An Agent and A Hunter

Mid-2013

It must've been a freak accident that caused them to meet.

The bar they both met at wasn't horribly packed with people, a few small groups sporadically gathered in their own sections of the bar, sharing stories and unwinding after a long day, aided by alcohol.

The same applied in spades to the secret agent seated at the bar as he brushed a stray comma of dirty blond hair away from his icy blue eyes before he cradled his scruffy chin, his dark leather jacket hanging across the back of the chair on which he sat. He hadn't had many drinks and wasn't planning to, but that didn't stop Leon Kennedy from sampling the warming poison of the blue agave tequila in front of him.

Only three shots into the bottle he wasn't planning to finish, Leon thought it rather amusing that the bartender was beginning to show concern for him. "You drinking to remember or forget?" the curvy, well-built brunette asked.

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure yet", Leon replied facetiously.

But that's when the other man got his attention - a lumberjack-looking guy in flannel, jeans, and a work jacket, his own brown hair grown barely to his shoulder. "You sound like my brother when he gets in one of his moods", he cracked, his voice soft and deep.

As the bartender left, Leon turned to the man and looked him dead in the eye. "That a bad thing?"

"Well, you don't seem to be taking whatever's bothering you too hard, so that's something", he replied, scooting a bit closer to Leon as he raised his mug of beer to his lips and took a swig.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've been through something like this", Leon shrugged, downing his shot and setting his glass down. "Especially when it feels like you've experienced going to hell and back a few times."

At this, the other man let out a chuckle. "I can definitely relate to that", he answered, a wry accent in his voice. "What made you feel that way?"

"Surviving Raccoon City, for one thing", Leon stated after a moment of hesitation, gauging the other man's reaction.

The man's eyes widened as he took in the words. "Raccoon City...viral outbreak, turning its citizens into zombies? I remember reading about a company dissolving after it was found they were responsible. Umbrella, right?"

"That's it", Leon affirmed, meeting the man's eyes once again. "I lost a few good acquaintances to that place."

"Wow...that must've been horrible, man. I'm sorry."

"It's alright...I've managed to come to terms with it", Leon responded before offering a hand. "I'm Leon Kennedy, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Same to you, man", the other man responded as he firmly returned the handshake. "Sam Winchester."

"Oh, like the gun?"

"Yeah, exactly", Sam replied with a light chuckle, taking another sip of his beer. "Well, you've certainly been through some heavy shit."

"That ain't even the half of it", Leon stated heavily.

"Like I said, I can relate. I lost my girlfriend to literal demons; came back to find her burning to death on the ceiling."

At this, Leon's eyes widened. "Literal demons?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I'm standing by my word", Sam affirmed, raising a hand. When Leon got a good look at his eyes, he couldn't detect a hint of deception or insanity in them, just a dark shade of sadness at the event.

"Just one question, Sam", Leon said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Honestly...because I feel like you'd believe me, since you've been through some weird shit yourself."

Leon couldn't help but silently agree. After dealing with zombies, monsters, parasitically infested villagers, and his power-hungry boss as a monster, did literal demons really sound so far-fetched?

"True enough, I suppose", Leon finally responded, gently reaching up to give Sam's shoulder a reassuring pat. "That's rough, Sam. She must've been really special."

"Very...the first woman I ever loved", Sam sighed sadly. "Ever since then, I've been hunting them and other monsters with my brother, always on the move."

"Yeah, well...I was in the same boat once. The first woman I really loved died in Raccoon City, or so I thought."

"You thought?" Sam asked skeptically. "What happened?"

"She somehow survived, and I found she was a secret agent for another organization."

This resulted in a chuckle from Sam. "Isn't that a little cliché?"

"Ha...maybe a bit", Leon agreed, and he and Sam let out another laugh from that. For all its truth, it did seem a bit ridiculous.

Even so, that moment further broke the ice, and the two strangers passed stories between them - Leon about his experience in Spain, the Eastern Slav Republic, and more recently in Lanshiang and Tall Oaks; and Sam about some of the hunts he was on with his brother, what Hell was like, and even how they had an angel for a friend, if Leon heard right.

To anyone else, they may have seemed like two people freshly escaped from an insane asylum, but their stories passed between them without judgment or skepticism. None of the other patrons, or even the bartender, cared much to listen anyway. And between the two men was the running subconscious thought that they might never run into each other again anyway. But it was only a thought anyway.

Soon enough, the last call rang out, and Leon and Sam finally lifted themselves up from their chairs, Leon grabbing his jacket as he did so.

They just went outside when Leon spied a black Chevy Impala just to their left, its lights on and engine rumbling. "Hey, this looks familiar. Didn't I run into you guys on the highway once while I was chasing a biker?"

"That was you in the blue Impala?" Sam asked incredulously. "Man, that's one helluva coincidence - I can't wait to see Dean's face."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah. He actually thought you were a better driver than him, strangely enough."

"That so?"

"Well", Sam hedged, "his exact words were, 'That son of a bitch drives like a demon', but I read between the lines."

"He always like that? Sounds like he gets on your nerves a lot", Leon cracked.

"You have no idea - I have to live with the guy", Sam chuckled, a tone of brotherly affection in his voice.

Leon couldn't help but smile along with that. "Fair enough. Give him my best though, will ya, Sam?"

"Will do", Sam promised, slapping Leon heartily on the shoulder - the one he knew wasn't carrying a bullet wound as a souvenir from Raccoon City. "Try to do a better job of keeping Ada around if you can."

"No promises there, but I'll do my best", Leon replied, a light smile coming to his face at the thought of the mysterious and beautiful Asian-American agent. "And whatever you and Dean hunt next, make sure to give 'em hell. Or rather...don't."

Sam let out one last chuckle before he walked around to the side of the Impala. "See ya around, Leon. And hey."

Leon, having started to walk back to his own car, looked over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

When he looked, Sam seemed to be at a loss for words. Eventually he managed to say simply, "Thanks for listening."

Leon's response was a light nod and a friendly smile. "And the same to you. Take care of yourself."

As he walked back to his car, hearing he sound of a car's door closing before the car itself tumbled off, Leon couldn't help but feel as though a weight had come off of his shoulders. Sure, he'd more than discussed what he'd been through with his friends - Claire, Chris, Ada to an extent, even Adam Benford before he died. But this felt different, like he'd met another spirit kindred in a near-opposite end of the spectrum of horror.

With that relief, however, came a strange twinge in instinct. He had a feeling that they'd end up running across each other again, no matter how much his thoughts had said otherwise.

For now though, Leon occupied himself with digging something out of his pocket - the compact that Ada had left behind in Lanshiang, the same one she'd had in Raccoon, and remembered Sam's words to try to keep her around.

Yeah, Leon thought. He'd certainly do his best at that.

"All the best, Sam Winchester," Leon let out in a light tone before he finally got into his own Impala, driving it back into the heart of Washington, D.C., ready for whatever else the future might bring him.