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The City That Always Rains (A Leon Kennedy x Reader Series) Chapter 9
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Tag List: @meowieees @butdaddy-i-lovehim
CW: Human Experimentation, No beta reader, Game level violence and language, body horror, mistreatment of children, awful "father figure", Reader has an AWFUL life, eventual smut?, canon divergence, Re2og and Re2Remake canon squished together, body horror, weight discussion/thoughts
WC: 3081
Summary: You, Ada, and Leon stumble into a gun shop
A/N: Hey guys! This is a shorter chapter. It felt right to end it where I did. Thanks for your support <3
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
Ada held the device up to her ear as she crouched under the gate, walking out of the parking garage. You and Leon followed her, a few steps behind.
"It's been a long time since I've seen the city," You commented.
"I wish it looked better," Leon replied. The three of you got to the top of the entrance to the parking garage, the slope of asphalt finally stopping in the main street.
Your eyes looked around the wreckage, buildings on fire, abandoned cards, rubble, and construction everywhere. The rain fell slightly, like it did before, the wind sending a chill into your bones that you couldn't feel earlier. Leon noticed this, and squeezed your hand tighter.
The two of you, and Ada, approached a giant sinkhole in the middle of the street. One that cut through the earth and tore through the sewers. As you approached the sinkhole, you had a feeling of dread, like something evil lurked underground. It gave you the same feeling as when you were in the NEST.
Leon noticed your apprehension and squeezed your hand once more. "Hey, the hard part is done. We're with FBI now, you'll be safe soon," He said softly. As if remembering everything he learned in the past twenty minutes, his eyes fixed on Ada in front of the two of you. "Is that the intel you needed?" He asked.
"Unfortunately no, Ben didn't come through," Ada said, walking past an ambulance. There was a stretcher on the road beside it, the sight of it making you dizzy and nauseous. How many times had you been wheeled around on something similar?
"Well, what exactly were you looking for?" Leon asked. Around you, the sound of rain falling hit your eardrums. The soft shhhs filled the cold air.
Ada put the recording device down. "More info on the people responsible for this mess," She replied. Your heart panged as you realized that you could contribute to whatever information Ada needed. You knew it was Birkin, a lead scientist in the NEST. The same one David complained about to no end. You knew what festered under the rubble of Raccoon City.
You didn't know everything, but you knew something.
Leon looked at you, nodding his head towards Ada, as if telling you to speak. His hand closed around yours, gently, comforting you. You opened your mouth to say something, but the words got lost in your throat. Sure, telling Leon about everything was fine; you got to know him over the past few hours and he proved he could be trusted.
For some reason, you didn't trust Ada, but Leon did. In your mind, that was enough. As you willed yourself to say something, Ada cut you off.
"What about you?" She asked, turning towards you and Leon. "Trying to save the world?" She asked. Her sunglasses stared at Leon, just another layer to this woman who was a mystery.
The question was obviously pointed at Leon. Her eyes usually glossed over you, whether out of convenience or distrust you weren't certain. At the very least, you should be thankful to her, she saved you and Leon's life multiple times by now. She killed that thing… the Tyrant. As mysterious as she was, maybe she was just doing her job.
Leon gave a simple answer, "I told Lieutenant Branagh I'd bring help," He replied. It would've been heart warming to you, had Marvin not turned. Leon was working under the promise of a man who lost himself, his blood splattered on the checkered tiles of the police department lobby. Just as you were stuck living as what people wanted you to be, Leon was stuck with promises to the dead. Both of you, dragged down by allegiances. You, an allegiance to your past self forged under fluorescent lights and in a cell; Leon, to people and ideals that didn't exist anymore.
"Good luck getting that…" Ada said, a slight scoff in her voice.
"Wait," You said, speaking to the mysterious woman for the first time. At your voice, she turned around. You had her undivided attention. "What do you know about all of this?" You asked.
She took a second to answer your question. "I know Umbrella Pharmaceuticals was developing biochemical warfare to sell to the highest bidder," She answered.
So that's what all this was about? Money? You watched people, mostly children die because of… greed? It shouldn't have surprised you, but it still hurt knowing every body you saw was fodder for nothing more than money. How much did each body cost? What were they valued at? What were you valued at?
Ada must've read the look on your face. "What do you know?" She asked. Her tone with you was different than her tone with Leon had been. With Leon, she seemed frustrated that he was there, like he made her job more complicated. With you, she was level- not prodding.
Leon looked at you, a silent reassurance that he was there for you. His promise to you was still standing, he'd get you out of here no matter what happened.
"I was… living in the NEST," You replied. Behind her big sunglasses, you could see her raise an eyebrow. Her head leaned to you more. She was intrigued. "I was part of a program where they experimented on children. Not the one for the virus, but I saw the bodies."
"Do you know how to get to the NEST from here?" Ada asked.
You shook your head in reply. "I wasn't brought outside. All I knew was the floor they had me on, I probably wouldn't even know if we were in the NEST."
Ada looked away for a second, then turned back to you. "Do you know who's responsible for the G?" She asked.
"I only know a single name- Birkin,"
"Birkin? Annettte or William?" Ada asked. You tried to think, earlier you had that memory shrouded in darkness. Birkin was there, it was a man's voice, but you couldn't put a face to the name if you ever tried.
"I'm not sure," You replied. Ada huffed a sigh. You couldn't blame her, after you mentioned living in the NEST, she probably thought she had concrete answers only to just have more questions. "Sorry," You said.
"Don't apologize. I'll find what I need, eventually," She said.
The three of you stopped outside a shop, the windows had iron bars on them, the doors were closed. Looking up, you saw a neon sign, red and cyan. The cyan was the outline of a pistol, the red read: GUN SHOP KENDO. There was no where else to go on the street, the sinkhole cut you off from going anywhere else. Maybe, there was a way out through the shop.
As if thinking the same thing, Ada spoke up. "Road's out, looks like going through that gun shop is the only way," She said, looking over the side of the sinkhole. She walked over to the double doors and crouched down, picking the lock.
"You okay?" Leon asked you, his eyes still on Ada picking the lock.
"Yea, why?" You asked.
"Well, when you told me, you kind of broke down,"
"You were the first person I ever told,"
"Does it get easier?" He asked. His eyes met yours, concern flooding them.
"Yeah…. and I have no reason to not trust her. She saved our lives multiple times," You replied, quietly so Ada couldn't hear you.
As you said that, Ada stood up and opened the doors to the gun store. "What a mess," She scoffed, walking in.
Entering the store, you could see why she said that- it was like the place was ransacked. Shelves and tables strewn about, papers all over the floor, trash bags everywhere. People had definitely been in here, taking supplies. Your eyes were drawn to the printed targets on the wall, outlines of people with targets on them. As you looked around, something caught Leon's attention, making him go towards a shelf.
"So, do I have to worry about you turning?" Ada asked, picking up a box of ammo and reloading her gun.
"No. I wasn't given G," You replied. "They put something else in me,"
"Doesn't mean you won't turn," Ada replied, staring at you. You couldn't blame her for being cautious. After a few hours of seeing zombies and monsters, you were just as cautious.
Your eyes went over to Leon as he found an attachment for his shotgun and started to put it on the barrel. You remembered how pale the bodies looked in the morgue of the NEST, you saw the horror of the policemen and civilians tonight. You knew you didn't have G in you because Birkin would've worked with David. Years of living in the NEST made you all too aware of how their job structures worked.
But, on the off-chance…. if what you had in you did more than make you have episodes… "Look, if it comes down to it and I do have something in me…. make sure I don't turn," You said to Ada quietly. You saw how Leon reacted to Marvin turning, you saw the haunted look on his face every time he faced a zombie. You couldn't do that to him.
You turned to Ada, making sure she understood what you meant. "Leon…. I don't think he could shoot me," You said, hushed.
Ada nodded. "I'll make sure it's quick and painless," She replied. You weren't the best at reading people, but you could see respect from a mile away. Ada was in the same boat as you and Leon, trying to find a way out. While she had a completely different job than the two of you, you didn't doubt that she wanted to get out of the city alive too. You exchanged a nod, thanking her silently. Suddenly, a stranger's voice caught you and Ada's attention near the back of the store.
"I said, DON'T MOVE," A voice you didn't recognize yelled assertively, you guessed at Leon who was out of your line of sight now.
"Saving his ass three times now. You're lucky I'm with you," Ada said to you quietly and moved towards the back of the store, you in tow. You drew your pistol as Ada did.
"I'm just passing through, I'm gonna ask you to lower that weapon," Leon said. He had his hands up slightly, showing he was unarmed. His voice was low and soft, unlike the man in front of him. The man had a yellow plaid shirt on, and more importantly was holding a shotgun aimed at Leon's head, too close for comfort.
"Like hell you are!" The man replied lowly. "You're going to turn around and go right back the way you came in." He said, pointing his gun at the door for gesture.
Ada held you back from entering the conversation, her eyes going to behind the man at a small shadow. The two of you stayed in the shadows, just in case things got worse.
"I think your daughter needs help, sir," Leon said, his eyes going towards the shadow as well. As he said that, the man cocked the shotgun, causing Leon to flinch. As soon as the mechanical click sounded, you and Ada emerged from the shadows, guns drawn.
"Don't tell me how to deal with my daughter," He replied.
"Drop it," Ada replied.
As you stepped closer, you could see what caught Ada and Leon's eyes. The man's daughter was standing in the shadows behind him. She was breathing labored, unevenly. Her skin was pale, almost grey, and her eyes were clouded. Just like the bodies you saw in the morgue that day, just like the zombies you had seen all night. She twitched slightly, her breath hitching.
As You and Ada approached, the man pointed his gun between the three of you. Leon pulled his shotgun out, aiming it at the man. "No! Wait!" The man said, putting a hand up and standing between Ada and his daughter.
"Step aside, we need to terminate her before she turns," Ada said. You looked over at Ada, a tension rising in your stomach that was on the verge of making you nauseous. You lowered your pistol, knowing you couldn't shoot the girl.
"'Terminate'? That's my fucking daughter," The man said, sneering at Ada. At his words, Leon lowered his gun and turned to look at the FBI agent next to you.
"Ada… Just let them be," He said, softly.
Leon seemed to have convinced Ada, because she lowered her gun as well.Just as the three of you disarmed yourselves, the little girl shuffled towards you. Barefoot with stringy hair, she looked up at the man before you who still aimed his shotgun between the three of you.
"Emma, sweetheart, I told you to stay put," The man said, slightly looking over his shoulder.
"….Da….ddy?" The little girl said, looking up at her father. At her voice, the man turned around and walked over to her, crouching down to her eye level and putting aside his shotgun.
"Yeah, Emmie, Daddy's here. I'm here, okay?" The man said, pulling his daughter into a hug. Emma's eyes bore into yours in a dead stare, hollow and automatic. The light was gone from her eyes, masked by the grey clouds of cataracts that covered the pupils.
Leon slightly approached them, ignoring you reaching to hold him back. He didn't say anything, he didn't have to.
"Those fuckin' things outside… look what they did to us," The man said, his voice catching in his throat. He looked up at Leon, his eyes reading the front of his vest. "You're a cop. You're supposed to know something- how did this happen?!" His voice raised. "Huh?!" He asked, staring Leon down.
Leon looked over to Ada, as if asking for answers, but Ada was silent, gaze set on the little girl. When Ada didn't say anything, Leon looked back at Emma, unable to tear his eyes from her.
"She was our sweet little angel….." The man said.
"….Mommy…." Emma croaked, her eyes still on you.
"Mommy's sleeping, honey. Okay?" the man said, turning his daughter to look at him, but her eyes were still locked on you. Like she knew you were a product of Umbrella, like she could smell it on you. A shiver ran down your spine and you took a step back, uncomfortable with her and the overwhelming sense of emotions that sprung up. You felt your body start to eject your consciousness, but you bit the inside of your cheek.
If anytime was bad, this would be the worst time to have an episode.
The man's next words shocked you to your core. "And I'm gonna put you to bed too, okay?" He asked, desperate for his daughter to look at him. "Emma…." He trailed off, a soft sob caught in his throat. He steeled himself and got up, picking his daughter up as he did. He walked through a door, leading to an alleyway and opened another door, leading to a different building.
He turned to look at you three, his face scrunched up. "Just go! Just.. give us some privacy!" he said through tears. With a creak, he closed the door with the barrel of his shotgun.
A breath escaped you that you didn't know you were holding. The cold air hitting your lungs as you inhaled for the first time in what felt like forever. Emma looked to be as old as you were when you got kidnapped.
Why? Why was it always you that was alive despite everything? So many people, children, died when you were in the NEST. All of them maybe injected once or twice with something. By all accounts, you should be dead. You were injected with whatever David gave you weekly. When you showed up, no other experiment like you had lived. So why was it always you?
Leon's voice snapped you back from your spiral. It had taken on an edge you hadn't heard before. "You know, it's one thing to keep the truth from me…. but why him?!" Leon asked, looking at Ada, and pointing towards the door.
At the sound of a shotgun firing, all three of you stared at the closed door before you. A few seconds of silence stood between you, being broken by Leon again. "I want to find out what's happening here. And stop who's behind it," He said, his voice determined as iron. "Helping people like them… that's why I joined the force!" He added.
Ada walked a few steps forward, getting face to face with Leon. "My mission is to take down Umbrella's entire operation. We may not make it out," She replied cooly, but with conviction.
Leon looked back at you, then the door the man had disappeared behind. His eyes then met Ada again, as if he counted how many lives in front of him that Umbrella had screwed up. Tallying up the crimes of the pharmaceutical company. "Whatever it takes to save this city… count me in," He said, the determination and courage you had grown familiar with lacing his voice.
Ada nodded, as if pleased with his answer. Then, the two of them looked towards you.
"Joan?" Leon asked, waiting for your response.
Memories flooded you of the countless children you saw in the morgue, the scientists that handled you one day and were taken out the next. Memories of David and his psychopathic way of studying you, developing you into whatever he was trying to accomplish. The hundreds of charts, diagrams, degrading language down to erasing your name flashed before you. You didn't even know who you were anymore thanks to Umbrella. All you knew was you were made into something to be used, not a human to live life.
A new fire filled your sensed- righteous anger for the first time that you could remember. How many kids, people, and identities had to die for profit? Instead of trying to escape, you made it your personal mission to avenge those who came before you, if not yourself. Just like Leon, you were carving an allegiance to ghosts. Looking between Ada and Leon, you nodded.
"Whatever it takes to burn Umbrella to the ground."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
The City That Always Rains (A Leon Kennedy x Reader Series) Chapter 8
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Tag List: @meowieees @butdaddy-i-lovehim
CW: Human Experimentation, No beta reader, Game level violence and language, body horror, mistreatment of children, awful "father figure", Reader has an AWFUL life, eventual smut?, canon divergence, Re2og and Re2Remake canon squished together, body horror, weight discussion/thoughts, mc might come off as autistic because author is
WC: 4367
Summary: You and Leon get the last generator part and smell the rain.
A/N: Glazed over mention of suicide. It's written in a way where it could be possible that I condone it- OBVIOUSLY I don't. Stay alive, you are loved <3
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
Thud. Thud.
The sound of the giant man's footsteps was far away, somewhere on the floor above you. Still crouched together, you and Leon looked at the ceiling, watching dust particles fall with every thundering footstep.
Your back was against Leon's chest, your legs were bent, pulled close to your chest. One of Leon's arms were snug against your waist, the other held a wavering pistol at the door; the very same pistol he had given you earlier. Your breathing aligned with each other, as did your heartbeats. Sweat dripped down your forehead as every footstep caused a slight jump in you both.
"We have to move. That thing is after us," Leon said, his voice sounding not very convincing. "We're just sitting ducks if we stay here," He added.
"Clocktower….." You said faintly, trying to will your body to get up. Staying in the corner didn't work in your cell, it certainly wouldn't work here.
"Lee…." A voice came out of your throat that wasn't yours again. A bought of dizziness and confusion swept over you.
"Hey, no, none of that," Leon said, turning you to face him. "Look, I don't know what's going on with you, but stay with me, Joan."
Just as you were about to fade, Leon's voice brought you back. Confusion multiplied within you as the past few seconds were a blur in your mind. That had been happening more lately, hadn't it. You knew you had "episodes", as David called them, where you would lose consciousness and come back to feeling like an intruder in your body.
This time wasn't enough for other side effects you'd had before, but it still left you feeling vulnerable. The hairs on your skin stood straight up, unease sprouted in your gut, crawled through your esophagus, and penetrated your mind.
"What… what happened..?" You asked, drowsy. Leon's face was a few inches away from yours, concern apparent. Your body felt heavier, leaning against him, rather than just being backed against him.
"You keep having these moments where you… you almost fade out," Leon said. "Like before… you sound exactly like my ex-girlfriend. Her voice, her mannerisms. You even called me 'Lee'," He added, pale like he had seen a ghost.
"I… what?" You asked.
"The first time it happened, I thought it was some screwed up joke, but you couldn't have known about the details. It has to do with whatever Umbrella was doing to you," Leon said, his eyes looking over you to make sure you were okay.
No one had told you what David was ultimately trying to get to with you. No one had said what the end goal was of your experimentation. You had heard whispers, seen glances, read bits of information, but never had anything spoken clearly or directly to you. Leon, whether he knew it or not, was putting the missing piece into the puzzle of who you were and your life. Years of unrelenting questions without answers, crises of asking who you were, suddenly it all made sense.
Leon's ex-girlfriend, Scientist Carden's daughter, David's daughter, all of them were ghosts to you- unknown, yet familiar. Somehow you knew what they looked like, how they spoke, what they thought. These people… you changed into them. That was what David was planning for you- the ability to change into another person, even if you hadn't seen them before.
Were you even yourself? If you could change into anyone, how did you know you were real? How did you know this body was your original one?
"Hey, we have to go. Once we get this guy off our trail, we can have conversations and questions," Leon said, nudging you up. "Clock tower, remember?" He asked.
With a hesitant nod, you got up. "Clock tower," You replied, your voice almost mirroring his.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
"Looks like we can use this in the library. there was a jack there," Leon said, holding up a mechanical piece. "I haven't found a way to get to the third floor, so maybe we can go through there."
The two of you entered the lobby and started to make your way to the statue, up the ramp. This place was starting to turn into a maze, looping and turning repetitive. Every hallway, it felt like you had seen it countless times before.
Boom. Boom.
You could hear the thudding of monstrous footsteps drawing close to you and Leon. The giant man still walking, as if it was predestined that he would reach you.
"Marvin…." Leon said, his voice soft.
Looking over to the couch where the man was before, was a slumped over body. Blood coded the tiles, his uniform, and the couch. What happened here was clear to you, and you didn't blame him. Marvin had the courage to do what most people wouldn't- save his humanity.
You didn't have time to stop and grieve, a towering presence ducked through a doorway, the black fedora and trench coat etched into your mind.
"Leon, come on!" You said, grabbing his hand tightly and running up the stairs. "Library!" You said to him.
Boom. Boom.
The footsteps were louder and faster as the giant sped up, still walking, still threatening. Leon was brought back to reality as the ground shook with each giant step.
"Library!" He answered back, taking the lead and pushing through a door with a colorful spade on it.
If you had time to stay and admire the library, you would've. However, it passed by in blurs of color as your heart matched the thunderous steps catching up to the pair of you.
"Help me!" Leon said, putting a part into a red jack and dropping a bookshelf onto its wheels. With incredible speed, the two of you moved the bookshelves, aligning them as a walkway.
Boom. Boom.
The black trench coat and hat trudged into your field of vision as the giant rounded a bookshelf towards you and Leon.
"Come on!" Leon yelled, pulling you with him towards a ladder. He helped you first, gloved hands grabbing your waist for a boost up.
Your fingers clenched around cold metal prongs and you climbed- fast.
Get up, get up. Come on!
You didn't have time to think, just devoted all your being to climbing, until you got to the second floor of the library.
Wood?
Wood was under your feet as you hoisted yourself up onto the catwalk.
Leon, get Leon!
Crouching down, you held your hand out for Leon, trying not to yelp at the sight of a black fedora directly below him, catching up.
Pull him up!
Once his hand interlocked with yours, you pulled him up with strength you didn't know you had.
Giving yourselves only a split second to recover, you were both up and running across the bookshelves at the speed of light, hoping to put some distance between you and the giant.
RUN.
Running through a door, you were in the lobby, on the third floor. Much like the second floor, the third floor consisted of balconies looking over the lobby. Railings made of marble, benches, and paintings were everywhere.
Boom. Boom.
Drumming filled your ears as the balconies seemed to go on forever. Finally, the two of you reached the end. A door was to your right, one Leon dragged you into without much thought.
The room was dark, the only light coming from the moon shining through a window and Leon's flashlight. Leon pulled you away from the door, your back against the wall that the door swung open on. One of Leon's arms was planted by your sides, his eyes watching the door as his other hand was gripped around the pistol grip in the holster across our body. Your face was level with his chest, the white R.P.D. on his vest peering at you.
Leon's blue eyes looked alert, staring down the door as if daring the giant to make his presence known.
Boom. Boom.
The footsteps got close, then turned around and made their way back towards the library.
"What the hell?" Leon asked under his breath. Your chest rose and fell, breaking the confinements of staying in rhythm with the giant's footsteps. In your life, everything insane that came with it, you had never encountered anything like that before. Sure, you had run away from guards, but you knew you were untouchable to them. You watched David strike a guard across the face before for daring to touch you.
But you didn't matter to this beast. All it cared about was killing you and Leon, just like it did that man in the prison.
"Okay, we're looking for a generator part," Leon said, looking down at you. He noticed a piece of hair had gone out of place from the chase. Without thinking, he brushed the piece out of your face, then his face went slightly red. He straightened up and turned around, looking for the generator part.
The absence of him, where his presence just was confused you. Why did he move away so suddenly? The tenderness of how he moved your hair didn't register with you, but you looked around for the part anyways.
Leon watched you look around for a box, similar to the one from earlier. You looked like everything was normal and fine, despite the chase that just happened, despite you almost loosing consciousness earlier, and despite everything going on with you. You.
In his eyes, you were the stronger between the pair; leagues stronger than Leon was. He got broken up with and went on a bender, you had all this bullshit happen to you and brushed it off. Your body held onto the memories of the sins committed against you, your limbs frail and skinny, your height slightly shorter than it should be. No matter how much you avoided thinking too deeply about it, your body carried the weight.
How could he even begin to take care of you once the two of you survived this? Hell, he didn't even know if you'd want to stay with him. Maybe after this, you'd want to split up and start living a quiet life.
But, if you'd have him, Leon would spend the rest of his life making sure you were safe. AWAY from anything Umbrella.
"Leon," Your voice cut through his wandering thoughts and brought him back to reality. You were staring at a mechanism with a few cogs on it. In the middle was an empty space, like a cog belonged there. Something heavy weighed in Leon's pocket as he fished out the missing piece form one of his hip packs.
With a small thunk! the piece fit in. Mechanics whirled to life as the sound of something unlocking filled the room. Dust settled as part of the ceiling moved, being replaced by a staircase leading up to the second floor of the clock tower.
Your hand glided over the surface of a table next to the cogs, finding a piece of paper- a notice.
Location: Police station west side clock tower
Due to the high cultural value of the bell, I'm calling a specialist in to make the repairs. Will go over the details once they're on the scene, but in the meantime, I'll take steps to secure the bell since the yoke is threatening to break.
"Yoke? Like an egg?" You asked, tilting your head a bit.
Leon was over your shoulder, pointing his flashlight at the notice and reading it too. "Not necessarily. It's the part a bell hangs on… like the wooden part," Leon explained. "If it's about to break…" He trailed off and walked towards a shaft of some sort, extending towards the second floor. The bell was above, and the orange box of a generator part with it, precariously teetering on the edge of a wooden plank.
"If the bell falls, the part does," You said, echoing exactly what Leon was thinking.
"Exactly," Leon said.
The two of you made your way around the room, bookshelves constricting your view. After a few turns, you found the set of stairs that led to the second floor. You climbed up, without fear of finding any unwelcome guests. Ironically, the thumping of thunderous footsteps kept you calm by how far away they were.
On the second floor were more mechanisms. One had a smaller cog that didn't fit at all, it standing out to you. "Hey, the cog from downstairs might fit in here," You said to Leon. His flashlight shined on the cogs and he nodded in agreement.
"I'll go get it, stay here," He replied and turned away, descending the steps.
"Don't have very far to go," You replied, a bit of sass coming out with it. Once you said it, you slightly recoiled. You remembered being sassy- David told you time and time again how he had to "break your spirit". The tone felt normal coming out of your mouth, but you still felt a shred of guilt. Guilt? No, fear? No.
Whatever it was, exhilarated you, in a good and a bad way.
"Here," Leon said, with no mention of your sass. He slid past you to put the larger cog in. Once placed, the two cogs spun together and just like below, a small thunk! sound made it clear that they fit together.
The mechanism was attached to two legs in front of a pane of glass. It was a clock, mirrored to you, but correct facing the outside. What you were in was a "clock tower", but you wouldn't have guessed something this big and beautiful was trapped in here, just like you were.
Leon looked over the smaller cog in his hand and grinned, solving a question in his brain. "This will fit in something downstairs, come on," He said and took your hand, leading you back to the first floor.
He brought you to a mechanism with only one slot for a cog. "I'm no specialist, but I think this goes here," He said to himself and put the cog in.
All around you, things ticked like a clock. Mechanical devices whirred and came to life as everything was put together as it should be. Small lights came on, shining in the room as the clock facing the city started to move. You felt in the floor as the minute hand ticked to XII, and the bell started to clang.
Due to its broken yoke, it was sporadic, clanking in the shaft against the metal bars. The floor rumbled as it got more intense. The sound of wood splitting came from the shaft and Leon pulled you away.
With a final dong! the bell came crashing down, falling into the wood in the floor, splintering it and burying itself. The generator part fell on the floor, rolled a few times, and landed safely away from the rubble.
You picked up the box, opening it to see the generator piece. Finally, one thread stitched up. One step closer to getting out of here.
"Let's head back to the prison and get that key card," Leon said, his fingers intertwining with yours.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
The prison was darker than you remembered it being, its undead prisoners were rowdier than you remembered them being. The cells clanged as metal was hit over and over again by people lost to madness. It was as if they knew you were close to leaving- escaping. As if they knew freedom was on the horizon for you and Leon.
Back at the end of the holding cells, Leon was messing with the power panel. He finally routed it correctly, and the lights overhead flickered on. To your left, the cell that housed the reporter swung open, revealing how horrific of a death he really had.
The wall above where his body was slumped was wrecked through in a messy horizontal line. Bricks, rubble, and blood was everywhere. His head was indented, showing that his brain had been crushed, one of his eyes was out of the socket.
You made a slightly uncomfortable sound, a mix between a groan and a heave. Immediately, Leon turned to you.
"You can wait outside the cell," He said.
"No, I'm fine," You replied, more so wanting to stay by his side.
Leon nodded and reached for a note on the desk in the corner of the cell. The cell was more lavish than the others, it had a desk with a folding chair, a sink, a toilet, and a cot. Your eyes stayed away from the slumped body, solely following Leon.
"Jesus," Leon said after reading it. He handed you the letter to read for yourself.
The station's swarming with monsters. Even here I can hear their cries. But it's not the zombies I'm afraid of.
Codename: Tyrant.
The ultimate bioweapon, developed by those bastards in the utmost secrecy. To think that that thing might be wandering around here…
Chances are they've ordered it to wipe out the witnesses.
"Tyrant," you said the giant's name, now knowing it.
Leon crouched down to the reporter's body, going to grab the parking garage key, when he spotted something. Your eyes looked away, towards the hallway, trying not to lock eyes, or rather eye, with the one danging from his face.
Ben's jacket was hiding a recording device, one Leon spotted as soon as he crouched down.
"Huh," He said to himself and grabbed it. The device was a simple one, the same model he'd seen before in the police academy. It had a few buttons: stop, record, play, skip, and it had a speaker along with a microphone. He pressed play and held it up to his ear, bracing for anything.
He heard Ben's voice, the audio picking up from the middle of a conversation.
—"But that doesn't explain the rumors about the orphanage. I-I just find it way too coincidental Umbrella's one of the benefactors."
As soon as the word Umbrella hit his ears, Leon's nose scrunched.
Then, a woman's voice replied:
—"You told me this interview was about the new scholarship Umbrella set up."
—"Come on Annette. Nobody cares about that." Ben said. "They want to know about the G-Virus, and the-"
—"Where did you hear about this?" The woman's voice was harsh, cutting off the reporter, but he kept going.
—"-and that big fucking sinkhole in the city, which, by the way, rumor has it goes straight to your underground lab."
Leon's eyes looked up at the bricks destroyed in the wall, trying to process what was being said. "Lab?" He asked, staring back at Ben's body. Your ears pricked up at that, staring at Leon now, intently. What the hell was in that recording? Did it have anything to do with you?
—"Now, are you going to talk to me or are you-" Ben's voice got cut off by the woman.
—"This interview is over."
—Ben said the last word on the recording: "…Bitch"
Leon pocketed the recorder and looked up at you, who hadn't heard any of it. "Hey Joan, you know anything about a woman named Annette?" He asked, standing up.
The name was briefly familiar, but not too much, not enough for you to have confidence in who she was. So, you shook your head no in reply.
"Well, Ben thought that Umbrella was behind all of this. He called it 'G-Virus'." Leon said.
G-Virus…. that name sent a shiver down your spine- you knew that name. It was the name of whatever Birkin was working on, the subject of David's complaining most of the time. Which meant, you knew more about this than you should've.
"Leon-" You started to say, but the sound of cells opening tore your attention away from the conversation.
"We can talk later," Leon said, taking the parking permit from around Ben's neck and pocketing it.
You took the pistol out of the holster and held it like Leon showed you. Stepping out of Ben's cell, you saw that all of the cells were open.
Leon took his shotgun out and took point, leading you through the chaos that was multiple infected prisoners trying to get to you. He reached the closed off door at the end of the hallway and opened it, to no avail. The big red light on top of it mocked it.
"Here!" You said, pulling a lever as a horde of about 5 infected closed in on you. The door opened and Leon opened the door, bringing you with him.
You both rounded a corner and realized your mistake. Amidst the chaos, you couldn't hear the gigantic steps approaching. Until, the tyrant was walking towards you, stalking down the hallway. You couldn't go back, the zombies were piling through the door. So, you had to go forward, towards the tyrant.
"Gimme a break!" Leon said, exasperated.
"Block your eyes and ears!" Leon called out, ripping a pin out of something. You did as you were told and heard a small explosion. The ground rumbled as something went off, the light being able to be seen behind closed eyes.
You didn't get a second to recover before Leon's hand was in yours, pulling you down the hallway. You opened your eyes to see you running past the tyrant who was on one knee, suffering from the flash.
As you ran down the hallway, two zombies came out of a hallway to your right. Leon shotgunned both of them, letting go of your hand to do so. Once they hit the floor, heads clean off, he took your hand again, sprinting towards the parking garage.
Once you entered the parking garage, Leon handed you the key card and pushed you forward, putting more distance between you and whatever chaos was following behind you two. The wall burst open, the tyrant standing menacingly to the side of Leon, causing him to stop running.
He tried to shoot his shotgun, but the tyrant was too fast, using its gloved hand to grab Leon by the throat. Leon was lifted into the air, his legs going stiff, then failing, while you tried to get the thing to drop him. You shot it in the head a few times, which caught its attention. Then, its other hand shot out and threw you into a pillar, knocking the wind out of you.
"J-Joan!" Leon gasped, trying to get out of the tyrant's clutch.
Suddenly, the lights of a van turned on. A van reading SWAT started barreling towards Leon and the tyrant. Leon was dropped to the ground as the van hit the tyrant, pummeling it into the wall of the parking garage.
On the ground, Leon was trying to catch his breath as the rubble cleared. His hand went to his neck, as if checking it was still there. Once his breath evened, his head shot over towards where you were, against a pillar.
Your head lolled up, looking at him, as you weakly gave him a thumbs up. He sighed in relief, then turned to the van as a woman in a tan trench coat exited the driver's seat.
Click. Clack.
Ada.
"This is getting old," She said, walking past Leon. "Saving your ass- that's twice," She added, pointing at him as she walked.
Leon got up on his feet and scoffed. "I didn't realize you were keeping score," He said, walking towards you.
"Look, this isn't a game!" Ada replied.
Leon approached you, his eyes asking the question: You okay? You nodded in reply and draped an arm around his shoulders, letting him pick you up and support you.
As he did, the van's tires started squealing as it moved back. "You gotta be kidding me," Leon growled, grabbing your pistol and aiming it at the truck. A giant gloved hand gripped the edge of the van, pushing it.
"Nothing dies down here," Ada groaned. You and Leon watched as the van kept moving, the tyrant pushing it off of itself. Then, it was engulfed in flames, exploding enough to make the tyrant go limp, but not enough to wreck the garage… or you, Leon, and Ada.
"I take it you have the key card?" Ada asked. Leon's gaze moved towards her and he nodded.
"Yeah, and this," He replied, taking the recording device out of his hip pouch, trying not to move you too much in the process. "I was hoping you could explain what's on it," He added, tossing the device to her.
Ada caught it in her gloved hand, looking it over. "Maybe… After I hear it," She replied, her sunglasses staring directly at Leon. "Let's get out of here."
She turned towards the gate leading outside and headed towards it.
Click. Clack.
"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Leon asked you, turning to see your face. You already looked less pale than when he had picked you up off the ground.
"You forget, I heal fast," You said quietly, not wanting to spill all your secrets to Ada. "I can walk," You added and removed your arm from his shoulder, stretching it ever so slightly.
He nodded, his lips pursed as if he didn't fully buy it, but he moved forward anyways. He put the parking pass in the machine, watching as a green light appeared and the gate started to rise.
Your heart beat faster, tasting the freedom on the other side of the metal. Without hesitation, you stood beside Leon, reaching for his hand. The motion was met, almost automatically, and he laced your fingers together.
You were finally clear of the police station, the smell of the rain and wind palpable. For once, you could smell something pleasant, natural; and you remembered how much you loved the smell of the rain.
Because this fic is my first time really writing horror (survival horror), I'd like to ask some more experienced writers their opinion.
(I'm writing chase scenes) Do you find shorter, choppier, paragraphs invoke high energy dread and horror, or are longer paragraphs better because it makes it feel like shorter breaths?
I've played around with both, and I can't decide.
Which invoke more dread and fear in a chase scene?
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The City That Always Rains (A Leon Kennedy x Reader Series) Chapter 7
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Tag List: @meowieees @butdaddy-i-lovehim
CW: Human Experimentation, No beta reader, Game level violence and language, body horror, mistreatment of children, awful "father figure", Reader has an AWFUL life, eventual smut?, canon divergence, Re2og and Re2Remake canon squished together, body horror, weight discussion/thoughts, mc might come off as autistic because author is
WC: 4067
Summary: Going back to the Police Department while the truth simmers.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
Everything came out like word vomit when you started to confide in Leon. Everything from being kidnapped to the helicopter crashing into the police department. The walls added to the feeling of spiraling- the dingy walls echoing your words. As you talked, our heart beat faster and faster, feeling like it might rip out of your chest (which, for all you knew wasn't impossible). You finished with a shaky breath- setting in stone your reality and what Leon walked into.
Your very being that was so wound tight, feeling like it was going into overdrive, finally felt light. What you expected to be a remaining feeling of dread, was a remaining feeling of nothingness. Not the bad kind of nothingness like overlooking an abyss, but a good kind like finally coming out of an abyss. Light, airy, slight tingling. Your heart and brain were both silent, both being on the same page for once.
Was this what freedom felt like?
Your eyes met Leon's for the first time since you started. Part of you, the part that was still living in the cell, expected him to be disgusted with you; that part expected him to leave or turn you into Umbrella. But, there was a part of you that had been growing since you walked out of the flames of the helicopter. That part of you gave Leon more credit and was willing to risk your safety.
Was this your humanity?
Your eyes dropped down to the floor, trying to sit with the silence between the two of you. First, the light airy feeling spread throughout your body, then the reality hit you and so came the nausea and the tears. Heat welled up in your eyes, spilling over and rolling down your cheek slowly.
You didn't notice Leon making his way to you before you were enveloped in an embrace. Heat spread through you at the touch, the fabric of his uniform feeling softer than you thought it would. He placed his hand on top of your head, slightly stroking your hair. "Is- is this okay?" He asked.
You nodded and buried your face into the bullet proof vest he was wearing, shaking with sobs as everything came out. It wasn't violent, it was a quiet sort of release of pent up emotions- decades worth of sorrow and pain. Tears muffled into kevlar, sniffles and sobs faded into the concrete floor beneath your feet. The halls seemed to take in your sorrow, your history, just as you were releasing it.
To find out that a pharmaceutical company was so evil as to experiment on children was something that could make Leon throw up. He applied to Raccoon City because the murders and disappearances in the Arklay Mountains piqued his interest; he was trusted to join the R.P.D. because of his excellence in the academy. Knowing that a company had their claws in this city enough to be able to kidnap children made his skin crawl. Maybe Leon dodged a bullet by not actually working here- the police had to be, at the very least, negligent if no one looked into it.
The police, you mentioned that. "At the shopping center, I told a police officer that a man I didn't know was following me and he brushed it off," Your words made him taste iron in his mouth. If it had been him you ran into, he would've made sure you were safe. Then again, would he have? Would he had survived here long enough to keep his integrity? Or would he have been taken care of, one way or another?
Everything you told him made sense, despite the pedestal he put the police department on. Leon joined the force to protect people, to help and serve the city he was assigned to; he knew others joined out of selfish ambition or a need for power, but it had never been so blatant before. He remembered the journalist locked in a cell not too far from where the two of you stood now. He remembered Ben's words to him:
"Unless of course, Irons sent you."
"He's the Bastard that locked me in here."
"I was about to blow the whistle on his dirty ass."
Leon stared at the wall ahead of him, trying to breathe evenly as your sobs died down. The collar, your ankle healing itself, your weight, the way you eerily sounded like his ex-girlfriend Jessica, even calling him Lee. It all made sense. Leon could call it karma, or divine judgment, but maybe this city turning to hell was retribution for how evil it was.
He felt you shift in his arms and he looked down, at your (h/c) head. "You okay?" He finally asked, eyes holding a sort of weariness that came from knowing more than he was supposed to.
You looked up at him, eyes red, holding that same weariness. He didn't see you as a woman tragically ill who was swept into all of this, he now saw you as a woman who was failed by the police, taken advantage of by the system that was supposed to protect you. He saw you as you, lab experiments, kidnapping, and all.
Leon cupped your face, being able to feel how soft your skin was through his fingerless gloves. Despite the small plates of armor on the knuckles making it hard to bend his fingers fully, he wiped your tears away with his thumb.
After, a small swallow, you finally answered his question. "No, but we'll get out of this," You replied. He didn't miss how your tired eyes still read him, like you were trying to asses if you were still safe.
"I made a promise to you, and I made a promise to this city when I enlisted in the force. I'll get you out of here," He added.
With another shaky breath, you nodded and embraced him again, taking in the warmth while there was enough stillness and peace to.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
"You're giving this to me?" You asked, looking down at the gun Leon was handing to you. The two of you had managed to get back into the police station via a door opening up in the basement. It was a different part of the station you hadn't been in before, the stairs up lead to a landing with a hallway and a room. Leon brought you into a room with lockers, a wooden table, folding chairs, and a radio. Once Leon flipped on the switch to the light, you could see the room more clearly- it was a break room of some sort. There was a dart board, dark green wallpaper, and another room attached through an open doorway. In the next room was a sink, bunks, bags, and another radio.
Leon had led you to a bunk and insisted you sit down after everything that happened. Now, he was holding the gun out to you. The same one you saw him shoot multiple zombies with.
"No," The word came quickly. "You need it."
Leon smiled softly at your protest and shook his head. "I have a shotgun on my back. I just found some shells for it, and I know where I'm going. I'll be okay," He replied, taking the shotgun off his back.
"I can't shoot,"
"Here," Leon said, gesturing for you to stand up. "I saw a zombie in the hall," He added. His hand went to your elbow, leading you back into the landing, positioning the two of you to look down the hallway. There was a zombie there, one in normal clothes. It hadn't noticed the two of you yet, which was perfect for a teaching moment.
"Here, stand like this," Leon said, showing you proper standing form. Both feet shoulder width apart, slightly bent, leaned forward. "You want to be ready to move at all times," He added and got closer to you. "Can I…." He trailed off, looking like he wanted to get closer.
As soon as you nodded, he stood behind you, close enough that you could feel the heat between your bodies. "Put your arms up, fully extend them but don't lock them," He said, looking over your shoulder. He got closer to you, placing the gun in your hands, the metal cold, the body heavy. His arms came up as supports, ghosting yours and suddenly crowding your space. You were now fully enveloped by Leon.
Your posture changed slightly, earning you a comment. "Don't lean into me, keep leaning forward. You'll be ready for the small recoil," He said lowly, staring at the zombie ahead. "Take a breath in and a breath out. Then do it again. On the last breath out, shoot."
You did as he said, trying to ignore how you could smell him around you. Not the sweat, rain, or gunpowder, but him.
One shot, straight to the head. The zombie collapsed on the floor, shifting ever so slightly. The trigger was harder to press than you thought, it needing a bit of effort to pull.
"This time shoot until it's dead," Leon instructed and you did, aiming at the zombie on the floor. It took four bullets for the thing to sputter blood and collapse.
"Good job Jo-" Leon started celebratory, then stopped short, staring at you. You could see the thought trail on his face: was Joan even your real name?
"I made the name up," You admitted. "I didn't want to be called Subject 13."
His eyes glanced down at the collar on your neck, hidden mostly by the police uniform that was too loose on you. He wanted to rip the damn thing off of you, and make sure the person who put you in it never got close to you again. "What's your real name?" He asked, swallowing the anger.
"I don't remember."
His eyes shot up to yours and his eyebrows knit together. Maybe he was right to be angry at the world. "I'll call you whatever you want," He replied.
"Maybe, until I remember my real name, Joan works," You said and shrugged. He nodded.
"I'm not calling you Subject 13," He added, agreeing that Joan would work for now.
You looked at the gun, turning it over and looking for something not there. Like a switch or something?
"It doesn't have a manual safety," Leon said. "Most civilian guns will, even this make does, but this specific model is a military grade. The safety is in how hard it is to pull the trigger," He explained. You nodded and pointed it at the floor, earning a nod and small smile from him.
"I found a key for a car, with a note talking about some trunk. I'll go check it out in the parking garage while you wait here," He said, nodding to the break room.
"Okay," You nodded. After making your way to the break room, you sat in one of the folding chairs, staring at the dark green wallpaper. Despite what you thought would happen, you felt relieved about telling someone else your story. Years of conditioning you made you assume that whoever you told would think you were crazy or turn you in. David made sure that you felt like stolen property should you ever escape. But a handful of hours with this man named Leon and it unraveled everything.
Leon wasn't that special, not by your standards. He was a normal person, someone who should've lived a "white picket fence" life. He should've been married late into his twenties after years working a job. He should've had a house with a pet and maybe a kid or two. But now, all he had was you and whatever scars would mar his brain from Raccoon City.
Maybe having you wasn't so bad.
This thought string pulled along your imagination. What was memories filled with pain, experiments, and evil, was being rewritten. Hope for some sort of life filled you; maybe staying friends, maybe going to bookstores or getting coffee together.
Maybe even just living a life outside of a cell together.
The idea filled your heart with warmth. You had thought about these things tonight already, but this time you didn't consider yourself selfish for wanting that kind of life- slow, peaceful.
Leon may not have been "special", but he was the catalyst for making you feel human.
"It's me," Leon said, the door to the break room opening slowly. You were shaken from your thoughts as he walked over to the table and sat down. He looked more tired than when he went down, new splatters of blood were on the uniform he wore, but, you didn't mention it.
"Hand me the gun I gave you, I found a part for it," He said, holding his hand out. Gently, you set the gun in his hand, where it looked more natural. Leon took something out of his hip pouch, it looked strange; something you had never seen before.
"It's a stock," Leon explained, attaching it to the back of the gun. "It'll make it easier for you to aim, and you can use your shoulder instead of your wrist," He added. His eyes went to your slim wrist as he said it.
After he finished attaching it, he handed it back to you. "Test it out," Leon said, gesturing to the dart board on the wall. It was a remnant of a time before, darts still stuck in it; just like this whole police station- frozen in time.
You stood up and cradled it against the stock against your shoulder. Leon stood up with you, adjusting your stance and how you held it to accommodate for the new stock. After Leon set you up, he backed up and nodded, giving you a signal to fire.
Your finger pulled the weighted trigger three times, watching the bullets hit the target. "Nice! It's a good thing your aim is decent," Leon said with a smile, holding up his hand. You high-fived him, holding the gun towards the ground. "We should keep going," He added, his eyes revealing how he was slightly upset at the idea of leaving this space.
"We should," You agreed. "Where do I put the gun?" You asked, looking on you as if a holster would magically appear. As if suddenly remembering something, Leon nodded.
"Here, have this, it won't fit in a regular holster and I'd rather you have the gun, just in case we're separated," Leon replied, handing you a bigger holster than the one on his hip. "It goes across your body, can I help you?" He asked.
Without hesitation, you nodded and stood still. Leon got to work, attaching the holster to your right shoulder, then below your left armpit. "Feel snug?" He asked, putting the pistol in the holster. You nodded, earning another smiled from him.
The two of you stood there, Leon's fingers around part of the holster, you locking eyes with him. Being this close, you could see the small freckles and beauty marks he had on his face. One right next to his mouth stood out to you. For some reason, you imagined what it would be like to ki-
No. No time for that now. Besides, you had just confided in this man about being a lab experiment. He might have weird feelings about it.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
The two of you stepped out into the cold, rainy, outdoors. Not really outside, but an outside section of the police department. The wind hit your face and the rain went to your bones, but a small smile appeared on your face.
When was the last time you felt the rain, or even smelled it? You smiled more, holding your hands out as rain droplets fell. A shiver went through you as the conditions bit, but you couldn't complain. Memories of dancing in the rain, stomping in rain puddles, and running for cover filled your memory. The smell brought back a past you thought was long gone.
Little did you know, Leon was looking at you, the same soft smile reflected on his face. He knew what you told him and he was a smart man, so he could put two and two together. Instead of rushing you, he let you be in this space, he let you take the time you needed. Once your joy turned into a realization at how cold it was, he led the two of you towards a ladder.
"I'll go first," Leon said, looking over the edge towards where the ladder would go. The space was quiet, besides the rain and the far off roar of a fire. He climbed down the ladder, getting halfway before it came apart.
"Leon!" Your voice yelled as you watched the ladder crane in on itself and rip from the wall. Leon hit the ground first, giving a disgruntled groan as he sat up. The ladder hit the ground beside him, echoing through the quiet night.
"Damnit!" You heard him curse slightly as he gt up and looked at where the ladder once was. Leon looked up at you, trying to asses how you were going to get down, when you sat on the ledge. "Hey, wait-"
He was cut off by you plummeting down the 10 foot drop, hitting the ground as if it was nothing. As you stood up, he sighed in relief. "Experiment," You reminded him.
"Right," He replied, a look of concern still on his face.
You were about to say something, but the light of a fire drew your attention away from Leon. Rounding a corner, you saw it- the helicopter David was transporting you in. It was engulfed in flames still, the nose visible to you only. David was in there, the man that turned your life into a living hell; he was burning, and here you stood.
"Hey, you okay?" Leon asked, walking up beside you.
"Yeah, it's just… the scientist I told you about is in that helicopter," You said. You didn't have to look at him to feel him tense beside you.
"Good riddance," His nose crinkled as he said it. "You okay if we have to walk past it?" He asked, turning towards you. Your face was illuminated by the glow of the fire, a look on your face that was unreadable- something Leon had come to expect by now.
"Yeah. Honestly, I want to see him, to know that he burned," You replied. Looking to the side, you saw a lever, unlabeled. You pulled the lever, causing water to flow down from drainage pipes onto the floor around you.
"We can find a way to redirect it," Leon said, filling in the blanks for you. "The drainage pipe goes both ways. If we put out the fire, we might be able to get through the rubble."
With a nod from you, you and Leon descended steps to a lower level. Ground floor. Shrubs lined a fence, the first real greenery that you had seen in a long time. You ran your finger along the bushes while Leon approached a door. It sounded like someone was trying to break the door down, which Leon learned quickly as the door did burst open.
Two zombies walked towards Leon as he brandished his shotgun. With two pumps, he killed them both, blood draining from what used to be their head. He went into the room, while you fiddled with the bushes. About a minute later, he came back out, grinning. "Found another key," He announced to you, showing off the key with a club on the end of it.
"Another?" You asked, fatigue hitting you like a truck.
"One step closer, right?" He asked and pocketed the key. "You set to move on?"
Looking at the bush, you hesitantly nodded.
"Hey, wherever we end up after this will have way more plants. I'll buy you a plant," He said, watching you look at the unimpressive greenery.
Wherever we end up.
"Okay," You said, turning towards him. "Would the lever for the water look like that?" You asked, pointing behind him. Leon turned around to see a cranked with a big "L" and "R" on it. Following the trail of the pipes, he could tell it went up to the drainage pipes.
"That's it," He confirmed and walked up to it. "You wanna pull it?"
You nodded and approached the lever, pulling it from "R" to "L". The lever was harder to pull than you thought, weeks of neglect and rust falling off as you yanked. With a metallic creak, the water was switched.
"Let's go," Leon said, holding his hand out to you. You took it, intertwining your fingers together, and followed him up the stairs- back to the helicopter. With haste, Leon pulled the lever to the water, watching as the water doused the flames. Your eyes tried to adjust to the, now, dark in the absence of fire. Whether it was your eyes playing tricks on you, or reality, you could make out a shape of a burned corpse in the driver's seat.
Relief flooded you as David's death was confirmed, but you had no time to celebrate as you and Leon had to keep moving. When you survived this hellhole, maybe you'd buy a cake.
Leon led you through a door, the hallway echoing the many hallways you had been in before here- long, winding, dark, and dingy. The two of you rounded a corner when you saw the body of the helicopter, no longer on fire.
"Hey, we can fit under the tail-" Leon was cut off by the sound of rubble falling. The helicopter was lifted up into the air, a very tall man(?) stood underneath it, dressed in all black. He sported a black trench coat, black boots, and a black hat. The helicopter tail bent, screeching as it was lifted and pushed to the side. Leon fired a shell into the man's face, which didn't even phase him.
"Jesus Christ!" Leon yelped, grabbing your wrist and running full speed away from whatever that was. You passed by a sign on your way back to where you came from, it read "CLEANING IN PROCESS", something that would've been ironic if you weren't face to face with your potential death.
As you and Leon ran, heavy footsteps that echoes and shook the ground followed you, the man walking like he knew he would catch you.
Bursting out into the cold rain again, Leon and you ran. "Do you trust me?" He asked.
How could you not trust Leon? You had told him about how you were kidnapped and experimented on, you followed him this far without question. So, it didn't surprise you when our answer came, fast. "Yes," You said, ignoring how your heartbeat matched up with the heavy footsteps behind you.
Leon waited for the man to come out of the hallway, having to bend down to get through the door. He stood upright, rolled his shoulders back, and advanced on you and Leon again. The two of you ran, looping around the man, using his speed to your advantage. You entered the hallway again and sprinted away, hoping to put some distance between you two and your new stalker.
You don't know where you were running, all you could see was Leon in front of you, all you could feel were the footsteps behind you. As you two created distance, you could feel the footsteps getting weaker and weaker. Leon opened a door, one with a club on it, using the new key, and let you go in first.
After he got in, he pulled you to the far end of the room, crouching down beside a table. He held his finger up to his mouth when you went to say something. Then, like clockwork, you could hear the footsteps again, getting louder and louder. Dust fell from the ceiling above you, causing Leon pulled you close.
Like this, you could hear Leon's heartbeat. It matched the footsteps, like your own. The two of you stayed like this until the footsteps faded, getting further away. Your night just turned from trying to survive into a game of cat and mouse.
Hey guys! I'm planning on changing the format of TCTAR. Do you like the new logo, or do you think the old one is better. (Either is fine, I literally can't choose, so I'm leaving it up to you guys)
Hey Guys! as someone who uses dark mode constantly, I didn't realize that the new logo wouldn't work with light mode. I'll adjust the colors and fix it if that wins
Hey guys! I'm planning on changing the format of TCTAR. Do you like the new logo, or do you think the old one is better. (Either is fine, I literally can't choose, so I'm leaving it up to you guys)
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gimp is fucking me. I'm trying to make a really cool banner for TCTAR (with gifs and such) and gimp is freaking the fuck out because there's too many colors on it. If anyone has a free alternative, send it my way. T_T
Please for the love of God dont let Prison Break flop. I researched what type of Ducati Leon rode for like an hour then researched how to turn it on. Please, I now have useless information in my brain
The City That Always Rains (A Leon Kennedy x Reader Series) Chapter 6
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Tag List: @meowieees
CW: Human Experimentation, No beta reader, Game level violence and language, body horror, mistreatment of children, awful "father figure", Reader has an AWFUL life, eventual smut?, canon divergence, Re2og and Re2Remake canon squished together, body horror, weight discussion/thoughts, mc might come off as autistic because author is
WC: 2816
Summary: Getting the first generator part
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
"This officially sucks," Leon said, under his breath, staring at the words printed on the door in front of you two: MORGUE.
As if this didn't suck before. You didn't say the words outright, but thought them anyways.
"Hey, stay by the door, okay?" Leon said to you and went to investigate the room. He drew his pistol, looking for any infected or zombies. After making sure the ones that looked dead were, he started looking around. Watching him scan the place top to bottom made you admire how dedicated to the details he was. Maybe he could find something, like a key or another letter. Anything would help.
You still needed to get the key card for the garage.
Morgues filled you with dread, they always did. At least one natural human reaction was still in you somewhere. But it was more than a nautral human reaction. Memories flooded you of the kids; kids that were failed experiments. Mangled limbs and corpses wheeled off to go to a morgue for examination, then disposed of so no one would know Umbrella's secrets.
The day had been a long one, one that broke you. Tests after tests, muliple different injections being followed by rigorous testing of your vitals. Your little heart, brains, and lungs were charted daily and put on record, kept somewhere in the labrynth of what was the NEST.
There was a new staff in charge of your cell tonight. A woman, twice your size and stature, a feat that wasn't difficult. She had thin glasses, long brown hair, and eyes that told you she was new. Eyes that reflected humanity being broken with the processing of information: what Umbrella did, who they were, and what you were. She got close to the glass, enough for you to read the name on her lanyard: ELIZABETH CARDENS. You felt a pull to her, your mind swimming as it felt like bone and muscle was rejecting you. Like your skin suddenly was a prison, trying to exile you. The woman dropped her clipboard, backing away from the glass. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
You felt a searing pain in your ribs as suddenly you became larger in frame, taller ever so slightly, with more weight. Your hair was suddenly a long brown, not the same haircut or color you had moments earlier. Your head felt sore, a groaning type of pain, as your hair changed. Your jaw and the apples of your cheeks spasmed ever so slightly as a change occurred there as well.
"Stop that!" She said sharply, retreating from the glass more. She pulled something out of her pocket, something that looked like a necklace. As you got closer to the glass, holding a hand up to it that you no longer recognized, you could make out the details: large wooden beads covered it, a long string, with a charm on the bottom that looked like a t. The woman muttered under her breath, something you couldn't comprehend.
"Mom, let me out," A voice that wasn't your own was ripped from your throat.
"No! I know your tricks. Get my daughter's face off of you!" She replied, so viscerally that spit dropped from her mouth. She shook, the necklace clacking against itself with her tremors.
"Mom, it's really me, let me out!" You said, your voice more coercing than it had ever been.
"You demon child! I won't listen to you!" The woman said, turning on her heels and sprinting out of the room.
Falling to your knees, you felt something in your chest, convulsing. Searing pain came from your ribs, jaw, cheeks, and head, again as the room looked like how it normally did. Everything was the correct height, correct size. Your hands looked how they always did, but your mind was lost in a fog.
Who were you?
Looking where the scientist once stood, you noticed a green light off in the distance. The control panel for your cell. Green light meant a test or a casual injection was coming- the door was unlocked.
It took awhile for you to stand up. Hindered by a body, a DNA structure that had just torn itself apart and put itself back together again, it felt like each step was that of a newborn. You made your way to the door of your cell and tested it, ever so slightly pushing it open. Cold air hit you as the door cracked open.
Get out. Your family is looking for you.
You scurried along the long hallways, not surprised by the lack of doctors or scientists. You had come to learn that only a handful of people were allowed to see you, which made escape easy once your cell was unlocked.
The hallways winded, long, white, illuminated by flouresent lights that made your already weakened state see double. A room at the end of the hall taunted you, promising freedom to eyes that couldn't read the inscription on the door. You opened the door and slipped in, the white mechanical door reading: MORGUE whirring closed behind you.
The lights above flickered on, triggered by movement. You had expected a files room, or maybe a control room- something that would make your next step easy. Reality hit you, cold, harsh reality, drained you dry when you saw what was in the room. Children in cages, mangled corpses, limbs where they shouldn't be, all dead. All grey. All unrecognizable.
You weren't the only one Umbrella had. But it seemed that you were the only survivor.
Just as you turned to go back, a hand grabbed your ankle, inhuman sounds and gurgling coming from the source. You turned to see a kid your age holding on, hand clamped down on your scrawny leg. His face was devoid of all color, his eyes cloudy, and the lower half of his face was mangled.
A scream that belonged to you ripped through the dank air of the morgue, loud enough that you didn't hear the mechanical door whir open behind you. You were yanked away from the other child, pulled behind a figure you had grown used to in your time here. A long lab coat, dark pants, fancy shoes, hairy knuckles, the smell of tobacco and formaldehyde. David looked behind him, yelling to someone he couldn't see.
"Tell Birkin we found another one!" David said and grabbed you by the wrist, leading you back to your cell. A hot chocolate was waiting for you, one with a marshmallow so large that it sat on top of the mug. "Isn't it so much nicer in here?" He asked, closing the door behind him on the way out.
That was the last time you saw that female scientist. After that incident, David was the only person allowed to administer tests and injections to you. And more importantly, that was the first day you knew you weren't alone here.
"Hey, Joan, look what I found," Leon said, presenting a key to you. It had a diamond on the end of it. "I saw some diamond doors back in the…." Leon's face visibly scrunched up as he realized you two were going to have to go back to the plice station. He was hoping it'd be a quick in and out of the clock tower, but this key proved otherwise.
"Hold onto that, we'll be heading back to the police station. I'll try to make it quick, but nothing is ever really quick here, is it?" He asked, mainly to himself. Then, his hand slid into yours again. Something routine that felt different this time. The same dusting from earlier spread across his face, as he shifted slightly. "This… is okay still yeah?" He asked.
With a nod of your head, he led you two through an open rolling door. You slid the diamond key into your breast pocket, a place easily accessed. As you continued on through the various hallways, illuminated by only Leon's flashlight and flickering overhead lighting, you noticed the blush. It didn''t disappear.
You meant to question, to ask him why he was reacting like that, when something else came out of your throat.
"We'll be fine, won't we, Lee?" You asked, the cadence and nickname feeling like a foreign language coming out of your mouth.
Leon froze, the blush fading immediately. His jaw set and his shoulders hunched ever so slightly, becoming tense. With a quick assessment, he looked you up and down quickly, then turned forward. his eyebrows knit together in confusion, and contemplation, before he stared forward with a gaze of resolve. "Don't call me that," He said, an emotion you couldn't read coming through his voice.
He led, a now disoreinted, you to another room: GENERATOR ROOM. Despite your brain feeling like it was mush, you remembered a generator part was here, depicted in the note from the holding cells. One out of two, at least. Instead of having you stay put, Leon brought you with him.
The room was dark, no sounds of mechanics, no smell of running fans, nothing informed you of its purpose. Only red accents on the floor showed you the way forward through a maze of fenced off machines. As the two of you walked through the room, you got closer to a red light.
"Got it," Leon announced, holding up a large box. It was orange and white, the enscription too small for you to figure out. "Generator part," He said to answer your confusion. He dropped your hand easier than he ever had tonight and peeled open the yellow tape, shaking out a generator part. One down, one more to go; at least you were closer to getting out of here.
"Let's get out of here," Leon said, putting the part in one of his hip pouches and heading towards the control panel the red light eminated from. The area the panel was in had lights, overhead ones that slightly made it easier to see what was around you. The room was like rooms you'd seeen here before: gross, green, yellow, dusty. But at least it held some echo of life past in it.
"Damnit!" Leon said and stepped back from the panel, causing you to slightly step back. Peering around him, you saw the source of his frustration: four levers. "Even the control panels in this place are puzzles," Leon groaned.
"I can try," You offered.
Leon seemed to jump a bit when he heard your voice, but he stood aside to let you attempt the puzzle. The control panel had two meters, each with a zone marked in red on them. There were four levers in front of you. You flicked all of them on and off, to figure out what their value was, then thought about it. This was easier than most of the puzzles David had you to; something about testing your mental capacity each time they did something to you.
After flicking on the last two switches, the whole room seemed to illuminate. Through a window, you could see the hallways illuminated fully and a door with a green light over it. Jsut like the one in your old cell.
"Good job, Joan!" Leon said, holding his hand up.
You may have been raised in a lab for half of your life, but you still remembered high fives. In celebration, you high fived him, earning a warm smile from him that made you feel more disoriented.
Tonight you seemed to be learning more about yourself. Was it his smile that made that unsettling feeling rise up in you? Or was it just a new feeling that you hadn't expereinced before? Whatever it was, you wanted it to stop, but it seemed to be happening a lot recently.
"Next up- clock tower," Leon said. You two made your way back through the generator room, when the rattling of chainlink fences got your attention. Leon stepped in front of you and readied his gun when barks echoed in the small room.
"Leon?" You asked, concerned.
"Stick with me," He replied, shooting someting that was darting around. Another dog. He ran through the room, firing at anything that moved, killing infected after infected; dogs and humans. You were on his trail, exhuastion plaguing your body as you ran. Luckily, your ankle had healed itself or this would be impossible.
Once you got to the door into the hallway, Leon opened it and kept firing at something. You were his shadow as the two of you ran down the hallway and through the kennels. What seemed to be the last of the infected dropped to the floor and Leonn caught his breath, staring down at the corpse. He then turned to you, looking you up and down in a similar way.
"Leon……" You trailed off.
"Tell me the truth. Are you like them? Like Marvin?" He asked. "Because I can't do this again," He added.
You looked down at the infected by his boots. A man in the same uniform Leon was wearing. All this time, you'd been stuck in time loops your own brain made- memories of a past not too far removed, while Leon had been on the verge of breaking. The easy courage he had was stripped away now, showing you the young man only two years older than yourself. Scared, just like you were, tried of shooting the very people he was supposed to protect or work with.
You assgined a blank slate to Leon, because that was what most people were in your life- blank slates besides David. Your life had been so controlled that there was no way of letting other people in. Leon had a life before this, he had hopes and dreams, fears, apprehensions. You had been using him as a way of getting out of here, you ad maybe started to see him as a friend. Now, you were faced with the reality.
What could you say? You didn't know what David put into you. For all you knew, you could be infected, waiting to pop. A ticking time bomb.
"I don't know," You answered honestly.
His eyes closed and he sighed, a slight look of distate on his face. Then, he looked up at you. "Are you really sick?" He asked, eyes peering into your soul.
"No."
That word held weight for you both. You, because you were finally letting somene in. You were making the choice, not to decieve, but to let Leon in. Being outside of the lab for even a handful of hours was enough to shed this falsehood David had made you into. Leon, because he was coming to terms with the idea that you had lied. Or maybe, he wasn't ignoring the obvious signs in front of him anymore. The collar, your demeanor, the way you eerily sounded like his exgirlfriend twice before.
This world was cracked open to him. Zombies, something he never thought could exist, were walking around. Whatever that giant was that killed Ben, existed. So did you, with whatever fucked up shit you had going on. After everything he'd seen so far, he'd accept whatever you told him.
"What are you?" He asked, his hand shaking, but refusing to draw the gun on you. Even if he had to, he didn't think he could shoot you. Marvin told him to not hesitate, so much of his training told him the same, but you were different. He swore an oath to protect civilians, an oath that didn't matter for shit anymore. But maybe, if he could keep you alive, it would make up for them; the unknown and unnamed zombies that wore a uniform he was supposed to feel comradery for, but instead now felt dread.
"I don't know." The words slipped from your mouth before you could find a way to rationalize them away. Leon stepped away from you, now at a distance where the dead body was between the two of you.
"You don't know?" Distrust and confusion stared at you.
Everything in your body was telling you to stop, to not tell Leon, to save yourself. But the feeling you got in your chest and stomach when he looked at you convinced you that you were safe. The way he treated someone else infected, Marvin, told you that he was trustworthy. You proved our humanity before by lying, by being disobedient and going against everything David conditioned you to be. What was more human than vulnerability?
So for the first time, since being kidnapped, you began to tell someone the story of Subject 13.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
A/N: Here's a gift for being patient through my shitstorm! I'm so happy to have that out of the way. I HATE liar revealed type story beats, but it had to happen with this fic. So that's that out of the way. Also, I promise next fic is where a certain trenchcoated man is introduced, I just wanted to flesh things out when it was quieter in the story.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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The City That Always Rains (A Leon Kennedy x Reader Series) Chapter 5
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Tag List: @meowieees
CW: Human Experimentation, No beta reader, Game level violence and language, awful "father figure", Reader has an AWFUL life, eventual smut?, canon divergence, Re2og and Re2Remake canon squished together, body horror, weight discussion/thoughts, mc might come off as autistic because author is
WC: 1596 (short one)
Summary: Kennels bring a new found situation...... wait.. what exactly are you?
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
“Shit,” Leon said under his breath. You both approached a door that had a sign on the front: KENNELS.
“More dogs?” You asked, earning a nod of Leon’s head in reply.
His hand faltered at the doorknob, not knowing if he had the mental strength to get through the room. One dog, sure, but multiple?
This time, it was your turn to be worried. “Are you okay?” You asked.
“Y-yeah… it just sucks,” He sighed, looking up at the sign. “I, uh, I was trained to be a K-9 officer. Trusted the dogs at the academy more than my own intuition most times.”
Without thinking about it, your hand went over Leon’s, something that surprised the both of you. Your heart stopped for what felt like five seconds, and Leon’s jaw twitched ever so slightly.
“It’s okay, we can take a few minutes. However long you need,” You replied, in a tone of voice that wasn’t your own. You hadn’t uncovered that sense of comfort, that caring part of you fully yet.
“Here,” You said and led him over to a bench. The two of you sat down and you rubbed his hand with your thumb.
What were you doing?
Again, you couldn’t stop yourself, you couldn’t do anything else but be present as you offered to let him rest his head on your shoulder.
This wasn’t you. Who were you?
Leon leaned his head on your shoulder and you leaned back, your neck craning to rest on top of his head without you wanting it to.
What was going on? Why weren’t you in control of your own body?
Leon’s breath steadied as he relaxed against you, all the while your own heart was going 100mph, trying to figure out why you couldn’t move. Heart beating against bone, ribs that suddenly felt like a cage, skin that felt like a trap.
After a few minutes, Leon sat up, a slight blush dusting his ears.
“Thanks, I’m okay now,” He replied, finally, holding out his hand. Automatically, you took the offer, holding the outstretched hand. A cold sensation flowed over you like a waterfall as you came back to. As a test, you let go of his hand, which caused him to look at you confused. A test of freedom, a test of control.
“S-sorry,” You replied, taking it back. With a stretch of your legs, you noticed an absence of pain in your ankle. “Leon, before we leave, could you look at my ankle? It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
His eyes looked down at the bandages and he let an amused exhale out. “It was pretty busted up, and I don’t think the herbs are that powerful,” Leon said, not wanting to call you flat out crazy.
With one look from you, mostly the same wide eyed look you’ve been giving him all night, he nodded and got down on one knee to check. He undid your shoe, pulled your pant leg up and took the bandages off to reveal a healed ankle. The only thing remaining was a slight bruise, like a whisper on the skin.
“What?” He asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “Your ankle is so slim, I was certain you’d need to be sent to the ER.”
He put the bandages back in his hip pack and helped you put your shoe back on. Leon’s eyes glanced back up at your collar and the lead slightly attached to it still. Instead of asking you the question that so obviously racked his body, he stood up and crossed his arms.
“Let’s head out,” He said, reaching for your hand.
This time, you hesitated. Was it the touches that caused your body to move on its own? To act unlike yourself? The hand holding felt different than whatever happened to you on the bench. The hand holding was warm, as opposed to the shocking cold you felt as you did things alien to your mind. So, with a nod, you took his hand.
Leon made sure you were safe by the door, and asked for you to wait outside. With a grim, but steeled expression on his face, he made his way through the door. All you could hear was a few shots and whimpering. Then, the door opened to show Leon, blood spattered on his face.
Your hand came up to his face, soft skin on soft skin, and you wiped away the blood. A streak on what was well manicured skin. A mar, a show of the night you two had had, tragedy spattering on top of your old reality. But wasn’t your reality tragedy anyways?
Maybe yours was, but Leon’s seemed to be normal. From what you knew of life outside of the NEST, people’s lives were typically full of ups and downs. Graduations, death, promotions, breakups, marriages, moving, travel, it was part of the human experience. Just like lying, just like choices, all of it was what made humans human.
What was waiting for you after tonight? Would you get caught and brought back to Umbrella? Would Leon turn you in? Or could you dare to dream?
Could you think of a life outside of cruelty? One that you had thought of before, one with a job, maybe a chosen family? Was your family still out there, or were they disposed of after asking too many questions?
Would they still want you? Had they been looking for you? You always assumed they did. A father who didn’t give up looking for you was always in the back of your mind. A mother who broke down doors of police officers and private investigators. All of it was pointing to your family wanting you, searching for you.
Umbrella was powerful, and a titan of a corporation to go up against. So naturally, you thought that they didn’t have the resources to keep going, or they were forced to stop.
So what if they never went looking for you?
Joan, Subject 13, it all meant nothing. Nothing names associated with a woman who didn’t exist. An empty shell who was forced into roles that people around her wanted. Who were you? Why couldn’t you remember your real name?
Why were you starting to feel alien in your body? Like you weren’t meant to be here, no longer welcomed in your own flesh and bones. Back on the bench it was visceral; it felt like you were being pulled out of your being. Standing in front of the door, staring at a man who confused you, it felt like another type of alien.
Touching him made sense. In the NEST, the only person who could touch you was David; not even the lab techs were allowed to touch you. Administered vaccines and tests were all handled by him, dissections and splicing were all him.
For once in the past decade, you felt warmth from someone. Even if you were returned to Umbrella after surviving this night, you might be happy enough to imagine a life with someone like this.
Soft eyes that sparkled with determination when they looked at you, a very being that seemed to straighten up when in your presence. A head that ever so slightly leaned into your touch as you cleaned his face of blood.
Leaned in?
Both of you froze as you realized what happened. Whatever happened on the bench could’ve been chalked up to exhaustion and needing to be grounded. This was something completely different. To both of you.
You didn’t feel like your body was expelling you, in fact you felt rather settled in your body. You made this choice: to be soft, to be loving, to extend a small branch of whatever sanity you had left over the past decade.
Leon straightened up a bit, coughing awkwardly and looking ahead. “I’ve cleared the room out, we should keep going,” He said.
Oh, right.
The two of you walked, Leon a few steps in front of you. It was a mystery to you that your hands were interlaced anymore, then you noticed the ever so slight blush on the tips of his ears and it clicked- Brian Willson.
Your family was very loving, your parents were affectionate with each other, so naturally you were looking for something like that even as young as 9 years old. A lot of your friends were even starting to get boyfriends and girlfriends, whatever that meant at that age. So, you were also looking out for someone to like.
A boy on the playground, Brian Willson, managed to beat you in a race. He was smart, aced all his spelling tests, and then beat you in a race. So in your 9 year old mind, he was prime liking material. You remember the blush on your face when you saw him in this new light manning the front of the line to lunch.
That same spread was on the back of Leon’s neck and the tips of his ears. You hadn’t done much for him, in fact you’d been a hindrance. Confusion washed through you as the two of you walked through the halls.
What did he see in you? Going through your list of criteria, you couldn’t place it. Sure, you were smart, but you hadn’t had the chance to show it. You weren’t useful, as you considered before. You were nothing like Brian Willson, you had nothing to offer him.
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