Tiny growls filled the space as Nero sat in Ada’s lap, wings occasionally flapping angrily while antenna horns stood straight up and his little teeth were bared. Ada currently sat on the dingy red couch parallel to the coffee table riddled with currency, weapons, and ammo. Jason sat on the couch on the other side of the coffee table, smoking a cigarette as he watched them both, Nero in particular, cautiously.

They had made it to the shore and were currently at the apartment complex that housed their safe house. Ada refused to be left behind and “verified” her credentials, so Shenmai and Jason had no choice but to accept her credentials. Leon knew they were forged, but said nothing, glad to have the back-up due to his suspicions of Shenmai and Jason.

Currently, Shenmai was out fetching the groceries, leaving the trio in the apartment.

”So, what the hell is that thing?” Jason asked, blowing out a plume of smoke.

Ada looked from him, to Nero, and then back with a shrug, “Never seen a baby before?”

“That ain’t a baby.” Jason replied, Nero hissing and “spitting” as another puff of smoke neared him this time, Ada waving it away, “That looks like something that crawled out of Hell. It’s ugly.”

“Don’t you know better than to smoke around kids?” Ada chuckled, “But…you’re close…though,” She pet Nero’s head, big gold eyes looking up at her before holding her hand to his head, rubbing against the palm of her glove, “He’s a lot nicer than his Daddy…though, he’s not ugly. Should have seen his Dad.”

“Who? Leon? He ain’t human?” Jason asked, gesturing to the kitchen where Leon was messaging someone in the government about their current predicament.

“No. Leon’s about as human as they come…well, unless you count the time this little cutie possessed his Mama.” She said, moving her hand to scratch Nero’s chin, Nero chirping and leaning into the hand with a content smile.

Jason made a face, leaning forward to extinguish his cigarette in the ashtray. Nero whipped his head back in Jason’s direction, pupils dilated and antennas standing straight up once more as he went back on high alert.

“I don’t he likes you very much.” Ada said with a smirk, “Then again, I’m not exactly a fan of people pointing guns in my face and calling me ugly either.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58460893/chapters/169195603

Tucked away under Leon’s jacket, Nero squeaked and squawked his anger and protests as Shenmai led Leon and Ada inside the room, her Grandfather reading a book to someone lying in the bed. The curtains were drawn around said bed, obscuring the view of the person inside. Various medical machines and equipment hummed and beeped, an oxygen machine being the loudest.

The person in question was Shenmai’s brother, Jun See. Apparently, he had been in some experimental program run by Secretary Wilson during the whole Penamstan War mess. He had a chip that recorded everything from his “Battle Data” to his biometrics, a chip that had been sitting in the family safe here after his body had been sent home.

Shenmai’s grandfather had to pull some strings of course in order to get said body, the government planning on recovering and destroying it had Jason not kept quiet about it. And now, according to Shenmai, Jason and his team had also been infected with a similar virus and Wilson had been using them for secret assignments over the years.

Hence why she and Jason were on this little suicide mission of exposing Wilson and anyone else involved.

Leon could feel little claws dig into his shoulder, Nero growling lowly still as Shenmai cleared her throat as she tried to find her words.

“Listen, I don’t expect either of you to understand, but this is something Jason and I need to do. The government needs to be held responsible for what they allowed to happen.”

“The President likely doesn’t know what actually happened over there.” Leon insisted, “That’s why he sent me in for this mission; to find the truth. Wilson is the one pushing the “War with China” agenda. But going about this the way you’re doing it? You’ll have every agent on his payroll after you.”

“And that’s not a fun way to live.” Ada added, “Trust me, life on the run ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Ironic, coming from someone who currently has a BOW on his person.” Shenmai countered, “Does the government know about him? If not, should you really be here telling me about what’s right and wrong?”

“He’s not a BOW…and no, they don’t. They think he’s a normal human baby and they only have his birth certificate and social security number on file.” Leon admitted honestly, “As far as they know, his father died in Raccoon. But this isn’t about me. This is about you and Jason trying to expose a conspiracy that will only lead to nothing but suffering and you two either being arrested…or dead.”

Shenmai pointed out that being complacent made him just as guilty as the people who committed the crimes. He knew about Raccoon, but he clearly did nothing about it since they technically got away with it and only a handful knew about what really happened there. She went to poke him in the shoulder, but a little clawed hand swiped at hers with a hiss, making Shenmai retract her hand and cradle it to her chest in fear.

“And then there’s you,” Shenmai said, pointing at Ada in an accusatory manner, “Who the hell are you to tell us what to do?”

(A/N: Have an early update because this is going to be a crazy week for me this week)