Leon continued to aim the gun at Ada, knowing he'd never use it. Not against her, and not while Helena was at risk.

Out of the corner of his eye, Claire had caught up with what was happening. Her hand slipped slowly behind her back, to the holster on her belt.

"Could you step 'round here Redfield, thanks."

He saw Claire wince, cursing silently as she began to walk toward Leon.

Leon's mind raced. Ada had never had any reason to turn against them in the past, and he the same with her. Their ultimate goals, whatever they had been at the time, had always vaguely aligned. And yet, he'd always known that she was dangerous, and somehow always known that it would have been dangerous to show any weakness to the dark-haired woman.

She was not above using others to fulfil her goals, and he felt sure if she saw an opportunity here, she'd exploit it to further her own mission. Whatever it was this time.

"Let her go." He said slowly, eyes locked with Ada's.

"As strange as it may seem, given what's happened so far, I don't really want to hurt any of you." She pursed her lips, shaking her head slightly.

"So, it was you who shot us down?" Claire demanded. "You could have killed us all."

"Disabling shot. I needed to buy myself some time, Redfield." Ada replied, coolly. "It's a lot harder to just stop a plane than it is to simply destroy it. Be thankful I made the effort."

"Thanks for shooting us down nicely." Claire quipped, sarcastically.

"Cute." Ada smirked.

"Ada." Leon growled. "What do you want."

The woman turned back to him, smiling slightly.

"Over the years, I've done you a favour or two, Leon. And whether they know it or now, a few for your other friends too." She nodded in Claire's direction. "And whether you all realise it or not, you've unwittingly done me a good turn here and there too." Ada looked down at Helena. "You and your friend here helped me resolve a…very personal matter, last year, Leon."

"You gave us the data on Simmons, absolving us of his accusations."

Ada looked like she was about to say something, grunting instead as she adjusted her grip on Helena. She shook her head.

"This will never do. All these guns pointing about, and your friend Helena is…getting heavy, I'll admit." Ada's steely gaze met theirs. "Somebody is liable to make a mistake."

Leon said nothing, placing a hand on Claire's arm before she could retort.

"Redfield, see if you can find some tape or something in that desk over there." Ada nodded toward the reception area. "First though, slide over your weapon."

Claire shot him a look, but Leon nodded slowly. Reluctantly, she pulled out her gun and slid it across the floor, in a series of loud metal scrapes. She then ducked behind the desk, digging through some drawers. Leon turned back to Ada.

"She's in a bad way, Ada." He said, glancing down at Helena.

"You always had a big heart, Leon." Ada smirked, softly.

"Know a lot of people who'd disagree." He said, dryly.

"They just don't know you like I do."

"Never been sure how I felt about that, since I don't really know you at all." He stood slowly, still keeping his gun raised. Ada's eyes followed him, unflinching.

"The lives we lead. The roles we play." She shrugged, as if they were simply having an idle chat.

That was Ada though, he mused, she had always been something else.

"What…?" Helena murmured, coming to. She looked up, surprise written clearly on her features as she first noticed Leon pointing a gun at her, she thought, then the other gun pointed at her head. She struggled slightly against Ada's steely grip, and her eyes widened in recognition when she saw who was holding her. "…you."

"Helena." Leon tried to get her attention.

"Hello again." Ada purred.

Helena said nothing, mouth open. Leon made to try and calm her again, taking a careful step forward.

Ada's eyes flicked back to him at the movement.

"I'm not-" He began, free hand held up in a gesture of peace. Then he saw Helena grit her teeth and frown. "Wait, don't-"

Ada looked back at her the younger woman just in time for Helena to head-butt her. Ada lurched back a step but kept her balance, and her grip on Helena.

"You bit-" Helena spat, just as Ada struck her on the back of the head with her pistol. She fell limp in the older woman's arms again.

"Ada, damn it!" Leon roared, worried even more for the state of any injury she'd already suffered to the head.

Ada shook her head a little, as if in a mild daze.

"Miss Harper wanted to fight dirty, so be it." She wore the same, flawless smile, as if nothing had happened. "Come along Redfield, we don't have all day."

"Just wanted to be sure nobody was gonna start shooting." Claire grumbled, walking toward them from behind the desk.

"Come over here." Ada said, calmly. Her tone clearly indicated she expected to be obeyed.

Claire and Leon shared a look, before Claire reluctantly made her way over, hands held high, a roll of grey duct tape clasped in her right.

"Take her." Ada gently shoved Helena into Claire. The redhead hurriedly caught her. "Tie her up."

"She's not well." Claire argued.

"Nobody will be hurt." Ada replied, patiently, as she drew a second pistol. "If everybody just cooperates." She held one gun pointed at Claire and Helena, the other still aimed at Leon.

Claire looked back at Leon, imploringly. He met her gaze, torn. There was nothing he could do without risking one of both of their lives and he knew it. Claire knew it now too, seeing his conflict. She sighed, defeated.

"Sorry." Claire muttered, lowering Helena carefully to the floor.

Leon stood, rooted to the spot. Fighting the urge to boiling within him to stop all this. He could only watch as Claire pulled Helena onto her lap. She wrapped her arms around the brunette and began to wind the tape around Helena's wrists, in front of her. With some difficulty, she next started to wind tape around her upper arms, looping it several times.

The brunette grumbled, evidently having woken at all the activity.

"My god damn, god damn fucking head." She groaned, again, her head pounding even more.

She looked down at her hands, seeing they were taped together. More tape was wound around her arms, over her jacket.

"Helena, are you okay?" She jumped a little, recognising Claire's voice. She just hadn't expected her to be leaning close by her ear.

"Great…" She replied slowly, still feeling a little bewildered. "Where is…oh." Helena noticed Ada looking down at them, a gun in each hand.

Leon was still holding back, looking madder than she'd seen him in a long time.

"Happy?" Claire glared up at Ada, holding Helena protectively.

"Good. Now, stand over…there." Ada indicated the large desk in the centre of the lobby.

Claire reluctantly let go of Helena and walked slowly over to the desk again. Ada followed, stopping to pull Helena to her feet. As she was about to grab her arm, the brunette recoiled.

"Touch me again and I'll fucki-"

"Don't." She spun at the sound of Leon's voice. His face was twisted with emotion. "Please." He plead, quietly.

Now she was sure she'd never seen him looking at her like that, not since the hospital…

She nodded slowly.

"Good girl." Ada chuckled.

Ada hauled Helena to her feet and pulled her along to the desk with Claire. There she took the tape from Claire and gestured to the wheeled chair behind it.

"Take a seat, Redfield." Ada instructed, holstering one of her guns as Claire did so. With her free hand, she tore the end of the tape free and began winding it around Claire's upper body, strapping her to the chair. "Sorry about this. Me and Leon are gonna go for a walk, see what we can dig up."

"And what are you hoping to dig up?" Claire ventured, while Ada taped her wrists to the arms of the chair.

"That's my business."

"I'm not leaving them here." Leon managed, through gritted teeth. "We don't know what the fuck is down here."

Ada looked up, ready to retort, but he shook his head slowly. She stared back, brow raised slightly. Her eyes were calculating and cool. Maybe trying to work out whether she could push him a little further or if she'd pushed too far already.

"Hm." She chuckled, slightly. "Okay, Leon. The Redfield stays. Harper comes with us."

He was about to argue when Claire shot him a look. It was an expression of determination he recognised all too well, he'd seen it on Chris plenty as well. Probably, she was already working on her escape, and figured it would be easier when she didn't have a gun to her head.

"Fine." He growled.

"And really, I think you can put away the gun now, don't you? We are old friends, after all."

He noticed Ada's gun remained very much ready to swing over to Helena or Claire. Slowly, he slid his pistol into the holster beneath his jacket.

"There." Ada flashed him a smile. "Don't we all feel more relaxed?"

"No." Helena spat, fidgeting irritably against the tape binding her wrists.

"I'm sorry about your sister, you know." Ada began. "She was trying to kill us."

Helena looked up sharply, ready to snap back, when Ada deftly tore a strip of tape from the roll and pressed it over her mouth, smoothing it over Helena's lips with her fingers.

"Mmph!" Helena scowled at the woman. If looks really could kill, Leon mused.

"How about you, honey?" Ada glanced down at Claire.

Claire simply stared back, silent.

"Good." Ada tossed the roll aside, satisfied. She hooked one arm with Helena's and gestured toward a corridor with her gun. "After you, Leon. Time's wasting."

Leon bit back his anger and turned toward the tunnel, sparing Claire one last apologetic glance.

He heard Helena's muffled grumbling behind him as she and Ada fell into step.

What had he gotten them into?

…

Nichols idly pointed out the various facilities and key areas of the BSAA New York HQ to Agent Alomar and Captain Stone. Chris was still taking a few days leave.

He didn't begrudge the man some time off after what had happened lately. And honestly, he'd been glad to meet the two. Of course, they'd all heard Chris's version of the Kijuju incident, but it was interesting hearing it from a different perspective.

Agent Alomar reminded him a lot of Jill. She was strong, skilled, determined. He could see how she'd made her way in the organisation pretty easily. And Captain Stone, outwardly at least, cut a professional, imposing, even threatening figure. But after a few days, it had become apparent that outside of missions, he was practically a teddy-bear. Especially, Nichols had noticed, where Agent Alomar was concerned.

"I'd always been meaning to visit sooner." Sheva said, as they continued their "tour". "But, you know."

"The job?" Nichols put in.

"The job." Josh nodded.

"Where do you keep all your sensitive data? Correspondence, intel and such?" Sheva asked, casually. They paused as the corridor came to a t-way. "I mean, how is your security?" She explained, when Nichols and Josh shot her an odd look. "We're in the process of improving our main headquarter and opening a few more bases."

"Well, you'd probably want to talk to Senator Hargreaves or Colonel Hancock about that." Nichols replied. "It's a little out of my area. I'm sure one of 'em would be happy to point you to a tech expert or something, if you were looking for pointers. The main server itself is just down that corridor though. It's guarded day a-" The words died in his throat as he pointed down the hall.

The door was slightly open and a guard lay sprawled against the wall. Just beyond, in the room, he could make out the boots of another man on the ground. They had arrived just in time to see somebody slip out, but too late to have any hope of catching them as they disappeared down an adjoining hallway.

"You all saw him, right?" Josh called.

"Get me a security detail, main corridor, level 2. Main server room possibly breached!" Nichols yelled into his headset, already running toward the first wounded man. Sheva and Josh followed behind him.

"He was in a BSAA uniform!" Sheva yelled.

Nichols stopped by the first guard as Sheva barged through the door into the server room. There were several computers around, a few monitors on one wall, and a lot of hardware and equipment lining several tall racks filling the rest of the room.

"Get me a med-team too, we have one man unconscious…" She heard Nichols from outside the room. A mere passing glance told her the second guard was dead.

As horrible as that was, she pressed on toward the nearest computer. If this was their main data hub, there was only one reason anyone would have done this, and she knew what to look for.

"How about the other g-" Josh began, stepping into the room, then seeing her hunched over a monitor. "…what are you doing?"

"He's dead." She said, of the body. "I'm looking for…got it."

"What the hell's goin' on in here!" Somebody yelled.

"Colonel Hancock, somebody broke into-" Sheva heard Nichols begin, outside.

Heavy boots sounded just outside and more people crowded into the room, Nichols among them.

Hancock looked around, furious, clearly on the verge of yelling again.

"Captain Stone, sir." Josh saluted. "This is Agent Alomar, and-"

"Colonel, " Sheva turned away from the monitor, toward the furious looking man. "You've been robbed."

…

Mick snapped awake, at some undefined feeling.

He looked around, blearily, realising he was in the control room, in the communications section. The monitor in front of him was blank.

He stood up and stretched, yawning. He must have come here to grab some sleep. The control room was always pretty quiet at this time of day and they had all been under a lot of strain lately. Mick thought it was a little odd, but decided not to dwell on it. As he moved to leave, his foot kicked something loose, under the chair. It skidded away, beneath the desk.

He shrugged and wandered off. Maybe the cafeteria had something edible today.

…

The three of them made their way through the silent base. Leon didn't even bother asking how Ada seemed to know where she was going, there was no point. Instead, he focused on keeping track of the turns they made and any stairs they descended. He'd hated leaving Claire behind.

But, somewhere inside, he knew he could trust Claire to take care of herself. For now, Helena was in no condition to be left alone. He wanted to keep her close by.

"So, what is it all about this time?" Leon asked, idly.

"Things fall apart. The centre cannot hold…" Ada replied, casually.

"Nice. Never a straight answer."

"You know me." Ada chuckled. "You've seen what's going on out there, Leon. Trouble."

"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, huh?" He stopped and turned.

"The blood-dimmed is loosed…etcetera… The ceremony of innocence is…" Ada's gaze fell on Helena briefly, who was still silently fuming, glaring at the floor. "…drowned." The raven-haired woman finished, her eyes locking with Leon's again.

"I think I get the picture." Leon sighed. "Whoever you're working for, they're against this Treadstone guy and whoever is backing him too, right?"

"My employers do not like…troublemakers." Ada nodded, slowly.

"Like Simmons?"

"Like Simmons.

Helena looked to and from the both of them, looking like her patience was waning.

"Mmmpph!" She growled, tugging away from Ada's grip, but the older woman held on.

Leon frowned, aware he was about to play with fire again.

"We want the same thing. We probably came here for the same answers."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Ada shrugged. "I wish to learn who Lord Treadstone is."

"And that brought you here?" Leon asked, unable to mask his interest.

"Your own investigation brought you here, didn't it? Though from a different beginning." Ada smirked. "Some thug called Dunn, I believe?"

"Mmrrmm!" Helena objected.

"Helena, be quiet, please." Ada gave her a disapproving look one might give a child. He felt his temper fray. "Behind that door, Leon, if my intel is correct, lay our answers."

He turned to look at a large steel door, with a panel beside it listing a string of letters and numbers.

"Let me guess. Me first?" He shrugged.

Ada nodded.

Instinctively, he drew his gun, holding a calming hand to Ada in case she misinterpreted his intentions.

Leon cautiously pushed the door open. The lever worked easily and the heavy door swung back, revealing a long, dim-lit room. He stopped, staring.

The room had a metal grating floor, and a fairly high ceiling. What drew his attention, were the long rows of tanks. Tanks filled with some kind of green-hued liquid and more than a few had…bodies in them.

"Shit." He muttered.

"Quite." Ada agreed, appearing beside him. "Tell me Leon, do any of these guys seem familiar to you."

He spared the woman a dubious glance before walking up to the nearest.

He nearly pulled his gun again right there when he saw Albert Wesker looking down at him. He checked the next, and the next. All Wesker. He turned to the row across from them and found himself looking at Seamus Dunn. Again, a whole row of Seamus Dunn's in the water-tanks.

"What the hell is going on." He demanded, stalking back to Ada. "Chris threw Wesker into a fucking Volcano. I killed Dunn, but he's out there somewhere, right now."

"I think you said it best yourself." Ada looked around the room lazily, before meeting Leon's hard stare again. "Umbrella always had ways out."

A/N: A few discoveries this time with some far-reaching implications. Mostly, this update is here simply to give Ada her time to shine.