𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚛 𝙾𝚗𝚎

This doesn’t seem right… or healthy. Had Leon been broken that much? Or was he that good at removing himself from the trauma that obviously had happened to him? Luis’ eyes drift over Leon’s back, now hidden beneath a cover of soft fabric. But his forearms were still free and showed the blisters he refused to treat.

Leon was hurting. In many ways. And he veiled them all.

Dios mio…

 The sudden movement with the loud noise of Leon slapping the empty package down had Luis startle a little. Oh. Suddenly science wasn’t so insane anymore, eh?

“Uh… sure?”, he replies with a slight shrug, as if he thought the question funny. He musters Leon for another moment, but it was obvious, that the blond wanted to know. Now. So Luis quickly slurped up the rest of his own noodles, before moving to the containments.

Sticking his hands into the gloves, he starts his work there.

“Usually I work with music, but…”, he trails off. It seems a little unbecoming right now. After what Leon’s blackbox had just revealed. Man. What had his mission really been…? Who is so insane to assign this? Had they… forced him?

“Who was the convict they spoke of?”, he asks, handling various instruments on the teeth he had gathered. Picking one to sacrifice for Leon’s question.

He knows the answer to his own question already, simply continuing. Calmly.

“You, right? But why didn’t they just use your name? What kind of mission was this? Seems pretty out of the ordinary…”

Space was dangerous. But what the SM 13 had done just seemed absolutely crazy. And Leon had the audacity to call him insane.

“Hm…”

Luis shakes his head. Then he seemingly acts out part of the tests again, checking back onto the monitor next to the container. Again.

Leon stares at Luis for an uncomfortably long moment in silence. There's a roughness in his words and his actions that suggests he isn't used to interacting with people. He's like a caged animal staring expectantly while the other man finishes off his own food.

Where Luis moves, he follows. Stands to the side and watches as though he knows what's going on. He doesn't have an opinion about the music comment. So long as he tests the sample he can do as he wishes. But he doesn't say that out loud. He stands in tense silence, continuing to watch. He doesn't realise how unnerving it is.

Leon turns his head at the next question. He opens his mouth to answer, but Luis already pins him as the convict. He would have given an answer if he had the chance. He wasn't hiding it. "Yes, I am. They only ever refer to me as convict because they don't know my name."

He tips and rolls his head to watch Luis work. "It was a suicide mission. They weld you into the submarine with talk of earning your freedom, it's just a tactic to get as much use out of you as they can. We were gathering data. Trying to find the reason why this moon breaks the Petrovaband."

Luis seems bothered by the data. Leon glances the screen, tries to make sense of what it tells him. He can read but he doesn't understand all of the scientific jargon.

He listens closely as it's explained to him. On the surface he seems unaffected. On the inside he can feel his stomach sink. "......... Take the time. Do the longer tests." It's less of a question, though his voice isn't as sharp. "I think that thing used to be the crew of the SM-08. The researcher and her assistant."

Luis keeps a little distance to the other. He is curious, of course. He wants to help him. But Leon. Scott. Kennedy. Seems a little… pessimistic. There was no real yes or even any hint of positive towards Luis’ offer of help. So, Luis stays away, even if his hands itch to help.

“I have more than enough supplies...”

He would not allow for Leon to die. That was out of the question. Even in the worst case and Leon fell unconscious… then Luis could drag him to the med bay. Whether he liked it or not.

Leon is occupied with his blackbox – meanwhile Luis has an idea. He doesn’t go too far, but he is clattering about and only returning with two cups and a bag of skittles. Grinning. He sets the cup of instant Ramen and the skittles down in front of Leon, sitting himself cross-legged and balanced on top of one of the stools next to him. Beginning to slurp his own cup of noodles.

“Of course it isn’t meant for people.”, Luis replies then, almost dryly. But there is a chuckle on the tip of his tongue, “If it were, it would have habitable conditions for humans and would have sprouted another human species. This planet has zero potential for that. I did the calculations.”

He couldn’t know what Leon had lived through. But the pictures suddenly flickering on the screen gave a first idea. Luis holds his slurping and watches, tilting his head.

The pictures are grainy. Black and white. Contrasted.

“X-rays?”, Luis guesses, then he freezes.

Something looks at them. Something giant. It hides in a cave. It has appendages, a jaw, a maw. It looks like pulled from a horror movie.

“… is that what attacked you?”, his eyes wander to one of the glass containers at the side of the lab, where Luis has placed the teeth and other samples. He… had not expected it to be like this…

Suddenly there is audio, too. It is jumbled. Messy. Several files playing at once. Screaming. Crying. Harsh orders. Convict. Begging. Pleading. It is Leon’s voice. He sounds broken. A woman’s voice cutting him off. It is more than you deserve. Convict.

Down.

Leon is quick to realise that one third of Luis' so-called team is robotic. Part of him hopes that Mary is a human. Part of him doesn't want to know, because this situation suddenly feels like him taking advantage of a vulnerable researcher desperate for answers... who sent him here? Why would they not warn him of the danger?

Even more reason to keep a divide between them. He was a good man. He was... pure, in a universe Leon almost gives up on saving. What kind of selfless, insane act it was, to fish him up out of the blood ocean in a wreckage that threatened to swallow them both?

He remains standing even when Luis returns... with food. He casts a quick look at the man. He just told him not to waste his resources, and food was high on the list of importance. Yet his eyes are drawn to that cup.

Leon picks it up and takes a long gulp of the steaming hot contents. It almost burns his throat. But damn, does it feel good to wash away the aftertaste of that long, bitter night and all of that blood. He swallows more of the salty broth and takes his first bite of noodles. Luis speaks so jovially, matter-of-fact, and Leon slurps more of the liquid and food. He could reason that it was already prepared. To not eat it would be a waste. But he knows it's a selfish hunger, and if he is to die, he wants to do so with some comfort.

Doesn't he deserve that, after what he lived through?

"Only x-rays can map out the environment through all the blood." He calmly explains around his last bites. The images only draw him in when Luis asks if 'that' attacked him. He sets the empty cup down and wipes his lips. "Yeah. I guess I didn't imagine that part, but you collected the teeth." He shrugs almost nonchalant. Sure, monster, whatever.

Then that audio plays. He freezes, bombarded with so much in such a short window. He doesn't block it out. He latches onto all of it. Tries to sort out what was real, what was missing, what his mind created. The threat of being plunged down into the depths again should make him tremble. Instead he eyes the packet of candy and rips it open.

He clicks on a file that is locked. Types in a password with full confidence: 7X11F26A311.

It unlocks the back-up data from the scientific crew. The monster. He throws back the skittles while the last audio file plays of the research lead and her assistant. It's the same voice. There's no way he can prove it was the voice in his head...

For a moment, Luis has to wonder, whether Leon actually is the only one on board who got a proper astronaut training. Why the hell can’t he remember anything yet? Maybe he just has to watch it again and again… his memories have to come back, right?

Looking up to Leon, while Luis tries to hold onto one of the ship’s rails and keep himself halfway under control that way, that… compliment has the researcher speechless for a moment. And then he practically smiles brightly up to the other, shining like a real star almost.

“And yours look like the oceans on earth!”, is the excited reply, Luis’ voice almost toppling over itself a little. They are. Leon has pretty blue eyes.

“Your eyes look like home.”

Luis feels like he has looked at them before like this. Small glimpses in his mind appear. Blue eyes that light up with a laugh. They are in a cantina, seated across from each other. Blue eyes that glance back to him, as Luis showed him something under a microscope. Blue eyes that look so full of pride, when he shows him how ‘good’ he looks in the pilot seat.

Were those… real?

Do I know you?

“BLIP E DETECTED.”

Luis blinks from his amazed stupor, his curly hair flying when he whips his head to the control room.

“You were right…”

The answer came extremely fast and whomever their new friends are – they are pros at aiming. Because Leon doesn’t even get to prove his abilities in spacewalking this time. The container comes flying right into the blond’s arms. Luis still claps and cheers excitedly behind the small porthole.

This time their message is massive. And yet still so intricate. Luis opens it between Leon and himself, letting the model float and spin.

And it depicts exactly that.

“Oh.”, Luis whispers as his eyes widen, “It’s us. And them.”

A miniature of the giant spacecraft next to them. And of their own. Connected by a thin rail. A rail that ends exactly where the decompression chamber is. Luis suddenly flings his arms up, making him float uncontrolled up and to the side, when he realizes.

“… they want contact?!”

Leon smiles at the way Luis almost stumbles over his words. He remembers him doing the same in a laboratory, and Leon thinks he wasn't supposed to be there at all... yeah, that's right. Luis snuck him in. They were at a top secret facility relating to Project Hail Mary and people couldn't simply wander where they pleased.

He smiles a little more. It feels kind of warm and fuzzy to be like home. He doesn't get a chance to think of anything equally sweet to say. Before he knows it, he's shoving his helmet right back on again.

Though this time he has less of a role to play. That container is aimed directly into the airlock. He laughs. Okay, they're definitely showing off for them now. He passes the precious parcel off to Luis and begins to strip out of his suit.

Leon only pauses when Luis exclaims about contact. "... but how?" He questions. He can see the rail but it makes no sense to him. There isn't a good view from the airlock. Hints of movement that make no sense. Again, he brings Luis with him into the cockpit for a better view.

The way he spoke suddenly was sharp and pushing Luis away. Dampening the burst of fascination and motivation that had just bubbled from the researcher.

Maybe it was the pain, or trauma. He had just lost someone, he was hurting. Luis decides not to judge for now. But to be careful.

“Okay. Come. The blackbox already is decontaminated and in the lab.”

He guides the other through the attached corridor towards the main room with all the equipment. There is a lot of scribbling on papers, boards and notepads. Formulas, ideas, sometimes just sentences. Little smiley faces in between. Doodles.

“This is where we do all the work.”, Luis explains, trying to smile again, turning to the other, before he gestures to the table, where the blackbox sits.

“Do you need anything else? We can get you whatever you need… I- could also try to treat some of your wounds with Armando?”, he nods to the AI robot, that seems to wiggle carefully. The robot has eyes and a smiley mouth drawn on it, too.

Leon clenches his jaw. Just like that, the stranger agrees to bring him to the blackbox, no conditions, no push back. He isn't used to a life that isn't constantly fucking him over. He follows Luis with his own measured wariness. He realises he hasn't asked about others. Who else is on his spacecraft. They were in orbit, around a far flung alien moon, the interior was pristine not unlike the SM-8. It must be a researcher craft. No expense spared, and all.

He just hopes Luis' colleagues don't intervene. Though... they don't cross another soul through the passageway or a room that looks active in the sense of work being done. That brief look around is all he needs. He sees the same handwriting all over. Just one person.

He slides his gaze back to Luis. "We?" It's a genuine question. If there are other souls, they certainly don't work within this room. Maybe he's overthinking it. Maybe they're split into separate workspaces, he doesn't know and doesn't really care when his eyes fall onto the blackbox.

"It needs something to connect to. A computer, or laptop, one that can receive a wireless transmission of data." Then Luis offers to treat him with Armando. He frowns a little, brows creasing in confusion until the other man nods. It's... a robotic arm, one that has received the same doodling treatment as so much of the scientific notes laid around here. Definitely Luis' doing.

"Leon Scott Kennedy." He looks to the other man. "Don't waste your supplies on me. I could be a dead man, if the mystery blood doesn't kill me then the potential radiation from my busted submarine very well could."

         AW,  MAN…    Obedience  drilled  into  her  skull,  Puck  lifts  her  arms  as  soon  as  she's  told  without  a  second  thought.  The  only  problem  is,  there  aren't  any  firearms  to  be  seen  on  or  around  her.  There  are,  however,  suspiciously  red  stains  oozing  from  her  palms.

He  swallows  roughly,  yellow  eyes  wide.  “  I-  So,  um.  I  can  explain --  ” 

She  steps  reluctantly outside,  &  her  boots  leave  equally  suspicious  red  stains  on  the  ground. In fact, there are suspiciously red stains everywhere on her person. He looks endlessly guilty.

“  L-  Listen,  I  don't  even  know  what  firearm's  are...  ”

She  knows  what  guns  are,  not  firearms.  That  one's  a  new  one  in  his  vocabulary. Though it seems that firearms may not be the primary issue anymore, anyway.

@leonkennedy9642

Do you feel it? Something is coming.