to you that we can not share sensitive information to other DSO agents until we know exactly what we are dealing with.” 

“But Eric, I know for a fact that someone is intentionally infecting individuals. I saw the inflicting wounds when I was doing the autopsy on the body.” 

A long sigh escaped Eric's throat as he ran the details through his head. 

“Okay, why don't we do this. Until we get a direct message from the lead DSO agent that there's a pattern to these virus infected people, we will not make any assumptions or declare this a pattern. Sound good?” 

“Alright…alright…” you rubbed your forehead in frustration. 

“Relax, enjoy your weekend. And try not to do anything crazy, okay?” 

“Thank Eric. Have a good night” you hung up your phone and dropped it onto the passenger seat. 

“Mother fucker!” You shouted, slamming your hand against the steering wheel. You didn't understand why Eric always acted like this. If you see a pattern of infection, the right thing to do is to declare that to protect the innocent lives who could be harmed. Yet, you couldn't do Jack because you weren't in charge of the department. He was the director and he was your boss. 

BANG

“Holy shit!” You screamed, turning your head towards the sound and noticed that it was Xander knocking at your window. 

“Couldn't you have at least knocked on the glass in a different way that wouldn't scare the living crap out of me” you grumbled after rolling down your window. 

“Heh, that would defeat the purpose of scaring you” he smiled, leaning against your door. 

“Uh huh” you shook your head. 

“What's wrong? You seem pissed?” He asked with concern. 

“It's Eric. He doesn't want to declare what we saw in there as a pattern because I am sure he thinks it would cause mass hysteria. Which I totally get, but if this is serious….and there's someone out there spreading a virus….we need to stop them.” 

Xander shrugged his shoulders, understanding that the situation was complicated. “I hate to say this but that dumb fucker doesn't know what an infection is if it sprouted on his dick.” 

You couldn't help but laugh at his joke, softly holding onto his hand. “Yeah but he's my boss and he pays the bills Xander.” 

“Yeah, but I saw the autopsy report y/n. Whoever is doing this knows the human body in depth and how to manipulate the genome.” 

“I guess we're gonna have to just wait till an infection breaks out and the country blames us for not fixing it.” 

“Guess so” Xander chuckled and then moved his hand away from you to grab his car keys. “Have a good night y/n, drive safe.” 

“You too” you waved good night to him, closed your window, and put your car in reverse to head out of the parking garage. 

“Ngh—!” a loud grunt escaped Gideon's lips after breaking down the boarded up doors to the medical college he attended. 

“It's been such a long time….” he hummed in amusement as he entered the halls, his mind flooding with memories of you. 

“Come on, Victor…” Your soft voice echoed faintly in his mind.

For a brief moment, a grainy image of you appeared at the edge of his vision. Your hand wrapped around his arm as you pulled him forward with a laugh. Then it vanished without a trace. 

Gideon’s expression hardened almost instantly as he continued down the corridor.

In a couple of strides, he arrived at the main office where they kept all the important files of the students. 

“Let's see” he murmured to himself, ducking down when he reached the doorway and standing to his original height when he stepped foot in the room. 

“Disorganized as always…” Gideon sighed softly, stepping over the debris.

“Somewhere in this chaos…there must be something left of her.” 

Without warning, he stepped on a picture frame. His curiosity took the best of him as he knelt down to grab the frame to look at the picture. 

His heart melted at the sight before him. It was a picture of your graduating class. The school always kept a picture of the most recent graduating class to show the incoming freshman the success that students have when they attend this college. 

Despite the excitement and noise surrounding the other students, Gideon only saw you.

There you sat in the front row, eight graduation tassels hanging proudly from your gown, wearing the same radiant smile he had adored from the moment you entered his life.

He shut his eyes for a brief moment, remembering that day as if it was yesterday.

“Victor! We did it!” You laughed as you charged towards him, embracing him tightly. 

Victor laughed proudly as he hoisted you in the air and spun you around excitingly. “You are brilliant!” 

“Not as brilliant as you” you smiled, caressing his cheek and then leaned in to kiss him.

Victor deepened the kiss, his arms tightly embracing you as if you were to disappear. 

After he pulled away from the kiss, he set you down on your two feet and softly knelt in front of you. “I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?” You asked curiously. 

“I got a job offer at the Umbrella corporation as their lead specialist and researcher.”

Your smile slowly faded, “Victor…..”. 

“I know, I know. You don't like them because there have been stories of corruption and viruses escaping. But they're gonna pay me significantly more than the Darto Corps.”

The distance between you widened as you slowly stepped away from him. 

“I…I have to go. My family's waiting for me,” you said softly, clutching your graduation cap tightly against your head. 

“I'll call you later” you turned and hurried across the field toward your family. 

Victor slowly stood from the grass field, frozen in place. The cheers of the crowd around him became muffled and distant, his ears ringing violently as the realization slowly settled into his chest. He barely even noticed his friends approaching him, congratulating him, shaking his shoulders excitedly, celebrating the future that awaited them all. 

This was because all he could focus on….was you leaving him behind. 

Gideon's eyes suddenly snapped open. His grip tightened around the cracked picture frame in his hand until the glass shattered violently against his palm. 

He still couldn't understand your reasoning. He was helping mankind. Regardless of the corporation's methods, his work would have elevated humanity beyond its pathetic limitations. Human evolution was necessary. 

The weak would perish….while only the strong remained. 

Gideon let out an annoyed sigh as he pushed himself off the ground and entered the records office. He searched through each file that littered the floor until he noticed a list of professors, staff, and students that taught the classes you attended. 

“Hmm, looks like I know who to ask now” he chuckled, folding the paper carefully and placing it inside his pocket. 

Suddenly, a low vibrating hum sounded near him. He let out an annoying sigh as he grabbed his phone from his other pocket and answered it. 

“You're interrupting my work. Speak.” 

“I thought we had an agreement Victor” a cold, authoritative voice spoke on the other end of the call. 

“We did….I am simply attending to business that does not concern you.” 

“Hmm, it does concern me when I am the one bearing the responsibility of payment for your experiments.” 

“And I assured you Zeno, that my work is unquestionable. If you can't believe me, then that is your mistake…not mine.” 

Zeno let out a frustrated sigh, despising that he couldn't simply dispose of Victor because his work was impressive and the results he provides is impeccable; but the way he operates is sloppy and erratic, something that he did not tolerate. 

“I've given you results, Zeno. That mutation I made in that body has led you to four different sites, each containing mutation factors that allow the user to grow significantly in power.” 

“I detest when you question my abilities,” Gideon said coldly. “If I choose to pursue something, that decision is mine…not yours.” 

Zeno let out another soft chuckle, “Careful Victor…..I think these little obsessions of yours are beginning to cloud your judgment.” 

Gideon let out a low growl, gritting his teeth in seething anger. “Is that all? Or do you want to continue pestering me with your lectures?” 

“Hmmm” Zeno chuckled. “That is all….for now.” 

With a quick swipe of his finger, Gideon ended the call and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He was full of rage, but he didn't want that to cloud his primary objective…finding you. 

“Let's start with Philip Nyra…he was a close friend of y/n… . Maybe he might know where she could be” he laughed wickedly before exiting the office to find Philip's address. 

“Hey Leon!” You waved to him and approached the booth he was lounging in. 

“Hey y/n!” Leon smiled, standing up from the booth to hug you.

You returned the hug to him and then pulled off your purse to sit comfortably in the booth. 

“So, how was work?” 

“Oh it was fine, I did work on a couple of bodies, and found something odd.” 

“Odd? What do you mean?” Leon scooted into the booth and continued drinking his ice-cold coke. 

“Well, when I opened one body in particular….it had deliberate markings…like it was done on purpose.”

“Like someone experimented on them, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I know we aren't supposed to be sharing this information with each other but you need to see this” Leon grabbed his phone from his hand and swiped through the autopsy report of the bodies he had found. 

“Here” he handed you his phone. 

Reaching over, you grabbed his phone and began to read through the report. “What the fuck…” you gasped as you swiped to the side to see the same markings you saw on the body you had opened. 

“Exactly. Whoever is doing this, could bring a whole new virus strain to this place. It could be Raccoon City all over again.” 

“We don't want another fucking incident like that Leon” you sighed deeply, handing him the phone and rubbed your head in frustration. 

Suddenly, a waitress came over to the table and looked at you. “Hello, my name is Sara. What can I get started for you today?”

“A Malibu bay breeze please.” 

“No problem” Sara jotted down your drink on her notepad and then turned her attention to Leon. “And sir, have you decided what you want to eat?”

“Uh, I'm still deciding,” Leon chuckled. 

“No worries. Take all the time you need. I'll be back with your drink sweetheart” Sara smiled as she walked away to get you your drink. 

“A little late for drinking hmm?” 

“Oh fuck off Leon. I need a drink after all this shit.” 

Leon extended his hand out to place on top of yours, his expression softening, “Y/n…you can't let this get to your head.”

“Leon…I took an oath to protect this city and the many innocent lives that are at stake if this virus spreads” you looked into his gentle eyes, your worry slowly slipping away. Leon always had that effect, bringing calm when there's a ranging storm outside. 

“I know you did. But that doesn't mean you should tear your hair out”  Leon said with a small smile.

“But don’t stress yourself to death over it.” His grin turned teasing.

“And for the record, your bald ass head would probably freak me out.”

“Hey!” you laughed, grabbing his finger and bending it backward.

“Ow! Okay, okay, uncle!”

You giggled, releasing his hand and grabbed the menu to look over at what you wanted to chow down on. 

The smile on Leon's lips never left as he grabbed his menu to also look over. You always knew how to make him smile, even in the darkest of moments he's experienced. 

Beyond the glow of the city skyline, the same pouring rain dripped from the murky heavens, cloaking the homes of those who had no idea what was to come. 

A lone shadow loomed just beyond their homes, their warm breath hung in the air like steam. They looked quite ominous standing there, scanning each home with their eyes like a predator stalking their prey. 

Yet, their movements shifted at the sudden approach of a red Lexus driving down the road. 

The shadow's lips curled into a malicious smirk when they realized who was in the car. 

“Ah, fuck me…another long day at the courthouse” Philip groaned as he grabbed his brief case from the passenger side and his umbrella. 

Unexpectedly, his phone rang in his coat pocket. “Who the hell is calling me this late at night?”

Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed his phone and answered the call. “Hello?

“Is this Philip Nyra?” A strange voice asked, their voice low and curious. 

“Yes? Who's this?”

The call hung up as quick as it rang, causing Philip to groan in annoyance. “Fucking spam callers.”

Pushing aside his anger, he gathered his belongings and got out of his car and headed towards his quaint little suburban home. 

“Hey hun, I'm home” Philip called to his wife, kicking his shoes off, hanging up his jacket and briefcase and then grabbed the mail on the table by the door to give it a look over.

“Hun?” He called again, wondering why she wasn't answering. 

Philip continued down the dark hallway of his home and proceeded into the living room where his wife was probably watching her crime documentaries. 

But he froze the moment he stepped into the living room. His pulse immediately quickened.

The lamps were on and his furniture slightly disturbed.

Muddy footprints stretched across the hardwood floors like something enormous had wandered through the house at its leisure.

Then his eyes landed on the figure standing near the fireplace.

His blood ran cold.

Victor Gideon towered unnaturally within the dim light, one massive hand calmly holding a framed photograph of Philip and his wife.

The creature’s head tilted slightly as it studied the image.

“Your wife appears healthy,” Gideon murmured thoughtfully. “Strong genetics… admirable resilience…”

Philip slowly stepped backward, “What the fuck are you?”

A faint grin spread across Gideon’s lips. “Mm…” he lowered the picture frame slightly. “An old acquaintance of y/n’s.”

Philip’s stomach dropped instantly at the mention of his best friend, “How do you know y/n?”

Gideon’s eyes slowly lifted toward him, “She spoke very fondly of you.”

Something about the calmness in his voice made Philip’s survival instincts scream.

He turned suddenly but it was too late.

THUD THUD THUD

The entire room shook beneath Gideon’s speed.

One massive hand violently wrapped around Philip’s throat before slamming him against the nearby wall hard enough to rattle the picture frames.

Philip gagged, clawing desperately at Gideon’s wrist. The sheer density behind the creature’s grip felt inhuman.

Gideon calmly observed him struggling.

“You care for her,” he murmured. “That is useful.”

Philip’s vision blurred rapidly.

“Ngh…!”

Darkness consumed him moments later, his hand falling limp at his side. 

Gideon let out a pleasing chuckle, grabbing his limp body and throwing it over his shoulder. “Rest now.” 

A little while later, a sharp sting fell across Philip's neck and jolted him awake. 

As he opened his eyes, he was blinded by bright clinical lights.

“Where the hell am I?” He gasped, his arms jerking instinctively, only to realize that they were restrained tightly against an examination table. 

A surge of panic ran through him as he struggled viciously against the restraints. But then his eyes shifted up, looking at his surroundings. 

The room looked disturbingly clinical, metal tables, metal instruments, glass containers filled with dark fluid and standing directly across him was Gideon who was calmly organizing his surgical instruments. 

“No, no, no…fuck!” Philip shouted as he struggled violently against the restraints again. “What the fuck do you want from me!” 

Gideon sighed deeply as though the outburst inconvenienced him. “I am looking for y/n.”

Philip's breathing became uneven as he spoke, “I don't know where she is!” 

“Mm” Gideon picked up a scalpel, examining it carefully. “A disappointing answer.”

The blades glinted beneath the clinical lights above him as Gideon approached.

Philip's heart pounced behind his chest, panic continuing to surge through him. 

“You misunderstand your situation,” Gideon said quietly. “I am not asking for speculation. I am asking for certainty.”

“I fucking swear I don't know!” 

A faint irritation crossed Gideon’s face. He then traced the scalpel against Philip's throat, just enough to make him freeze. 

“You humans always confuse pain with cruelty” Gideon murmured calmly. “But pain is information.” 

Philip's body shook violently against the clinical table as the cold edge lingered against his skin.

“Where does she go when she's distressed?” Gideon asked softly. “Who does she trust? What locations bring her comfort?” 

“I DON'T KNOW!”

The scalpel pressed slightly deeper, Philip wincing sharply as a result. 

“Please….” He begged with a whimper. 

Gideon's expression remained unreadable until he slowly stepped away. “How unfortunate.”

Philip watched in fear as Gideon approached one of the laboratory tables. Several syringes rested nearby, each filled with a dark crimson fluid threaded with black strands moving unnaturally beneath the glass. 

Philip's stomach twisted, “What the hell is that…?”

Gideon carefully lifted one syringe, flicking the glass with his index finger. “My latest refinement” the faintest smile spread across his lips. 

“A neuro-biological adaptation strain. One consciousness…..spread across many hosts.” 

“No…” fear flooded across Philip's face. 

“You should feel honored Philip" Gideon murmured calmly while approaching him. “Very few are compatible enough to survive integration." 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Philip struggled violently against the restraints, trying with all his strength to pull them off him. 

Gideon ignored him completely. He then used a sterilized wipe to clean his antecubital area and tapped the area to look for a suitable vein. 

“STOP!” 

Gideon soon grew annoyed as he grabbed his neck with his free hand, “Keep struggling and it'll be the most excruciating pain you've ever experienced.”

Releasing his neck, he pierced his vein with the syringe.

Agony erupted in his nervous system instantly, a loud piercing scream erupted from him. Veins blackened beneath his skin as the virus spread rapidly through his bloodstream, his body convulsing violently against the restraints. 

“Nghh…ahhh!!!”

Then, without warning, Philip remained completely still and silent, his pupils dilated unnaturally. 

“Impressive…” Gideon murmured intriguingly, observing the reaction carefully before retrieving another syringe, but empty. 

He carefully extracted a sample of Philip's altered blood before lifting the syringe toward himself. Then without hesitation, Gideon injected himself with the infected blood. 

A low growl rumbled deep within his chest as the virus merged with his altered biology almost instantly. 

For a brief moment, Philip's memories flashed violently across Gideon's mind. You were laughing, crying, speaking, smiling…it was incredible. 

Gideon slowly closed his eyes, his lips curling into a smile. “Better” he whispered softly. 

Beside him, Philip's head slowly lifted, his expression blank, obedient, connected to Gideon. 

Gideon laughed malevolently, “I've done it” he spoke in awe, not believing that he actually created an impossible strain that could control anyone. The strain he produced allowed the user to be in a hive mind connection, allowing for multiple hosts to be at his beck and call. 

“Philip.” 

In a split second, Philip's head snapped towards Gideon's direction, awaiting for him to speak an order. 

“Break through those restraints.” 

Without a word, Philip viciously broke through the restraints tightly wrapped around his wrist and carefully approached him. 

“Good. Very good.” 

Gideon turned around carefully, grabbing a scalpel, and handed it to Philip. “Cut the palm of your hand.” 

Again, without hesitation, Philip opened his palm and cut through the delicate skin. Although, what was more intriguing was that his wound healed instantly, raising curiosity within Gideon. 

“Mm” Gideon nodded, his heavy footsteps echoing along the clinical walls as he jotted down in his notebook the results of the experiment. 

“Truly fascinating…” Gideon tilted his head, transfixed on his results. 

Though, irritation boiled beneath his skin at the sound of his lab door hissing open, a sign that an unexpected guest had come to visit him.

“How's your burger Leon?” Your words came out muffled as you chewed through your burger. 

“It's damn good,” Leon hummed pleasantly. 

“I can see that” you giggled, swallowing the chunk of burger. 

“Mmm, so, what's your plan? You gonna talk to your boss again, or?”

“Tch, he shut me down the moment I mentioned a pattern. He wants the lead DSO agent to notice the said pattern and then directly deliver that message to him.”

“Oh…I see.”

“It's fucking annoying! I see a pattern and want to stop whoever is doing this before more innocent civilians get hurt.”

Leon casually set his burger down on his plate and grabbed a couple of napkins to wipe his hands. “Y/n…you know I'm the lead DSO agent for this case right?” 

“I know you are Leon, but my boss knows that I'm close to you and that you're the lead DSO agent on the case. So, if you do go to him with this information, he won't believe you because he'll think I told you to lie and tell him there's a pattern.” 

“We're all adults here, I'm sure he'll understand I'm not lying when I show him the photos from the scene.”

“Still…I hate to admit it, Leon. But we need more proof that there is a pattern. Maybe a dozen more bodies somewhere….or the lab where this person is experimenting…”.

Leon's brow raised in concern, “Y/n…a dozen more bodies? Are you serious?” 

“No….I don't want it to get to that point.”

“Listen, why don't I ask my team to give me all the notes they have on the bodies we found and give it to you to have a look over.” 

“I can't Leon…my boss will be furious” you sighed deeply. 

“He won't know. But why don't we do this, you let me know tomorrow morning if you want the files. You're not in this alone y/n, I got your back.”

“Thanks Leon” you smiled, wiping your hands on some napkins and taking a sip of your Malibu Bay Breeze. 

A short while passed as you and Leon exited the restaurant, bellies full and hearts filled with joy.

You laughed happily beside him, hugging his arm gently as he walked you over to your car. 

“Are you sure you're not drunk?” He joked. 

“Oh you know I don't drink to get drunk Leon. Not like you” you giggled, a soft sigh escaping your lips as you grabbed your keys from your purse. 

“Will you be okay on your own?”

“Yeah, I'll be fine. Thank you so much Leon. And you know on second thought, send me those files.”

“Alright, I'll send it to you by email when I get home.” 

You nodded, leaning in close and hugged him tightly. “We need to protect the people of this city, Leon. We can't let whoever is doing this continue” you whispered. 

Leon's strong arms wrapped around your curvy figure, a shaky breath escaping his lips. A flood of old memories flashed in his mind. Of Raccoon City, of the friends, families, and innocent people losing their lives over the T-Virus and Umbrella's grave mistake. 

He didn't want that to happen again. He would rather die protecting this city than have them go through the same pain he had been carrying for all these years. 

As you pulled away, you gently caressed his cheek, “Good night.”

“Good night y/n” he flashed you a smile before pulling away from you to make sure that you got safely in your car. 

After you left, Leon grabbed his phone, dialing up a number. “Sherry?” “Hey, yeah…it's Leon. Need a favor.” 

A low growl escaped Gideon's chest as he saw who came through the doors. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you visiting my laboratory unannounced, Zeno.”

Gentle, calculated steps echoed through the lab as Zeno approached close to Gideon, his coat loosely draped over his shoulders. “I've come to check on your progress in finding Elpis, Victor.”

“Hmm…oh forgive me for forgetting about the lost cause” Gideon chuckled as his heavy footsteps trailed over to his notebook filled with his experimental reports. 

Zeno’s expression hardened in aggravation upon hearing Gideon's remarks towards finding Elpis. “I thought we had an agreement, Victor?”

“We did. But you explicitly told me to find a bio-weapon that could enhance the user's capabilities ten-fold. Therefore, I am doing just that.” 

Zeno nodded slowly as he pulled out a cigarette, lit it with his lighter, and pulled it close to his lips. “You're looking for her again, aren't you?” 

Gideon’s head turned slowly toward Zeno with an unnatural stillness that sent tension crawling throughout the laboratory.

His grip tightened around the edge of the metal table, the surface bending slightly beneath the sheer force of his hand.

Though his face revealed nothing, a dangerous rage simmered violently beneath the calm exterior he fought so hard to maintain.

Zeno let out a soft, disappointing chuckle, already knowing the answer simply from Gideon's reaction. “Why am I not surprised?”

“You have no right to question me, Zeno.” Gideon’s voice lowered dangerously.

“I thought we already established that… or do I need to repeat myself?”

Zeno released a soft sigh through his nose. “I have warned you time and time again, Victor. These obsessions with the past will become your downfall.”

Gideon’s expression darkened instantly. “You are a fool, Zeno,” his hands tightened around the edge of the laboratory table again. 

“I will continue searching for her whether you approve of it or not” He stepped forward slightly.

“Her intellectual capabilities surpass even my own. She could create anything you desire…” A dangerous grin slowly spread across his lips.

“Perhaps even something far greater than Elpis.”

For the first time, genuine curiosity flickered across Zeno’s face as his head tilted slightly.

“You truly believe she could create a bio-weapon superior to Elpis?” He asked with doubt lingering heavily within his voice.

Gideon responded to Zeno with a sinister laugh, “She will become the angel of death and chaos.”

His grin widened unnaturally, “No one will be capable of stopping evolution… or the power we will hold within our hands.”

Zeno’s lips curled into an approving smile, “I'll leave it in your capable hands then.”

As Zeno turned at his heels to leave, Gideon stood to his original height to call to his subject, “Philip.”

Philip soon appeared beside Gideon, awaiting his new orders from him. 

“I need you to find Professor Diedra Wilson. She knows where y/n is, I am sure of it. They were close weren't they?” 

“Yes, they were Doctor Gideon.”

“Hmm. How close?” He asked, approaching Philip and shut his eyes to search through Philip's memories. 

“Professor Wilson!” Your distorted voice rang along Gideon's mind. 

“Oh y/n! Hello!” Diedra smiled as she embraced you and rubbed your back gently. 

“How are things?” You smiled, pulling away from the hug to hear her clearly. 

“Oh they have been good, stressful, but taking it one day at a time” she chuckled. “And you?”

"Things have been good, I actually wanted to tell you that I got a job at…..”.

All at once, your voice vanished. Everything dissolved into darkness.

Gideon’s eyes snapped open instantly, a low growl rumbling deep within his chest. “You did not hear the conversation?”

Philip immediately lowered his gaze. “No, Doctor Gideon…” he answered quietly. “I was close enough to observe her but… someone interrupted me before I could hear what she said.”

Gideon remained towering directly in front of him, his massive frame casting an overwhelming shadow over Philip’s body. His expression remained eerily unreadable.

Yet the fury burning behind his eyes was unmistakable. 

Slowly, Gideon leaned closer toward him. “Then perhaps I should remove the part of you that continues to fail me.”

Philip stiffened at his response. 

“You will find Professor Wilson…” His voice lowered into something cold and venomous. “Or I will rip out your tongue and break every bone within your weak body.”

Philip immediately nodded in understanding, not daring to look away. “I will find her for you…and y/n…”.

Gideon adjusted his posture and stormed away to continue his experiments. 

Morning came quicker than usual as you went to the kitchen to brew yourself a cup of coffee. 

“Hmm” you tapped your chin as you scrolled through the reports Leon had sent you. 

“They're exactly the same. The markings on their internal organs…the way the bodies were opened….” You sighed deeply, rubbing your forehead in frustration. 

Once your coffee machine beeped, you walked over to your fridge to grab the creamer. 

Your mind raced with questions and concerns about this whole ordeal. It was complicated, especially when your boss didn't want to do anything until he received evidence from the DSO. 

“Argh!” you growled in frustration, pouring your creamer in your ceramic cup. 

“I have to do something…I can't just stand idly by while millions of lives are at stake…..” You turned at your heels and rushed into your living room to get to work on your laptop. 

“What do we got Sherry?” Leon spoke over the comms.

“We got four more bodies by the railroad tracks. Officers are at the scene and I told their dispatch that you'll be coming.”

“Jesus….four more bodies?” 

“Yep and by the looks of it…..” Sherry swallowed hard. “......They're hollow inside.”

Silence. 

“Run that back again, Sherry?” Leon held in a gasp. 

Sherry let out a low worryful sigh, “The bodies don't have their internal organs nor any blood left in their system. They're completely empty.” 

“Fuck me…” Leon grabbed the gear shift of his Porsche and shifted it, stepping on the gas pedal to arrive at the scene as quickly as possible. 

After Leon arrived at the scene, he stepped under the police tape and followed the first officer who was on the scene. 

“Government agency you say?”

“Yeah and that's all I can say Office tamine” Leon kneeled down in front of the first covered body to examine it.

“Tch, always fucking secrets with these goddamn agencies. People are dying left and right and all they care about is their secrecy.” 

Leon remained silent, his expression hardening when he saw the body's chest completely open, everything within them was gone. 

“Did you find any internal organs around the body?” Leon re-covered the body and stood to his original height. 

Officer tamine shook his head, “No, we didn't find anything. Not even a drop of fucking blood. Whoever this serial killer is…he's a fucking lunatic.” 

“Shit” Leon sighed deeply as he grabbed his phone and dialed your number. 

[Your ring tone for your phone]

The sound of your phone ringing beside you rang along your ears. Extending out your hand, you grabbed it and answered the call. 

“Hello?”

“Hey y/n, it's Leon. How's your morning been?”

“Good, just doing some work at home. Care to explain why you're calling so early?” You giggled. 

“Heh…yeah uh…is there any possible way you can…come to my location?”

“You okay, Leon?” you asked with worry. 

“Yeah I just…we found more bodies…and…it doesn't look good.” 

“Fuck…send me your location and I'll be there as quick as I can” you hung up your phone and rushed off your couch to get dressed. 

“I found her Doctor Gideon.”

“Who?” Gideon asked as he carefully removed the heart of one of his experiments.

“Professor Wilson. I know her location.”

“What are you waiting for then? An invitation?” Gideon coldly scolded Philip. 

Philip's gaze lowered upon hearing Gideon's response, “I'll bring her here then.”

Silence. 

As Philip turned around to leave for Professor Wilson's home, he grabbed a worn tool bag filled with everything necessary to transport a body undetected. 

“Argh…” A low growl escaped Philip's throat as a violent surge of anger suddenly rushed through his body. His hand tightening painfully around the strap of the bag. 

Gideon's head slowly tilted toward him. The fury simmering within Gideon had begun bleeding through the connection they shared. 

After Philip left, he cleaned the blood off his hands and jotted down a few notes. “This hive connection is impressive. My emotions can travel to another host easily…hmm…”. 

“Professor! Professor!”

“Hello Vivian! How can I help you?” Professor Wilson smiled as she began to pack her things. 

“I just wanted to clarify that our homework is due next week, correct?” Vivian grabbed her notebook and waited for her response.

“Yes, Chapter 4 homework is due on BlackBoard next week at midnight.”

“Perfect, thank you so much Professor! Have a wonderful weekend” Vivian smiled as she waved goodbye after writing down the due date in her notebook. 

“Of course and if you need any help, please reach out to me by email” Diedra finished packing her things and proceeded out of the classroom. 

“Pshh, wonder what I am going to eat for lunch when I get home?” she mumbled to herself, her heels clacking loudly against the marble floors. 

“Diedra, hello~”

“Oh Tiana, how are things?” Diedra rolled her eyes secretly, despising that she had to be annoyed by her boss before she headed home.

“They’re fine. I am so sorry to be bothering you as you're heading home, but Daniel needs the copies of your syllabus to make sure that they are up to date with necessary information” Tiana followed closely beside her. 

“Oh dammit, I forgot to send him that. When I get home, I’ll log into my computer and send him the files. Thank you and have a great weekend” she huffed, pushing open the university doors and rushing down the steps to head to her car. 

From afar, a lone man sat waiting in a red lexus, watching as Professor Diedra strutted over to her car. His expression was stern and focused on her, like his life depended on it. 

Within minutes, she backed out of her parking spot and drove down the road. The man followed closely behind her, but kept it subtle as to not alert her that someone was following her. 

“Leon” you gasped as you stepped out of your car, locking it behind you and rushed towards him.

“Hey” Leon waved to you.

“Where are the body’s?” 

“They’re down here, come on.”

“Hey, hey, who’s she? I thought I made myself clear of no outside civilians” Officer Tamine raised a hand to stop you both from entering. 

“She’s not a civilian Officer, she’s a chief medical examiner and is part of my team” Leon sternly spoke, having enough of his attitude. 

Officer Tamine looked you up and down, as if you were a rare sight, but kept it under wraps. “Jesus….fine…but no more surprises, Mr. Kennedy.”

“He seems to like you” You giggled as you walked under the yellow tape and trailed beside him.

“What? Mr. Hard ass over there? Yeah I think not” Leon let out a low chuckle.

You shook your head playfully, carefully walking down the small hill towards the railroad tracks, your heart sinking deep into your chest at the sight of four bodies covered in a white sheet. 

Leon turned his attention towards you, noticing the color draining from your face, “Hey…you don’t have to go down there…if you don’t want to?”

“I’m fine Leon, thanks. I just….wasn’t expecting four bodies already” you gulped, shakily grabbing onto his arm.

“Fuck, you’re shaking y/n. I don’t think you should-”

“Shush you blondie” you flashed him a nervous smile, releasing his arm and continuing forward. 

Carefully kneeling down in front of the first body, you pulled the sheet off, noticing the body was of a 25 year old woman with a surgical incision that ran from her neck to her groin and it seemed that her cardiovascular system had no trace of blood whatsoever. 

“What can you determine?” Leon stood beside you, arms crossed, concern rising within him. 

“It looks like-” you paused in your words, pulling on a medical glove to examine the body more closely. 

“She is missing all her vital organs and her blood” you pushed your fingers near the incision site and opened the body slightly. 

Suddenly, the woman’s body began to jitter and shake uncontrollably. “Huh?” you gasped. 

“Y/n, move!” Leon shouted as he hooked his hands underneath your arms and pulled you back.

The woman groaned in agony, her body contorting and writhing in strange movements. 

“What the hell is going on?!” You cried out, scrambling onto your feet and holding onto Leon tightly.

“Fuck me…they turned into zombies!” Leon quickly grabbed his firearm and loaded it. 

“Oh shit!” Two officers noticed the disturbance from afar and grabbed their pistols to open fire.

“What the hell is going on with her, Leon?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen a zombie mutate without any sort of internal organs or blood circulating their system.”

Then, the woman screeched loudly, the surgical incision that ran along the front portion of her body growing razor sharp teeth.

“Calling all units, we need to back up…argh!!” One of the officers from afar screamed as one of the other bodies jumped onto him, tearing into his flesh.

“Find cover!” Leon ordered you as he began to fire at the creature in front of him. 

The woman zombie roared in distress as it was fired at by Leon. This alerted the other three zombies, their attention shifting towards protecting her. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Leon shouted as he was tackled by one of the zombies. 

“Leon!” you gasped, stopping in your tracks and rushing over towards one of the officer’s bodies and grabbing their pistol. 

“Fucker!” he grabbed his axe and sliced it deep into the zombies neck, killing it instantly. 

“Ah!” you shouted as you shot at the two other zombies. Surprisingly, you head-shotted both of them, their bodies falling limp on the ground. 

“Nghh~” the woman zombie came towards you, grabbing you and lifting you off the ground. 

“Let me go!” You screamed in fear. 

A low rumbling growl emanated from her enormous mouth, readying herself to devour you whole, but stopped suddenly.

“W-What?” you looked at her terrified, but something seemed off. It was as if she was studying you, like you were something important. 

The woman zombie turned towards the railroad tracks, quickly carrying you away.

“Leon!” You struggled against this creature, trying with all your might to shoot at her.

Leon looked around to check if there were any zombies left, his chest tightening at the sight of officers' dead corpses scattered across the crime scene. Though, his attention snapped towards you being taken by the enormous woman zombie.

“I’m coming!” He shouted to you, grabbing a lone shotgun that rested in a crate and charged towards the beast. 

“Hey!” Leon yelled at the zombie, shooting a fatal shot to her back, causing her to drop you.

As your body hit the hard soil ground, you crawled away quickly, holding the pistol close to you in case you had to defend yourself. 

“That’s right…..” Leon shot at her once again, her unnatural body writing in pure agony. 

Then, with the final shot, the zombie fell limp to the ground, the sheer weight causing the very ground to shudder. 

Leon panted heavily, tossing the empty shotgun and rushing to aid you. “Hey, hey, you’re alright” he tried to reassure you. 

“What just happened Leon?” you looked up at him, fear clearly written across your face. 

“By the looks of it, a trap” he helped you up, softly caressing your side. 

“Dammit, why all this fucking traffic” Diedra growled in annoyance, rolling down her window to ask the officer who was directing the jam.

“Excuse me officer, what seems to be the issue?” 

“Just a crime scene ma’am, please move along” the officer gestured to her to keep driving forward.

“Hmmm, hope everyone is okay” Diedra rolled her window back up and continued down the line, unbeknownst to her that someone was following her. 

Philip drove closely behind her, his hand twitching uncontrollably, his patience running thin. 

Although, just a few centimeters to the left was where you and Leon were. You were approaching your car, clearly taken aback by what had just occurred. 

“Thank you Leon, for saving me. I-I don’t know why…I just…froze..and-”

“You didn’t freeze up y/n. You head shot two zombies from afar. That is clearly impressive work for someone who has never held a gun before in her life.” 

“Hey” You teasingly shoved him, grabbing your keys and unlocking your car. 

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, how about you? You almost got eaten by the walking dead out there.”

“I’ll live” he joked, turning his attention to Officer Tamine who miraculously survived the whole ordeal. 

“Call me when you get home, okay?” Leon hugged you goodbye before returning to the scene.

Philip drove up closely behind Diedra’s car, a loud sigh escaping his lips, hoping that by the time he gets out of this long line, he can finally capture her.

“This is taking fucking forever…” he grumbled, rubbing his forehead in frustration. He then decided to roll down his window to get some of the fresh air. 

Although, his head turned towards a woman who was entering her car to the left of him. She seemed familiar, but he shrugged it away, driving forward and down the road, finally getting out of the traffic jam. 

At last Diedra finally entered her home, rain hammering softly against her windows and the sound of a car parking just outside her residence.

“Thomas?” she called to her husband while slipping off her coat. 

“Hey sweetheart, how was work?” Thomas called from the kitchen. 

“It was good, I'm gonna go upstairs to change and then you can tell me how yours was!” Diedra chuckled as she rushed upstairs to their bedroom to slip off her chalk covered dress. 

Thomas grinned at how sweet she was, continuing to chop the vegetables on the cutting board. 

Crash!

Thomas jumped at the sound of glass breaking, his hand gripping the handle of his knife tightly. “Who's there?” He called. 

Slowly but surely, he trailed into his dimly lit living room, the knife held in the air as he was ready to strike whatever came at him. 

The wind howled against the broken window, the curtains elegantly flowing forward as the cold air entered the room. 

“Hello?” He asked again, turning around and his gasp was silenced by someone charging at him all of a sudden. 

“Phew, today was a long day Thomas” Diedra yawned, entering the kitchen and picking up a slice of pepper from the cutting board.

“Thomas?”

No answer. 

Her brow furrowed slightly as she slowly walked out of the kitchen and entered the living room, noticing the lights were off. 

Although, her eyes noticed a faint silhouette standing by the broken window. 

“Oh Thomas, who broke our window?” She sighed deeply, turning on the light and approaching him. 

“Hun, are you okay?” Diedra placed her hand on his shoulder and turned him around. 

Diedra screamed loudly at the sight of her husband, his eyes were gone. Dark hollow sockets stared lifeless back at her while fresh blood stained the collar of his shirt. 

Her body staggered backwards in horror, “No…no…no!!!”

Then another voice spoke from behind her, “Professor Wilson.”

Diedra's body spun around, her breath catching in her throat, “Philip?”

Philip stepped closer to her, but something was off about him. His movements looked stiff, controlled, and his pupils unnaturally dilated. 

“You were always kind to y/n” he said calmly. 

“She appreciated that greatly.”

Fear crawled up Diedra's spine upon hearing her old student speak in this way, “Philip….what happened to you?”

A faint smile spread across his lips, “We are becoming part of something greater.” 

Diedra acted quickly as she ran towards the kitchen to grab something to defend herself, but it was too late. 

Philip surged forward and struck her hard, darkness consuming her vision as she fell onto the ground unconscious. 

“Hmphm” he chuckled deviously, walking over to his bag and pulling out some rope. 

“You over there, help me.” 

What Still Remains [At Least I Could Save You] Pt. 2 Finale

Morning came sooner than you thought, your eyes fluttering open to the view of your white colored ceiling. 

“Ugh” you groaned, rubbing your eyes and getting out of bed to go wash up. 

But on your way to the bathroom, you stopped to look at Leon resting on your couch. 

A soft chuckle escaped your lips as you grabbed one of your extra blankets from the basket by the couch and draped it over him gently. 

“Ah!” You yelped as you felt Leon's hand snatch your wrist and slam you down on your couch. “Leon?” 

Leon loomed over you animalistically, about to strike but stopped when he noticed it was you. “Y/n? What are you doing?”

“I-I was just putting a blanket over you…”.

“Oh….shit….I'm sorry…I just….fuck” he pulled away from you and helped you onto your feet. 

“Don't worry, I'm guessing you're on high alert, especially with Victor Gideon roaming around.” 

“Yeah, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your wrist?” Leon asked with concern laced in his voice. 

“No, no I'm fine” you awkwardly smiled and headed over to the bathroom. “Uh, help yourself to whatever is in my fridge if you're hungry.”

After you closed the bathroom door, Leon rubbed his head in frustration, wondering what was wrong with him? Every single time he was around you, he couldn't control himself. It was as if you had some sort of pull towards him and was forcing him to become a radiating mess. 

He let out a deep sigh as he headed over to your kitchen to get a glass of water. 

A couple of minutes passed by as you stepped out of the bathroom freshly showered and wearing new clothes. 

“Ahhhh” you sighed softly, throwing your towel in the hamper and fixing your glasses because they were getting fogged up.

“Did you eat anything?” you smiled, approaching him while he leaned on your kitchen counter. 

“Yeah a banana and a couple crackers” Leon smiled, finishing another glass of water before he turned around to wash it in the sink. 

“Are you sure? I don't recall having bananas?” 

“What the hell did I eat then?” Leon's head quickly spun towards your direction, shock written across his face. 

“Ha! Got your ass!” You laughed, playfully shoving his arm and then walked over to your bookbag to check to see if everything you had in there was safe and not crushed when Gideon grabbed your neck. 

“Very funny” Leon shook his head, trying to hold back the laughter brewing in his chest. 

“I should've taken a picture of your shocked face” you snickered, sitting down on your chair and setting your laptop on your desk. 

“So, where do you think Doctor Gideon might've taken Grace?” He asked, shutting off the faucet, setting the glass he used in the disk rack, and then proceeded to dry his hands.

“Well he wouldn't stay in the mansion where we were yesterday, so I think he might be in another location. Somewhere that might be useful to bring Grace to” you hummed as you opened up your laptop and logged in, glad that it wasn't broken. 

“Where would that be? Like a hospital?” Leon approached beside you, arms crossed. 

“Maybe…” you murmured to yourself, tying away at your algorithm to see if it could come up with possible locations of where Gideon had gone. 

“Damn I'm good” you chuckled, grabbing a granola bar from your desk drawer and began to munch on it. 

“What'd you find?” 

“Mmm…sorry munching....” You swallowed. “Remember the clinic that Gideon bought? I think he's there.”

“Which clinic was that again?”

“The Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.”

“Okay, we'll start there then” Leon nodded, impressed by how quick you got the information.

“Yep, let me just shut my laptop off and then we can get going.”

“Got it,” Leon nodded, heading over to the couch and folding the blanket you’d tried to drape over him.

Out of the corner of your eye, you caught the small gesture and something about it lingered.

When you first met him yesterday, you’d thought he was some big headed dumbass… the kind of guy who carried himself like a high school jock. 

But last night… and today…He wasn’t like that at all.

He was kind. Soft. Genuine.

A real gentleman, even when you teased him.

You softly smiled at the thought as you finished preparing the things you were going to bring and headed to your front door to leave with him. 

Shortly after, both you and Leon arrived at the clinic in his Porsche. 

“Looks fucking spooky” you gulped, leaning your head down a bit to get a good look at the area. 

“Yeah. Looks abandoned. Probably crawling with walking mutations.”

“What?” Your brows furrowed in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

Leon shut his eyes for a split second, realizing that he screwed up monumentally. “Ugh…well uh-” he stuttered in his words. 

“Let me guess, some government secret bullshit” you shook your head. “Of course…why would it be something else….”.

“No. Just….stay close to me when we're in there…please.” 

“It's not like I'm gonna be roaming around alone. I don't want a rerun of last time” you softly touched your freshly bandaged neck, flashbacks of what happened with Gideon going through your head. 

“I won't let that happen, not again” Leon promised you, his hand gently resting on your shoulder to reassure you. 

“Mhm” you nodded, flashing him a smile. “So, the infected….are they like zombies?”

“Not necessarily. They're individuals infected with a virus known as the T-virus. I don't want to label them as zombies because that sounds like a movie name they would use to call strange infected people” he chuckled. 

“Oh….wow…uh that sounds complicated. I'm probably gonna get killed now that I know government secrets. Well fuck ‘em!” You laughed as you opened the door and stepped out. 

A faint smirk tugged at Leon’s lips as he got out of the car. “Are you even going to ask what I do or ask me more about the T-virus?”

“Hmm, if we survive this…I'm gonna bombard you with questions. As of right now, our focus should be Grace and getting her back.”

“Can't argue with that” Leon nodded, gesturing to you to follow him as he approached the locked gate.

“The gate is locked. Can you hack it?” You mocked Leon's voice, approaching the biometric system and grabbing your phone from your hoodie pocket. 

“No problem, it's as easy as making pie” you giggled as you got to work. 

Leon just stood there for a second, caught off guard. Then a small smirk tugged at his lips.

“Was that really necessary?” he asked, a hint of amusement slipping into his voice.

“Yep, it definitely was!” You snapped your finger and put your phone away as the gate slowly began to open. 

“Stay close” Leon grabbed his gun, making sure to check if it was loaded before proceeding onto the Clinic grounds. 

As you followed behind him, a wave of anxiety filled you as you took in the sight before you. The clinic grounds were filled with broken glass, rubble, abandoned cars, and decaying bodies. 

“Breath…y/n….breath” you whispered to yourself, trying to self soothe. 

Leon overheard you trying to calm yourself, worry filling his chest, “Are you sure you want to come with me? There's no shame in waiting in my car?”

“I'm fine. And besides, who's gonna help you hack all the locked doors” you swallowed your fear and continued forward. 

Leon let out a soft sigh, following after you, concerned for your well-being. He wanted to order you to stay in his car as a precaution because he didn't want anything to happen to you. But deep down…he didn't want to let you out of his sight. The memory of Gideon's hand around your neck flashed through his mind. How easily he had held you there…the look on your face afterward…Fear….Innocence. Leon’s jaw tightened. Something hot and relentless surged beneath the surface of his skin….rage… and something deeper. A need to protect you, no matter what it took.

“Hmm, at least the front door is unlocked” you smiled, opening the clinic doors, their hinges groaning an awful tune. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah” Leon snapped out of his thoughts as he went inside first to check the vicinity for any creatures running around. 

“I think we should head to the surveillance room of this place and check to see if Doctor Gideon passed through here.” 

“Good idea.”

“Thanks. But we need to find a map of this place, otherwise we will be wandering for hours” you chuckled, walking over to the reception desk and going behind it to see if there were any layout plans of the place. 

“Hmm, you've thought of everything huh?” Leon let out a quiet chuckle. 

“Yeah and this is the part where you thank me for helping you” you smiled, searching through files and pulling out a map of the place. 

“Got it!”

“Oh shit, I didn't think they'd have one” Leon quickly went behind the reception desk and stood beside you to read the map with you. 

“Surprisingly they do because of how enormous this fucking place is.”

As your eyes scanned the piece of paper, sounds of growling and groaning echoed through the halls.

“Fuck, we need to move” Leon spoke with haste, rushing over to the hallway to see if he could pinpoint who was making that sound. 

“Okay, okay” you scrambled to take a photo of the map with your phone and then jogged towards him.

“You know where to go?” 

“Yeah, this way” you pointed to the left. 

“Okay, get moving.”

You nodded, holding onto your bookbag straps as you ran down the hallway.

“Shit! Keep running!” Leon shouted as he fired his weapon at an incoming infected person who heard the loud footsteps. 

You quickly glanced behind you, jumping at the sounds of gunshots but continued running. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, it said which way…” you paused in your tracks, grabbing your phone to look at the map. 

“This way Leon!” You called to him as he finished off the remaining stragglers. 

As you ran down towards the forward hall, you noticed a sign that read ‘surveillance room.’

“Leon! I found it!” You chuckled, turning around but he was nowhere to be found. 

“Leon!” You shouted this time, your mind racing with thoughts of him being hurt or worse. 

You shook your head as you rushed into the surveillance room, shutting the door and barricading it with a chair. 

“What the hell?” You questioned having some sort of deja vu. (The carrier story)

“Anyways” you chuckled, pulling off your bookbag and setting it down on the desk as you got comfortable in the chair. 

“Hmm” you typed away at the keyboard but noticed that it needed a username and password. “

“Pssh…who do they think they are?” you snickered, grabbing your phone and using your algorithm to hack into the computer. 

Once it was hacked, you pulled the second computer screen closer to the first to use it as a dual monitor. The first screen had the camera surveillance system while the second had restricted files you hacked. 

“Dammit Leon, where are you?” you searched through the cameras. 

Suddenly, your heart skipped a beat when you saw him running down the hall in search of you. 

“Leon…” you softly spoke his name, wishing that you could send him a message but the surveillance system wasn't equipped with microphones. 

“Shit…fucking bitch…” you cursed under your breath as you scrambled to find an ingenious way to get a message to him. 

Leon panted heavily as he leaned against the bloody stained walls, hoping to catch a breather before setting out to find you. He knew he shouldn't have let you go first but he didn't want you to get infected with the T-virus…something that was eating away at him for the longest time. 

“Wait…she might be in the surveillance room” he gasped, looking up to see if there were any cameras around him.

Soon enough, he found a camera out of the corner of his eye. He rushed towards it and began to wave it, hoping that by moving his hand back and forth, you could send him a sign that you were okay. 

“Leon!” You chuckled as you pulled up one of the camera feeds and typed a code to it, forcing it to move side to side slowly. 

“Heh…you're okay…good” he smiled in relief, pulling away from the camera and making a gesture that he's going to continue on. 

“I got your back Leon, I promise” you breathed softly, now turning your attention to the restricted files to see what the hell Doctor Victor Gideon wanted with Grace. 

“Mutated strain?” You rubbed your chin, trying to understand the medical mumbo jumbo that was in the files. 

“Woah” you gasped as you read about the creation of Elpis and how much damage that it could cause. “Damn, you're telling me if this thing gets released we're fucked?”

“No wonder he wants Grace. She must have something that he needs to complete Elpis…probably something in her DNA?”

Before you could react, you felt a presence looming over you, your heart racing in overwhelming fear. 

Gathering your strength, you slowly glanced up, your eyes widening when you found Doctor Victor Gideon gazing down upon you, a serpentine grin curling at his lips.

“Fuck me sideways….” You let out a shaky breath. But with quick thinking, you used your hips to thrust the chair violently back at him, giving you time to rush towards the fire extinguisher on the wall. 

Once you reached it, you viciously tore it off the wall, and turned around to defend yourself. 

Gideon let out a low laugh, clearly entertained by your reaction.

“Did you really think that would stop me…?” he murmured, his voice almost amused.

A tilt of his head followed. “…That’s cute.”

“I knew it wouldn't take you down, but this will!” You spoke in a warning tone, you raised the extinguisher, readying for anything that could happen. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said quietly. “…so why are you?” “ Is it for me? Or….for her?” Gideon smirked, eerily tilting his head again.

“Yes! I am here for Grace! Let her go!” You shouted at him, your grip tightening against the metal extinguisher you held, your legs shaking uncontrollably. 

“Hmm” Gideon glanced down at your legs, noticing how much you trembled. “You're afraid…don't be my dear…no harm will come to you.”

“Bullshit you fucker! You grabbed my neck and tried to choke me! Why the hell should I believe you now?!” 

Gideon chuckled under his breath, taking another step toward you.”Because Grace is special. She has something that will change the very course of this world.” 

“You're a fucking liar! I saw the files…you're just a fucking crazy bastard experimenting on innocent people!” 

“There were complications…yes…but I did it all for the good of the world” his hand casually grazed your bookbag that rested on the table. 

“You see a monster,” he murmured, almost thoughtfully. “I see progress.”

His eyes didn’t leave yours. “Humanity has grown complacent… soft” he faintly tilted his head.“I’m simply correcting that.”

“You're wrong Gideon…..you can't just wipe out innocent people….they have families…loved ones who-” 

“Are weak!” He shouted, startling you. 

“The weak don't survive y/n.”

“H-How do you know my name?” You gasped, eyes widening in fear. 

“I know who are you y/n, an introverted woman looking for a way to fit in” he closed in on you, his hand gently caressing your hair as he circled you. 

“Y-You're wrong…I-” 

“Awww” A quiet chuckle left him as he leaned closer, his voice brushing against your ear.

“Should I bring you your stuffed animals?” he murmured. “Would that make this easier for you?”

“You fucking bastard” you were about to strike but he grabbed both of your wrists, held them above your head, and twisted you around so that you faced him; allowing for the extinguisher to drop to the floor. 

“Ah!” You winced as you struggled against him. 

“Too slow!” He smirked as he scanned you, eyes outlining each curve of your warm, rounded form.

“My business partner told me to take care of you, probably expecting me to dispose of your very corpse. But I felt that you could be of use since you know your way around technology more than I do.” 

“I ain't hacking shit!” You spat at him. 

“Argh” he let out a low growl, holding your wrists with one of his hands as the other wiped the spit from his face. 

“You're making things worse than it is my dear” he used his free hand to pull you in close, his long forked tongue dragging along your cheek as if was tasting your innocent flesh. 

“You fucking..mmm…” you let out a soft whimper.

“Mmm, your heart is racing…did my touch excite you?” He questioned with a pleasing hum. 

“Fuck you…you snake looking bitch…” tears filled your eyes as you wished that Leon would burst through those doors to save you. 

Gideon let out a soft chuckle, releasing you and then approaching the computer. 

You didn't know how to react when he released you, all you could do was watch him closely. 

“This is your last chance to choose” he pressed a few keys on the keyboard before pulling out a controller from the inside of his coat. 

“What do you-” you quickly approached beside him, noticing Leon scouting the halls in search of Grace. 

“If I push this button, a creature will set out to rip him into pieces. But that doesn't have to happen. Come with me and I promise you no harm will come to him.” 

“No…” you clutched your chest tightly, tears pooling down your eyes. 

Silence filled the room as you tried to think of a way out of this dicey situation. 

But Gideon grew impatient and went to click the button. 

“No!” You shouted, grabbing onto his arm. 

Gideon glanced down at you, his lips curling into a smirk. “Yes?”

“I'll help you…whatever you need…just don't hurt him…please.”

“Hmm, gather your things then” he ordered, putting away the controller and heading over to the door to unbarricade it. 

“Dammit…where the hell are you Grace?” Leon growled as he searched practically the whole clinic. 

“Leon…” your soft voice echoed along his ears.

“Y/n?” He turned back, his heart sinking deep into his chest when he saw you in Gideon’s grasp. 

“Son of a bitch” Leon muttered, pointing his gun directly at him. 

“Careful, Leon,” Gideon murmured.“…I’d hate for my hand to slip” Gideon chuckled, his hand lightly caressing your neck. 

You let out a soft cry. Even though your neck was bandaged, that simple caressing of his finger was felt all throughout your body. 

“Don't…don't you touch her…” Leon warned him, his grip tightening to the point his knuckles turned bone white. 

“Afraid you're too late Leon. She has decided to join us in our endeavor to release Elpis.” 

“No she wouldn't…she would-” Leon paused in his words to look at you. 

“I'm sorry Leon…but he promised to leave you unharmed if I went with him.” 

“Y/n….”.

A low growl rumbled behind Leon. He turned suddenly and there it was. A towering, ten-foot monstrosity loomed in the shadows, fangs bared to a lethal point as it prepared to lunge at him. 

“No! You promised!” you cried, struggling as you tried to get to Leon.

Gideon’s grip tightened, stopping you effortlessly.

“I did,” he murmured. 

He paused for a moment before continuing. 

“I can’t have him following us,” Gideon said quietly, a faint chuckle slipping from him.

“This will keep him occupied.”

Before you could react, he hoisted you over his shoulder and moved fast, carrying you out of the clinic.

“Y/n!” Leon shouted your name, but quickly ducked down when the creature swung at him. 

“Leon no…please!” You cried for him, using your fists to bang on Gideon's back. 

“No…no…no!” Leon growled as he kicked the beast in the face, crawling as fast as he could before shooting at it. 

The beast roared in anguish as it got shot, sending it into a rage. 

“Fuck me…” he said as he quickly spun around and sprinted down the hall as it chased after him. 

As quickly as he could, Leon reloaded his weapon and continued firing at the beast. 

“Argh!” he winced when the beast reached forward and slashed at his abdomen. 

With one last shot, it came crashing to the ground, a pool of blood spreading across the floor. 

Leon panted heavily, his back pressed against the wall. “Ah!” he winced as he parted his jacket, his shirt stained a crimson red. 

“Shit…I gotta fix this” Leon said under his breath, steadying himself against the wall before limping toward the exit.

Every step hurt, but stopping wasn’t an option. Not until he found you and Grace. 

Hours had passed by as you waited for Gideon to return. You didn't know what was going to happen to you or whether or not you would make it out alive. 

The door soon opened, revealing a tall man with whitish hair and dark glasses. 

“So, you must be miss y/n” the man slowly walked into the room, his footsteps light and calculated, completely the opposite of Gideon's. 

“Who the hell are you?” You snapped at him. 

The man chuckled as he closed the door behind him and approached you. “Zeno.” 

“Oh…..” You gulped. “I'm assuming you're the one that told Gideon to dispose of me huh?”

“Hmm” Zeno pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “Yes, I was, until he told me of your potential in helping us to unlock Elpis.” 

“I won't help you” you bluntly spoke to him. 

Zeno blew a puff of smoke into the air, his expression hardening. “Do I need to remind you that Mr. Kennedy can be dealt with promptly if you do not assist us.” 

You quickly stood from the couch, wanting to scream, shout, tear this whole place apart…but you remained silent, knowing that any move you make now will have dire consequences on Leon. 

“I'm assuming that Victor also relayed that message to you as well” he chuckled, taking one last inhale of the cigarette before tossing it. 

“Yes…he did…very well…and painfully” you rubbed your neck in discomfort. 

Zeno drew nearer, gaze fixed and assessing as he studied you.

His fingers reached for the bandage without hesitation.

“Interesting…” he murmured. “You’ve been treated poorly.”

“What are you doing?” You looked at him with a face full of disgust. 

“Assessing how much damage has been done.”

“Ugh…as if you fucking care…” you winced once the bandage fell off your neck.

Zeno remained silent as he looked at the bruises sprawled across your skin. His gloved hand caressing the purplish spots with such tenderness that made your stomach churn. 

“Don't touch me” you growled at him. 

Without warning, his hand settled at the back of your neck, not rough, but firm enough to keep you still.

He drew you slightly closer, studying your expression.

“You don’t pull away,” he noted quietly. “…even when you should.” “You seem to rather enjoy it.”

“No I don't…”.

“Are you sure you want to test that?” He released the back of your neck and used his hand to enter your pants. 

A loud gasp came from your throat as you grabbed his wrist tightly, “S-Stop it!” 

“Look” Zeno quickly pulled his hand out of your pants and showed you the glisten of your juices that stained his gloved fingers. “Don't deny it when the proof is right here on my fingers.” 

“You're a sick fuck.” 

A faint, almost absent chuckle left him as he slowly licked his fingers, enjoying the taste of you. 

“You are something special. Always fighting and trying to do good. I've read about you. The police reports of a well renowned hacker in Raccoon city, helping the less fortunate.” 

Your mouth twisted into an angry expression as he talked about your past. “I did what I had to, to survive in this fucked up city!”

“Had to? Or chose to?” 

“Don't twist my words into something that isn't true just to fit your sick ideology.” 

“I’m not twisting anything,” Zeno said, stepping closer.

His gaze lowered slightly.

“I’m observing… a girl who still clings to comfort” he paused in his words to approach you. 

As he approached closer, you felt your back hit the corner of a wall, his tall stature looming over you like a predator would to his prey. 

“Fuck you” you growled. 

A faint breath of amusement left Zeno as he adjusted a loose strand of your hair. “You’re more resistant than expected. I can see why Gideon finds you… useful.” 

Without warning, Zeno pressed his lips to your head and whispered, “If you don't cooperate, the outcome will be….deeply unpleasant for you. But also that of Grace and Mr. Kennedy. Their deaths will be a direct result of your negligence if you refuse to help.” 

“You're a damn psychopath.”

“No. I am simply a man continuing a legacy that should've been mine” he pulled away and lifted your chin, noticing the tears that formed in your eyes. 

He let out a quiet breath as his gaze lingered on your expression. “I can see it” he murmured, head tilting, studying you with unsettling focus. 

“Ravishing…” the words left him slowly, deliberate, like it was a conclusion rather than a compliment. 

“Soft. Unguarded….even now.” He paused in his words again, but his eyes never left your own. 

“....I truly understand now why Victor took an interest” his fingers lifted your chin just enough to keep you from looking away. 

“It makes you… difficult to ignore.”

“Zeno” Gideon’s voice tore through the heavy tension that filled the air. 

You glanced towards Gideon's direction, face flushed and red as a tomato. 

“The computer is ready for her to access, I need her now.” 

“Go on” Zeno grinned as he gestured for you to follow Gideon. 

You glared angrily at him as you stepped out of the room to follow Gideon, staring blankly at the floor. Who the hell was this man? Touching you for no apparent reason and then claiming you enjoyed getting strangled or touched by others. 

“Ugh…” You held in the disgust that formed in your throat. 

Then your gaze darted up when you saw Grace standing by the computer, wounded. “Grace!?” you gasped, charging towards her. 

Grace's face lit up at the sight of you, her arms tightly embracing you as if you were a long lost friend. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, somewhat. What about you?” You pulled away from the hug and gently examined her wound.

“Eh, just a scrape across my chest but I'll live” She chuckled. 

“Y/n…” Gideon murmured softly.

“Access the computer.… before your Leon decides to interfere.”

“I hope he does,” you snapped, glaring up at him. “So he can put a bullet in your face.”

“Y/n… just….relax,” Grace said gently, her voice tight with worry. “Or they’ll hurt you again…”

You hesitated, jaw tightening before you let out a quiet huff. “Fine…” You dropped into the chair, fingers already moving as you began inputting your algorithm, breaking into the system.

“I’m in” Your eyes flew across the screen as you read each line of code, trying to pinpoint the location of Elpis.

“Where is Elpis?” Zeno’s voice cut in, his expression hardened and voice filled with impatience. 

“It’s beneath this facility, deep in the laboratory.” 

“Hmm” Zeno nodded, impressed by your skills. “We should proceed then.”

“Victor” he turned his attention to Gideon who looked down upon him. “I’ll leave you to deal with our unwanted guest.”

“No, you both promised that no harm will come to Leon or Grace if I cooperated!” 

Zeno pulled out his gun and pointed it at you, “I did. But Grace’s usefulness has run its course” He smirked, turned his weapon towards Grace and shot her in the gut.

“Grace!” You screamed, lunging towards her and catching her before she hit her head. “What the hell is wrong with you!”

Gideon watched in silence for a moment, clearly intrigued by Zeno’s decision.

“I’ll handle Leon,” he murmured with a quiet chuckle. His footsteps echoed heavily as he turned, ducked under the doorway, and left the room.

Zeno casually approached you, watching as you struggled to put pressure on Grace’s wound. 

“No, no! Grace please!” You cried as you pulled off your hoodie and pushed it against her wound. 

“Ah…” Grace moaned in pain, her face pale from hemorrhagic shock. “It’s okay y/n….don’t worry about me…I-I’ll be fine…”. 

Before you knew it, Zeno’s gun pressed against your temple, his face inches from your own. “Move or I will put a bullet in your skull.” 

“Go…” Grace spoke weakly, pushing your hand away as she put pressure on her own wound. 

“I just can’t leave you!” 

“Go dammit!” 

You quickly stood from the ground, hands stained in Grace’s blood. But you followed alongside Zeno obediently as he escorted you towards the elevators to proceed down to the lower levels

A little while later, soft footsteps approached the room Grace was in. She figured that it was Zeno returning to finish her off. “Come on!” she shouted, preparing herself for the worst.

“Grace?!” Leon’s voice called to her, his presence appearing in the doorway.

“Leon!?” she gasped, wincing again from the pain.

“Oh shit!” he rushed towards her, kneeling down and peeling away your hoodie to see the extent of her wound.

“What happened? Where is y/n?” he worriedly asked. 

“Zeno took her down the lower levels, he shot me after he determined that I was no longer of use.” 

“Dammit, I need to take this bullet out, otherwise you’ll continue losing more blood.”

“Forget me Leon, go after y/n, she’s not safe….especially with Zeno.”

“No” Leon bluntly said as he pulled out his med pack.  

“This is probably going to hurt, so bite down on this” He rolled up the sleeve of your hoodie and pushed it into her mouth. 

Grace bit down on the sleeve, shutting her eyes as she waited for Leon to remove the bullet. 

After a couple of seconds, Leon had disinfected the tweezers and plunged it deep into Grace’s gut. 

A muffled scream came from Grace as the tweezers entered her wound, her eyes snapping open in shock. 

“Almost there. Hey, hey don’t fall asleep!” he shouted at her, trying to keep her awake. 

“L-Leon” Grace murmured painfully, feeling her life slowly starting to slip away.

“Got it!” Leon called out, quickly discarding the bullet and tweezers.

He worked fast, disinfecting the area, patching her up as efficiently as possible before moving on without hesitation.

Grabbing a two-way butterfly needle set, he prepped it in seconds. He cleaned his own antecubital area (top-surface of his elbow), steady despite the urgency, then inserted the needle into his vein.

Without wasting a moment, he turned to Grace and did the same.

“You’ve lost too much blood…” he muttered under his breath “Hang in there.”

As his blood traveled through the tube, it entered her vein, providing her with a steady supply of his blood to recuperate what she had lost. 

In no time, Grace felt her strength slowly returning, her eyes fluttering open to find Leon still beside her, providing the transfusion.

“You didn’t… need to give me your blood,” she murmured weakly.

“You’d be dead otherwise,” Leon replied simply.

“You should’ve gone after y/n…”

“I will,” he said firmly, though his voice stayed controlled. “Once I know you’re stable.” He checked her condition, gently assessing the color returning to her skin.

Grace let out a faint, tired chuckle. “She likes you, you know…”

Leon paused slightly. “Hmm?”

“She’s a fighter,” Grace continued softly. “She’d do anything to protect you.”

“I know….I’d do anything to protect her too…”. 

“How big is this place?” You gasped as you exited the elevator to the view of the enormous underground area. 

“This is where Spencer did his work” Zeno proceeded forward. 

“Seems a bit over the top.”

As you both continued down the hallway, you reached a set of double doors that lead into the key laboratory where Spencer held Elpis. 

Zeno pushed the double doors open with ease, his movements slow and calculated as he made sure to scan the area for any sort of traps. 

“That must be Elpis” You approached the temperature controlled bio-container. 

“After you.”

You nodded, typing away at the computer, until you reached a screen that gave you two options, Destroy Elpis or Release Elpis. 

“Well?” Zeno’s voice came quietly from behind you.

“That’s far enough, Zeno.”

“Leon!” You spun around to see Leon at the door, his gun raised and trained directly at Zeno. 

“Don’t embarrass yourself Mr. Kennedy, you can’t beat me.” 

As Zeno inched towards Leon, he fired, but missed each shot as he zipped through air. 

“What the hell?” Leon spoke in utter disbelief.

In a flash, Zeno pressed his weapon against Leon’s head. “Shit...”. 

“Stop! Don’t hurt him or……I’ll….destroy Elpis!” you warned Zeno, finger hovering over the ‘enter’ key. 

Zeno’s head twisted slowly towards you, his expression unchanged. “Destroy it, and this will be the very last moment you see Mr. Kennedy.” 

“Don’t y/n…destroy it….”. 

As you stood there, with Leon’s life hanging heavily over your shoulder, you pressed the ‘enter’ key for…..releasing Elpis. 

Zeno tossed Leon to the side, approaching the bio-container as it opened. “Finally….”

Ignoring Zeno, you quickly rushed over to Leon, helping him up from the floor but noticed black veins covering his neck. “Leon….you’re infected?!”

“I have been for a while, but don’t worry about me. Are you okay?” 

“Yes I’m fine” You smiled, softly caressing his cheek. 

Zeno leaned forward, grabbing the syringe containing Elpis, Spencer's last gift to humanity. 

“How you cling to life…” Zeno murmured, almost thoughtfully. “Even knowing it won’t matter in the end” he injected himself with the syringe, a faint exhale escaping his lips.

“Argh….y/n…stay back” Leon gripped onto you tightly, the virus progressing further, the black veins expanding all across his skin. 

“No” you spoke with unwavering confidence, rising from the floor with his weapon in hand.

Zeno let out a chuckle at your sudden defiance. “It’s too late, y/n,” he said calmly.

“Elpis is already coursing through me.” His gaze lifted slightly, distant but focused. “What comes next… is no longer something you can stop.”

“You may say that…but you forgot one critical piece of information Zeno…”.

Zeno tilted his head slightly, studying you with quiet curiosity. “And what would that be?” he asked, a faint breath of amusement slipping through.

“Elpis….isn’t a weapon….it’s a cure” you raised your weapon and shot him directly in the head, not giving him a single second whatsoever to dodge your attack.

“Holy shit!” you gasped, the recoil of the gun being so great that you nearly blew your fingers off. 

“HA!” You laughed, watching as his headless body crashed to the floor. 

“Not bad” Leon let out an amused breath. 

“Let’s get you that cure” You quickly rushed over to the container, grabbed the syringe, and knelt down in front of Leon to inject him.

“Stay still” you smiled, using your right hand to inject the cure, the black veins that were spreading rapidly across his skin slowly dissipating. 

“Ah” Leon let out a sigh of relief as he felt his strength returning. “Care to explain how you knew Elpis was a cure and not a weapon?” 

“Hmm” you chuckled, pulling out the syringe from his neck. “I read one more file that explained Elpis in more detail. I initially thought it was a weapon…but when I read this said file…it explained the potential it had to cure hundreds and thousands of people who were infected with the T-Virus.” 

“Who would've thought..”.

As you pulled away, Leon’s hand cupped your cheek, his delicate blue eyes peering into your own. “But you put yourself in danger just to save my life and Grace’s…”. 

“Heh, yeah……if I lost you guys…I don't know what I'd do with myself…” you chuckled. “Wait, oh my gosh Grace!” You gasped, about to get up but Leon pulled you back down.

“She’s safe. Might need to go to the hospital after this but she's okay” Leon reassured you.

“Oh thank god” you breathed out a sigh of relief as you gently ruffled his hair. 

“Y/n…” Leon exhaled, his voice lowering into a whisper. “Thank you…for saving me.” 

His hand slowly came up, hesitating for just a moment as it brushed your cheek. Like he was making sure you were really there.

Then he leaned in, slow and careful, before pressing his lips to yours in a gentle kiss.

You didn’t know how to react as his lips pressed against your own. It was so sudden that your body tensed for a split second before relaxing. 

“Leon” you murmured against him, deepening the kiss and pulling him in closer. 

“Mmm….how touching~”

“Huh?” you pulled away from Leon's lips, your head quickly whipping towards the door, your heart sinking when you saw who it was. 

“Gideon…” Leon gritted out his name, brows narrowing in anger, his arms protectively wrapping around you. 

“I see you’ve killed my business associate,” Gideon said calmly.

“What a waste…” He turned, almost dismissive.

“I knew that Spencer wouldn’t have given us a weapon, but a last gift to humanity.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything to him?” You questioned, tightly holding onto Leon.

“Zeno believed what he needed to believe,” Gideon said calmly. “And it worked, didn’t it?”

“But I also kept you alive,” he continued, his gaze settling on you, “because you found something I needed confirmed.” 

“What did you find y/n?” Leon asked, turning toward you, concern etched in his expression.

“Oh…don’t hesitate now, my dear” Gideon murmured softly, a chuckle echoing along your ears. “....go on. Tell him.”

“I-I…” you stumbled on your words. “There’s another weapon…deeper in the facility….and it can only be unlocked…..using my blood.”

“What?!” Leon’s grip on you tightened slightly. 

“You see,” Gideon continued smoothly. “I had intended to use Grace, but her blood proved…insufficent” his eyes darkened with interest as they lingered on you. 

“She lacks the necessary genetic factor.” He paused suddenly, his lips curling into a dark smirk.

“But you, y/n….” he stepped just a little closer to the both of you. “...you carry the V-component.”

“What the hell is he talking about? How’d you know this?”

[Bevlynous-Slowed song: Play this while reading this next sequence for a more cinematic kind of view, if you want lovies]

You slowly pulled away from him, steadying yourself as you stood on your own.

Reaching up, you removed your glasses, your movements careful but deliberate. You blinked once, then slid a contact lens from your left eye, wincing slightly before wiping at your face.

Leon couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw you. “Y/n….what the hell….happened to you…”.

“I’m a walking mutation Leon…ever since I was experimented on by….” you paused in your words, your head glancing towards Gideon’s direction. 

“....No…” Leon said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I started connecting all the dots when I read about him in those files back at the mansion. It just took me a while to remember who he was because I was just a child.” “Gideon was the one that mutated my DNA and incorporated the V allele in my genome.” 

“The perfect specimen…” Gideon murmured, a quiet note of satisfaction in his voice. “…capable of bypassing any biometric security.”

“Zeno was blinded by his arrogance, only thinking of you as a mere toy for him to gain access to Elpis. But now….” he paused in his words to laugh. “I have the ultimate weapon at my disposal.” 

“You bastard” Leon bolted upright, snatching his gun from the floor where you left it and pointed it towards Gideon. 

“I can see why you took a liking to her,” Gideon said softly. “Innocent… sweet…”

His hand slid up to your neck, fingers pressing lightly against the bruised skin.

“.....fragile…”. 

A soft whimper escaped your lips as you froze in fear, unsure of what to do next after everything was pieced together. 

“Consider this a lesson, Leon,” Gideon said softly. “You can’t save everyone” He spread his arms low, a wicked grin plastered across his face. 

]BOOM[

The lab underwent complete darkness, Gideon disappearing without a trace.

“Y/n!” Leon shouted your name, reaching for his flashlight but it was nowhere to be found.

As best as he could, he tried to maneuver in the darkness, hoping to god that Gideon wouldn’t take him by surprise. 

Unexpectedly, he stumbled as his foot slipped on something. “What the hell?” 

He kneeled down to see what the hell his foot got caught in, and then touched a warm liquid that spread across the floor.

Retracting his hand to smell what the liquid was, his eyes widened in shock…..it was blood. 

“Y/n!” Leon shouted again, louder this time that his voice practically echoed off the walls. 

“Umbrella’s curse~” Gideon’s voice abruptly came close to Leon’s ear.

“Son of a bitch!” Leon spun around to fire his weapon, but there was no one there. He was losing his mind. Something had to have happened to him. This was either purgatory or hell.

“Leon!” you screamed. 

His head jolted towards the direction of your scream. “Fuck…” he tried his best to get out of the room, his heart racing as he went to save you. 

Yet, as he reached the area where your scream came from, his hand nearly dropped his weapon at the sight before him. 

“Too late, Leon…” Gideon murmured, almost gently. “She’s no longer yours to protect.”

His form began to distort, something inhuman taking shape beneath his skin. “…and you will die here!” a monstrous roar escaped his throat. 

Leon let out an angry breath as he reloaded his weapon and began to unload on Gideon. 

Without warning, Gideon’s tendril came swinging at him.

“Fuck!” He shouted, ducking as quickly as he could before rolling out of the way so as to not get crushed by it. 

But, he miscalculated and fell off the platform onto another just below it. 

“Argh!” he flinched sharply as he gripped his old wound. Looking down, he saw the stitches had torn open again, blood already seeping into his shirt.

“Shit…”. 

“Running already?” Gideon murmured. “We haven’t finished.”

He descended to the lower platform, impact barely registering as he straightened. A soft, amused exhale escaped him as he faced Leon.

“Ah…ah…” you winced as you tried to pry the tendrils off of you, but their sharp thorns had pierced practically every part of your body, draining you slowly of your blood and making it impossible for you to escape. 

“L-Leon…” you whimpered, trying your best to get out of this situation to help him. 

Leon rolled to the side again, his head snapping up towards you when he heard your whimper, “Y/n..”.

Gideon charged towards Leon, using his tendril to smash him against the wall. 

“Nghn--” Leon flinched as he was being crushed by Gideon, his expression filled with anger and rage as he stared him down.

“You don’t know when to give up,” Gideon said coldly. “You would’ve been the perfect specimen for my research….such a shame it’s all been wasted because of your weak resolve.”

“You’re right, Gideon….” Leon exhaled sharply. “I don’t know when to quit.”

In a sudden move, he slammed his head forward, headbutting Gideon. 

The impact alone gave him just enough space, allowing him to raise his gun and fire at the tendril holding you. The shot rang out as it severed its grip and released you.

“Go!” Leon shouted. “Move!” he dodged another attack. 

Once the tendril released you, you fell onto the metal grated floor. “Ah!” you jolted in pain, but ushered it aside as you tried to crawl towards the control console.  

“Ah…mm…ugh…” you gripped onto it, pulling yourself up before pressing the button on it. Soon enough, an injector popped out that required a blood sample to unlock it.

Raising your trembling hand, you pressed your palm against the pointed edge, the machine taking a small sample of your blood. Once it finished processing it, you were presented with the same two options as before. 

You pulled your hand away and used the touch pad to move the cursor towards the other option. 

“Fuck you Gideon…” you whispered as you hit the ‘destroy’ button, erasing every last inch of the weapon.

“I have to help….Leon…” you limped towards the edge of the platform, using the ladder to climb down.

“Fucker…” Leon panted heavily as he reloaded his weapon again, staring down Gideon from a distance. 

Gideon remained still, waiting for Leon’s movement, his expression unchanged.

“This is the end,” he murmured. “There’s no need to prolong it.”

Leon’s chest was weaving uncontrollably as he gripped his wound, not sure if he had any fight left in him.

Shhhhnk 

“AH!” You yelled, Leon’s axe making a clean cut at Gideon’s neck, the impact alone sending his head rolling.

Gideon’s body went slack, crumpling to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut. 

Your head slowly looked up at Leon’s injured soul. Your eyes filled with tears as they washed away the blood that stained your cheeks. 

“Y/n…” Leon dragged himself to you, tossing his weapon to the ground and embraced you tightly. 

“Leon…” you cried, hands gripping his jacket tightly as you melted into his chest. 

“I’m so sorry….I should’ve….I should’ve done something to stop him.” 

“Heh…” you laughed through your tears. “You couldn’t have known” you pulled away from the hug to cup both of his cheeks.

Leon met your gaze, refusing to look away even as the mutation crept across your face. Not because he didn’t see it, but because he refused to let it define you.

His expression softened, barely noticeably. “...I love you..”. 

Those three simple words made your heart flutter, “I love you too, Leon~” you smiled as you pulled him down for a kiss. 

“Dammit…can you go easy…..” Leon groaned as the nurse finished the last set of stitches. 

“I’m almost done Mr. Kennedy” The nurse chuckled as she used surgical scissors to cut the extra twine. “There we are, you’re all set.”

“Thank you,” he nodded. 

“Now, don’t go doing anything strenuous until that wound has healed” The nurse raised her finger in an almost scolding way, as if warning a child to not repeat the bad action they had done. 

“Yeah, I got it” Leon let out a soft sigh as he pulled on a fresh shirt, courtesy of the hospital. 

From a distance, he saw you speaking with the doctor, most likely asking about Grace’s condition. 

“Okay, thank you doctor” You nodded, turning at your heels and heading towards Leon’s direction. 

“Hey” you smiled as you approached him.

“Hey” he also flashed a smile. “How’s Grace doing?”

“She’s fine, they’re keeping her overnight to make sure that the substantial loss of blood hasn’t affected any of her vital organs.” 

“Oh….” Leon nodded, his face clouding with concern.

“She’ll be okay, she just needs rest.”

“As do you” his head jerked up. “You lost a lot of blood when that tendril wrapped around you.”

“I know…..” you nodded, the feeling of going home overwhelming you. 

“Come on, let's get you home.”

After a while, you both arrived at your place, the warm scent of apples and cinnamon filling both of your noses. 

“Mmm” you smiled as you tossed your things onto the coffee table by your couch and jumped onto your bed.

“I’m amazed the doctors and nurses didn’t ask about the mutation on your face.”

“Hmm, they probably thought that I was wearing make-up or dressing up for a special occasion” You joked, doing a small stretch. 

“Probably… or they just didn’t want to get involved in something they can’t explain,” Leon said with a quiet chuckle as he stepped closer and sat gently on the edge of your bed.

“How are you feeling by the way? You got really knocked up by Gideon….and….that monster from before slashed at your stomach” you leaned forward and gently caressed his wound. 

“Argh…” Leon flinched.

“Shit…sorry” you gasped, suddenly remembering that even with pain meds, he could still feel it.

“It’s alright…” Leon murmured. He turned his head toward you, the strain in his features softening as his gaze lingered.

The two of you sat in silence for a moment, watching each other closely. You’ve both been through so much pain and anguish the last two days and at last you guys could get some well-deserved rest. 

“....I’m fine…” he let out a soft breath, his hand sliding over to you to hold your own. 

“Leon~” you let out a small, trembling gasp, barely more than a whisper. 

Leon couldn’t contain himself any longer as he leaned forward, his hands cupping your face to pull you into a kiss. 

“I need you” you begged through the kisses, pulling away to take off your shirt. 

Leon shrugged his shirt off swiftly, not wasting a second. “Y/n” he released a soft, eager breath, crawling on top of you as you laid down. 

Leon's lips moved hungrily and gently against your lips, his hands gently caressing your plump sides. 

“Mmm, Leon” you moaned, pushing him back to softly suck at the nap of his neck. 

“Ah” he let out a soft moan, his fingers tightly squeezing your bed covers, his pants tightening.

After you pulled away from him, you let out a soft giggle as you noticed the bruise you left on him. 

“You’re something else,” he muttered, a small smile breaking through as he leaned down to suck at your existing bruises, knowing for sure they were still sensitive. 

“Right there ah!” You tightly gripped onto his back, feeling yourself getting wetter by the minute. 

“You okay….?” he asked softly, pushing a strand of your hair behind your ear. 

“Yeah…I'm okay. You?” You reached up to him and fluffed his hair. 

“I'm…I'm more than okay” he chuckled, leaning down to nibble at your ear. 

“Leon” you whimpered, tightly hugging him, feeling his pulsing heat against your pants. 

Leon’s breath brushed your ear as he leaned in, his voice quieter now. “Can I touch you…?”

“Mhm..” You nodded, almost begging him.

Gently as he could, Leon pushed his hands underneath you, unhooking your bra and then pulling it off your body. 

A deep blush peered across your cheeks, embarrassed that he was going to see your breast. 

“Don't be embarrassed y/n, you're beautiful” he leaned down and took one of your nipples to suck. 

“Leon!” You cried out cutely, arching your head back against your pillow. 

His lips felt so gentle against you, his tongue tracing circles upon circles around your nipple. 

Leon looked up at you, noticing how much pleasure you were feeling. His eyes stared deep into you, as if burning your reactions into his memory. He didn't want anyone to see you like this, vulnerable and innocent, something that he knew he had to protect. 

“Y/n” he moaned your name, his lips trailing down your stomach until he reached your pants. 

You gasped as you looked down at him, “No!”

Leon's head snapped up, pausing in his movements when he heard your plea. “Are you okay? Did I go too far?” 

"No…I just I never done this before” you gulped nervously. 

Leon tilted his head, a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Do you want me to do this another way?”

“I-” You gulped, struggling to speak. 

“Are you still embarrassed?” He asked quietly. 

“You don’t have to be.” “I’m going to love every part of you.” 

Those words sent an ache through your heart. “You're such a sweet little teddy bear” you giggled, unzipping your pants and pulling them off, along with your panties. 

“Just…be gentle..” You blushed, opening your legs slowly. 

Leon watched carefully as you pulled your pants off and opened your legs. “…I will be” he softly spoke, leaning down and gently caressing your inner thighs. 

“I promise to be very gentle” he let out a dry exhale before leaning down to lick your soft flower. 

Your legs jolted as you felt his warm tongue against you, lapping up the preexisting juices you had. “Oh fuck…Leon” you pushed your fingers through his luscious blonde locks, loud moans escaping your lips. 

He hummed hungrily against you, maneuvering his mouth in a way that felt like he was kissing your folds. 

“Ahh…” you let out soft whimpers, releasing his hair to grip onto your bed sheets, feeling like you were losing your mind. 

“Feels good?” He murmured against your flower, using his thumb to gently rub your clit. 

“Yeah, fuck…I…Leon…wait..wait..wait!” You gasped in shock, your body leaning forward as the most blissful orgasm escaped you. 

Leon's lips curled against you as he held your legs tightly against him, continuing to kiss and devour you as to make sure that your orgasm was the best you've ever felt. 

A soft, tender sound escaped you as you leaned your body back against the bed. Your chest rising and falling in steady breaths after feeling so much bliss. 

“Heh,” Leon chuckled, pulling away and licking the excess juices that covered his mouth. “Told you sweetheart, nothing to be embarrassed of.”

You looked at him cutely, your hand gently slithering down to his pants and unzipped it. “Mmm…” you hummed, grabbing a hold of his warm shaft.

“Ugh…” Leon let out a grunt when he felt your hand grab him. “Y/n…ah…wait..” he gripped onto your sides.

“You're hard” you blushed deeply, using your hand to slowly stroke him, occasionally teasing his tip by rubbing your index finger in circles around it. 

He couldn't hold him up as he fell onto his back beside you. 

You let out another soft giggle as you rested your head on his chest and pulled out his length from his pants to continue stroking him.

“Y/n…fuck…” he held onto you tightly, pressing gentle kisses to your head, feeling his mind cloud from the pleasure. 

“Does it feel good Leon?” 

Leon couldn't speak as he could only let out soft grunts, the pleasure being too much for him to handle. 

“I'll take that as a yes” you cooed, pressing gentle kisses against his chest. 

“Wait..wait-Fuck!” He shouted, arching his head back as a cloud of white spray landed beneath his stomach and on your hand. 

“I love you~” you whispered against his ear, softly nibbling at it. 

“I love you too sweetheart” he panted like a wild animal.

Soon enough, he pinned you to your bed and devoured your lips again, all the while pushing off his jeans and tossing them on the ground. 

“Can I?” he asked again, wanting to make sure you were comfortable with everything he was doing.

“Mhm…” you nodded. “But wait…”

A blush spread across your cheeks as you reached toward your nightstand, pulling a condom from one of the drawers.

Leon looked down at it, then back at you, one brow lifting slightly.

“Huh…” a faint grin tugged at his lips. “So you did come prepared.”

“Oh, shut up!” you huffed, face burning hotter. “I was just keeping it there for a rainy day when I got lonely or something.”

Leon let out a quiet chuckle at that as he opened the condom up with his teeth and pulled it out, spreading it over his shaft. 

Then, with careful movements, he pressed the tip of his cock against your entrance, gently rubbing it up and down.

“D-Don’t tease me” you moaned cutely, gripping onto his wrist tightly, a wave of anxiety filling you.

“I’m teasing you so that you can relax sweetheart” he leaned in to speak against your ear, before slowly entering you.

A soft, tender gasp escaped you when you felt your walls expand and curve to the size of him. 

“Leon” you gripped onto him tightly. 

“You okay?” He stopped quickly, making sure that you weren't in pain. 

“Yeah just…just give me…a second” you looked up at him and then playfully ‘booped’ his nose. 

Leon jumped when you ‘booped’ his nose, “What are you doing?” He chuckled. 

“Just looking at how cute you look.”

“Oh really?” He smirked teasingly and began to move slowly within you. 

“Ah!” You moaned cutely against his ear as his throbbing shaft moved in and out of you, hitting spots you never knew were sensitive. 

“Damn….you're…so…soft” he let out soft husky moans, his hips moving forward and back in such beautiful movements. 

You couldn't control the moans that escaped you each time he trusted. You simply embraced him tightly, not wanting to let go because you were afraid that if you did…he would be taken from you by Gideon and Zeno…even if they were gone. 

Leon leaned down carefully and scooped your lips up into his own, kissing you passionately. 

And after a couple more thrusts, you both let out pleasurable moans, releasing such a delicious orgasm.

Leon carefully pulled away before discarding the condom into the nearby trash.

The moment he returned to your bed, he drew you close, settling beside you with his arms wrapped securely around you.

You pulled his arms in close, humming happily at how he cuddled you. It was deeply romantic and caring, something that continuously made your heart ache. 

Who would've known that a cop turned government agent could love a hacker like you. 

-2 years later-

“Hmmm, hmmm” you hummed as you whisked the buttercream frosting for the cake you had baked. 

“Mmm that looks delicious” Leon's voice came up from behind you, his arms wrapping around your torso. 

“It's not ready yet cutie pie” you chuckled. 

“Mmm, I know..” Leon breathed out a sigh of content as he looked outside at a field filled with Black-Eyed Susan's and [Your favorite flower]. 

“Do you miss the city y/n?” he curiously asked. 

A.deep sigh escaped you, your hand gently setting the whisk down, and turning around to face him. “A little bit…but I don't care where I go…as long as I'm with you.” 

Leon smiled as he caressed your cheek and pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead. “I love you so much.” 

“I don't” you playfully joked before scooping up a bit of frosting from the bowl and wiped it on his nose. 

“What the-?” he gasped, shock written across his face. 

“Come and get me Mr. Kennedy!” You laughed as you ran away. 

“Oh, I’m definitely getting you back for that,” he called out with a laugh, running after you.

Ding-Dong

“One second sweetheart, let me get the door” Leon laughed as he walked over to his front door and grabbed the door knob to open it. 

Looking down, he noticed the box on the floor. “Huh…I don't remember ordering anything?” He bent down to grab it. 

While examining it, his heart sank at what it read on the shipping address.

〔Hello, Leon. You probably don’t know me… but I certainly know you. In fact, I should. After all, I am the better half of you.  I heard you killed Zeno. A pathetic imitation of Wesker, if you ask me. But Gideon… oh, no. You didn’t kill him. That sweet little wife of yours failed to finish the job properly, and I imagine your love for her clouded your judgment when it came time to check whether he was truly dead. Now, don’t get too excited. Gideon and I are still moving forward with our plans. Thanks to your wife’s blood, we are far closer to creating the ultimate weapon… something far superior to Elpis. Still, I wanted to give you a head start. We will return for her….. . And congratulations on the engagement, by the way. She looks absolutely exquisite in those photographs. I look forward to seeing how long that innocence of hers survives once we take her back…..or better yet…when I take her innocence. Oh, and one more thing, Lovely house, Leon. Really. I especially adore the Black-Eyed Susans surrounding it. Such delicate flowers..〕 Łəøn S. ꓘennedy _Your Better Half_

Leon’s head snapped up the moment he read the description of his house. His eyes immediately swept across the area, scanning the trees, the road, the windows, searching for any sign that someone was watching. 

His hand tightened around the letter, trembling slightly as his pulse began to pound violently in his chest. They knew where you lived. 

“Leon~?” Your voice suddenly echoed from inside the house, but to him, it didn’t sound warm. It sounded distant, haunting even.

His head snapped towards the sound instinctively, and for a split second, the house disappeared. Cold white hospital lights flashed before his eyes. Blood staining the floor. Your terrified expression. Gideon’s hand wrapped tightly around your throat. The sound of monitors screaming in the background. 

Then….reality crashed back into him. His home returned. Your voice. The letter still trembling in his hand.

Leon swallowed hard, his pulse pounding uncontrollably as a terrible realization settled deep into his chest. This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot. And somehow….you had become the center of an entirely new game, one he feared he might not be able to protect you from. 

The Stranger Pt. 1

“Leon, keep your eyes peeled, we need to find out what this new infection is that has been dropping bodies more than we can cope with.”

“Yep, already on it” Leon relayed his understanding to Hunnigan through his ear piece. 

Suddenly, he noticed a strange man holding a woman on his shoulder. It seemed suspicious, not to mention the man being a literal giant.

“Hey!” He shouted, charging towards his initial direction, but stopped when a car nearly hit him. 

“Sorry! Sorry!” Leon gasped as he maneuvered around the cars and then noticed that the man had disappeared without a trace.

“What the hell?” He breathed in deeply, not understanding what he had seen. 

“Hey, excuse me?”  

“Hmm?” A young woman smiled as she approached this dashing blonde man. 

“Did you get a look at a tall figure walking by and see where he went?”

“Uhh…no I did not see anyone who looked like that. But you know who probably did see it-”

“Jenny!” A loud, dominating voice rang out behind the woman. 

“Jake, hey.”

“What did we say about telling people about them? They don't like anyone knowing their name, especially cops.”

“You're a cop?!” Jenny gasped, her facial features shifting from a kind expression to a disgusted one. 

“No! I'm not! I…ugh…I just want to know where that figure went. They had a girl on their shoulder and she looked unconscious.” 

Jenny let out a deep sigh as she heard him, “It can't hurt to help someone Jake, and this woman might be in trouble for all we know.” 

An annoying growl escaped Jake's throat as he grabbed a crumpled up piece of paper from his back pocket and wrote down an address. “Everybody calls her Reø, her true name I don't know.” 

“Who is she exactly?” Leon grabbed the piece of paper from him and read the address. 

“She's one of the best hackers in Raccoon city. This girl could literally hack the IRS if she really wanted to. But, more importantly, she can hack some of the CCTV cameras around here and give you a general direction of where this person went.” 

“Thanks, I truly appreciate it” Leon nodded in respect before ushering past them to head to the address written on the paper. 

“You really think he's a cop?” 

“I’m not sure… he’s got this kind of allure to him. But whatever that man went through… it sucked the cop right out of him. Turned him into something I don’t think I can even put into words” Jake sighed, rubbing Jenny’s back as he pulled her closer.

A couple hours passed when Leon arrived at the address. “Huh…I think this is the place-Oh” 

Just below his gaze, he noticed stairs that led to a basement. And next to the door, there was a pink neon sign that read “Darkness's Lair “ [or a name of your choice lovies]

"Subtle” he cleared his throat, slowly walking down the stairs and approached the door. 

Just as he was about to knock, a voice rang out from a speaker hidden somewhere. 

“Password?” 

“Uh…shit…uh” Leon quickly scrambled to look at the paper to see if Jake had written down any sort of password or code. 

“No password. No entry.” 

“Wait, uhh Jake and Jenny they gave me your address and said you can help me.” 

“Why should I help you?” 

“Because a woman was taken!” 

The speaker soon cut out, the sounds of multiple locks unclicking and shifting behind the door could be heard ringing along Leon's ears. 

Then the door swung open, a woman standing just below his height gazed up at him. She was…beautiful……enchanting even. 

“Are you a cop? Because as far as I know, I don't help your kind” you huffed, pushing up your glasses to get a good look at this man (I added the glasses as an extra but if you don't want the glasses you can ignore it lovies :3 )

“I'm not a fucking cop. I just need help…Reø….please” Leon sighed as he crossed his arms. 

“Hmm” you grabbed your phone from your pocket and took a picture of the man. 

“Argh, what the hell was that for?” 

“Come on in. Don't touch anything and take off your shoes before you enter my place.” 

 “...Okay.” Leon’s brows furrowed slightly as he bent to untie his boots. Once they were off, he picked them up, stepped inside, and shut the door behind him, setting them neatly by the entrance so he wouldn’t forget them later.

He glanced around, taking in the space. “Cozy place you’ve got here… lot of, uh… stuffed animals.”

((You can imagine the room you desire lovies, I just wanted to add the soft kind of character that you are that balances out his traumatized self. Like needing a grounding force for him)) 

“That's coming a lot from you Leon S. Kennedy.”

“How'd you-” 

“I read your file…interesting work…especially with all those infections and viruses you had to deal with” you quickly jumped into your chair, setting your phone down and transferring the screen to your laptop to continue reading. 

Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly. “This an interrogation?”

You let out a quiet chuckle, already pulling up the CCTV network. “No. Just keeping some insurance… in case you decide to hand me over to the actual cops.”

He exhaled through his nose, not quite amused. “Yeah. Not my style.”

You didn’t look up. “What time did you see the woman?”

“Uh…” Leon paused, thinking. “Around nine. Maybe a little after.”

“Okay” you typed away at your keyboard. “Wait, uh where was this?”

“Under a bridge, by some construction and scaffolding.” 

You nodded to his response, and then leaned back against your chair, a smirk plastered across your face. 

“There's your girl.”

“Fuck me” Leon gasped as he looked at the strange man carrying the unconscious woman. 

“Can you get a look at his face or possibly the woman's?” 

“I can try, but the CCTV cameras aren't state of the art…so getting a look at faces is gonna be a bit tricky” you adjusted your posture in your chair and began typing again.

Leon leaned in close to you, his attention dead set on your screen, hoping to see who that woman was or that man that held her. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed him lingering beside you, his gaze fixed on your screen. Your lips curled into a soft smile.

It had been years since you’d had a real conversation, one that wasn’t purely transactional. Part of that was by choice; you were never much of a talker. You kept to yourself, an introvert by nature, especially with your love for hacking, a lonely path few chose to walk.

Still, for those skilled enough, it paid well. You knew that better than most.

“Huh, my facial recognition algorithm could work around this…and….” You pressed the enter button and out popped two files. 

“Woah, okay so this girl over here is called Grace Ashcroft. The other weird looking dude…is…oh-” You pushed your glasses up higher to get a good look at this man. 

“That man is known as Doctor Victor Gideon. He worked at the Umbrella Corporation as a researcher for some time. Then after his place of work went into bankruptcy, he bought the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center and worked as its director.” 

“But what I don't understand is why the fuck he looks like that?” You chuckled, turning your gaze towards Leon. 

“Hmm, I think I know where to start. Thanks for the help” Leon turned at his heels to head out of your basement home and head to find Ms. Ashcroft. 

“Wait uh-” 

“Hmm?” Leon turned back to face you. 

“I don't think you should go in blind.” “Wherever this Grace Ashcroft is, she has to be in a secure location, probably being watched.”

Leon’s gaze narrowed. “First you act like I’m some kind of nuisance…. and now you want to help?”

He crossed his arms, studying you. “Not sure I should even let you come with me.”

You met his stare, unflinching. “You don’t have to trust me. Just don’t go in blind.” 

A deep sigh escaped Leon's lips as he rubbed the back of his head. “Fine. But you had better stay close to me and not slow me down.” 

“I-I won't” you gulped, slightly regretting your decision of going with him but something about this man going in alone, with no back up or help, seemed a bit sketchy. 

A few minutes had passed as Leon waited outside your front door as you gathered your things to bring with you on this ‘mission.’ 

Soon enough, you stepped outside your door, closing it behind you and making sure to lock it well so as to not allow anyone to break into your place. 

“Okay, let's go” You smiled softly, bookbag strapped tightly to you. 

“Follow me” he spoke bluntly, walking up the steps to head onto the sidewalk. 

“So, where are we headed?” You followed closely beside him. 

“Some mansion.” 

“Okay” you nodded, pushing your hoodie up as it began to rain.

“Are you a cop still? Or?” 

“Used to be” He paused in his words, taking a breath in. “Now I do things that are far worse than that.” 

“Oh…sounds dangerous” you gulped. 

“You get used to it.” 

“I mean it doesn't seem like a life to live Mr. Kennedy. Living on the edge all the time, being exposed to dangerous toxins, chemicals, and god knows what else.” 

“How would you know?” his eyes narrowed. “Have you ever been out there?” 

“Well no…” your voice lowered to almost a whisper. 

“Hmmm” Leon tilted his head slightly. “We're here” he looked around, approaching the beautifully made mansion doors. 

“Shit, it's biometrically locked. Gonna have to break it open.” 

“Pshh barbarian” you chuckled, grabbing your phone from your hoodie pocket and putting it against the lock. 

Leon watched you closely, a bit taken aback when you called him a ‘barbarian.’

“And…there we are,” you grinned, turning to face Leon. “You see, you don't need to use brute force for everything.”

Leon huffed as he pulled out his gun, clearly impressed by how quick you unlocked the door. “Stay close.” 

“Roger that Mr. Kennedy” you chuckled, putting your phone in your hoodie pocket again.

“You can call me Leon. ‘Mr. Kennedy’ makes it sound like I'm about to be called in as a witness” he glanced around out of habit, checking the area. 

“Oh thank god…I really hate saying mister or missus because it just sounds so formal and I just want it to be simple” you smiled.

“What about you Reø, do I get a first name? Or?”

You let out another chuckle as you pushed your hoodie back, “Sure…after you pay me for the service I provided you.” 

Leon tilted his head slightly, one brow lifting, more intrigued than surprised. There was something about your demeanor he couldn’t quite place… but he liked it.

“Well,” he said, a faint smirk tugging at his lips, “I don’t exactly carry cash on me.”

His heart skipped a beat. “Can I owe you?”

“Hmmm, fine. And my name is….” You paused in your words, taking the lead and then turning around to face him. “Is y/n” you smiled, waving your hands in the air cutely. 

“Heh, are you sure you aren't an extrovert?”

“Yeah I'm sure. I prefer my solitude but I only slip out of my shell when I feel…somewhat comfortable” you shrugged, turning around to face front and then noticed a surveillance room sign.

“Hey Leon, follow me” you gestured to him and did a light jog towards the room.

“Wait y/n slow down!” he gasped, chasing after you and entered the room just after you.

“I can check the surveillance cams and see where your girl went.” 

“Are you sure this place has cameras?” Leon questioned, closing the door to the room just as a precaution. 

“Then why would they have a surveillance room Leon if they didn't have cameras?” you chuckled, sitting down at the desk and began hacking away at the computer. 

“I just find it odd that a mansion like this has cameras.”

“Eh probably for security or to keep watch on someone….or something…..” your words trailed as you brought up the surveillance log and went back a few hours.

“Leon..”.

“Hmm?” Leon quickly strode over to you and leaned against the chair, looking at the screen before you. 

“Uh..look…there's your Doctor with Grace” your cheeks turned flush at how close Leon was to you. 

“Oh shit, she's just down this hallway, come on” Leon pushed off the desk and sprinted towards the door. 

“Okay, okay hold up” you quickly got off your chair and rushed behind him. 

After Leon opened the door, he made sure to check left and right before proceeding down the hallway with you. 

Suddenly, you heard a soft click sound, your eyes darting to the ceiling when you noticed a metal grate was about to come down. 

“Move!” you shouted, using all your strength to push him forward, the gate slamming down in front of you, separating the both of you. 

“Y/n!” Leon gasped as he approached the gate, trying to pull it up with his arms.

“Well, I didn't think this would happen” you chuckled, surprisingly calm in this situation. 

“Just wait here. I'll find something to pry this gate open.”

“No, No, go find Grace. I'll be fine in the surveillance room.”

“Y/n I don't know what's in this place. I can't leave you alone” Leon worriedly spoke. 

“I won't be alone. I got my stuffie in my backpack, a can of soda, and a whole lot of time to hack into files I know I'm not supposed to look at” you chuckled. 

Leon sighed deeply, “Fuck me…” he said as he grabbed a radio from his belt and handed it to you. 

“Switch to channel three.” He spoke with a worried tone, but tried to keep it subtle. “Check in when you’re there.”

“Got it” you grabbed the radio and then noticed his hand reaching for something else. 

“And take this as well” he pushed his hands through the bars and handed you his axe. 

“Woah..” You gasped, taking a hold of the heavy item. 

“You know how to use it?” 

“Yeah, swingy swing to fucking kill whatever is in front of me that wants me to die” you glanced up at him again with a cheeky smile but it quickly went away when you noticed the immense amount of worry in his eyes.

“I'll be okay Leon, I might not have outside street smarts but…I can handle this.” 

“Alright. I'll try to find another way back to you when I get Grace.”

“If you're lost or stuck or need to get into a room that has a biometric lock, just let me know over the radio. I can help and guide you.” 

“Understood. Be safe” he turned around and continued down the hall to find wherever Grace was. 

Once he left, you quickly rushed into the surveillance room, closed the door behind you, and began to set up your equipment. 

“Okay, channel 3 and-” You turned the dial to the specific channel that Leon was on and pressed the talk button. “Leon, can you read me?”

“Yeah, I can read you loud and clear” his voice spoke through your radio. 

“Phew, good. I'm set up in the surveillance room. Let me know if you need any help.”

“Good and yeah I'll let you know. Over and out.”

As Leon went radio silent, you began to type away at your computer that was connected by cable to the surveillance system and the designated system of this place. 

“Huh….interesting” you cracked your can of soda and began to take little sips of it.

“What in the seven shades of hell am I reading?” You rubbed your chin in curiosity. 

“Y/n!” Leon's voice came shouting through the radio. 

“Fuck!” You jumped violently as you grabbed the radio. “What happened?!” 

“Open the door! It says A3!” Leon turned around, pushing Grace behind him as he began to shoot at an enormous mutated woman. 

“Uh okay okay” you set the radio down and typed away at your computer, making sure to have a split screen that showed both the surveillance feed and the electrical biometric system that connected to each locked door to this mansion. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” You typed away as quickly as you could and then pressed enter. “Leon, go now!” You shouted through the radio. 

Leon gasped as he went through the door with Grace and then shut it behind him, the door locking once it closed.

“Shit…” Leon panted heavily as he leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. 

“W-Who are you people?” Grace trembled in fear. 

“Leon Kennedy, DSO. And you must be Grace?” 

“Y-Yeah Grace Ashcroft FBI.” 

“FBI?” He questioned and then heard a loud screeching sound. “We need to move, now” he reloaded his weapon and continued down the room he was in. 

“Who's the woman on the radio helping you?” Grace curiously asked. 

“Heh, just one of the best hackers I've ever seen” Leon chuckled, leaning against the other door to check for any movement. 

“She must be the best because the encryption this place has is state of the art.” 

“She’s good,” he said simply. Then a faint smirk peered across his lips. “Better than most I’ve worked with.”

“That's good to hear so we can get out of this place.” 

“Wait, before we go. Why does Victor want you?” 

“What?” 

“He kidnapped you for a reason? Why?”

“I don't know,” Grace shrugged, not understanding why she was needed. 

“Alright. We'll figure this out later. For right now, stay close to me and follow my every move.” 

“Okay” Grace nodded, understanding what she had to do. 

Back in the surveillance room, you made sure to check the cams to see where Leon was at and see if you could do anything to help him.

But, your eyes kept shifting to the other part of your screen that had the confidential documents that listed almost every experiment that Doctor Victor Gideon had done. 

“What kind of a fucking psychopath does this to innocent people” you shook your head, finishing up your soda and tossing it in the trash. 

Without any warning whatsoever you sat up quickly at the sudden shadow that passed by one of the cameras. 

“Oh fuck, fuck.....” You quickly unplugged everything, gathered your things, shoved them in your backpack and rushed into one of the lockers that was there.

As you hid in the locker, you tightly held the axe that Leon had given you, your body trembling in fear as to what was going to come through those doors. 

Soon enough, the doors to the surveillance room opened slowly, a tall figure ducking under the door and then standing to their original height to look around the room for any sudden movement. 

A soft growl escaped their throat as they approached the desk you were lounging at, trying to find out who was messing with their system. 

Then a flash of lighting struck outside, illuminating the somewhat dim room for a split second. 

You quickly covered your mouth to mask the gasp that escaped your mouth when you saw who it was. 

It was Doctor Victor Gideon in the flesh. He looked mangled and somewhat terrifying, especially him being as tall as a tree.

“How much do they know?” An unfamiliar voice asked.

Victor didn’t hesitate. “I don’t think it was Leon or Grace who breached the system, Zeno. Someone else is here. They accessed the files.”

A sudden pause. 

“That’s unacceptable,” Zeno said, his tone calm, but cold. “No one from the outside can learn what we’re doing. If you find them… bring them to me.”

A low chuckle followed. 

“And why should you get all the fun?” Gideon’s voice cut in, amused. “I’d like a turn with our little ghost.”

Clink.

“Oh shit..” You whispered worriedly, your heart racing because you mistakenly tapped the metal axe against the inside of the locker, creating that sound. 

The sudden sound made Gideon tilt his head hauntingly towards your direction, their lips curling into a dark smirk.

He then turned at his heels, heavy footsteps trailing towards your direction. 

And at the critical moment, his body leaned down to check the locker that you were in, another soft chuckle escaping his lips. 

You felt your heart sink, tears dripping down your cheeks, hand tightly pressed against your mouth and nose to not make a sound as he examined the locker. 

Then another sound rang from outside the surveillance room, causing Gideon to turn his attention to it. 

“Argh!” He growled angrily, his heavy footsteps dragging out of the room as he went to go after whatever made that sound. 

Once the coast was clear, you stepped out of the locker, wiping the tears that stained your face. 

Never in once in your life you had that feeling of fear and death all at once. What the hell did you get yourself into? 

“Hey, exits this way” Grace tugged at Leon's jacket, pointing towards the front doors of the mansion. 

“Yeah I know. Let me just get someone first and then we'll go.”

As you quickly jogged out of the room, you turned your attention down the hall, your lips curling into a relieved smile. “Leon!” You chuckled. 

“Y/n..…you alright?” Leon smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as he slowly walked towards you. 

“Yeah got a bit of a scare but I'm-” you went silent when you noticed Leon's expression change from relaxed to shock. 

“L-Leon?” 

“Run!” Grace and Leon shouted to you but it was too late. 

“Ah!” You gasped loudly when you felt strong hands wrap around your throat, hoisting you up, your legs wriggling underneath you. 

“Let her go!” Leon shouted, pointing his weapon directly at Gideon's head. 

“Ah…ah!” You gasped for air, trying to pry his hands off your neck. 

“So, you're the hacker that has been sneaking around, reading information that doesn't belong to you” Gideon whispered against your ear, sending a chill down your spine. 

Leon noticed you jolt, causing him to tighten his grip against his gun. “I'm warning you Victor, drop her!” 

“Oh…” Gideon’s grin stretched wider, amused by the edge in Leon’s voice. “Touchy.”

His gaze flicked to you. “Hand over Grace… or I’ll have my fun with her.”

“Ah…L-Leon…ah don't…don't you dare give him that poor girl ah!” You cried out when his grip tightened. 

Leon’s jaw clenched, his stance shifting just slightly, protective, unyielding.

“You’re not touching her.”

“No, let her go!” Grace intervened, pushing past Leon and approaching Gideon. “I'll go with you, just let her go…please.”

“No, he's…he's fucking crazy…he's done so many experiments that ah!” You gasped for air again. 

“Careful,” he said softly, leaning just close enough for his voice to brush against your ear. “I can be very gentle… or very thorough. It depends on how difficult you make this.”

“Mmm” you let out a soft whimper, tears dripping from your eyes.

Leon let out a frustrated and worried growl as he tried his best to compose himself. He didn't want to make any sudden moves that would result in your death, especially when his hand gripped your throat. 

“Let her go..” Grace repeated as she raised her hands up, giving Gideon a sign that she was surrendering to him.

“Hmmm” Gideon slowly set you down on your two feet and released your throat. Then, he leaned in close to your ear again and whispered solely to you. “Run to him,” he murmured. “I won't stop you.” 

You slowly stepped forward after he released you, your body trembling until you dashed towards Leon and embraced him tightly. 

Leon instantly wrapped his arm around you protectively, his gun still pointed at Gideon. 

“Awww how sweet” Gideon let out a low chuckle, amused, his hand grasping onto Grace's shoulder, giving the notion that she couldn't escape now. 

“Protecting what you can still reach.” 

“I'm sorry Grace” you sniffled, turning around in Leon's arms to look at her. 

“It's okay…..you'll find a way back to me. You're the best hacker after all” Grace smiled as she connected the dots of you being one that Leon was talking about before.

Then in a flash, Gideon disappeared without a trace, along with Grace. 

“Fuck…” Leon pulled away from you as he tried to think of a way to get her back. 

“I fucked up…I fucked up so bad…I…panicked…I..fucking…I'm so fucking stupid…” you cried softly, falling onto your knees and then pulling them close to your chest. 

“Hey” Leon kneeled down in front of you, his hand gently resting on top of your knee. “This isn't your fault. You are not to blame. I didn't see Gideon behind you, that's my fault to carry, not yours.” 

“But I…I should've used your axe or something…I should've just let him take me and not her.” 

“Would you have been happy to be in that situation?” 

“Well…no but-”

“Exactly. So, take a deep breath in and out, and we'll restrategize.” 

“But Grace is in that situation, he's going to experiment on her or something.”

“I don't think so. From the looks of it, he needs her for something important. So I highly doubt he's going to experiment on her.” 

You nodded, wiping the tears away from your eyes as you composed yourself. 

“I think I should've just stayed in my basement…”.

Leon let out a deep sigh as he gently lifted your chin up with his hand, looking over the bruises that spread across your neck. 

“If you would've stayed in your basement, you wouldn't have saved my ass or Grace's when we were being chased by that fucking monster.” 

“Heh” you let out a soft chuckle, your gaze softening and a wave of relaxation taking over you. “Yeah…you would've both been flat pancakes” you giggled. 

“Yep” Leon nodded, releasing your chin and standing up from the ground.

“Come on” he smiled, extending out his hand for you to grab. 

You obliged, grabbing his hand and standing up from the ground. 

A soft gasp escaped your lips when you miscalculated your steps and your body accidentally pressed against his chest. 

“Sorry…” you blushed deeply, your eyes looking up into his own blue ones. They were filled with such pain and sorrow that brought an ache to your heart. This man has been through so much and you saw it…deep within him. 

“You okay?” He asked softly, his arms gently holding you. 

“Yeah…I just…think I should go home. I can help you from there. I'll just take the radio and give you a small pinned camera that you can wear so I can see your every move.” 

“Oh-” Leon nodded, not moving right away. He only looked down at you, really looked at you, memorizing something he didn't trust himself to keep. 

He then exhaled slowly, grounding himself. “Yeah…okay.” 

“I'm sorry…I just feel like I'm slowing you down Leon” you gently rested your hand against his shoulder. 

“And besides I'll still be guiding you and helping you unlock doors you shouldn't be opening” you joked, pulling away from him to head towards the exit. 

But you paused in your tracks and turned your head towards him. “You don't have to do everything alone, Leon. I got your back.” 

Leon's jaw tightened at your response, trying to contain the overwhelming feeling that was rising within him. “You aren't slowing me down y/n….I just….can't…lose someone else….”.

“I just-” he slowly approached you and cupped your cheek. 

“Leon?” You softly asked, wondering what was wrong with him. 

He let out slow, shallow breaths as he towered over you. He didn't want to leave you alone, especially now that Gideon knows how you look. 

“You can't go home y/n. Gideon knows how you look and he's bound to search for you again.”

“Uh…..but wasn't his main focus Grace? Why would he want me?”

“Because you read classified files and he said it himself that you were the hacker that read them. Therefore, I don't think it's wise to leave you alone.” 

Your heart skipped a beat at his words. It had been a long time since someone cared for you. It felt refreshing. 

Warmth spread across your face as his hand gently caressed your bruised neck. 

“Ah” you let out a soft moan, pain radiating through your skin. 

“Sorry…I think we need to patch you up first…before we continue our search” he respectfully pulled away from you and then walked towards the front door. 

But you didn't move a single inch, the feeling of his hand caressing your neck lingering for longer than you wanted. 

“Leon?” you called to him again. 

“Yeah?” he turned around to face you, brows raised in curiosity.

“Nothing…let's just go” you pushed past him and exited the mansion, clutching at your chest as you tried to regulate your breathing. 

“I've got Miss Ashcroft, Zeno. And I also know who the hacker is” Gideon spoke to him over the phone. 

“Hmm, are they going to be a problem?”

“No. But I think she will be a perfect specimen to use as leverage over Leon. He cares quite a lot for her.”

“I'll leave it in your capable hands then Victor.”

Gideon chuckled as he hung up the call and turned to Grace who laid on the couch unconscious. 

“Ouch! Can you fucking go easy on those bandages!” You winced as Leon wrapped your neck with mediated bandages. 

Leon chuckled quietly as he did another loop around your neck, “Big baby.”

“Hey!” You pouted cutely, but tried as much as you could to hide the smile forming across your lips. 

“There. Now your neck is going to be sensitive to any form of touch, so try to steer clear of that.” 

“Yeah that's probably not gonna happen, but I’ll try my best” you softly rubbed your bandage covered neck, letting out a soft sigh. 

“Where do you want this?” Leon chuckled. 

“Oh, just put it in the cabinet underneath the bathroom sink please” you smiled, pointing towards your bathroom. 

Surprisingly, you two decided that it would be best to rest up for a spell at your place since it was close by and had all the necessities like water, food, and other things. 

But you weren't going to stay for long because Leon was right. This Victor Gideon knew your face, it would only be a matter of time before he found where you live and you did not want to run into him again. 

“Mmm” you let out a soft yawn, slowly laying down on your bed and cuddling close to your blanket. 

Leon stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to you, about to speak but stopped himself when he noticed your sleeping form. 

His lips curled into a soft smile as he quietly approached you, carefully grabbing the blanket you cuddled and draping it over you. “Sleep well.”

Pt. 2 {The Choice}

“Dammit, I should've known that this would've happened.”

“You can't blame yourself Leon. You need to focus. If you want someone to blame, blame me. I brought you both into this shit storm” Hunnigan sighed softly. 

“I just hope that she's safe or at least escaped from whatever took her.” 

“Argh” you groaned loudly as your eyes opened again. 

“Ah! Fuck!” You winced as you felt a slight discomfort down below. 

Turning your gaze to the side, you noticed the same man from before typing away at his computer terminal. Your gaze lowered, anger surging through you. This man…no this thing…violated you…used his dirty fingers to finger fuck you and you couldn't do anything about it.

“Hey! You piece of shit!”

Silence.

“Don't act dumb you fucker, I know you can hear me! Let me go!”

Gideon drew in a breath and let it settle before releasing it as a soft sigh as he finished typing away at his computer terminal. Only then did he turn.

“Such a temper…” he murmured, almost to himself. 

His gaze soon settled on you, not in anger, but studying you continuously as before. 

“I'm curious what it would take to break that.”

He stepped towards you, each movement measured and deliberate. 

“If I introduced a mutagenic strain…” he continued softly. “Would it destabilize the organism within you…?”

He then tilted his head, his lips curling into a malicious smirk. “...or force it to assert control over you?”

Your chest rose and fell in steady breaths, trying everything to keep yourself calm as Leon had taught you. But this, this was something different…something that you've never experienced before. 

Gideon’s smirk deepened at your sudden silence. “How unexpected….I was beginning to think you were incapable of silence.”

“I uh-” tears began to drip from your eyes as you turned your head to the clinical lights above you. “I'm going to die, aren't I?” You whispered to yourself. 

“Oh no, no, no” Gideon approached you closer, looming over you like a hunter staring down its prey. 

“Death would be a waste….” His eyes traced the faint veins beneath your skin. 

“You’re going to be part of something more valuable….you are the chosen one…a special carrier that holds the key to my research.”

“Please…let me…let me go….I  don't want to be here…”

“You're not going anywhere” he spoke quietly, his hand gently grasping your hips. 

“....I won't allow it…..”.

You inhaled sharply, shutting your eyes tightly, hoping that when you opened your eyes again, it would all be a dream. 

“Shall we begin your treatment again, y/n?” he released your hips, his hand hovering closely to your neck. 

Suddenly, the lab doors slid open with a sharp hiss. Light footsteps could be heard entering. 

“You call this urgent” an unfamiliar voice spoke, more arrogant and bashful than Gideon’s.

“Come see” Gideon didn't turn to face the newcomer.

A low grumble escaped the newcomer's mouth as he walked towards you. 

“Who's this?” 

You quickly glanced to the side, noticing a well-dressed man with dark glasses analyzing you. 

“Y/n is her name and she is the key to the mutations that we've been monitoring.”

“The key? What do you mean by that?”

“She is infected with the virus, Zeno. But it has zero integration with her and no mutations whatsoever.”

“No mutations? That's impossible, everyone who has been in contact with the virus has shown mutations.” 

“Observe” Gideon leaned in close to you to begin the ‘experiment.’

“Don't touch me!” You struggled again in the restraints. 

Gideon ignored your pleas as he caressed your neck, trying to provoke the organism within you to give a response. 

And with that, the same low growl from before escaped your throat again, black veins writhing against your neck. 

“You see……it defends her…..that is something to be studied closely.” 

“Impressive” Zeno spoke in awe, approaching closer to you as well to get a glimpse at the black veins spread across your neck. 

“Argh!” You screamed loudly, breaking through the restraints and kicking Gideon back harshly. 

You then perched animalistically on the clinical table, not aware of the veins below your cheeks as your eyes turned a dark black. 

Instead of a growl escaping your throat, it was an eerie hiss that would send waves of fear to anyone who heard it. 

Zeno reacted as quickly as he could as he pulled out his weapon. 

As he went to fire, your gaze darted towards him and then you zipped through the air like a panther. You pounced on him and then quickly ran out of the lab, using this immense strength you never knew you had buried deep within you to escape. 

Just before you reached the door, Zeno shot in your direction but Gideon stopped him, causing him to miss his shot. 

“Are you mad! She is not to be harmed…she is too valuable to risk.”

“Ugh…well your specimen just got away. I'm starting to think this fixation you have on her is getting in the way of your logic.”

Gideon remained silent as he ushered past Zeno to chase after you. 

“You saw her capabilities …..a single host” he murmured, eerily turning his head to the side. “Capable of neutralizing infection…”.

A pause. 

“.....or weaponizing it on a scale beyond Elpis…”.

Zeno remained silent as gathered his thoughts of the capabilities you held within your body. 

“You can question it,” Gideon said calmly. “It won't change the outcome.”

Another pause. 

“....or her importance” he then turned and exited to chase after you.

You let out small laughs as you jogged down the hospital halls, trying to find a map or someway back outside. 

Stopping in your tracks to catch your breath, you noticed a similar map you saw before on the wall. This was an enormous hospital, how the hell did you not notice that when you were on the outside with Leon. 

“I have to find a way to Leon and then get the hell out of here.” 

You continued down the hall quietly, your steps light to not alert whatever was lurking in the darkness. This place brought chills down your spine, especially seeing butchered corpses on gurneys, a sign that they were failed experiments. How could someone do that to innocent people? They came here, thinking they were going to be cured from whatever ailment they had to be then restrained and experimented on by that wicked doctor. 

Unexpectedly, you paused in your tracks, noticing an enormous mutated dog tearing away at a rotten corpse. 

“Phew..” you tried to control your breathing, slowly taking steps back. But without your knowledge, you stepped on a couple of shards of glass, your head spinning back in shock.

The dog's ear raised in notice of the sound, their head turning towards your direction. 

“Oh shit…” you gasped as you looked at it. 

The dog then began to bark uncontrollably, until it carefully stalked towards you, readying to sink its ravenous teeth in you.

Then, without you noticing, the veins on your neck grew dark, writing once again. Your eyes shifted again back to its black color, your body kneeling down on the ground in the same  animalistic pose as before. 

The mutated dog watched you carefully, surprised that you didn’t run away like others have done.

Your hands perched carefully on the ground, your mouth opening slightly, a loud hiss ringing from your throat. 

A soft whimper came from the dog as it bowed its head to you, as if bowing to an alpha. 

You growled back at the dog, crawling on the ground like an animal towards it and then nudged your head against it, understanding its submissiveness. 

“Y/n!?” A familiar voice called to you from behind.

The mutated dog jumped at the sound of another voice and sprinted away. Yet, you stood from the ground, head tilting to the side hauntingly as if something possessed you.

“Y/n, hey….it’s me Leon?” Leon’s voice calmly spoke to you, slowly holstering his gun and carefully approaching you. 

“Huh?” you gasped, snapping back to reality and turned around to face Leon. “Oh my gosh, Leon!?” you rushed towards him, embracing him tightly.

Leon stumbled back slightly, not anticipating your hug, but ultimately wrapped his arms around you. “It’s alright, you’re okay” he whispered to you gently, caressing your back. 

“Are you alright? Did anyone hurt you?” he worriedly asked, pulling away from you to check to see if you had any cuts, bruises, or marks. 

You shut your eyes tightly, the memory and feeling of Doctor Gideon’s fingers entering you returning. “Don’t worry about me, I just want to go home” you opened your eyes, looking up at him pleadingly. 

Leon sighed deeply as he pulled out his weapon and nodded at your request, “Alright, follow me then.”

As you followed alongside Leon, you noticed he was carrying your backpack. “Hey, you got my things?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, I decided to take them with me because I knew you were going to need them for your future in street hacking.”

“Hey, it’s not street hacking” you chuckled, shoving him playfully. “But wait, if I wasn’t on comms, how’d you find me?” 

“Hunnigan assisted me. I tried my best to retrace your steps or the steps of whatever took you.” 

“Oh..”. 

“I know you didn’t want to talk about it, but can you at least tell me who or what took you?” Leon curiously asked, quickly checking left and right of the hallways before proceeding forward.

“His name is Doctor Victor Gideon. He’s a fucking psychopath. He told me that I had some kind of parasite or organism in me that has become one with my body. Like, I’ve been infected with the virus but I’m showing no mutation or integration.”

Leon quickly paused in his tracks and turned his gaze towards you in shock, “What do you mean you’re infected?”

“Huh?” you quickly looked up at him. “I-I didn’t know till now that I was infected.”

“Fuck y/n….why didn’t you get tested or…or called one of us to help you?!”

“I didn’t call any of you because I didn’t show any signs!” You shouted back at him, clearly hurt that he wasn’t sympathizing with you. 

“When did this happen?” 

“It was about a year ago. I broke into the city’s ruins to see if I could….find some interesting tech that I could add to my collection. And when I wasn’t looking, I tripped and fell onto shards of glass. I cut the palm of my hand, but I made sure to wrap it carefully so as to get infected by anything around me.” 

Leon used his free hand to rub his head in disappointment, not believing that you could be naive enough to go into the ruins that probably had remnants of the virus. “All for some tech? I hope it was worth it.”

When Leon turned back around to continue walking, you stayed silent, not wanting to upset him further. But, you stopped in your tracks suddenly, a strange smell wafting into your nasal cavity.

“Y/n you following me?” Leon called to you, turning at his heels to face you and noticing that you had stopped walking. “You okay?”

“You blame me for getting infected…….but why didn’t you tell me that you’ve been infected all this time?”

“How’d you-”

“I can smell it on you Leon! You blame me for all this shit when you never said a word about your infection!” 

“I didn’t want to worry you!” 

“We are supposed to be friends Leon! And you can’t even trust me with that!” you yelled at him but suddenly felt the floor shake. 

“Move!” Leon gasped as he shoved you away and went crashing down with the floor.

“Leon!” You screamed, trying to reach for him but you were too late as he fell down to the basement of the hospital. 

“Argh dammit….” he groaned in pain, trying to gather his strength after that massive fall. “Y/n….y/n are you okay?” he coughed, waving away the dust and smoke that filled the air. 

“I’m okay!” you called to him, breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn’t injured. “What do we do now?”

“Listen, keep going down the hall and head down those emergency stairs. Keep going till you reach the main entrance. I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay, got it! Be careful!” 

“You too” he whispered to himself, hoping that you would make it there safe and sound. He cared a lot about you, and he wasn’t about to let anything happen to you after leaving you alone for those four years. 

Doing exactly as Leon told you, you approached the door that led to the emergency stairs. “Uh, okay, down a few flights and just wait by the entrance.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Huh? Ah!” You flinched as someone grabbed you by your throat and pinned you against the blood splattered walls.

Zeno stepped in close, his expression unreadable, eyes scanning you like he was already deciding the outcome. 

“Gideon calls you ‘chosen,” he said flatly. 

“L-Let go!” you cried out, trying to pry his hand away from your throat. 

Zeno didn’t, instead, he leaned in just enough to study your reaction, his grip tightening slightly, not enough to crush, but just enough to remind you that there was nowhere to go. 

“I don’t see it. You move well, you think quickly, but that isn’t power. It’s merely survival and survival is common.”

Soon, a large shadow descended upon you two. 

Your eyes widened in fear as you noticed who it was, looming over both of you like a creature of the night. 

“Zeno” Gideon’s voice cut in. “You’re interfering with my work. She is not yours to test.”

“I wanted results, all you’ve shown me was that she could survive” Zeno’s brows furrowed in frustration and annoyance.

“That’s because I haven’t introduced the mutagenic strain. Once I inject her with it, the organism within her will take full control of her nervous system, showing us her true potential.”

With that, Gideon approached beside you and grabbed your arm. He then took out a syringe and pierced your antecubital region (top surface of your elbow joint). 

“Ah!” You screamed in pain as the needle pierced your skin.

“There we go…… easy now” Gideon spoke softly against your ear. Once he took enough blood from you, he pulled out the syringe and flicked the vial with his index finger. 

“With proper analysis, this sample could become either a cure….or the foundation of something far more effective.”

“Y-You won’t get nothing….I promise you that.”

“How could you make that claim when you clearly don’t understand the full scope of the situation” Gideon let out a quiet chuckle. 

“No…I-I..just want to go home….” you cried, every ounce of strength in your body failing you.

Zeno slowly set you down on your two feet, releasing your neck the moment he noticed your compliance. 

“I’d truly like for you to come with me” Gideon carefully grasped your hand and caressed the back of it. 

“Everything that we could accomplish. What’s inside you could change the very course of this city. You are the key y/n” he set your hand gently at your side and then pushed a strand of your hair behind your ear. 

Zeno watched carefully, awaiting to see if you were to finally accept what you were capable of and the lasting impression you would leave. 

“I-” without warning, the same mutated dog from before charged at Zeno, biting his arm as a distraction.

“What?!” Gideon quickly tried to pry the dog off of Zeno.

Seeing the opportunity, you rushed towards the emergency stairs and ran down them as fast as you could, adrenaline pumping through your veins. 

Bursting through the doors, you accidentally bumped into Leon. 

“Y/n!? What happened?” Leon gasped as he took a hold of you. 

“We need to go now!” you exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the exit.

Without question, Leon grabbed a hold of your arm as well and rushed outside the hospital with you. 

“They’re after me, we need to get out of here!” You rushed towards the gates with Leon. 

But just as you both tried to reach for the gates, Zeno appeared in front of you both. 

Leon quickly raised his weapon, making sure that you were behind him to protect you from whoever this was. 

“Mr. Kennedy, I wonder if anyone has taught you not to meddle in affairs that do not concern you.”

“Why do you want y/n? She isn't of importance to you or whatever this Doctor Gideon is claiming.” 

“On the contrary Leon, she is every bit important to my research” Doctor Gideon's voice echoed behind him.

You shakily grabbed Leon's jacket, trembling in fear for what was about to happen. “Leon please…don't let them take me…”.

“It's alright y/n, I won't let them” Leon promised as he tried to side step to the right to get a clear view of the two. 

“How can you be so sure Mr. Kennedy? She has already been taken by Victor once, what makes you think that she won't be taken again?” Zeno casually approached the both of you. 

“There's nowhere to run y/n, come with me…and I promise no harm will come to Leon” Gideon hummed pleasantly as he also approached. 

“What do we do?” You worriedly asked Leon who was searching for a way out of this dicey situation. 

[Which Ending will you choose?]

"Come with me~"

Without warning, Zeno zipped past you and took a hold of Leon. 

A soft gasp escaped your lips as you saw Zeno grab Leon and press a gun to his head. 

“No! Let him go!” You shouted, trying to think of everything you could do to save him. 

Gideon then used the distraction to his advantage and took the syringe with the mutagenic strain and injected it into your neck.

“No!” Leon shouts as he struggles against Zeno’s grasp.

You stood there in shock, grasping the syringe that was plunged deep into your neck, pulling it out and tossing it on the ground.

Gideon let out a quiet chuckle as he watched and awaited your transformation.

“L-Leon” you gasped as your bones began to crack, break, and rearrange within your body. 

“Ah!” You screamed in immense pain as your knees succumbed to it, your hands catching your fall. 

Leon could only watch in horror as your body twisted and contorted into something inhuman. 

Then within the second, you turned your gaze towards him, mouth and teeth sharpened to a point, your spinal cord completely ripped through your back and a tail seemed to have grown from your tail bone.