November 1st, 2009

Southbound lanes of Interstate 5; just outside Seattle, Washington.

Cold winter winds buffeted the black, armored Chevy suburban as it sped down the interstate. The driver wore a black suit and dark sunglasses. A clear cord attached to a small bud in his ear curled down his neck, disappearing into his collar to connect to a radio hidden under his jacket. His passenger was a small seven year old girl. She stared silently out the window wishing that she were anywhere but there. They were on their way to the research facility her father was in charge of; her meager belongings all stowed in the trunk. She had been staying with her grandparents since her mother had died two years ago. Her father had always been a workaholic and never had the time to raise her, but the company he worked for now had round the clock child care and even though Dakota didn't want to go there, she had no choice in the matter. It wasn't like she wanted to stay with her grandparents either, but at least she had friends there. She'd lived in a compound before and it sucked. There were never any kids her age in those places and without her mother she would be foisted off on people who didn't care about her. She fought back tears, closing her eyes and breathing deeply until the burning passed. When she opened them the suburban was leaving the freeway. She looked up at the large building they came to a few moments later and was overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of dread. Something was going to go horribly wrong. She'd had the same feeling the day her mother had died.

January 10th, 2010

BSAA Headquarters in Washington D.C.

Chris Redfield was pissed. Not only were his superiors shoving a simple recon mission down his team's throat, but they were also sending some OGA guy with them. He'd heard the term used by a C.I.A. man to describe members of the many abbreviated agencies within the government. OGA's, or Other Government Agencies, were always getting in the way of justice with their endless bureaucracy of red tape. He took solace in the fact that Sheva and Jill would be with him. He glanced over at the two women who were sitting in the back of the Gulfstream giggling and whispering to each other like they had some big secret, which they did, but it wasn't a secret to Chris anymore. He'd already caught them banging each other, which had been interesting to witness…especially with the strap-on Sheva had been using on his blonde ex-partner. He shifted in his seat and turned away from them. This was not the place to be thinking about such things. "The OGA guy's late." He grumbled, irritated from the hard on he had and the fact that they were waiting on a guy their superiors had deemed the most important person going on the op. Chief Withers face had been one of hero worship when speaking of the mystery man. It wasn't like the guy had saved the world like Chris and Sheva had. All they had gotten was a pat on the back for a job well done. Almost everyone still treated them like normal. Not that he needed the hero worship Mr. Government Agent was receiving. The girls just laughed at him. They knew what was really frustrating him. He sighed irritably before catching sight of a government vehicle screeching to a halt a few yards from the hangar. Chief Withers stood at attention as a man climbed out of the back. Chris wrinkled his nose in scorn as the man nodded to Withers and walked towards the G-5. As he got closer Chris's eyes widened in shock. "Well fuck me." He grinned. Leon Scott Kennedy was a living, breathing legend. He had single handedly rescued the former President's daughter from occultists in Spain, not to mention put down quite a few outbreaks since. He'd also been the one to save Chris's own sister from certain death in Raccoon City and Harvardville. He'd met the man only once, but his sister talked about him like he was a God. The leather bomber jacket Leon wore was a testament to that. Chris had been with her when she'd purchased it. Claire had only said it was for a friend to replace one he'd lost.

"What?" Jill scooted forward. "Holy shit, is that?" Chris only nodded, watching the younger man's approach. He walked with an agile, almost feline, grace that the brunette envied.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Leon smiled as he entered the cabin the BSAA team were sitting in. Chris looked him over as he took a seat near him. Leon was smaller, both in height and muscle size, and wasn't much to look at, but from what Chris had heard, Kennedy was a skilled fighter and marksman. He wouldn't beat Chris in a fight, not with that much smaller of a build, but the older man wouldn't come out entirely unscathed. The jet's engines whined to life and within seconds they were in the air.

"So, no one told us it was you that was accompanying us." Chris frowned. Leon's blue-grey eyes slid to him. "We were expecting some bureaucrat with red tape coming out his a-"

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Kennedy." Sheva cut Chris off with a smile, holding out her hand. "Sheva Alomar." He shook her hand before nodding to the blonde sitting next to her.

"Jill, nice to see you among the living." She grinned.

"I heard about Spain, nice work." Leon shrugged.

"No big deal, its not like I saved the world." His lips turned up in a small smile that made both girls visibly swoon and Chris jealous. His smile couldn't do that. His smile couldn't get him shit from anyone, not that it really mattered; he didn't envy the younger man's softer looks and almost feminine hair. He frowned giving Leon another once over with his eyes. He really didn't look like much; in fact he seemed smaller than the last time Chris had seen him, and if he remembered correctly the jacket Claire had bought him was almost four sizes smaller than what he himself wore. Thinking about the coat brought another question to mind. Why had Claire bought it for him? The thing had been fucking expensive. Did it mean Leon had something going on with his sister? He was about to ask when a cell phone began ringing. He looked around in confusion until Leon reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. "Kennedy." Chris rolled his eyes at the official tone. "Not now Ashley." The younger man sighed. He rose from his seat and walked away, speaking into the phone quietly. After about a minute he snapped the phone closed and sat back down.

"Ashley? As in Ashley Graham?" Jill asked, voice filled with curiosity. Leon only nodded, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

"Why would she be calling you?" Chris's brow furrowed.

"Well, duh, he saved her life." Jill smacked her leader's arm. "I never stop calling you do I?" Sheva laughed.

"She's got a point."

"She calls you all the time too." Chris pointed out.

"I did help save her life."

"And she helped save ours, so what's the big deal?" The two women looked at each other and sighed.

"He flew halfway around the world by himself and saved her from skeevy occultists bent on world domination, who wanted to infect her with a parasite then have her do the same to her father and so on and so forth." Jill replied. "Not to mention that Leon's well-" She pointed at him with a helpless shrug.

"He's what?"

"Let's just say he could rescue me anytime."

"Me too." Sheva nodded and both women giggled, blushing furiously as Leon smiled. Chris shook his head. You'd think that they weren't trained soldiers by how they were acting, besides; he was every bit as attractive as the blonde man who was watching the women with his emotionless blue-grey eyes. That was another thing Chris was noticing about Leon. He seemed very distant. Chris shrugged it off and sighed.

"Whatever. So, Rookie, what's so special about this facility we're going into?"

"The Dakota Facility is an old underground laboratory, much like the one that was under Raccoon City, built by Umbrella." The government agent replied. "Its underneath Seattle, Washington; its entrance lies within the Tricell building."

"What?" Three voices exclaimed.

"Tricell bought the building and refurbished the underground labs, making them larger and, in their opinion, safer. Officially the place doesn't exist, but unofficially its where they study and experiment on everything we've ever faced."

"How is that even legal?" Chris snapped.

"They've created vaccines for the T, T-Veronica, and G-viruses, and even antidotes."

"They shouldn't even be messing with that shit."

"I disagree." Leon shook his head. "The world needs protection from these viruses and as much as I hate to say it, Tricell's research saved my life a few months ago." He rolled up his left sleeve. On the skin was a scar that had obviously come from a bite. "If I hadn't been vaccinated I wouldn't be here."

"How'd you get bit?" Chris frowned. That didn't seem like the all-powerful agent he'd been hearing about.

"I was in Mexico chasing a few of Umbrella's ex-employees when they triggered in outbreak by injecting themselves and some civilians with the T-virus rather than get caught. Before I knew what was going on my team was surrounded by hundreds of infected. We fought off as many as we could and radioed the army who surrounded the city. They got most of the survivors out and treated those that had been bitten. As we were getting ready to pull out and call in an air strike a woman came running up to me screaming about there being people still left in a church. My team and I were given the vaccine and sent back in." His eyes darkened. "When we got there it was almost too late. The church was being overrun. The survivors managed to get to the roof so I had the pilot of our helicopter fly low so we could pick them up. I jumped to the roof and started handing the children up to my team, then held the ladder steady for the adults. As I was about to leave I saw a little girl running towards me, crying, with an infected man chasing after her. He grabbed her just as she got to me, but he bit my arm instead of her."

"Why?"

"Because I put it there."

"You intentionally stuck your arm in a zombie's mouth?" Chris's eyebrows raised in shock, and more than a little awe. Leon shrugged.

"It was either my arm or her neck, and I was vaccinated, so it seemed the obvious choice."

"You trusted a vaccine made by Umbrella surrogates?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Chris paused, why not, indeed. "Wilpharma actually created the vaccine for the T-virus. Tricell took over their research after Harvardville and created the T-Veronica and G-virus vaccines, then the antidotes for all three."

"So, if they're so great, what were they doing in Africa with Wesker?" Chris frowned.

"Officially they denied any involvement and said that Ms. Gionne was working on and of her own accord."

"And unofficially?"

"I really don't know." Leon replied with a shrug, but his eyes said otherwise. Chris eyed him, chewing the inside of his cheek. The government agent knew more than he was saying.

"So, what aren't you telling us?" Jill asked cautiously. "If Tricell is so awesome, then why are we sneaking into one of their compounds?" Leon's brow furrowed slightly.

"You weren't briefed on the mission parameters?"

"We got into work today and Chief Withers ordered us onto the jet. All he told us was that we'd be going on a simple recon mission to an underground facility with a government agent." Jill replied. Leon frowned.

"Excuse me for a moment." He stood, pulling out his cell phone and walked into the cockpit. The three BSAA agents glanced at each other, what the hell was going on?