Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They should have left the country and joined the BSAA when they had the chance. 

God fucking damnit. 

Here they were, Leon and Luis, in Tall Oaks, Pennsylvania. They were accompanying the President–Adam Benford, the man who'd interrogated Leon when the government abducted him and Sherry after Raccoon City(and subsequently threatened Sherry's life and told Leon he had no rights and that the government could make sure he disappeared)–at a publicity event. 

Now hear him out, there was no way Leon would stick around to serve this guy if there weren't benefits. 

See, Benford had disbanded STRATCOM and reformed that part of the government. They were still a Black Ops Unit, but they at least existed on paper now. And, thanks to Benford, so did Leon and Luis, and their marriage. Gay marriage still wasn't legal in America, but Benford had personally handed them their marriage certificate with a smile. It made Leon actually want to believe that he had changed. It also made him believe in the changes he was trying to make with their country and their world. 

Benford had told Leon just that morning that he wanted to release the information on the Raccoon City Incident, and the part the government had to play in it. He wanted to come clean in an effort to cooperate with the efforts of Organizations like the BSAA and the anti-bioterrosism units of other countries. The only way to beat bioterrorism was for them to unite and collectively fight Bioterrorism instead of always being a step ahead or behind each other and keeping secrets for political gain. 

So, USSTRATCOM became the DSO–Division of Security Operations. They got actual rights as citizens, they got health benefits, medevacs, backup teams, an official insignia and badges. They even had a dress code–Semi-formal for public appearances and combat gear for field missions. Undercover field agents wore whatever made them fit in the best, obviously. They had their own bases repurposed from old abandoned military bases leftover from wars long past and they got their own training areas, offices, barracks and showers, a cafeteria, and an infirmary in each one. 

Most of the Agents who made up the DSO were recruited as soon as STRATCOM was disbanded, so Leon still had mostly the same coworkers. Bruce and Feng Ling hadn't joined up–they decided to finally settle down and start a family. 

It was almost enough for Leon and Luis to do the same, but Leon also wanted to be there and part of things when Benford came clean publicly. He'd waited years for this. He and Luis had argued about it a couple times, but eventually, Luis had admitted he also wanted to be there. He just didn't want to be too old to raise kids by the time they decided they wanted some(Leon was still indecisive about it, but Luis was pushing for a yes). They hadn't managed to find a compromise on that, which frustrated both of them and led to some great angry sex since both of them hated being mad at the other. Alas, the problem persisted. 

Leon understood where his husband was coming from, but things had changed the day President Graham had resigned from his position and left Vice President Benford to take his place. They'd changed for the better. Leon and Luis had documents and their marriage certificate and rights and resources as Agents. They had so much now! If he'd had this the entire time he was an Agent, Leon might have actually liked his job. He might not have been quite so bitter about being forced into it, even!

But not everything was about Leon, or his decision to make alone. Was he being selfish? Luis already did almost everything Leon wanted to do. Sure, he said he almost always agreed with Leon, but the last time he'd made a big decision for them, they'd gotten trapped and severely beaten down both mentally and physically in the Eastern Slav Republic. Carlos had to come take care of them for a week. He'd had to bathe them and feed them and clothe them because they could barely stand or walk themselves, for fuck’s sake! 

But if Leon agreed with Luis and wasn't 100% on board with something as huge as having kids together, how bad would the outcome be? Would Leon ruin everything if he did that? He was good at pretending, but what if he destroyed their marriage and their family in the process? Luis would rightfully be upset if he found out Leon lied about being okay with having kids too….

Well, that problem seemed very far away in the face of what was happening right now. 

Adam Benford, Leon's personal favorite President and the man who was determined to fix everything the previous presidents and their government officials had screwed up since 1998, was infected. Undead. A Bioweapon. Sometimes, changing to be a better person went to waste. Potential was lost, because Life did not care about how great or how terrible a person was, only that they could die.  

Leon stood there, gun steady in his hand as Benford on the ground, skin greying as he convulsed before going still. Dark veins made their way across his skin as it paled drastically. Another minute passed and he twitched, then shifted, then sat up slowly. Hemorrhaged grey eyes peered up at Leon blankly. Leon stared into them with a tiredness he could never describe if some asked him to. 

Why? Why was this happening? If he blinked, he would see Marvin Branaugh just for a second before blinking the image away again. They were at a University–the wide spaces and grand architecture were too much like RPD. He was forced to shoot someone he considered an ally, yet barely knew. 

But he wasn't holding Matilda, and he wasn't in the slightly oversized and very torn and bloody RPD Uniform, and he wasn't fresh out of the Police Academy, and he wasn't a kid anymore. Leon was 36 years old, and he was a fully trained Agent of the DSO, and he'd spent his life fighting Bioterrorism by himself for six years and with his life partner for nine. He couldn't keep living the life of Leon S. Kennedy, Rookie Cop. He couldn't keep coming back to more Raccoon Cities over and over again like this. Something had to change. 

Leon shot the President as soon as he lurched toward Luis. He watched him drop. He watched the blood pool around the soles of his shoes. He only let two tears fall into the blood from his chin before wiping them away and blinking back the rest, composing himself.

“We need to call Hunnigan.” He decided, pulling out his communicator. 

“Leon, are you–” Luis reached out to grasp his husband's wrist gently before he could press call, looking at the man in worry. 

“I'm fine.” Leon cut him off, before looking at the taller man, meeting his concerned eyes and furrowed brows. He sighed. “I'm not fine. But we don't have time for that right now. We need to figure out what's going on and how to stop it.” 

Luis let go of his wrist and instead stepped closer, wrapping an arm around his partner. “I'm with you, always.” He agreed even as he comforted the shorter man. 

That at least got a small smile out of Leon. “I know.” 

He pressed call. Hunnigan picked up right away. “Thank God you're both alright!” She said, relieved. After she'd set Leon off and indirectly caused the whole Eastern Slav thing, she'd sent them a bouquet and a get well card, and on their next mission, she'd started the debrief with an apology. Leon also apologized for some of the more insulting things he'd said to her during his rant, and they were good again. Hunnigan was reliable, and could be considered a friend if only for the fact that she'd known Leon since he first became an agent. She wasn't able to be there for him like Luis was because handlers weren't supposed to get close to their charges, but she'd definitely be sad if Leon died. He considered that close enough to be friends. 

“What's going on?”

“I need a report on your situation ASAP!” She told them. Behind her on the little screen, people breezed past and there was a vague static of voices all collectively talking at the same time. Leon and Luis exchanged a look. If Leon admitted to shooting the president on record, his reputation would never recover and he was already going to have to live with it for the rest of his life. 

“We found the President infected and had to take action. Everyone else was already gone when we got here and the power cut out shortly after. We don't know how this happened.” Luis answered instead. It was the truth, without specifics. 

Hunnigan was smart enough to understand and her eyes widened as she tapped away on her computer. “Okay, I'll submit the report.” They all knew it had to be an inside job, but that also meant that they had to keep quiet about it unless whoever had committed the treason was listening in. 

“You two need to get the hell out of there.” Hunnigan warned them. “The virus has already spread 3 miles past the campus perimeter and it's not slowing down.” 

Leon did his best to not internally hurl curses at God or whoever was up there and instead sighed again, gearing himself up to fight his way through it. He looked.ro Luis, who was already looking to him with a question in his eyes. “We’ll meet with whoever’s dispatched to handle this. We're not equipped to look for the source or stop the outbreak as is.” He told Hunnigan. "Has the BSAA been informed?"

“No," She paused before continuing, her voice lowered as she leaned in closer to the screen. "The National Security Advisor is here and asking for updates, but he won't let anyone contact the BSAA about it." She informed them. "He got here almost as soon as we heard about the outbreak."

Leon and Luis exchanged glances. They didn't have much intel on anything right now, but if the campus where Benford was infected ended up being the epicenter for an outbreak, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Benford's right hand man-Derek C. Simmons-was a prime suspect. 

“Copy that. So do we know anything about this virus yet or is it new?” Luis wondered, all 3 of them silently agreeing not to say anything else suspicious over the comms. 

“Nothing's ever new in the world of bioterrorism, but I know what you're asking. All we have so far is camera footage of outbreaks right now, so I'm afraid you'll have to wing it.” The woman told them gravely. "Just get out of the city and we'll make plans to send you back in better equipped."

“Don't be afraid, that's what I'm best at.” Leon quipped, checking how many bullets were left in his gun and how much ammo he had on him. 

His Handler rolled her eyes. “Get going before things get any worse. I'll call if new information comes in, otherwise, call me when you're safe enough to. Over and out.” 

Leon put the communicator away and looked to his husband, who was already ready. “Well, you get to use your fancy batons now.” He tried. 

The Spaniard snorted. “Yay!” He cheered sarcastically as he gripped one. “One of these days, I'll get to use the taser function on these somewhere that isn’t training.” He grumbled. 

“Aw Babe, you'll get your moment someday.” Leon cooed, grinning at his partner's glare. 

They left the room. 

Chapter Text

Leon really needed things to stop reminding him of the worst night of his life. Seriously, it was getting old. 

Maybe Leon was the problem. Then again, he'd get over it if he could. Actually, he'd been working on getting over it now that his work life sucked significantly less and the future was looking bright. Well, it had been until about two minutes ago, anyway. Now he was making his way through an event hall on a college campus that was in a state Leon knew all too well by now–ravaged by the undead.

So getting over his last traumas was put on pause for now. He'd figure that out later.  

For now, he and Luis did their best to be silent, not spotting any infected out in the open or on the ceilings(Leon sincerely hoped there were no Lickers–they always made things so much more difficult). The already-grand main hall was full of tables and decorations, but totally devoid of people. 

“This is where the reception was going to be,” Leon noted. “Is it too much to hope everyone got away before they all died?” 

Luis shook his head. “That's never too much to hope for, Leon.” He murmured softly. He looked out across the room as they made their way down the stairs. 

When they reached the ground floor, footsteps echoed, fast in rhythm. Infected didn't walk distinctly like people did–not even the Ganados could escape sloppy steps while their bodies rotted away. They may have been able to bulldoze through walls and chase Leon with chainsaws, but their coordination was still closer to most other BOW’s than people. 

He nodded in that direction and Luis followed. Walking through the slightly messy tables told them that there really weren't any infected around, at least not in that room. Hopefully it stayed that way just in case they had to come back through here. 

They made their way into the industrial kitchen and chased a shadow through a long hallway with barely any light. Finally, they cornered whoever it was in a room. The man cried out, “Don't shoot!” and threw his hands up in surrender. The fast movement seemed to be a little too much for him and he hunched over, coughing a painful-sounding dry cough.

Leon didn't want to be a pessimist, but that usually wasn't a good sign in these kinds of circumstances. This whole place already reminded him of the RPD with it's grand architecture, he didn't need another older man coughing every now and then and slowly dying every time he checked up on him. It was bad enough that outbreaks still happened like they did in Raccoon City and Leon was sent to survey the situation and fix things, he didn't need some other poor soul reminding him of Marvin Branaugh the whole time too. 

“The fog….” The man shakily said. “It came out of nowhere….” 

Leon and Luis exchanged a worried look. “What fog?” Luis asked carefully. 

The man's answer was cut off by a high-pitched scream down the hall from them. He immediately dropped whatever he'd been holding and tried to take off running again, shouting a girl's name. Leon guessed it was either his wife or his daughter. He was the first person they'd seen so far, living or dead, so they couldn't let him just take off without getting at least a few answers.

Luis caught one arm and Leon caught the other, shoving the man back, away from the door. “Don't, it's too dangerous to be going anywhere by yourself right now!” The blonde Agent hissed. 

Luis picked up the phone the man had dropped. The cracked screen displayed a young woman. The man snatched it away from him. “My daughter–she’s all alone! We have to find her!” He insisted desperately, getting louder. Leon shoved him against the wall, putting his hand over the man's mouth to quiet him. 

“Alright, I get it!” Leon huffed quietly. “Just keep it down–bioweapons can hear and smell better than they can see.” He instructed. 

Luis wasn't sure he trusted how erratic this man was behaving, plus the coughing fits and what he'd said about gas earlier….normally viruses slowed people down because they were dying from the inside out, but the worst thing about viruses was that they could be modified to crazy levels until it seemed like a new virus entirely. Same with parasites….

The man stared down sadly at the picture on his phone, murmuring his daughter's name. 

Leon sighed. “Alright, let's go find her–quietly.” His eyes met Luis’ and the scientist saw his own mistrust mirrored back at him. He nodded to his husband and they left the room, keeping the civilian between them, gun and electric batons out. 

No matter what they did or how experienced Leon and Luis were at being silent, their steps seemed to echo so loudly when they went back through the kitchens. Luis could tell it grated on Leon because of the way he held his shoulders tense, prepared for anything to jump out at them. Leon was trained to infiltrate and avoid trouble if possible, so losing any of the possibility for stealth always bothered him. 

When they finally made it back to the main room with all the tables and decorations, it was pitch black. The small group stared into it with a building sense of dread. 

“Who turned the lights off?” Luis murmured cautiously. Usually it took at least three days for power and phone lines to go down when cities this big fell to Bioweapons, though they still didn't know anything about this one. 

“Stay sharp and stay together.” Leon ordered. They moved into the room, walking through rows of tables in chairs as best they could with only flashlights. A bright, blinding white light illuminated the room for a moment from the windows along the top of the wall. It made the room seem even darker when it was gone. 

Out of nowhere, one of the chandeliers swung and fell, catching on fire. Leon frowned at it, scrutinizing the broken fixture for any sign of trouble, but all he saw was the low flickering flames. 

“We need to find her….” The man hissed, insistent and anxious. 

“We will, just stay close.” Leon told him, trying to be placating rather than snappy. He was on edge, but this man was clearly unaware of just what kind of trouble they were in. Civilians often didn't know how to react–mainly because despite hearing of the threat of bioterrorism in other countries, they never thought it could happen in the US. Benford had never gotten to expose the government’s involvement with Raccoon City or any other incidents that had occurred within their own country, which just reminded Leon that an ally was dead and that they'd probably lost their chance to expose those secrets the better and less chaotic way, since everyone else was against Benford’s decision. 

He tried not to think about it, focusing instead on the ransacked Hall. He really had no idea how they hadn't heard a peep from outside the room they'd found Benford in, because it definitely wasn't like this when they'd arrived. 

The man sighed. “Thank you.” He called out for his daughter quietly, letting the wide expanse of space in the large rooms echo the call instead of screaming. Smart man. “Please answer, it's Dad, Lizzy!” 

They went upstairs and found the first corpses. Leon sighed. “Wonder how long it'll be till these are on their feet?” He murmured to himself. 

“Depends on the gestation period, but probably soon.” Luis answered. Then he saw Leon's flat expression and gave a sheepish smile. “Oh, that was meant to be rhetorical. Lo siento.” He realized. 

Leon rolled his eyes fondly and went on searching. The man coughed, hunching over. It sounded even worse this time. 

“You alright?” Leon asked cautiously, hand moving inside his jacket where he kept his knife. 

“I will be once we find my daughter.” The man answered, determined. “I called her cell, but we got cut off. I know she's here….somewhere.” He spoke without anything hindering him, and Leon couldn't tell if he was any paler than before thanks to the lack of lighting. There were no dark veins that Leon could see crawling across the man's skin either, but he was wearing a full suit that covered most of him, so that meant pretty much nothing. 

They came across an elevator, which had no power to operate. Leon stared at it in irritation. There was always an elevator that needed to be repaired or have power restored for it to work. 

Luis caught his expression and chuckled. “Always with the elevators, eh?” 

“Maybe we should just do what Ada did and use grappling hooks to get everywhere–it’s a lot faster.” Leon suggested. She may have been troublesome and a pain in Leon's ass, but she had some good moves(wearing stilettos in the field was not one of them, it was actually the reason they'd been able to capture her and toss her in the high security prison she currently resided in–her heel got caught and it gave them enough of an opening to subdue her). 

“If we didn't have a civilian with us, then yes, I think that would be much more convenient.” Luis agreed. “For now, we fix the elevator, like always.”

“Oh don't worry about that, I've got the keys. I work here, you see.” The man said. “Once we're in, we can take my car and get out of here.” 

“Nice, now let's go find Liz.” Leon pushed forward. 

They came to a door with a bloody handprint. Leon pulled his knife, stepping in front of the man and Luis as he pushed it open. The scene that met him was sadly more familiar–blood splattered and pooled everywhere, the room in disarray and corpses on the floor. A young woman jumped out in front of him and he lurched back to keep from accidentally stabbing her once he registered at the last second that she was alive and not trying to rip out his jugular. 

The woman saw them and then collapsed to her knees, panting. She was also covered in blood, and looked exhausted. 

“Liz! Lizzie!” The man ran forward and grabbed the girl, pulling her to him in a tight hug as she struggled to breathe. "Oh, my sweet girl!" 

“D-Dad?” She rasped. “Where are mom and Liam?” 

The man's face morphed into sorrow. “They–they already got out.” He lied. “They're waiting for us at home.” He crouched and pulled her arm around his shoulders, helping her stand. Leon took point in front and Luis brought up the rear, batons out and ready. 

“How do we get out of here? Front door probably isn't a good exit point.” Leon pointed out. 

“The underground parking lot.” The man answered, breathing somewhat labored as he practically carried his daughter. “We’ll take the elevator down–hopefully it still works or we'll have to find a way to get it running.” 

Leon and Luis moved some debris out of their way. 

“I'm glad you guys were here.” The man confessed. “You seem to know what you're doing, and you helped me find my Lizzie.” he gave them an appreciative glance. 

They finally made it back to the elevator, which did, in fact, still work. They pressed the button and the doors closed, settling in relative silence until Liz started coughing even worse than her father had been. 

Leon watched them closely, desperately hoping they were both just coughing from overexertion. How long had it been since the gas the man had mentioned had been spread? None of the corpses had even moved or made a single sound when they'd passed. Was it only meant to kill and not revive? They were in the dark here….

“It's okay Lizzie, you're going to be okay. We just need to get out of here and then you can get cleaned up and we can do some First Aid.” The man told his daughter. He looked up at the two agents expectantly. “Right?” 

“Yes, we can administer First Aid. Just hang in there while we find a safer place to rest.” Luis responded reassuringly. 

“Dad….” The girl wheezed, voice choked. 

Leon's immediate response would normally be to pull his gun and get ready, but he remembered how Ada had pointed her gun at Emma Kendo so many years ago in Raccoon City, while Robert Kendo had pleaded with them to explain how the city had ended up that way, how their lives had been ripped away so easily and so quickly. He'd never forgotten how coldly the woman had regarded the half-dead little girl, who called out for her mother in a pained rasp. 

So he simply waited. He never wanted to be the one that hopeless and betrayed expression was aimed at ever again. 

The girl inhaled sharply, then fell back against the wall, limp in the way she slumped. 

“Liz?” The man shook her shoulder. “Lizzie, please….” He pleaded. The bad feeling in Leon's gut had him tightening his grasp on the knife. 

Luis leaned forward and felt for a pulse in the girl's neck. He must not have found one, because he picked up her wrist to make sure, feeling for a pulse there too. 

The man wailed in despair, hugging his daughter's body to him as he shook. Then he started coughing and hacking too. The light in the elevator flickered and went out. 

Luis cursed out the finicky power in Spanish as Leon tried to recall exactly where the man and his daughter were on the floor. He heard the coughing cease, replaced by choking and a wet gurgling gushing, the metallic scent of blood filling the space. Leon hissed out his own curse, trying to see through the darkness. 

Luis, ever resourceful, clicked on the electric function of his batons. They crackled to life, just in time to illuminate the grey, bloodied face of Liz peering up at them hungrily, her father's body on the floor with his throat ripped out. 

Leon kicked her back with a boot to the chest. She slammed into the doors, growling as she reached for them. Leon forwent his knife and pulled his guns, planting two bullets in her skull. She fell on top of her father. The elevator had resumed moving halfway through the altercation, but the light never came back on. 

Leon sighed, staring down at the bodies. For a moment, they turned into what he'd imagined Robert and Emma looked like after that single gunshot that came after they'd retreated from Leon and Ada. 

A hand found his and he blinked hard to dismiss the memory, looking back up at his husband. 

“Still with me?” Luis asked him quietly.

Leon nodded. “Always. Let's get out of here.” 

Chapter Text

As soon as the elevator touched the ground, they could hear the typical noises of the dead. 

“Oh look at that–they’ve thrown us a welcome party.” Luis noticed. “How nice of them.” 

“They really shouldn't have.” Leon deadpanned sarcastically as he raised both guns. Luis readied himself with his batons, getting into position behind his husband. Leon would cut a path through and Luis would watch his back and take care of any stragglers. They'd gotten good at partnered combat and both men were proud of the results of their training, even if they were always terrified of losing the other in the field. 

The doors dinged open and the dead lurched forth. Leon got to work dispatching them, walking forward. Luis and grabbed the keys from the man they'd tried to rescue, now they just needed to find the car they belonged to. 

One of the dead bumped into a car and set off the alarm, drawing the attention of more infected outside, coming up to slam against the grates keeping them out of the parking garage. They stopped in the security room that still had all the screens of camera footage that was miraculously still running. 

There were two young men in a hallway, one holding up a sign that said ‘help’ and the other waving his arms at the camera. Not a second later, shambling corpses began to fill the hallway, presumably because the men were both yelling by the looks of it. Leon watched as they went down under the crowd of undead, remembering Officer Elliot, and how he'd been close enough back then to make his way into that exact hallway, only to fail to save the man and watch as he was eaten and ripped in half. Having to kick the top half of his corpse away when the man came back as a zombie later that same night. 

“We should retire soon, Amor.” Luis said quietly. Leon looked at him with a raised eyebrow. That was kind of out of nowhere, wasn't it? Luis looked back at him with a pained expression as he brought a hand up to cup Leon's cheek, splattered with blood from killing Liz. “There is only so much progress someone can make when all they do is throw themselves back into the hell they are trying to heal from.” He murmured, placing his forehead against Leon's. “Something has to change, Leon.” Funny he should say what Leon had already been thinking earlier when he’d put Benford down.

Leon considered that. “....When I was in Raccoon City and found out about Umbrella being responsible for all of it, I promised I'd help take them down. And I did, even if the  information about my contribution isn’t public.” He recalled. “But more organizations and bioterrorists just took their place, and it feels like we lost even though we got them shut down and bankrupted.” 

Luis gave him a sympathetic look. “I know, Cariño. But if history has taught us anything, it's that it usually takes a few generations to fix problems as widespread and devastating as Bioterrorism. We have done enough. It's about time to hand it off to the next generation that is training to fight this.” He insisted. “At least think about it, for me?” 

Leon sighed, sounding for all the world like he wanted nothing more than to just stop fighting. “Okay.” 

“Thank you. Now, let's get going.” They left the security room. 

§~•~§~•~§

The car didn't work out, mainly because Leon happened to be the one who got in the driver's seat and they were surrounded by zombies. Luis wasn't even mad, he was too busy laughing at his husband's inability to drive anything bigger than a motorcycle or jet ski. They went back into the building. 

“Okay, he said it was some sort of fog.” Leon recalled. “ If this thing spreads in gas form, then anyone who breathed it in got infected.”

“So, everyone on campus?” Luis guessed. They’d arrived after everyone was already infected 

“Probably, but then why is it so quiet? ” Leon wondered. “I don't like this….”

They entered one of the lecture halls–it was mostly made of wood, which seemed really old fashioned and had to be pretty uncomfortable to sit on for 2 hour lectures.

“Okay, I'm calling Hunnigan, this place is a goddamn maze.” 

“ I said we should call her half an hour ago and you said ‘It’ll be fine, I'm good with directions. ’” Luis mocked him. “Good with directions my ass! When have you ever found your way out of anything without a map or someone who knows their way around?” 

“Hey, I found my way out of Raccoon City just fine! ” Leon protested. 

“Didn't you have maps?” Luis pointed out. 

“Only for the police station and N.E.S.T., and the one for the lab was confusing as hell. There was no map for the city or the sewers I had to walk around in to get to the lab.” Leon shuddered at the memory. “Would've been great to know if there was another way to get there, the gunshot wound in my shoulder got infected pretty badly….” 

“Sounds fun, now call Hunnigan and admit we' are lost.” Luis snickered. 

Leon made a face at him as he took out his communicator. 

“Hunnigan, you read me?” 

“Did you make it out of the city already?” She sounded surprised. 

Leon fucking wished it were that easy and quick. “Negative, we didn't even make it off of campus yet.” 

“I see. I'm assuming the main entrance is not an option. Let me pull up the blueprints for the building you're in.” He heard the sound of her fingers tapping the keys. “Pkay, you need to get to the security gate at the south exit, it will lead you off campus.” 

“And that would be….?” Leon prompted.

Hunnigan was definitely trying not to laugh. “You're not far from it–it’s a couple hallways down to your left.” She guided them. “It'll be isolated down a long hallway, so you should be able to shut out any infected if you need to make a quick getaway.” 

“Got it, thanks Hunnigan. Over and Out.” 

“Sending you the security code now. Good luck, guys. Over and out.” 

They made their way to said door, the infected thankfully not many in number and easy to take out. It didn't open when Leon pressed the code in, instead blaring a loud alarm and drawing all the infected outside towards them. 

“Okay, you know what–” Leon forwent asking Hunnigan to work her tech magic and instead raised both handguns and just blasted the goddamn lock. He didn't have the patience to go through a bunch of goddamn puzzles to find a key card or whatever and they didn't have the time to wait for Hunnigan to handle it either, they were getting swarmed . 

Leon kicked the door in, waiting for Luis to bash the heads that poked through the doorway before he could close it back to shove it shut. Luis dragged a filing cabinet in front of the door as the dead beat on it in an effort to each the couple. 

The room was dark, only dimly illuminated by two vending machines. There was a large bookshelf and another filing cabinet, and a door at the back of the room. 

That door led to a room with more bookshelves and a large table. They went through at least two more doors, taking out infected as they went. Finally, they made it outside. It was nighttime and dark out, rain coming down to soak through their clothes. 

Leon groaned. “Why is it always raining whenever shit happens to us?” 

“I don't know, but it adds to the mysteriousness of it.” Luis shrugged, taking the rain in stride. They had to kill more infected, but at least there was more space to dodge and run around as they did so. They rolled the parking garage gate up some, but set off the metal detectors because of course they did. “Rain and trekking through sewage seems to be a thing with you.” 

They located yet another car, which was ironically a police cruiser–yet again a similarity to Raccoon City. Leon turned the lights off first and yet again got into the driver's seat. 

“No, we already established that you cannot drive cars!” Luis refused to get in, crossing his arms. 

“Aw come on, Babe, I do my best driving when we need to get away!” Leon tried for a charming smile. “And there's also a couple infected behind you and more coming.”

Luis muttered unhappily as he got into the passenger seat of the cruiser. He did finally get an answer to the question he'd asked his husband years ago–did Leon know how to hotwire? 

The answer was yes, and he cursed Leon out in rapid-fire Spanish as they went hurtling down the street at speeds that felt like they were previously unknown to man. 

“Well, we made it off campus!” Leon said cheerfully. “Now we just need to get out of town, without dying and hopefully in a vehicle–I hate traveling through infected cities on foot.” At that moment, a BOW hung over the driver's side window, apparently having gotten on top of the car somehow. 

“ Mi Amor , you are a walking curse.” Luis told him. “Maybe you should just not talk on missions, eh?” He suggested as he aimed his sidearm at the window. Leon quickly rolled it down and leaned back in his seat. It never failed to amaze Luis how much his husband trusted him. 

“Well yeah, my life has been pretty unlucky, but I met you and we've made it through everything together, so it can't be that bad!” Leon countered. 

“Have you considered that maybe you used up all of your good luck saving me?” Luis wondered, taking the shot. He got the bastard dead in the head and it slid off. 

Unfortunately, it fell directly under the front wheels and Leon jerked the steering wheel to the side to roll the car rather than running them head on into a thick tree. He may have had shit driving skills, but he had great situational awareness. Luis thankfully managed to flick the safety back into his gun right before they flipped, so there was no accidental gunfire. 

They crawled out of the wreck, groaning. The car managed to hit two other cars and Luis smelled the unmistakable scent of gas leaking just a s he caught sight of another car's engine catching fire, so an explosion was imminent. 

“Get down!” He shoved Leon back to the ground just as the three cars exploded outwards, tossing shrapnel and pieces of tree everywhere. The aforementioned tree fell into the burning wreckage, giving it more fuel and also triggering a second gas tank explosion. It really was spectacular. It didn't feel very spectacular, though. Luis hissed as he pulled a shard of bark out of his left bicep. It didn't go very deep and he still had a full range of movement, so it wouldn't harm his ability to have Leon’s back any. 

Leon himself got a piece of twisted metal stuck in his right calf, but it was about the same size as Luis' shard, so he just pulled it out with a grimace and a grunt before standing back up and helping Luis to his feet as well. 

“Leon, Luis, are you two alright?!” Hunnigan’s voice cried frantically over comms. 

“We are alive.” Luis answered. “Any chance the roads are clear enough to find another vehicle and keep driving?” He asked hopefully. 

“No can do. There are pile-ups all over and the roads are mostly clogged.” She informed him. “It'd be more efficient to find a flying vehicle if you could….”

“Yeah, that's not happening.” Leon cut in. “Neither of us know how to fly anything.” 

“I did suggest pilot training for you when you were at boot camp, but you refused.” Hunnigan reminded the blonde. 

He ignored the callback. “So we're traveling on foot?” He guessed. 

“The sewers are looking like your best bet.”  Hunnigan said the dreaded words Leon was really hoping she wouldn't. God was dead and there was really no hope of Leon escaping the dreaded strategy of traveling through piss and shit. “If you just keep moving North for a while, you should be able to get to the edge of the city and walk over land from there. I'll see about transportation at that point.” 

“You got it. Well update if anything big happens, but comms might not reach down there.” Luis answered. “Over and out.”

“Stay safe out there. Over and out."

Leon glared at the nearby manhole in the road. He was not pouting. Leon did not pout. He simply glared. Or scowled. Or sneered. Pouting was for the immature. 

“It's in the job description.” Luis shrugged. “Stop pouting and come on, I want to get out of this rain before we get hypothermia.” 

“I am not pouting!” Leon immediately protested. “And we really need to clean and wrap up these wounds first.” He'd literally just talked about how his gunshot wound had gotten infected thanks to tromping around in the seers of Raccoon City like fifteen minutes ago, too. Maybe Leon was cursed….

“Good idea. Come,” Luis led him over to the awning of a nearby store where they were temporarily shielded from the downpour.

“Now that would improve my day a lot.” Leon commented with a sideways grin. Luis swatted his shoulder affectionately as he took out his medical supplies and cleaned out both of their wounds, wrapping them up. And, because he'd learned his lesson after too many times getting stuck in the raincloud that seemed to follow his husband around on missions in cities, he also wrapped them in plastic wrap with a small roll he carried around. 

Then they dropped into the sewers.

Chapter Text

To make a long story short–escaping the city was absolute hell. 

Leon wished he could say that the smell of piss, shit, and death wasn't familiar to him, but that would be a lie.   

Leon had been doing this for fifteen years and Luis had been doing it for even longer since Las Plagas was already taking hold of his home village all the way back when he was born. They were tired and definitely getting Too Old For This Shit(literally). 

They still had plenty of life left to live, but Luis didn't want to spend it this way, and he knew Leon didn't either, but Leon had a much harder time making life-changing decisions than Luis did. Retiring, at least from field work, left Leon at a loss on what he would even do . He'd spent most of his life involved in Bioterrorism, and literally all of his friends were also involved in Bioterrorism, and Leon was one of the best field operatives out there. Most of his skills were for handling bioweapons or just generally being an agent of the government. He didn't know how to exist without being involved in all the action. But Luis was sure that if Leon could learn how to let someone love and take care of him after having no one to do so before, he could learn how to just live his life without being in constant danger. They could make it work, they always did. 

Zombified dogs came to bite at their legs once they got out of the sewers and somehow into underground train tracks, but Luis batted them away with his batons and Leon dispatched them with headshots. They mostly ran a lot after that, dodging BOWs and trains, then they found themselves in what resembled a train station and kept running. Luis was just glad he'd trained to keep his stamina up–he and Leon spent a lot of time running. Sometimes from things, other times because they were limited on time. They passed a map, which told them they were still going the right direction and should be getting out of the station soon. They made it to the shutter, opened it, and ran up the staircase and onto the main floor of the station, just one level below ground. 

“Hunnigan, you read me?” Leon hailed his handler. 

“Good to hear from you. The city's not looking good. I think it's escalating to Racoon City levels of bad–it’s everywhere , Leon.” She informed him grimly. 

He muttered a curse. “Has anyone started working on a cure or am I supposed to start looking for a secret Umbrella lab for a serum before we leave?” He was only half kidding. 

“You two are the only agents we have on the ground, our boss is de– gone , most of our other Agents are on missions right now, and Simmons still won't let us call anyone for help.” Hunnigan reported. “You're on your own in that regard, but I can try to get S.W.A.T. down there. It will take some time for any help to arrive. I would advise you get out now and come back later with better equipment and supplies.”

“What’s the point of being allowed to call for backup now when there is no backup?!” Leon demanded.

“You two will have to cross the rest of town overland to get out unless you want to come out with the sewage. Keep your lines open in case you run into trouble. Over and out.” Hunnigan told them regretfully, clicking off her part of the communication.

They continued on their way to escape Tall Oaks. 

§~•~§~•~§

Leon understood what Hunnigan meant by almost Raccoon City levels of bad–there were still enough living people left to be flying down the roads and crashing into other vehicles and BOWs. Leon narrowly avoided a car that came speeding down the street, diving to the side. 

He and Luis had to fight off firefighter zombies, which was difficult because they had to deal with the gear giving the undead extra protection. They had to get up close and personal, which Leon hated. Luis was capable, but he still didn't have Leon's training. Leon could manhandle the undead and shove a knife through the underside of their jaws to put them down, but Luis was slimmer and didn't quite have the skill of throwing his body weight around the way Leon could. He thankfully made up for it with the way he absolutely bashed their helmets in with surprising strength and his batons. 

They spotted a man trapped under a car and managed to push it back, but it was for naught as someone on a motorcycle rammed directly into them and sent them tumbling over the hoods of other cars, and also crushed the skull of the man on the ground with his wheels. 

“Jesus Christ, is this what it looked like back then?!” Leon wondered in astonishment. He'd only seen everything after almost everyone was dead and no one risked going outside if they were alive. “No wonder everybody died, this is a goddamn circus! ” Then again, everyone who tried to escape Raccoon City was promptly executed by Umbrella’s paid militia. Leon wondered if there was anyone containing the outbreaks at the exits to Tall Oaks, but Hunnigan had said it would take a while for S.W.A.T. to reach them, so he had a feeling the answer was no. He didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing, honestly. On one hand, this needed to be contained so it didn’t spread. On the other, keeping civilians inside with the infected ensured the deaths of the remaining living people in the city. It was a lose-lose situation. 

There were fires everywhere from crashed vehicle pileups, the undead were on a feeding frenzy with civilians and half of them didn't even notice Leon and Luis as they snuck by. Some of the undead just walked around spreading fire from their burning bodies and chasing after civilians stupid to understand the need for stealth in a time like this. 

They cut through an alleyway and Luis spotted an emergency exit ladder. Leon boosted him up on his shoulders to pull the ladder down and they went up onto the roof to survey the area. It was just total chaos. Crowds of undead followed flaming cars hydroplaning on the wet streets, like little biting comets following out-of-control meteors. They snatched up any living thing and ripped into it and sometimes set it on fire as well. The whole thing could only be classified as a shitshow.

“Let's just try to stick to rooftops and fire escapes, it is safer to avoid all that mess.” Luis decided. It probably wasn't good that they were both desensitized to everything happening, but neither said a word about it. They kept moving, only venturing into the back alleys or onto main streets whenever it was absolutely necessary, dodging flaming infected and living people alike. They broke into a couple empty stores that had useful supplies in them, plus free snacks and drinks, so that was a bonus. 

They went to go down a side street, but someone reversed all the way down it recklessly and then crashed right at the entrance, drawing attention from all the infected nearby and also blowing everything up, effectively making things worse . Leon went for a building across the street and almost got fucking thundercunted into the air by a wayward ambulance that crashed and burned. 

Both Leon and Luis let out some very colorful curses and made it across the street. They had to lockpick their way into a shady-looking bar, though it was missing all of the morally ambiguous people that probably inhabited it. 

“Care for a drink, Cariño? ” Luis offered, sauntering over to the bar and looking at the half-full bottles of everything behind the counter before selecting a single malt scotch and grabbing two glasses. Leon went to protest, but gave up on it and simply sighed, making his way over to lean on the bar from the patrons’ side. Luis slid a glass to him and poured just a little more than what was usually socially acceptable to consume at one time in public. 

“No fancy ice?” Leon inquired in mock-disappointment. 

“Nope, sorry Señor. It's lukewarm or nothing.” Luis told him with mock-seriousness, grinning at the grimace Leon produced at the title. He always said he felt old when Luis called him that, which was endlessly entertaining to the Spaniard.

“I have a better idea.” Leon told him, standing up straight to lean farther over the counter. He grabbed Luis by his jacket collar and pulled him close to meet halfway over the bar. 

Then he turned his head to the side to take a long drink before turning back to face Luis and connecting their lips. Luis opened his mouth and moaned like a whore as the alcohol hit his tongue and trickled to the back of his throat. He swallowed. 

Leon pulled away. “Good boy.” He murmured with a smirk. He took Luis' glass and downed it quickly, standing back up and checking his guns and combat knife. 

Luis groaned. “You are such a tease!” He cried accusingly. 

“That's me!” Leon responded, sounding quite pleased with himself. “And you can't escape, because you put a ring on it!” He wiggled the fingers on his left hand in the dim light of the window with a victorious grin. Luis figured he'd really needed and appreciated the short break. He grinned at his husband and leaned in to steal a short kiss before checking his own weapons and supplies. 

They plunged back into the darkness of the night. 

§~•~§~•~§

They traversed the city across rooftops, fire escapes, and sometimes through the top floors of buildings. 

While crossing to a new building via Fire Escape because the space between was too wide for them to jump across from the roof, they ran into an alleyway taken up by some kind of variant that had a massive throat pouch like a frog. As they watched, the throat sac filled with air and the BOW screeched in a shrill, painful sound, calling all the other undead nearby to the scene. 

“Did that thing just call for help?! ” Luis cried as they dodged and waved between zombies through a hallway. Leon ducked under one that was hanging from the ceiling, thinking it was just stuck there, but it actively tried to grab him! He noticed others slapping at and grabbing for Luis as well and pulled his husband away just in time. These were different from normal generic BOWs–they had more coordination to their movements and were able to put more effort into capturing victims, which was more like Ganados than anything. 

They ventured back outside only to almost get flattened by yet another ambulance that crashed into a building and exploded. There was a small group of survivors being cornered against a gas station door by the dead. Leon and Luis tried to at least thin the herd some, but they just kept coming , and there was another one of the variants that screamed to its fellow infected, as if summoning them for a buffet. 

They found a small group of survivors desperately trying to fend off BOWs surrounding them. The young police officer there suggested they hole up in the gun shop not far from there to find better weapons and more ammo, so Leon and Luis joined the small group and defended the gun shop with them for a while. They were pushed back and then up to the second floor, then the roof as more BOEs ripped their way into the gun shop. Leon and Luis could have left and gone their separate way on foot, but neither of them wanted to leave these people behind. BOWs were coming at them from other rooftops, and some of them just kept mutating. One of the civilians almost fell off the roof and Leon and Luis had to draw the mutated ones away while the others pulled the poor man back up. 

Finally , their luck turned up and a man with a truly blessed soul pulled up in a school bus, shouting for them to jump for it and get inside through the roof hatch. They all rushed into it and the driver floored it as soon as the hatch was shut again, managing to find a way out of the city and outrunning the BOWs. 

They learned that the city wasn't locked down because they barreled through the streets and out of the city in no time. It helped that the driver knew the roads like the back of his hand–they had to backtrack a few times because of blocked roads. Props to him for not crashing the bus, honestly. 

Leon's communicator rang and he and Luis exchanged a look before sitting in the seat behind the driver and crossing around the device, keeping the volume low. They both knew whatever need Hunnigan had for them wouldn't be good and they didn't need the civilians panicking. 

“Is now a good time?” Hunnigan asked when Leon answered the call. 

“As good a time as any–we’ve made it out of the city on a bus with a few survivors.” Luis answered. 

“Good. The weather still hasn't let up, so you need to find somewhere to lay low for a while. Is there any place like that?” She asked next. 

Leon stood and walked up to the driver, leaning on the seat. “Hey, where are we headed?” 

“Tall Oaks Cathedral. No one goes there anymore, but it's still in decent shape.” The man told him. “My Pa was the groundskeeper.” 

“Good to know.” Leon sat back with Luis. “Tall Oaks Cathedral. Driver says it's still up kept even if no one goes there anymore.” 

“Good, old cathedrals like that were built durable. You should be able to wait this whole thing out until we can send someone to get you and those civilians.” 

“We could've already been out of here if someone would call the BSAA.” Luis grumbled, Leon nodding in agreement. 

Hunnigan sighed. “Simmons has an eagle eye on everyone here.” She muttered lowly so as not to call said Director's attention. “We're not even allowed to use the bathroom without someone following us.” 

“So I guess that tells us everything we need to know, doesn't it?” Leon scowled. “I'm calling Chris.” 

“Just be careful, you two. If you can find another way out of there on your own, take it.” She advised. “The storm doesn't look like it'll end for a while and we've already waited too long to call the BSAA in. SWAT doesn't know the proper way to handle this mess–90% of the population in Tall Oaks has been infected.” 

Leon and Luis sat in silence for a long moment, listening to the rain pelt the windows of the bus and feeling the gusts of wind rock the chassis. 

“We should've called the BSAA as soon as things started going bad.” Leon said somberly. Luis grasped his hand and squeezed it in comfort. “There was no one who knew how to deal with Raccoon City, but we have measures in place for this exact scenario now!” 

“I know.” Hunnigan sounded just as guilty and devastated. “I'll call them once I'm off the line with you, this job be damned.” 

“Hunnigan–” 

“No, Leon.” She stopped him. “I've spent years sitting back and watching horrible things happen. I watched you come back from missions in pieces, and then I watched you find someone who could keep you together. It's already too late for most of the people in that city, but there is still the 10%. I won't fail them, or you.” 

Neither of them knew what to say to that. Hunnigan was always a passive presence in their lives. She followed orders and expressed concern if she knew she could get away with it. She did her job how she was trained to. But, Leon supposed, maybe his influence of doing what he thought was right instead doing what he was told was rubbing off on her after over a decade of this job. 

“There's one more thing I need to tell you,” Hunnigan spoke up once more. “An organization calling themselves ‘Neo-Umbrella’ just claimed responsibility for this attack.” 

“So that's who Simmons is in league with.” Luis put together. “Go figure. Everything comes back from the dead, including organizations.” He huffed.

“I'm sorry, Leon. I remember how hard you worked to get all of those documents and capture all of the runaways to testify in court so we could take down Umbrella.” Hunnigan apologized. “They reformed right under our noses.” 

“It's not your fault.” Leon shook his head with a sigh. “We did it once, we can do it again.” He glanced up and saw the Cathedral rising from the hills in the rain and wind. “We're almost to the cathedral.”

“Good luck, and don't get caught.” Luis wished her well. 

“Same to you. I'll try to keep contact with you. Out here.” 

They say in the bus seat together in silence after that. The only warmth was each other and they pressed together to preserve it, hands tightly clasped. Leon's head lay on his husband's shoulder as they watched the raindrops slide down the windows and trees pass in the darkness. 

“What if we never–” 

“Don't do that.” Luis stopped him in his tracks. “We will hear from her again. She will be fine.” 

“Okay.” Leon didn't want to think about any other possibility. He tried calling Chris from his communicator, but the man didn't answer. It was his personal number, but still. Luis tried with his own communicator and got the same result. He must have been on a mission. 

“Oh shit, everybody brace yourselves!” The driver called to everyone in the bus. Leon looked out the windshield and saw a few BOWs blocking the road. He didn't have time to warn the driver against it before the bus was trundling over the bodies, rocking the vehicle and throwing it off balance. With the heavy downpour, the wheels lost their traction and suddenly they were hydroplaning sideways. 

The road was too narrow for that and each set of wheels was in the dirt, thankfully stopping them mid-spin. Unfortunately, their bad luck returned and BOWs surrounded them. Though, it wasn't the normal kind–no, it was birds, crows. They were infected and flying at every window. It didn't take them long to shatter each one, plus the windshield and back windows, and start tearing at the civilians. 

“Duck and cover!” Leon called to them, but it was useless. They were too busy panicking, they didn't know what to do. They stumbled around the limited space and fell under the onslaught, getting picked to shreds. The driver had already lost his eyes and was making gurgling sounds from where his throat had been ripped open. Leon and Luis didn't escape the attack unscathed either–their clothes were getting sliced open by sharp beaks and they covered their heads, hands getting nipped at and slashed by sharp talons. It hurt like hell–the feeling was akin to being cut by a newly sharpened pizza slicer, but everywhere . Leon's vest was so torn that it fell off and he was left with just his dress shirt, which would meet the same fate if they didn't do something. 

But what was there to do? All Leon could hear was screaming and cawing and screeching and wind and rain–

“We have to get out of here!” Luis shouted to him over the noise, but Leon barely heard him, he was too lost in the chaos. 

Warm hands cradled his face, settling over his ears and muddling the sound enough so Leon could only hear his own rabbiting heartbeat. He looked at his husband, who, despite being in pain, looked as calm as someone could in this situation. The hair tie had fallen out at some point and his hair fell around his face in dark waves. His hazel-green eyes were focused on Leon's. When he spoke, Leon couldn't hear him, but he could read his lips. 

“We have to get away.” 

“But–”

“There is no one left but us. We need to go.” Luis insisted. 

Luis Serra, the man that you are….

Leon nodded and they crawled for it, but they didn't even make it out of the bus before it lurched, rocking on the edge of the road. The driver had turned and his thrashing was pressing the gas pedal repeatedly. Leon could get his knife into the man's skull in time to stop him and the bus plunged over the edge. 

They rolled violently and the only two people left alive in the bus tumbled, tossed from side to side as they tried to find something to hold onto and tried to reach each other. The now-BOWs reached for them too, but most of them were busted up and unable to move by the time the bus crunched to a stop on its side. The engine was smoking and burst into flames as Leon and Luis struggled to exit the vehicle through the top hatch. Luis crawled out first and ended up just dragging Leon out with him. They didn't even get to their feet to escape, just crawled as far away as they could, leaning against a tree with harsh breaths as painful shivers wracked their frames while the rain soaked them and the wind chilled them. 

The bus blew up, though the heavy rain put out the fire quickly and then it was just them in the darkness and cold.

Chapter Text

“They escaped the city….just to die like that….” Leon rasped from where he sat against the tree. They were huddled together under the tree, though the leaves did little to protect them from the rain. They were both aching and bleeding, so they just took a moment to gather their energy. Hunnigan said she'd call the BSAA in, so their job was done, for now. They just needed to get to safety. Leon peered through the trees, squinting at the tall architecture of the cathedral, only lit up by the occasional strike of lightning. If they could just make it there, everything would be fine. 

Leon had no idea how neither of them had broken anything, though they'd definitely have a fuckton of bruises and the cuts from the birds were no joke. They needed to take care of those. 

“Come on,” Leon sat up with effort and used the tree to stand, hauling Luis to his feet. “We need to get to the Cathedral and make sure we don't get infected.” 

Luis only nodded, too tired to say much. They stumbled through the forest for what felt like a lifetime. Eventually, they did get to the cemetery outside of the cathedral. 

They stumbled through the macabre rows of dirt plots, leaning on each other for stability and warmth as the storm battered them the same way it battered the trees and headstones and mausoleums. 

Leon blinked the rain out of his eyes, watching stone angels and crosses pass by, guardians of the long departed. It reminded him of something that wasn't related to Bioterrorism for once–his mother. It'd been so long since he'd visited her. Too long. She'd spent years without having a proper headstone since there was no one to pay for it and Leon had been so little when he'd lost her. When he'd started working for the government, the first thing he did with his paychecks was get his mother a headstone. Hers was intricate, a guardian just like the ones he was passing. He'd chosen Saint Agnes, the Patron Saint of Girls. Because that was what his mother had been when she'd been suckered by his father and made to have his child–just a girl. 

Tears may have slipped down his cheeks at the thought, but who would know with the rain so heavy? Luis was doing his best to keep the Cathedral within his sight so they didn't get lost among the dead. 

Leon wondered if his husband was also thinking of his own mother. She'd had a grave, with a headstone made by his grandfather. It was behind their house, because the villagers had ostracized their family and Luis' grandfather hadn't wanted anyone vandalizing his daughter's resting place. It took him hours of labor to make that headstone, and though it wasn't a beautiful statue like the one Leon had commissioned for his own mother, he knew that it was made with love and pain. 

“It's been a long time since I've been to a place like this.” Luis said into the sound of the storm around them. It was calming a bit, with the thunder and lightning beginning to wane in strength. 

“Me too.” Leon said eventually. “I won't stay in this country anymore after this, but there's still something I need to do before we go.” He knew Luis agreed with him–after all, he'd wanted to leave America for years. Leon should've listened. They wouldn't be in this situation if he had. 

“What is it?” The Spaniard wondered, readjusting his grip on the shorter man.

“I need to say goodbye to my mother.” Leon answered. “It's been too long.” The church doors were in sight and it gave them the energy to stagger up those stairs until they got to the giant doors. 

“It will be the last thing we do here.” Luis agreed. They pushed the doors open with an effort that made them both groan at the ache in their muscles and the doors opened with an ominous creak. 

They didn't even look around and simply collapsed on a couple of pews. The cushion was worn and a little raggedy, but still provided a bit of softness. They were both shivering violently. The blood had stopped flowing, but their clothes were in rough shape and the rain had trailed long streaks of watered-down blood over the fabric. 

“Mine kind of blends in….” Luis noticed, his maroon shirt sticking to him. He looked around the room. “It looks like there is a lot of old wooden furniture in here.” He pointed out helpfully. “We should make a fire and try to dry off.” 

Leon agreed, standing to retrieve said furniture “We need to call Hunnigan and tell her we're safe.” He added. 

“After we get warm.” Luis wrapped an arm around him. “You're freezing, mi Amor. ” 

“I'm always freezing.” Leon snorted. They got up to look around and find what was easiest to use for a fire. They didn't even get to picking a spot for their fire when Luis placed a figurine of a saint back on its pedestal from where it has been knocked over(he cared about those things despite not being religious, said it was about respect) and the Statue of Mother Mary shifted in place, rising to reveal the top of a doorway. Woah, deja vú. This was…..kind of uncanny, how similar it was to Raccoon City, actually. Was there a way this wasn't a coincidence? It couldn't be, right?

Leon didn't mention his new theory and instead looked around for another pedestal missing a statuette. There was one other across the stage and Leon picked up the fallen figurine, examining it. It was dusty, but there were blobs of disturbed dust, where someone's fingers had been to pick it up. Leon placed it on its pedestal and the Mother Mary Statue opened up the rest of the way, revealing a descending stone stairway. 

A familiar smell wafted up from the staircase and Leon was immediately on edge–it was the sickly sweetness that BOWs tended to carry with them. The slimy rot and death smell he wished he wasn't so used to. 

From the way Luis looked at him, he'd recognized it too. 

“I don't suppose there's any chance we could just knock those figurines back over and leave this for someone else to deal with?” He tried. 

Leon shook his head. “It'll take too long for someone else to be available to handle this.” He told his husband. “They have to deal with the City Outbreak first and that's gonna be hell already.” 

“Yes, but why do we have to deal with this?” Luis asked again. Leon understood why he'd rather leave it to someone else–they were both tired, hungry, and stuck in this abandoned old place with no help coming until the storm ended. But his conscience wouldn't let him just leave this be. 

“I don't wanna go down there and deal with it any more than you do, but what if other civilians make it out of the city and come to hide out here?” Leon pointed out his main concern. Luis scowled, but only because he knew Leon had a point.  

The Spaniard sighed. “Fine, we can go and see what's down there, but we're taking care of these cuts first.” He led the blonde to a pew and got out what they had left of their First Aid Supplies. “And we really should try to warm up, too.” 

“We will–by walking around.” Leon said, trying for positivity, though from his partner's flat look, he didn't succeed. He ducked his head, feeling guilty for dragging his husband along with him. “Sorry, Luis, I–” 

“No no, don't apologize, I'm just–” Luis sighed, raking a hand through his wet hair and pushing it out of his face in frustration. “This whole situation is ridiculous . We finally get recognized and have all the benefits we should have had from the beginning, but we actually don't get them and they're completely useless to us, because of the fucking weather. ” Luis shook his head, unbuttoning Leon's shirt and pushing it off of his shoulders to disinfect the deepest gashes from the birds and the cashing bus. 

“I know.” Leon hissed quietly at the sting in one of the gashes. “All that bullshit about treating us better and us having more utilities at our disposal just for them to whine over some rain and wind.” Maybe he was being unfair, but he'd dealt with this kind of weather on several missions by himself and he'd had no problem using vehicles to get places in it. Seriously, even if they could send a chopper, there had to be a ground unit to send, didn't there?

Luis huffed. “Whatever. It is what it is. Let's call Hunnigan.” He decided, hailing the woman on his communicator. They got nervous when she didn't pick up on the first two rings, but she did eventually answer. 

“Thank God! Are you two alright?!” She cried, voice kept low. 

“We're okay. How about you?” Leon countered. 

“I called in the BSAA. As soon as Simmons found out, he started demanding everyone turn in their devices and giving contact with their Agents.” She admitted in dismay. “We scattered.” 

“Are you safe?” Luis wondered in concern. 

“I'm safe enough for now.” The woman answered. “It had to be done and it should have been done sooner. Any news on your end?” 

“We made it to the cathedral, but there's something going on with this place–it has a secret staircase and it smells like BOWs.” 

Hunnigan groaned. “Of course it does. You two can never catch a break, huh?” 

“That's what I'm saying!” Luis complained. “Stay safe, we will update you once we learn more.” 

“Okay. I'm going to try to dig up info on Simmons.” Hunnigan informed them. “Stay safe and stay alive, you two. Out here.” She ended the communication. 

Luis finished up on Leon's cuts and took off his own shirt for his turn. It was chilly and goosebumps rose across their skin. Leon patched up his husband and they sat there for a moment before putting their torn shirts back on and heading down the stairs. 

§~•~§~•~§

They were immediately faced with a new variant of this new virus–it had various large openings across its bulbous body, and whenever Leon or Luis got close to it, it sprayed out a blue mist. It clicked immediately for Leon what that man from earlier had been talking about–there must have been more of whatever this thing was spreading the virus in the city. And it had spread so fast because it was in a gaseous form. 

He and Luis had to be careful, dancing around and playing cat and mouse. One of them would distract it while the other would take shots at it, trying to find a weak spot. Eventually, Luis got a direct shot into its face, or what was meant to be its face and it shrieked, collapsing with a final gust of the virus from those openings. 

“Okay, is it just me or do those look like–” 

“Don't say it.” Leon cut him off, shaking his head. He spotted something red clutched in the creature's hand and tried it loose–it was a key card to something. 

“I wish I believed God was looking out for us right now, but I think we're on our own….” Luis said, looking at the key card. 

Leon couldn't argue with that. Instead, he pushed through the ornate double doors at the end of the hall they were in and it led to a wide, grimy room that had machinery installed. The machinery was definitely looked after and still nice and shiny. Cells had been dug out of the stone walls, with sliding doors installed to presumably keep things locked in. Leon looked over the panel on the raised platform in contemplation. There were only three numbers to press, but there were still a few possibilities for the combination that would make the gate at the back of the room slide up to let them through. He pressed the numbers carefully, but the first two attempts released whatever was in the cells–a normal BOW at first, but then came one of those Screeching Variants–the one that inflated it's throat to call more to itself. The sound was still painfully shrill in their ears and Luis put an end to it with a bullet to the throat, then the skull. Leon dispatched the regular one with his knife and tried the last combo, which of course let them through. Go figure. 

They went through several other rooms that were designed much the same with the exact same system. It was a real pain in the ass, but they were getting somewhere –Leon just didn't know where. He did want to know what this key card was for and why they were BOWs down here locked up in cells. That had to be intentional, right? 

Whatever the case, both of their ears were ringing by the third round of Screechers. 

“We might need hearing aids after this!” Luis shouted to him, kicking away a normal BOW. 

“What?!” Leon cried. He genuinely handy heard what his partner said, but Luis apparently thought he was being funny because he gave Leon a Look. The blonde threw his hands up in a “ what did I do? ” motion and Luis just shook his head. Oh well. 

They made it to a set of much more refined cells, with a large one containing a puddle and a single knocked-over chair with scraps of rope tied around it. Someone has been held captive here, that much was certain. Was this the birthplace of whatever this virus was? Why else would all these new variants be down here and trapped in cells? Was the attack on the city planned right here in this place? 

They moved down a long hall of more cells, The walls of these were much more refined and smooth. And finally, they came upon a room with BOW's in grimy lab coats. 

Leon was expecting it, but it didn't piss him off any less. They dispatched the white coats and entered the next room–it had tanks filled with liquid, with creatures floating in them. The typical evil scientist shit, really. Leon and Luis both started looking around for any information they could find–reports, emails, maybe a journal. 

Turned out, this new strain was called the C-Virus, and it was a combination of the T-Veronica Virus and the G-Virus. There was a tape labeled C-Virus Experiment 12245 and a VHS player hooked up to a small TV. They put the tape on and watched–some poor woman was injected with the virus and she didn't even have time to register it or panic, because a human-sized chrysalis formed around her. That must have been why it was called the Chrysalid Virus. They skipped through all the time spent just watching the thing not move at all and stopped when it started shifting. The woman burst out of it a monster with glossy skin and some kind of appendages sticking out of her back. She was taller and more muscled than she had been before she turned. She immediately began attacking the glass that was in front of the camera and whoever was recording and the tape stopped there. 

They read the reports they found, though most were top soaked in blood to read. What they could gather was that this virus was supposed to be used for cloning, which was why it turned out so many variants. It was meant to alter the physical appearance of someone, but it could only work if their genetic makeup was close to whoever was being cloned. It was a very specific process. 

“This is not the way I would have tried cloning.” Luis huffed, tossing the paper in his hands back down onto the desk. “It's disgusting, to take a person and force them to be another. The psychological damage alone would make this project absolutely useless.” 

“Well clearly, they found another use for it.” Leon gestured to the lab around them. “Neo-Umbrella…. how did they reform right under our noses?” 

“We can figure that out later.” Luis said. “For now, we need to find more information.” He and Leon scanned the reports that were legible on their communication devices and went deeper into the Lab/prison. 

More creatures in tanks were placed around, but none of them tried to jump out and kill the two, so that was nice, though Leon wasn't holding his breath for things to stay that way. Their luck was always shitty.

A couple puzzles and more BOWS later, they were finally learning how the new virus monsters worked and had an easier time killing them. The structure of the lab was very strange– The combination of using the cave walls around them and also having industrial-style support beams and grates. What was it with umbrella scientists and their cave-labs? And how old was this one? Clearly, the entrance to it had been built into the cathedral, so he supposed it had been around as long as the cathedral had. 

They found an elevator that could take them deeper, but unfortunately, It was full of BOWs when they pulled down the levers to have it come up for them. It was getting tiring having to deal with the different variants. Leon actually found himself longing for the G-Virus BOWs in Raccoon City–simpler times. 

The elevator, when they finally got into it, took them down to a half-flooded mineshaft, which then reminded Leon of Valdelobos. 

“Jesus, it's like all my nightmares combined into one.” Leon grumbled. 

“I feel that.” Luis looked around at the cave walls and Leon could tell he was thinking of the same thing. 

They came out to a wide cavern with a waterfall. The strangest part was a young woman laying on the wet stone in the center of the cavern. She looked similar to the woman from the tape before she'd been turned, though she looked a little younger. 

The two men exchanged a look and ran to her. Luis checked her vitals–they were mostly stable, though her heart rate was a little irregular. 

Leon splashed some water on her face to wake her up. She spluttered and gasped, bolting upright with a cough. 

“Woah, hey, it's alright.” Leon soothed, placing a hand on her back to steady her as she breathed deeply, looking around. “Can you tell us your name, and how you got down here?” 

“D-Deborah?” The woman uttered, voice raspy and weak. 

“Your name is Deborah?” Leon repeated. 

“No, no, I'm Helena.” The woman corrected, still looking confused. “My sister…. where's Deborah?”

Leon and Luis exchanged a glance. Well, they now knew the name of the woman on the tape, unless there were three sisters trapped down here, which would be even worse. 

“We're not sure.” Luis responded to the disoriented woman. “Do you know how you got down here?” 

She looked between them, noticed their attire and weapons, then pulled away from Leon suddenly. “I'm, I-I won't say anything, I promise! ” She started shaking when Leon stepped closer. “Please, I promise I won’t tell anyone, you said you would let Deborah go if I did what you told me to!” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. She was wearing a ragged gown that was ripped and dirty. Her hair was ratty and matted and her face was gaunt. She'd definitely been held captive. “I did it, please, where’s my sister?! ”

“Helena, we are not here to hurt you.” Luis promised, lowering himself to one one as he crept closer. “We're going to get you out of here.”

“B-But what about Deborah?” Helena insisted. “They took her away, they-they–” 

“She's gone, Helena.” Leon told her. Luis grimaced at his bluntness, but it was the truth. “They broke their promise. Just come with us and we can sort everything out.” 

Helena looked at Luis' outstretched hand and back up at Leon, then at the gown she was wearing. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks, cutting paths through the grime as her chest shuddered with deep sobs. Eventually, she took Luis' hand and he helped her stand. She was too weak to walk on her own and they could afford to be allowed down too much with BOWs around. 

“Helena, I'm going to carry you, okay?” Luis informed her calmly. “Leon will protect us while we find a way out of here.” 

Helena agreed after a moment of hesitation and Luis picked her up Piggyback style. She clung to him. Tears still fell down her face, but she was quiet and meek. Leon felt bad for her. He wondered who she was, what she did.  

“Helena, what did you mean when you said you had to do what they told you?” Leon questioned, tone cautious. 

“I…. I’m sorry.” The woman whispered. “I didn't want to, but they had Deborah….”

“That's okay, I understand. But what did you have to do?” They were sorely lacking the pieces to put this puzzle together, but Helena could be a key piece. 

“I'm Secret Service…..or I was. ” Helena sniffled. “But he-he took my sister, and he made me come here, and then he made me get him information on the President.” 

“ Who made you come here?” Leon was doing his best not to sound impatient. She was a traumatized woman, being interrogated after shit like whatever she's gone through would get them anywhere–Leon knew that from personal experience, ironically, thanks to Benford.

“The National Security Advisor–Simmons.” Helena drew in a deep breath, grimacing and holding her head before shaking it and refocusing on the conversation. “He told me he needed to know exactly where President Benford would be on June 29th, and when.” She choked up. “And I told him! I told him everything, to save Deborah! And he still-he still– ” She sobbed into Luis’ shirt. 

Leon stopped asking questions. They got their answers. He led them down across the long wooden walkways that spanned across the cavern below, taking them down. There had to be a way out of here they could take without going back. Maybe Hunnigan could pull up some blueprints? Even if it wasn't in the database submitted to the when the cathedral was built, maybe she could find it in a different database. 

Leon tried calling, but they must have been too deep, the signal couldn't reach. Well, there went that idea. For the moment, Leon focused on taking out any BOWs that got in his way, clearing the path for Luis and Helena. Helena was shuddering and clutching at her head again. Poor woman, she may have had blunt force head trauma….

At least, that's what Leon thought, until she leaned over far enough to fall to the ground. Luis tried to help her back up, but she writhed on the ground and Leon grabbed his partner's hand to yank him away just in time–Helena burst into flames the same way Manuela Hidalgo’s arm had when they'd fought her father during Operation Javier. Leon supposed that must have been a quality from the T-Veronica virus. 

Helena screamed in pain, rolling around on the ground as thick material built up on her limbs and wrapped around her. She managed to get to her knees, reaching for the two men. 

“ Make….h-him….pa…y! ” She wheezed, pleasing with them as her body locked up. She didn't get to do anything else once she was totally encased in a Chrysalis. Leon and Luis watched it harden and stop moving. 

“Should we just….destroy it?” Luis wondered quietly, somber as he looked upon the glossy outside. 

“We can try.” Leon answered, raising his gun. He shot it, five times, right where Helena's head had been. They did get through the Chrysalis, but Leon wasn't sure they actually pierced her skull. He turned to Luis, who was always offering his batons. Leon approached the Chrysalis and slammed both nations into it. The head burst open and the Chrysalis fell off all at once, leaving a headless corpse with shiny skin. Something glinted in the light–a necklace. 

Luis picked it up, holding it up to see it better–it was a ring. A thick silver band with a wide insignia on it that Leon didn't recognize. He squinted at it, trying to make out any other details–an engraved name in tiny letters was on the inside, but Luis couldn't make out what they said in this lighting. 

“Sorry, Helena.” Leon murmured. Luis took his batons back and they made it continue just as the walkways started shaking. First, they thought that all the force from Leon dealing with the BOWs before had probably not been good for the shabby walkways, but then they realized that the whole place was quite literally blowing up–a self-destruct sequence?

They made a run for it before they could be crushed by the walkways above.