ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Dedicated to theservantgrunt – Thanks for reading my story!
Somewhere Over Canada
Province of Alberta
May 30th 2014
22:26 MDT
*** Los Angeles, California – 1990 ***
“XIANG!”
The slurred scream of her name coupled with the slamming of the front door immediately jolted her awake. For the past two hours she had been studying for her biology exam the next day and must have fallen asleep at the table. The table! Suddenly, her eyes widened in panic; the immediate rush of adrenalin removed all prior vestiges of sleep. She’d forgotten to clean off the table and tidy up the living room before he got home! It hadn’t been a priority at the time given the fact that he’d been gone for over a day and a half, leaving her to once again fend for herself. She’d erroneously believed that he had been on another one of his three-day benders and that she’d have time to clean after her homework was finished.
“XIANG!”
Already her legs were shaking as she attempted to get up from her chair and stand. Her belly was slowly twisting itself into knots with fear at what was coming next. The last time had resulted in her being whipped with an extension cord causing pain so horrible that she hadn’t been able to sit for two days. Despite his drunken state, the bastard had been smart enough to do it over the weekend so the school officials wouldn’t get suspicious.
He staggered his way through the hall and stood there bracing himself in the opening of the tiny kitchen. His eyes were glassy from the drink, but their rage was focused solely on her. “What is this!? I tell you clean, you clean! You continue to turn into American whore! Lazy slut!”
She backed up until the stove behind her blocked any further retreat. “I… I’m sorry!” she replied. “I was studying for school, and I…” She paused, knowing that the thought of her being educated only seemed to enrage him more. “I’ll clean it up now!”
Quickly moving towards the table, she was about to grab the dishes when he was on her; his frame blocking out the overhead light as he towered over her like the monster from her nightmares. Despite their ancestry, he was a tall man – over six feet in height. Suddenly, a thick hand was on her throat pulling her backwards until she was slammed against the stove. The dish that had been in her hand fell from her grasp and shattered upon the floor.
“Stupid child!” He snarled. His breath stank of hard liquor. “I no care for your school! You have one purpose – you do as I say like good Chinese girl!”
With that, he sent a hard slap across her face, knocking her to the kitchen floor. Her cheek stung from the blow… a brutal reminder that this was only the beginning. As she had grown older, every little thing that she did or didn’t do only seemed to infuriate him – sometimes without any warning, and the booze that he continued to blow his paychecks on only enhanced his sadism. It had been like this for as long as she could remember. In the past any time he had started on her, her mother would step in to pick a fight with him in order to distract his attention. It would give her the opportunity to run to her little room and hide until he passed out from exhaustion. But even as she laid hiding under her bed, she couldn’t mute the shrill cries of pain coming from the next room as he beat her savagely… and then raped her. Never would she forget any of it especially after her gentle mother had passed away last year. It had angered her to even think about it, but deep down she’d known the truth. Her mother was dead because of the abuse he put her through!
Never before had she ever considered what had happened next. Whether it was stored up hate for him over her sixteen years or those thoughts of her beloved Māma that caused her to snap, she couldn’t say, but in a flash, she was up screaming at the top of her lungs as she charged into him. She punched her way to his belly yelling how much she hated him, but even in his drunken state, she was no match. His fist found her chin and just as quickly her rebellion was crushed. Falling over the table, a wave of dizziness enveloped her along with the cold, familiar hand of fear as she tried to push herself up. Her efforts at mounting a defense would be in vain as he was already behind her. Grabbing the long ponytail that she loved to braid, he yanked her head back before slamming her face down into the table once more. White hot fire spread out from her nose as tears began welling in her almond-colored eyes.
“You are disrespectful whore! All this time you are nothing but cheap American slut!” With that, he grabbed the back of her jeans and began to roughly pull them down over her hips. “I show you what happens to slut!”
Like a deer in a car’s headlights, she froze in terror at his intentions. What could she do? Should she continue to fight back and try and save her honor even if it led to a more severe beating, or should she just lie still and let him have his way? Shutting her eyes tight, she felt a tear run over the bridge of her nose. Fear… it was all she could think of.
“Please… Lǎobà. Please… don’t… I’m sorry! Please...!” She hadn’t called him that in years. In fact, she hadn’t even considered him a father at all; not after everything he had done to both her and her mother. In her terror however, she was desperate enough to do or say anything to stop him as he had already worked her jeans down to her knees.
He responded by pulling hard on her hair, causing her to shriek. That was when she saw it… there on the table. She hadn’t put any of the silverware in the sink and now the steak knife glimmered there in the light. As he pushed himself against her through his briefs, she quickly reached for the knife. Without thinking, she immediately swung her hand backwards… and felt the blade meet his flesh. His scream immediately echoed through the din of the kitchen.
The next thing she could clearly remember was seeing him on the floor slumped back against the cabinets holding his neck as the blood seeped through his fingers. It was so red… and smelled of metal. After pulling her pants back up, she had stood there watching as he swore at her in both his broken English and Chinese calling her every curse and humiliating word he could think of while at the same time ordering her to call for an ambulance.
Instead of heeding his demands as she had done in the past, she looked down at the knife in her shaking hands. It was at that moment that a long-buried truth had finally made itself known. The monster lying on the floor wasn’t some invincible creature that could control her life any longer. He might have been stronger than her… but he was just a man. A man was nothing but flesh and blood… and a man could be killed. For the first in her life, it was she who held the power.
With a scream amplified by her suppressed rage, she felt a sudden rush of exhilaration when she saw his eyes widen in fear just before the knife plunged through his chest. He howled for mercy, but she was beyond any of that. If there had been an ounce of forgiveness left within her heart, it was gone forever.
“You monster!” She screamed in Chinese as she pulled out the blade. Plunging it downwards, she continued stabbing him again… and again… and again… the blood was so red… again… again… all over her… again … again… Māma… again… again…
… and through it all she was smiling.
*** Present Day ***
Fear was crawling through her blood as the drug-induced dream forced her mind to recall the memories of that night. As the disorientation began to subside however, she remembered a very important truth… He was dead. Never again would he lay his hands on her.
Pulling herself from the darkness that held her in its sway, Ada now began to make out the whine of jet engines in the background. Her eyes slowly opened and immediately she realized that she was lying in the cargo area of a plane. All attempts to move had proved fruitless. Her captors had strapped her down to a gurney with every part of her body completely immobilized. Before there was a chance to dwell on her current predicament, she heard hushed voices talking off to her right. Turning her head and peering into the distance, she saw a man and a woman in full combat gear standing near a window. It was dark outside the plane giving her an indication that wherever they were, it was already night.
“Do not even think it, Spectre,” the woman said. Ada recognized the French accent right away. From what Hunk had told her, the woman’s code name was Lupo. She was a former French special forces member and leader of the Wolfpack – the group who had been sent to apprehend her back at Graham Corp. “The boss ordered her to be brought back alive. We are soldiers; we do as we are told. Thinking is not what we are paid to do.”
“Have you forgotten what happened to our fallen brothers and sisters?” the man replied with a Russian accent. “This woman killed Bertha, Vector, Four Eyes and Beltway! No one kills Beltway! You read the same file that I did – Ada Wong is capable of anything! If we do not put a permanent end to her now… Lupo… you know what it is that I am saying to you!”
“It does not matter. Krauser has given us our orders, and she speaks for Zeus. Trust me, my friend… you do not want to cross either of them!”
As the man walked away in frustration, movement to the left caused her attention to shift. A young nurse in scrubs was checking the I.V. connected to her arm. When the woman looked down at her, Ada met her gaze. She watched as those blue eyes widened in surprise when the nurse realized that her charge was awake. The look on the young woman’s face was one that was expecting her to suddenly transform into a vampire, rip the bindings loose from the gurney, and tear her throat out. To her credit though the nurse didn’t call out; instead she remained still and silently returned the stare.
There were a thousand questions running through her mind at the moment, but the first one to gain priority caused her to utter a single word.
“Helena?” She whispered.
After a brief moment, her question seemed to register, and the nurse’s gaze softened. With a slight turn of her head, the woman’s eyes motioned to the left. Looking over, Ada saw the agent lying unconscious on a similar gurney on the opposite side of the plane. Tubes were running from her arm to an I.V., but there was also an oxygen mask over her face.
She immediately looked back at the woman and pleaded for a prognosis. “Bad?”
The nurse’s eyes darted down without an answer, and soon she then began pressing buttons on the I.V. “I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I… I can’t say any more. They want you sedated for the whole trip.”
In a way she could understand their intentions. If she was conscious, she posed a danger to everyone on board. The last thing these people wanted was a rogue spy running loose on their plane. They’re afraid of me… she thought with a small amount of satisfaction, … and they should be.
Instead of trying to protest, Ada simply smiled at the nurse who’d given her an unexpected shred of decency as the sedative began to pull her back into the throes of sleep. She didn’t hate this woman for what she was doing… she could see the fear in her eyes as plain as day… and it wasn’t her that she was afraid of.
“It’s alright,” she whispered. “I don’t blame you.”
She would remember the young nurse’s face. Maybe she wouldn’t kill her along with the rest of them when she found a way to get free. One act of kindness deserved another after all… Leon would have said that. Ada desperately tried to hold on to consciousness for moment longer as his name ran through her mind.
Leon…
With that, she again fell into the dark embrace of her dreams.
*** Raccoon City, Nebraska – 1993 ***
“Almost done child…” Mags replied as she put on the final touches of eye shadow.
Margaret was the woman’s given name, but she had preferred the shortened version. For the past three months, Mags had been her mentor; the one assigned to teach her the graceful art of walking, talking, and acting like a sophisticated lady of upper society. Growing up in a rundown home in L.A. certainly hadn’t prepared her for any of that, however all of it was required learning if she was to become a spy in Wesker’s organization. The combat and hand-to-hand training hadn’t been the worst part… no, the worst part had been this.
Walking in heels had been maddening at first. What woman in her right mind would wear shoes like that on a mission? She had asked Mags as much since the older woman had seen her fair share of covert ops during her tenure as a spy. Considered one of the best, her mentor had told her something during the first week that had stuck with her after she’d nearly broken her ankle during a jump.
“Do you know why it is so important that you learn how to operate like this?” The woman had asked her. Her lack of a response caused a smile to form on Mags’ face. “The reason is this… when you are out there in the field, not all of your operations will require you to break into facilities in the dead of night. Sometimes you will infiltrate your target’s location right under his or her nose. That requires a deft touch… to be able to blend in with them… to act like one of them. And to do your job properly, you must be able to operate in any condition.”
She had used those words as her motivation and had kept at it to the point where she was able to move with more grace than she had dared believe possible. Mags had been a true inspirational mentor; a woman who was in no way anything like the man who had sent her here to this place… Albert Wesker. His mere presence was enough to make her uncomfortable. She couldn’t place it but something felt off about him… something unnatural. Mags would have called it her ever-growing female intuition, but she had never discussed with anyone the dread she held for the man. Perhaps it wasn’t just the sense of fear he invoked that bothered her. In the end, Wesker was simply that, a man, and she had made a promise to herself years ago by refusing to trust them… ever. Maybe it was for the best to keep a few things like that to herself… especially concerning her boss. After all, he was the one who had gotten her out of prison after she’d been convicted of her father’s murder.
In the end, she let it wash over her like water over stone because today was a special day. Not only was it her nineteenth birthday, but Mags was giving her a full makeover to mark her graduation from all of the training she had mastered. While she had hated to part with her braided ponytail, she had given in when her mentor had convinced her otherwise. After that it had been a flurry of scissors cutting while the woman’s assistants manicured and set out working on her nails. She had never been the recipient of this type of treatment before. It felt as if she was being pampered like a queen of old… and deep down she had liked it.
“There,” the older lady said. “That should do it. Are all of you finished?” The other three immediately acknowledged the completion of their tasks. “Good. Then it’s time we set this young butterfly free.”
The anticipation was building within her for what she was about to see. From the beginning of this transformation, Mags had forbidden her to look at the dress that had been chosen nor had she allowed her to look in a mirror while her hair had been cut. Now, all of that patience would be rewarded with her first look at the finished product.
“Go on, child,” her mentor encouraged. “Take a look at yourself.”
Rising out of the chair, the first few steps in those new red heels had seemed like an eternity as she approached the mirror. Behind her, Mags flipped a switch, and suddenly the lights around the three-mirrored wall lit up giving her a panoramic view of herself. Shock was the first emotion that came to her, and her eyes widened in surprise. The change to her appearance had been so drastic that she didn’t even recognize the beautiful young woman standing on the other side of the mirror. It was as if she was gazing at someone else’s reflection.
Her long hair was gone; replaced instead with a short cut that caressed her neck and also highlighted the beautiful jet-black bangs that ran down to her cheeks. Running her fingers through them, she could feel how soft the strands felt; like running her hand over a sheet of fresh silk. Her eyes then traveled down her body until she was gazing upon the beautiful red dress that had been fitted for her. With everything that her mentor and her team had done… they had made her into something she had never believed possible. She had been turned from a poor, orphaned girl into a beauty; a woman who appeared strong and confident… a woman that needed no one. With that, a smile creased on her lips. Before she had a chance to fully savor her new and seductive look, a familiar voice spoke.
“You look beautiful, Ada.”
Her skin immediately goose-prickled at the smooth sound of his voice, and in the reflection of the mirror she could see him there standing next to Mags. Even with the sunglasses on, she could feel his eyes leering at her. Despite the apprehension she felt, his words had given her pause. Turning around, she looked at him with confusion at the unfamiliar name.
“Ada?” she asked.
“Your new identity,” he said as he held out a plain folder to her. When she took it, he continued, “As of today, Feng Xiang no longer exists. From now on, you will be known as Ada Wong. Congratulations… Ada.”
Even though she couldn’t see them, she could feel his eyes on her. Turning away, she faced the mirror and began looking through the folder’s contents.
“I still have a few more things to finish up with, and then she’ll be ready.” Mags said to him.
In the reflection, she saw Wesker turn and face her mentor. “Just make sure you send her to the training course after you’re through. It’s time for me to see what my investment can do.”
After he had left, she looked at the older woman. “He wants me to complete the course… in this?”
Mags walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Remember what I said to you at the beginning. You must be prepared to operate in any condition.” She then handed over the Beretta and holster. “Good luck… Ada.”
Taking the weapon, she strapped it to her exposed right thigh before looking back up at the woman. Mags smiled at her with motherly pride. That genuine look caused a smile of her own to tug at her ruby lips. She was ready. All that was left to do… was to believe it.
“I’m ready,” she said with confidence.
Stepping into the training course that day… she had been transformed from a lonely, abused Chinese girl named Feng Xiang to a confident and beautiful woman named Ada Wong. Her metamorphosis was now complete. When she had finally finished the course, she had set a score so high that no one had been able to beat it after her. With that, she had felt a newfound sense of pride at her victory. She was strong and would only continue to grow stronger as she embraced her new life. This was who she was meant to be.
*** Present Day ***
Slowly her eyes opened to the blinding whiteness of the sky above. Carefully squinting, she noticed that a squad of heavily armed men was escorting her across an airfield. They must have already landed, but wherever it was that they had taken her, it was freezing. It had to be some place north… the Arctic maybe?
Soon she was wheeled inside a building and the brightness was replaced by a dark corridor. It looked like some sort of hospital from the way the florescent lights above were spaced down the long hallway. On either side of the hall was an armed soldier in riot gear. One look told her that these men weren’t military personnel. Their uniforms and equipment easily gave them away as private contractors from a PMC. Mercenaries… she thought to herself, that’s who Zeus has guarding his home. Each of them was fully equipped in combat armor, helmets, and automatic rifles of various makes and models. They certainly weren’t taking any chances during her arrival here.
She’d dealt with people like this before during the course of her life as a spy. While perhaps not as honorable as standard military members from a country’s armed forces, there was one thing to be said about them – they were tough… else wise, they would never have survived in their current profession. Most PMCs around the world only took the best – whether it was for technical expertise or front line soldiers, they were experts in their chosen field. As a result, their ranks were filled with former Marines, Special Forces, and other notable branches of the military. Given her profession, she’d received numerous job offers from multiple private military corporations around the world. Each of them had tried to buy her services after her departure from Wesker’s organization with the familiar promises of lucrative pay and adventure. It had been enough to make her smile at how naïve they all were. One of the reasons she had been so successful in her line of work was because her life was an adventure every day. Coupled with the fact that she’d already earned more money than she could possibly spend, she’d turned each of them down. Her freedom was not something she was willing to sell away so easily to the highest bidder even if there had been added protection under the canopy of working for a large and powerful company.
But that was the past. Right now she had to discover where it was that she had been taken. The last thing that she’d remember hearing from the Krauser woman was a familiar word: Olympus. Was that why they had taken such precautions during her transport to this facility? There was a good chance this place was Olympus given the fact that Jennifer Krauser along with the surviving two members of the Wolfpack were leading the armed procession down the hallway.
While the armed soldiers continued to pass by her view, she made a mental note to catalogue and count their numbers along with their armaments. Before she had traveled halfway down the hall, she suddenly she felt the familiar sensation of fatigue crawling through her veins. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that the sedative in her I.V. had been activated.
Not taking any chances… are we?
Once again a smile played on her lips as her eyes began to close. Despite her current predicament, these fools had brought her exactly where she had wished to go. Now it was up to her to take advantage of it.
*** Raccoon City, Nebraska – 1998 ***
In the distance she heard the howls from the walking dead as they continued to stalk the streets of Raccoon City in search of more victims. The unpleasant scent of smoke coupled with burning flesh caught her attention as she looked towards two burned-out cars that had collided at the intersection. Over twenty undead ghouls were dragging out the corpses of both vehicles, and soon they began to… she turned her head away in disgust. It was a scene that had taken place in other parts of the city, but to see charred bodies being eaten… even that made her stomach churn.
Not waiting around to draw attention to herself, she stuck to the shadows and darted into an alley for cover. Hearing movement ahead, she saw a shadow in the street light and quickly went low behind a dumpster. Soon enough, one of the shambling corpses happened past her location. With soundless movements, she was in behind it and quickly shoved her knife through the back of its head putting the creature down without a sound. After pulling her knife free, she made sure the coast was clear before moving down the deserted alley.
Everything she had been trained for led to this moment. Even though she had known what to expect, the whole situation felt… surreal. Undead zombies… monsters slicing people apart with their claws? Shaking her head, she continued on towards her main objective: The Raccoon City Police Department. According to the information sent to her PDA by Wesker, there was a reporter named Ben Bertolucci hiding in the cell block who had information on Umbrella. Her mission before moving on to secure the G-Virus was to ascertain what that information was. After that, she could eliminate him and then make her next move. She just had to remember her cover story.
I’m looking for my boyfriend, John. He was working for a branch office of Umbrella based in Chicago when he suddenly disappeared six months ago…
Her smile faltered when her thoughts turned to him. Before she had left for Raccoon, Wesker had informed her about the outbreak at the Arklay Mansion. The scientists there had been killed by the T-Virus, and given the fact that John hadn’t been at the safe house, it was probably safe to assume that he was dead, too. She grimaced at the thought, but it was a distraction to her purpose here so she brushed it away. There was still a mission to complete.
After avoiding several other zombies, she made it to the back of the police station and immediately went for the closed gate leading down to the cell blocks. Entering in the four-digit pass code her benefactor had supplied, the gate immediately began to rise; giving her a large enough opening to roll under before it shut; sealing her inside.
With her Beretta in hand, she began to carefully push forward into the parking garage when she heard multiple clicking sounds coming from the area up ahead. Movement to her right caught her eye, but as she moved into cover, her foot kicked a soda can lying on the pavement. It was a rookie mistake, and the resulting clatter immediately caused a loud howl from a dog. Now they were charging in her direction. Crouching down into a fighting stance, she prepared herself for the oncoming attackers. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of them. Their flesh and other parts of their bodies lay bare and exposed leading her to realize that these creatures had also been infected with the T-Virus!
Aiming at the lead dog, she fired off two shots and dropped it. Her tongue moistened her lips as she took her aim at the next and dropped it, too. The relentless training Wesker had put her through began to kick in, and one by one, she put each of them down in a bloody heap on the parking lot’s asphalt. When the last had been felled, she stood up and began exchanging clips. That was when she heard it… a deep growl that caused her skin to goose-prickle before the sound of charging feet, and in that brief moment she froze.
BLAM!
The dog suddenly stumbled and fell dead at her feet. Looking down at the dead animal, surprise began spreading across her features until she saw where the shot had originated from. He was standing there with his pistol raised. When he caught sight of her, her eyes immediately locked with his, and slowly he lowered the gun. From the looks of his R.P.D. uniform coupled with his age, she guessed that the young man must have been a rookie member of the police department’s S.W.A.T. team. This created a new wrinkle in her plan. The entire police department was supposed to have been decimated from the outbreak, but somehow this man had survived. Without time to react, he quickly made his way over to her.
“You alright?” He asked. His eyes then briefly glanced down at her chest before returning to hers.
A smile slowly tugged at her lips as she eyed the blonde policeman up from head to toe. If she hadn’t known better, she could have sworn that he had blushed from her attention. When her eyes once again gazed into those two blue pools, she replied in her soft, seductive tone, “Thanks for that.”
Walking past him with a subtle sauntering of her hips, she continued on towards the cell blocks leaving him in her wake without another word being spoken. It hadn’t taken long for the young police officer to begin following her.
“Wait a minute! Who are you?” He asked.
She stopped and turned to look at him over her shoulder; the smile on her lips was still there when she answered him.
“Ada Wong.”
*** Present Day ***
”We’re leaving this place together…”
She recognized his voice… those words. He had spoken them to her when she had lain wounded in the security office in William Birkin’s secret lab. The warm touch of his fingers on her hand had been an act of kindness that she had been unworthy of. When she turned her head, she caught a glimpse of his handsome face before it began to dissolve right before her very eyes. Suddenly the dark security office was bathed in light.
“L… Leon…”
She whispered his name, but he was already gone. Her protector wasn’t there… he was dead, and her heart collapsed with that horrible truth. During the time she had spent hunting down Agent Hunk, her rage had been enough to sustain her, but as Ada looked out into the bare room she was being held in, even that had begun to run dry. She was defeated… cold… and alone.
Looking down, she saw that her body was still strapped securely to the gurney. However, instead of lying on her back, her captors had seen to putting her in an upright position. The room had one bright light bulb above her head; shining its light in a circle around her. The rest of the room was completely dark. What did it matter anyway? Why was she even fighting? Leon was dead, and soon she would be, too…
Her eyes immediately went wide when she realized what it was she was thinking. Looking to her left, she saw that same I.V. attached to her arm. It’s the drugs! Whatever it was that they were pumping into her body, they were attempting to use it to sap any remaining resistance. Taking a slow breath, Ada closed her eyes and began calming her mind and body to give her a fighting chance against whomever they would send. I’ve come too far to allow them to beat me now. I still have a mission to see to… and they’ve brought me straight into the viper’s nest.
Something else occurred to her as well; she hadn’t been brought here alone. Where had they taken Helena? There’d been no sign of her since the plane. A cold slither ran through her body when she realized that The Family’s minions might be torturing her for information on the product… information that she didn’t have! Before she could dwell on it any further, she heard someone speak from the darkness.
“Well, you’re finally awake.” In the distance the sound of heeled boots on the linoleum floor caught her attention, and soon the shape of woman materialized just outside the light. “We meet again… Ada Wong.”
She recognized that voice. “Jennifer Krauser, I presume?”
The young woman let out a soft laugh. “So you know who I am… I’m touched. I’d ask how you came by that bit of information, but given the fact that I can’t get in touch with Agent Hunk, I can assume he’s the one who let my name slip.”
Ada felt a smile cross her lips. “I didn’t give him much choice in the matter.”
The same laugh again; the woman was amused. “Well, if he fell into your hands then it seems I’ll need to find a replacement. Tell me, Ada – did you enjoy it?”
Yes, I did. “More than you could possibly know.”
“I’m very glad to hear that…” Jennifer replied as she stepped into the light. The woman was wearing a black suit jacket and short skirt along with a white blouse that showed off her well-toned abdomen. “… because I want you to understand that feeling now that I have you at my mercy.”
“Is that so?” She cooed before her attention went to the woman’s face. On her right cheek and neck were three burn scars that marked her injuries from their fight at Graham Corp.
The Krauser woman followed her eyes and smiled. Touching the wounds with her fingertips, she then asked, “Like them? They’re a fitting reminder to me of our first encounter. I made the mistake of underestimating you back at Graham Corp, and as a result, you got the better of me. But that’s a mistake I don’t plan on making ever again.”
This time it was she who laughed at the woman’s bravado. “Don’t be so certain, sweetie. I…” Her voice trailed off when the light of the room caused a glimmer to shine off of a piece of jewelry around the blonde’s neck. Realizing what it was, she immediately looked down and noticed that her ring was gone!
“Looking for something?” Jennifer quipped as she lifted the chain in her thumb and forefinger and gently shook it in a taunting motion. “It’s quite beautiful, actually. Where did you get it?” When she didn’t respond, the woman smiled. “Perhaps I’ll simply melt it down once I’ve seen to you. What do you think, Ada?”
Biting her lip to keep silent, Ada’s eyes narrowed when she felt the blood in her veins begin to simmer at the woman’s threat. That ring had belonged to Leon! When she’d found it at his apartment, she had kept it as a reminder of who it was that she was fighting for. Now this woman flaunted it like some kind of trophy!
“Don’t like that idea?” She asked as she approached. “It must be very special to you then.”
That’s when Ada saw the knife appear from behind the woman’s back, and when she closed the distance, Jennifer Krauser began to gently run the blade up and over her exposed thighs.
“Tell you what, Ada,” she replied as she took hold of the bottom fastener of her hospital gown and pushed the knife underneath it. With a gentle slice, she cut it free. “How about the two of us take a moment before any unpleasantness and have a little ‘girl’ talk?”
Pressing her lips together, Ada refused to be baited, but she made sure her eyes never wavered from her interrogator. She would not allow this woman to intimidate her… regardless of what her intentions were.
“Did you know that my brother meant the world to me? I’m sure you didn’t,” Jennifer began. “Despite being years older, I always looked up to him as a role model. He was a soldier and a patriot. When he died in that helicopter crash, it felt as if my entire world had collapsed.”
As she continued speaking, the woman once again worked the knife under the next fastener, and with another slice cut it free as well. The front of her gown was beginning to open; exposing her naked body to this woman’s view. Ada took a measured breath and continued to stare back as the blonde continued.
“That was until two years later when I received an unmarked letter while I was away at college. I was slowly putting my life back together after Jack’s passing, but its contents thoroughly upended everything. Do you know what it was? It was a letter from my brother telling me that he was still alive and begged my forgiveness for leaving the way that he had. He mentioned Wesker and what he was involved in, but he ended by asking me not to follow him.”
Bringing the knife up, she again cut the third fastener of her gown and exposed the sides of her breasts.
“Of course I couldn’t just sit and do nothing after finding this small glimmer of hope, so I set out to find him. I mean after all Jack was alive… how could I not? It was while I was in Europe trying to track down leads when Wesker found me.”
The woman’s eyes then narrowed and began to well with the faintest of tears. “He told me everything – Jack’s mission, his purpose, and… that he was truly dead. I was defeated… lost… until he offered me an opportunity to take my brother’s place at his side. By that point I was thirsty for vengeance so I took it.
“The training was brutal, but eventually I proved myself worthy enough to be tasked with a very important assignment – infiltrating the Secret Service as Bryn Cole… my new persona. Wesker wanted to keep tabs on the President and his VP and to… eliminate any individuals that threatened his organization. Of course, I had my own agenda at the time. The Secret Service brought me one step closer to my objective – Leon Scott Kennedy – the agent whom Wesker said killed by brother.”
Ada felt her eyes widen. “But Leon wasn’t the one…”
“I know that, and that’s the only reason why I never killed him,” Jennifer replied with a smile. “It took me over a full year to earn his friendship. Finally, when the trust was solidified, I got him to tell me all about his battle against my brother back in Spain. Wesker had recovered Jack’s body in the industrial area of Saddler’s island, but according to Leon, he had defeated my brother in the ruins of an old dig site. That discrepancy had piqued my interest. So one night I hacked into Wesker’s computer files concerning that operation. You wouldn’t believe it when I discovered that another one of his agents had been there the same time Jack was.”
The woman’s face suddenly turned from a calm and collected enemy into an image of pure hatred. As a tear ran down both of her cheeks, her hand was already grabbing her face. “So… the only question I have for you, Ada Wong, is this… Why? The two of you were allies back then.” Jennifer’s face was nearly touching her own when she yelled, “WHY DID YOU KILL MY BROTHER, YOU FUCKING BITCH!?”
She felt the edge of the knife resting against her cheek as the Krauser woman’s words of anger echoed inside her head. Ada contemplated her next move on what she should do. The woman before her was becoming unhinged with rage – should she make something up… or should she just tell her the truth? Her brother had been a psychotic sociopath just like Wesker. While that had been enough for him to earn her ire, that alone wasn’t the reason why she had betrayed and ultimately killed him.
“You’re a killer, Miss Krauser, but you haven’t been in the game for as long as I have,” Ada replied smoothly. “My books are so far in the red that the pages drip with blood. I’m a spy, an assassin… and a murderer. But despite all of that, a small sliver of light found its way through the blackness that was my life; a light that was neither asked for nor deserved, but one that was given to me regardless. On a very dark night, that light protected me… comforted me… loved me. I didn’t deserve any of that, but everything that it gave was without cost or obligation because that was its nature.”
Her captor’s green eyes furrowed inquisitively at the cryptic response, but this time it was Jennifer who remained silent while holding the knife against her flesh.
“Have you ever experienced grace like that… unconditional love from someone who owes you nothing, but would do anything for you?” she asked. “Well, I did for the first time back in Raccoon City. That bright spot was Leon Scott Kennedy, and he saved me – from the monsters, from Wesker, and from my life… and where it was heading. He saved me, Jennifer – that gentle man who turned into a fierce protector when those he cared about were threatened; a man who was pure and noble in his intentions. He had a profound impact on me that night without him even knowing it.”
Looking into the woman’s eyes, she leveled her gaze and told her the truth. “I killed your brother because Wesker had ordered him to murder my protector, and I wasn’t going to allow that to happen!”
Suddenly she felt a warm tear run down her cheek at the conviction in her words.
Jennifer Krauser stared at her for a long moment with a look of complete surprise at this confession. Then she spoke.
“Leon… you loved him?”
Nodding her head slightly, she replied. “Yes.”
Then something unexpected happened. After cocking her head, the blonde began to laugh. Tilting her head back, she laughed loud and long.
“You…” She brought her gaze down to look her in the eyes. “You killed my brother… because you were in love!?”
The woman laughed once more in amusement.
“Oh, Ada… all this time I had no idea how weak you truly were! Your cold-hearted reputation… the fear you struck in the hearts of your adversaries… all of it was so undeserved!” The woman’s smile then disappeared. “You betrayed my brother and Wesker… for love!? That was a pretty poor choice.”
She narrowed her eyes when a truth about this woman revealed itself. Jennifer Krauser was a glimpse of what her life would have been if Leon hadn’t intervened. While she certainly hadn’t been a saint after the events in Raccoon City, she had learned a form of compassion through him; a compassion that had driven her to protect him from Wesker against all odds. She would make no apologies for any of it… even killing this woman’s brother.
“I have no regrets.”
Jennifer once again grabbed her cheeks and shoved her head back against the gurney so that she couldn’t move. That was when the knife came; the tip pointing less than an inch from her face. The woman’s expression held a fury she hadn’t seen since her former benefactor.
“Well then, I suppose it’s only fitting to allow you to make one last choice,” the woman replied as she slowly moved the blade from her left eye to the right. “An eye for an eye; you chose which one I take. Your left … or your right?”
In the stillness of the room, she could hear her heartbeat pounding against her eardrums as a familiar wave of anxiety washed over her. In her current state, she was helpless to fight back against the woman’s intentions to mutilate her.
“I thought your boss wanted me alive?”
The woman smiled broadly. “Alive yes… however Zeus made no mention that you had to be in one piece.”
“Well then…” Ada replied when she realized how this was going to play out. She then gathered what saliva she could muster and then spit it in the woman’s face. “That’s my answer for you. I’m not about to give you the satisfaction, Miss Krauser. So you do what it is you’re going to do, but know this… I don’t regret killing your brother. He was psychotic just like Wesker and deserved his fate. If I could do it all over again, I’d still make the same choice.”
Jennifer wiped away the spit before grabbing her hair and bringing the knife up. “Stubborn to the end. Fine… both then. When you start to feel the pain, I want you to ask yourself one question. Was doing all of this for Leon truly worth it?”
Leon…
Ada allowed herself a brief moment to picture his face which in turn brought a sense of calm as the knife came towards her right eye. In the past, she had defied Wesker on more than one occasion concerning the man’s intentions to kill him, but in the end Leon’s life had been worth it. Nobility like that was always worth protecting.
Closing her eyes she took a deep breath to steady herself…
… and felt the tip of the blade press against her eyelid.
Next: Chapter 4-3: Zeus
Somewhere Over Canada
Province of Alberta
May 30th 2014
22:26 MDT
*** Los Angeles, California – 1990 ***
“XIANG!”
The slurred scream of her name coupled with the slamming of the front door immediately jolted her awake. For the past two hours she had been studying for her biology exam the next day and must have fallen asleep at the table. The table! Suddenly, her eyes widened in panic; the immediate rush of adrenalin removed all prior vestiges of sleep. She’d forgotten to clean off the table and tidy up the living room before he got home! It hadn’t been a priority at the time given the fact that he’d been gone for over a day and a half, leaving her to once again fend for herself. She’d erroneously believed that he had been on another one of his three-day benders and that she’d have time to clean after her homework was finished.
“XIANG!”
Already her legs were shaking as she attempted to get up from her chair and stand. Her belly was slowly twisting itself into knots with fear at what was coming next. The last time had resulted in her being whipped with an extension cord causing pain so horrible that she hadn’t been able to sit for two days. Despite his drunken state, the bastard had been smart enough to do it over the weekend so the school officials wouldn’t get suspicious.
He staggered his way through the hall and stood there bracing himself in the opening of the tiny kitchen. His eyes were glassy from the drink, but their rage was focused solely on her. “What is this!? I tell you clean, you clean! You continue to turn into American whore! Lazy slut!”
She backed up until the stove behind her blocked any further retreat. “I… I’m sorry!” she replied. “I was studying for school, and I…” She paused, knowing that the thought of her being educated only seemed to enrage him more. “I’ll clean it up now!”
Quickly moving towards the table, she was about to grab the dishes when he was on her; his frame blocking out the overhead light as he towered over her like the monster from her nightmares. Despite their ancestry, he was a tall man – over six feet in height. Suddenly, a thick hand was on her throat pulling her backwards until she was slammed against the stove. The dish that had been in her hand fell from her grasp and shattered upon the floor.
“Stupid child!” He snarled. His breath stank of hard liquor. “I no care for your school! You have one purpose – you do as I say like good Chinese girl!”
With that, he sent a hard slap across her face, knocking her to the kitchen floor. Her cheek stung from the blow… a brutal reminder that this was only the beginning. As she had grown older, every little thing that she did or didn’t do only seemed to infuriate him – sometimes without any warning, and the booze that he continued to blow his paychecks on only enhanced his sadism. It had been like this for as long as she could remember. In the past any time he had started on her, her mother would step in to pick a fight with him in order to distract his attention. It would give her the opportunity to run to her little room and hide until he passed out from exhaustion. But even as she laid hiding under her bed, she couldn’t mute the shrill cries of pain coming from the next room as he beat her savagely… and then raped her. Never would she forget any of it especially after her gentle mother had passed away last year. It had angered her to even think about it, but deep down she’d known the truth. Her mother was dead because of the abuse he put her through!
Never before had she ever considered what had happened next. Whether it was stored up hate for him over her sixteen years or those thoughts of her beloved Māma that caused her to snap, she couldn’t say, but in a flash, she was up screaming at the top of her lungs as she charged into him. She punched her way to his belly yelling how much she hated him, but even in his drunken state, she was no match. His fist found her chin and just as quickly her rebellion was crushed. Falling over the table, a wave of dizziness enveloped her along with the cold, familiar hand of fear as she tried to push herself up. Her efforts at mounting a defense would be in vain as he was already behind her. Grabbing the long ponytail that she loved to braid, he yanked her head back before slamming her face down into the table once more. White hot fire spread out from her nose as tears began welling in her almond-colored eyes.
“You are disrespectful whore! All this time you are nothing but cheap American slut!” With that, he grabbed the back of her jeans and began to roughly pull them down over her hips. “I show you what happens to slut!”
Like a deer in a car’s headlights, she froze in terror at his intentions. What could she do? Should she continue to fight back and try and save her honor even if it led to a more severe beating, or should she just lie still and let him have his way? Shutting her eyes tight, she felt a tear run over the bridge of her nose. Fear… it was all she could think of.
“Please… Lǎobà. Please… don’t… I’m sorry! Please...!” She hadn’t called him that in years. In fact, she hadn’t even considered him a father at all; not after everything he had done to both her and her mother. In her terror however, she was desperate enough to do or say anything to stop him as he had already worked her jeans down to her knees.
He responded by pulling hard on her hair, causing her to shriek. That was when she saw it… there on the table. She hadn’t put any of the silverware in the sink and now the steak knife glimmered there in the light. As he pushed himself against her through his briefs, she quickly reached for the knife. Without thinking, she immediately swung her hand backwards… and felt the blade meet his flesh. His scream immediately echoed through the din of the kitchen.
The next thing she could clearly remember was seeing him on the floor slumped back against the cabinets holding his neck as the blood seeped through his fingers. It was so red… and smelled of metal. After pulling her pants back up, she had stood there watching as he swore at her in both his broken English and Chinese calling her every curse and humiliating word he could think of while at the same time ordering her to call for an ambulance.
Instead of heeding his demands as she had done in the past, she looked down at the knife in her shaking hands. It was at that moment that a long-buried truth had finally made itself known. The monster lying on the floor wasn’t some invincible creature that could control her life any longer. He might have been stronger than her… but he was just a man. A man was nothing but flesh and blood… and a man could be killed. For the first in her life, it was she who held the power.
With a scream amplified by her suppressed rage, she felt a sudden rush of exhilaration when she saw his eyes widen in fear just before the knife plunged through his chest. He howled for mercy, but she was beyond any of that. If there had been an ounce of forgiveness left within her heart, it was gone forever.
“You monster!” She screamed in Chinese as she pulled out the blade. Plunging it downwards, she continued stabbing him again… and again… and again… the blood was so red… again… again… all over her… again … again… Māma… again… again…
… and through it all she was smiling.
*** Present Day ***
Fear was crawling through her blood as the drug-induced dream forced her mind to recall the memories of that night. As the disorientation began to subside however, she remembered a very important truth… He was dead. Never again would he lay his hands on her.
Pulling herself from the darkness that held her in its sway, Ada now began to make out the whine of jet engines in the background. Her eyes slowly opened and immediately she realized that she was lying in the cargo area of a plane. All attempts to move had proved fruitless. Her captors had strapped her down to a gurney with every part of her body completely immobilized. Before there was a chance to dwell on her current predicament, she heard hushed voices talking off to her right. Turning her head and peering into the distance, she saw a man and a woman in full combat gear standing near a window. It was dark outside the plane giving her an indication that wherever they were, it was already night.
“Do not even think it, Spectre,” the woman said. Ada recognized the French accent right away. From what Hunk had told her, the woman’s code name was Lupo. She was a former French special forces member and leader of the Wolfpack – the group who had been sent to apprehend her back at Graham Corp. “The boss ordered her to be brought back alive. We are soldiers; we do as we are told. Thinking is not what we are paid to do.”
“Have you forgotten what happened to our fallen brothers and sisters?” the man replied with a Russian accent. “This woman killed Bertha, Vector, Four Eyes and Beltway! No one kills Beltway! You read the same file that I did – Ada Wong is capable of anything! If we do not put a permanent end to her now… Lupo… you know what it is that I am saying to you!”
“It does not matter. Krauser has given us our orders, and she speaks for Zeus. Trust me, my friend… you do not want to cross either of them!”
As the man walked away in frustration, movement to the left caused her attention to shift. A young nurse in scrubs was checking the I.V. connected to her arm. When the woman looked down at her, Ada met her gaze. She watched as those blue eyes widened in surprise when the nurse realized that her charge was awake. The look on the young woman’s face was one that was expecting her to suddenly transform into a vampire, rip the bindings loose from the gurney, and tear her throat out. To her credit though the nurse didn’t call out; instead she remained still and silently returned the stare.
There were a thousand questions running through her mind at the moment, but the first one to gain priority caused her to utter a single word.
“Helena?” She whispered.
After a brief moment, her question seemed to register, and the nurse’s gaze softened. With a slight turn of her head, the woman’s eyes motioned to the left. Looking over, Ada saw the agent lying unconscious on a similar gurney on the opposite side of the plane. Tubes were running from her arm to an I.V., but there was also an oxygen mask over her face.
She immediately looked back at the woman and pleaded for a prognosis. “Bad?”
The nurse’s eyes darted down without an answer, and soon she then began pressing buttons on the I.V. “I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I… I can’t say any more. They want you sedated for the whole trip.”
In a way she could understand their intentions. If she was conscious, she posed a danger to everyone on board. The last thing these people wanted was a rogue spy running loose on their plane. They’re afraid of me… she thought with a small amount of satisfaction, … and they should be.
Instead of trying to protest, Ada simply smiled at the nurse who’d given her an unexpected shred of decency as the sedative began to pull her back into the throes of sleep. She didn’t hate this woman for what she was doing… she could see the fear in her eyes as plain as day… and it wasn’t her that she was afraid of.
“It’s alright,” she whispered. “I don’t blame you.”
She would remember the young nurse’s face. Maybe she wouldn’t kill her along with the rest of them when she found a way to get free. One act of kindness deserved another after all… Leon would have said that. Ada desperately tried to hold on to consciousness for moment longer as his name ran through her mind.
Leon…
With that, she again fell into the dark embrace of her dreams.
*** Raccoon City, Nebraska – 1993 ***
“Almost done child…” Mags replied as she put on the final touches of eye shadow.
Margaret was the woman’s given name, but she had preferred the shortened version. For the past three months, Mags had been her mentor; the one assigned to teach her the graceful art of walking, talking, and acting like a sophisticated lady of upper society. Growing up in a rundown home in L.A. certainly hadn’t prepared her for any of that, however all of it was required learning if she was to become a spy in Wesker’s organization. The combat and hand-to-hand training hadn’t been the worst part… no, the worst part had been this.
Walking in heels had been maddening at first. What woman in her right mind would wear shoes like that on a mission? She had asked Mags as much since the older woman had seen her fair share of covert ops during her tenure as a spy. Considered one of the best, her mentor had told her something during the first week that had stuck with her after she’d nearly broken her ankle during a jump.
“Do you know why it is so important that you learn how to operate like this?” The woman had asked her. Her lack of a response caused a smile to form on Mags’ face. “The reason is this… when you are out there in the field, not all of your operations will require you to break into facilities in the dead of night. Sometimes you will infiltrate your target’s location right under his or her nose. That requires a deft touch… to be able to blend in with them… to act like one of them. And to do your job properly, you must be able to operate in any condition.”
She had used those words as her motivation and had kept at it to the point where she was able to move with more grace than she had dared believe possible. Mags had been a true inspirational mentor; a woman who was in no way anything like the man who had sent her here to this place… Albert Wesker. His mere presence was enough to make her uncomfortable. She couldn’t place it but something felt off about him… something unnatural. Mags would have called it her ever-growing female intuition, but she had never discussed with anyone the dread she held for the man. Perhaps it wasn’t just the sense of fear he invoked that bothered her. In the end, Wesker was simply that, a man, and she had made a promise to herself years ago by refusing to trust them… ever. Maybe it was for the best to keep a few things like that to herself… especially concerning her boss. After all, he was the one who had gotten her out of prison after she’d been convicted of her father’s murder.
In the end, she let it wash over her like water over stone because today was a special day. Not only was it her nineteenth birthday, but Mags was giving her a full makeover to mark her graduation from all of the training she had mastered. While she had hated to part with her braided ponytail, she had given in when her mentor had convinced her otherwise. After that it had been a flurry of scissors cutting while the woman’s assistants manicured and set out working on her nails. She had never been the recipient of this type of treatment before. It felt as if she was being pampered like a queen of old… and deep down she had liked it.
“There,” the older lady said. “That should do it. Are all of you finished?” The other three immediately acknowledged the completion of their tasks. “Good. Then it’s time we set this young butterfly free.”
The anticipation was building within her for what she was about to see. From the beginning of this transformation, Mags had forbidden her to look at the dress that had been chosen nor had she allowed her to look in a mirror while her hair had been cut. Now, all of that patience would be rewarded with her first look at the finished product.
“Go on, child,” her mentor encouraged. “Take a look at yourself.”
Rising out of the chair, the first few steps in those new red heels had seemed like an eternity as she approached the mirror. Behind her, Mags flipped a switch, and suddenly the lights around the three-mirrored wall lit up giving her a panoramic view of herself. Shock was the first emotion that came to her, and her eyes widened in surprise. The change to her appearance had been so drastic that she didn’t even recognize the beautiful young woman standing on the other side of the mirror. It was as if she was gazing at someone else’s reflection.
Her long hair was gone; replaced instead with a short cut that caressed her neck and also highlighted the beautiful jet-black bangs that ran down to her cheeks. Running her fingers through them, she could feel how soft the strands felt; like running her hand over a sheet of fresh silk. Her eyes then traveled down her body until she was gazing upon the beautiful red dress that had been fitted for her. With everything that her mentor and her team had done… they had made her into something she had never believed possible. She had been turned from a poor, orphaned girl into a beauty; a woman who appeared strong and confident… a woman that needed no one. With that, a smile creased on her lips. Before she had a chance to fully savor her new and seductive look, a familiar voice spoke.
“You look beautiful, Ada.”
Her skin immediately goose-prickled at the smooth sound of his voice, and in the reflection of the mirror she could see him there standing next to Mags. Even with the sunglasses on, she could feel his eyes leering at her. Despite the apprehension she felt, his words had given her pause. Turning around, she looked at him with confusion at the unfamiliar name.
“Ada?” she asked.
“Your new identity,” he said as he held out a plain folder to her. When she took it, he continued, “As of today, Feng Xiang no longer exists. From now on, you will be known as Ada Wong. Congratulations… Ada.”
Even though she couldn’t see them, she could feel his eyes on her. Turning away, she faced the mirror and began looking through the folder’s contents.
“I still have a few more things to finish up with, and then she’ll be ready.” Mags said to him.
In the reflection, she saw Wesker turn and face her mentor. “Just make sure you send her to the training course after you’re through. It’s time for me to see what my investment can do.”
After he had left, she looked at the older woman. “He wants me to complete the course… in this?”
Mags walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Remember what I said to you at the beginning. You must be prepared to operate in any condition.” She then handed over the Beretta and holster. “Good luck… Ada.”
Taking the weapon, she strapped it to her exposed right thigh before looking back up at the woman. Mags smiled at her with motherly pride. That genuine look caused a smile of her own to tug at her ruby lips. She was ready. All that was left to do… was to believe it.
“I’m ready,” she said with confidence.
Stepping into the training course that day… she had been transformed from a lonely, abused Chinese girl named Feng Xiang to a confident and beautiful woman named Ada Wong. Her metamorphosis was now complete. When she had finally finished the course, she had set a score so high that no one had been able to beat it after her. With that, she had felt a newfound sense of pride at her victory. She was strong and would only continue to grow stronger as she embraced her new life. This was who she was meant to be.
*** Present Day ***
Slowly her eyes opened to the blinding whiteness of the sky above. Carefully squinting, she noticed that a squad of heavily armed men was escorting her across an airfield. They must have already landed, but wherever it was that they had taken her, it was freezing. It had to be some place north… the Arctic maybe?
Soon she was wheeled inside a building and the brightness was replaced by a dark corridor. It looked like some sort of hospital from the way the florescent lights above were spaced down the long hallway. On either side of the hall was an armed soldier in riot gear. One look told her that these men weren’t military personnel. Their uniforms and equipment easily gave them away as private contractors from a PMC. Mercenaries… she thought to herself, that’s who Zeus has guarding his home. Each of them was fully equipped in combat armor, helmets, and automatic rifles of various makes and models. They certainly weren’t taking any chances during her arrival here.
She’d dealt with people like this before during the course of her life as a spy. While perhaps not as honorable as standard military members from a country’s armed forces, there was one thing to be said about them – they were tough… else wise, they would never have survived in their current profession. Most PMCs around the world only took the best – whether it was for technical expertise or front line soldiers, they were experts in their chosen field. As a result, their ranks were filled with former Marines, Special Forces, and other notable branches of the military. Given her profession, she’d received numerous job offers from multiple private military corporations around the world. Each of them had tried to buy her services after her departure from Wesker’s organization with the familiar promises of lucrative pay and adventure. It had been enough to make her smile at how naïve they all were. One of the reasons she had been so successful in her line of work was because her life was an adventure every day. Coupled with the fact that she’d already earned more money than she could possibly spend, she’d turned each of them down. Her freedom was not something she was willing to sell away so easily to the highest bidder even if there had been added protection under the canopy of working for a large and powerful company.
But that was the past. Right now she had to discover where it was that she had been taken. The last thing that she’d remember hearing from the Krauser woman was a familiar word: Olympus. Was that why they had taken such precautions during her transport to this facility? There was a good chance this place was Olympus given the fact that Jennifer Krauser along with the surviving two members of the Wolfpack were leading the armed procession down the hallway.
While the armed soldiers continued to pass by her view, she made a mental note to catalogue and count their numbers along with their armaments. Before she had traveled halfway down the hall, she suddenly she felt the familiar sensation of fatigue crawling through her veins. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that the sedative in her I.V. had been activated.
Not taking any chances… are we?
Once again a smile played on her lips as her eyes began to close. Despite her current predicament, these fools had brought her exactly where she had wished to go. Now it was up to her to take advantage of it.
*** Raccoon City, Nebraska – 1998 ***
In the distance she heard the howls from the walking dead as they continued to stalk the streets of Raccoon City in search of more victims. The unpleasant scent of smoke coupled with burning flesh caught her attention as she looked towards two burned-out cars that had collided at the intersection. Over twenty undead ghouls were dragging out the corpses of both vehicles, and soon they began to… she turned her head away in disgust. It was a scene that had taken place in other parts of the city, but to see charred bodies being eaten… even that made her stomach churn.
Not waiting around to draw attention to herself, she stuck to the shadows and darted into an alley for cover. Hearing movement ahead, she saw a shadow in the street light and quickly went low behind a dumpster. Soon enough, one of the shambling corpses happened past her location. With soundless movements, she was in behind it and quickly shoved her knife through the back of its head putting the creature down without a sound. After pulling her knife free, she made sure the coast was clear before moving down the deserted alley.
Everything she had been trained for led to this moment. Even though she had known what to expect, the whole situation felt… surreal. Undead zombies… monsters slicing people apart with their claws? Shaking her head, she continued on towards her main objective: The Raccoon City Police Department. According to the information sent to her PDA by Wesker, there was a reporter named Ben Bertolucci hiding in the cell block who had information on Umbrella. Her mission before moving on to secure the G-Virus was to ascertain what that information was. After that, she could eliminate him and then make her next move. She just had to remember her cover story.
I’m looking for my boyfriend, John. He was working for a branch office of Umbrella based in Chicago when he suddenly disappeared six months ago…
Her smile faltered when her thoughts turned to him. Before she had left for Raccoon, Wesker had informed her about the outbreak at the Arklay Mansion. The scientists there had been killed by the T-Virus, and given the fact that John hadn’t been at the safe house, it was probably safe to assume that he was dead, too. She grimaced at the thought, but it was a distraction to her purpose here so she brushed it away. There was still a mission to complete.
After avoiding several other zombies, she made it to the back of the police station and immediately went for the closed gate leading down to the cell blocks. Entering in the four-digit pass code her benefactor had supplied, the gate immediately began to rise; giving her a large enough opening to roll under before it shut; sealing her inside.
With her Beretta in hand, she began to carefully push forward into the parking garage when she heard multiple clicking sounds coming from the area up ahead. Movement to her right caught her eye, but as she moved into cover, her foot kicked a soda can lying on the pavement. It was a rookie mistake, and the resulting clatter immediately caused a loud howl from a dog. Now they were charging in her direction. Crouching down into a fighting stance, she prepared herself for the oncoming attackers. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of them. Their flesh and other parts of their bodies lay bare and exposed leading her to realize that these creatures had also been infected with the T-Virus!
Aiming at the lead dog, she fired off two shots and dropped it. Her tongue moistened her lips as she took her aim at the next and dropped it, too. The relentless training Wesker had put her through began to kick in, and one by one, she put each of them down in a bloody heap on the parking lot’s asphalt. When the last had been felled, she stood up and began exchanging clips. That was when she heard it… a deep growl that caused her skin to goose-prickle before the sound of charging feet, and in that brief moment she froze.
BLAM!
The dog suddenly stumbled and fell dead at her feet. Looking down at the dead animal, surprise began spreading across her features until she saw where the shot had originated from. He was standing there with his pistol raised. When he caught sight of her, her eyes immediately locked with his, and slowly he lowered the gun. From the looks of his R.P.D. uniform coupled with his age, she guessed that the young man must have been a rookie member of the police department’s S.W.A.T. team. This created a new wrinkle in her plan. The entire police department was supposed to have been decimated from the outbreak, but somehow this man had survived. Without time to react, he quickly made his way over to her.
“You alright?” He asked. His eyes then briefly glanced down at her chest before returning to hers.
A smile slowly tugged at her lips as she eyed the blonde policeman up from head to toe. If she hadn’t known better, she could have sworn that he had blushed from her attention. When her eyes once again gazed into those two blue pools, she replied in her soft, seductive tone, “Thanks for that.”
Walking past him with a subtle sauntering of her hips, she continued on towards the cell blocks leaving him in her wake without another word being spoken. It hadn’t taken long for the young police officer to begin following her.
“Wait a minute! Who are you?” He asked.
She stopped and turned to look at him over her shoulder; the smile on her lips was still there when she answered him.
“Ada Wong.”
*** Present Day ***
”We’re leaving this place together…”
She recognized his voice… those words. He had spoken them to her when she had lain wounded in the security office in William Birkin’s secret lab. The warm touch of his fingers on her hand had been an act of kindness that she had been unworthy of. When she turned her head, she caught a glimpse of his handsome face before it began to dissolve right before her very eyes. Suddenly the dark security office was bathed in light.
“L… Leon…”
She whispered his name, but he was already gone. Her protector wasn’t there… he was dead, and her heart collapsed with that horrible truth. During the time she had spent hunting down Agent Hunk, her rage had been enough to sustain her, but as Ada looked out into the bare room she was being held in, even that had begun to run dry. She was defeated… cold… and alone.
Looking down, she saw that her body was still strapped securely to the gurney. However, instead of lying on her back, her captors had seen to putting her in an upright position. The room had one bright light bulb above her head; shining its light in a circle around her. The rest of the room was completely dark. What did it matter anyway? Why was she even fighting? Leon was dead, and soon she would be, too…
Her eyes immediately went wide when she realized what it was she was thinking. Looking to her left, she saw that same I.V. attached to her arm. It’s the drugs! Whatever it was that they were pumping into her body, they were attempting to use it to sap any remaining resistance. Taking a slow breath, Ada closed her eyes and began calming her mind and body to give her a fighting chance against whomever they would send. I’ve come too far to allow them to beat me now. I still have a mission to see to… and they’ve brought me straight into the viper’s nest.
Something else occurred to her as well; she hadn’t been brought here alone. Where had they taken Helena? There’d been no sign of her since the plane. A cold slither ran through her body when she realized that The Family’s minions might be torturing her for information on the product… information that she didn’t have! Before she could dwell on it any further, she heard someone speak from the darkness.
“Well, you’re finally awake.” In the distance the sound of heeled boots on the linoleum floor caught her attention, and soon the shape of woman materialized just outside the light. “We meet again… Ada Wong.”
She recognized that voice. “Jennifer Krauser, I presume?”
The young woman let out a soft laugh. “So you know who I am… I’m touched. I’d ask how you came by that bit of information, but given the fact that I can’t get in touch with Agent Hunk, I can assume he’s the one who let my name slip.”
Ada felt a smile cross her lips. “I didn’t give him much choice in the matter.”
The same laugh again; the woman was amused. “Well, if he fell into your hands then it seems I’ll need to find a replacement. Tell me, Ada – did you enjoy it?”
Yes, I did. “More than you could possibly know.”
“I’m very glad to hear that…” Jennifer replied as she stepped into the light. The woman was wearing a black suit jacket and short skirt along with a white blouse that showed off her well-toned abdomen. “… because I want you to understand that feeling now that I have you at my mercy.”
“Is that so?” She cooed before her attention went to the woman’s face. On her right cheek and neck were three burn scars that marked her injuries from their fight at Graham Corp.
The Krauser woman followed her eyes and smiled. Touching the wounds with her fingertips, she then asked, “Like them? They’re a fitting reminder to me of our first encounter. I made the mistake of underestimating you back at Graham Corp, and as a result, you got the better of me. But that’s a mistake I don’t plan on making ever again.”
This time it was she who laughed at the woman’s bravado. “Don’t be so certain, sweetie. I…” Her voice trailed off when the light of the room caused a glimmer to shine off of a piece of jewelry around the blonde’s neck. Realizing what it was, she immediately looked down and noticed that her ring was gone!
“Looking for something?” Jennifer quipped as she lifted the chain in her thumb and forefinger and gently shook it in a taunting motion. “It’s quite beautiful, actually. Where did you get it?” When she didn’t respond, the woman smiled. “Perhaps I’ll simply melt it down once I’ve seen to you. What do you think, Ada?”
Biting her lip to keep silent, Ada’s eyes narrowed when she felt the blood in her veins begin to simmer at the woman’s threat. That ring had belonged to Leon! When she’d found it at his apartment, she had kept it as a reminder of who it was that she was fighting for. Now this woman flaunted it like some kind of trophy!
“Don’t like that idea?” She asked as she approached. “It must be very special to you then.”
That’s when Ada saw the knife appear from behind the woman’s back, and when she closed the distance, Jennifer Krauser began to gently run the blade up and over her exposed thighs.
“Tell you what, Ada,” she replied as she took hold of the bottom fastener of her hospital gown and pushed the knife underneath it. With a gentle slice, she cut it free. “How about the two of us take a moment before any unpleasantness and have a little ‘girl’ talk?”
Pressing her lips together, Ada refused to be baited, but she made sure her eyes never wavered from her interrogator. She would not allow this woman to intimidate her… regardless of what her intentions were.
“Did you know that my brother meant the world to me? I’m sure you didn’t,” Jennifer began. “Despite being years older, I always looked up to him as a role model. He was a soldier and a patriot. When he died in that helicopter crash, it felt as if my entire world had collapsed.”
As she continued speaking, the woman once again worked the knife under the next fastener, and with another slice cut it free as well. The front of her gown was beginning to open; exposing her naked body to this woman’s view. Ada took a measured breath and continued to stare back as the blonde continued.
“That was until two years later when I received an unmarked letter while I was away at college. I was slowly putting my life back together after Jack’s passing, but its contents thoroughly upended everything. Do you know what it was? It was a letter from my brother telling me that he was still alive and begged my forgiveness for leaving the way that he had. He mentioned Wesker and what he was involved in, but he ended by asking me not to follow him.”
Bringing the knife up, she again cut the third fastener of her gown and exposed the sides of her breasts.
“Of course I couldn’t just sit and do nothing after finding this small glimmer of hope, so I set out to find him. I mean after all Jack was alive… how could I not? It was while I was in Europe trying to track down leads when Wesker found me.”
The woman’s eyes then narrowed and began to well with the faintest of tears. “He told me everything – Jack’s mission, his purpose, and… that he was truly dead. I was defeated… lost… until he offered me an opportunity to take my brother’s place at his side. By that point I was thirsty for vengeance so I took it.
“The training was brutal, but eventually I proved myself worthy enough to be tasked with a very important assignment – infiltrating the Secret Service as Bryn Cole… my new persona. Wesker wanted to keep tabs on the President and his VP and to… eliminate any individuals that threatened his organization. Of course, I had my own agenda at the time. The Secret Service brought me one step closer to my objective – Leon Scott Kennedy – the agent whom Wesker said killed by brother.”
Ada felt her eyes widen. “But Leon wasn’t the one…”
“I know that, and that’s the only reason why I never killed him,” Jennifer replied with a smile. “It took me over a full year to earn his friendship. Finally, when the trust was solidified, I got him to tell me all about his battle against my brother back in Spain. Wesker had recovered Jack’s body in the industrial area of Saddler’s island, but according to Leon, he had defeated my brother in the ruins of an old dig site. That discrepancy had piqued my interest. So one night I hacked into Wesker’s computer files concerning that operation. You wouldn’t believe it when I discovered that another one of his agents had been there the same time Jack was.”
The woman’s face suddenly turned from a calm and collected enemy into an image of pure hatred. As a tear ran down both of her cheeks, her hand was already grabbing her face. “So… the only question I have for you, Ada Wong, is this… Why? The two of you were allies back then.” Jennifer’s face was nearly touching her own when she yelled, “WHY DID YOU KILL MY BROTHER, YOU FUCKING BITCH!?”
She felt the edge of the knife resting against her cheek as the Krauser woman’s words of anger echoed inside her head. Ada contemplated her next move on what she should do. The woman before her was becoming unhinged with rage – should she make something up… or should she just tell her the truth? Her brother had been a psychotic sociopath just like Wesker. While that had been enough for him to earn her ire, that alone wasn’t the reason why she had betrayed and ultimately killed him.
“You’re a killer, Miss Krauser, but you haven’t been in the game for as long as I have,” Ada replied smoothly. “My books are so far in the red that the pages drip with blood. I’m a spy, an assassin… and a murderer. But despite all of that, a small sliver of light found its way through the blackness that was my life; a light that was neither asked for nor deserved, but one that was given to me regardless. On a very dark night, that light protected me… comforted me… loved me. I didn’t deserve any of that, but everything that it gave was without cost or obligation because that was its nature.”
Her captor’s green eyes furrowed inquisitively at the cryptic response, but this time it was Jennifer who remained silent while holding the knife against her flesh.
“Have you ever experienced grace like that… unconditional love from someone who owes you nothing, but would do anything for you?” she asked. “Well, I did for the first time back in Raccoon City. That bright spot was Leon Scott Kennedy, and he saved me – from the monsters, from Wesker, and from my life… and where it was heading. He saved me, Jennifer – that gentle man who turned into a fierce protector when those he cared about were threatened; a man who was pure and noble in his intentions. He had a profound impact on me that night without him even knowing it.”
Looking into the woman’s eyes, she leveled her gaze and told her the truth. “I killed your brother because Wesker had ordered him to murder my protector, and I wasn’t going to allow that to happen!”
Suddenly she felt a warm tear run down her cheek at the conviction in her words.
Jennifer Krauser stared at her for a long moment with a look of complete surprise at this confession. Then she spoke.
“Leon… you loved him?”
Nodding her head slightly, she replied. “Yes.”
Then something unexpected happened. After cocking her head, the blonde began to laugh. Tilting her head back, she laughed loud and long.
“You…” She brought her gaze down to look her in the eyes. “You killed my brother… because you were in love!?”
The woman laughed once more in amusement.
“Oh, Ada… all this time I had no idea how weak you truly were! Your cold-hearted reputation… the fear you struck in the hearts of your adversaries… all of it was so undeserved!” The woman’s smile then disappeared. “You betrayed my brother and Wesker… for love!? That was a pretty poor choice.”
She narrowed her eyes when a truth about this woman revealed itself. Jennifer Krauser was a glimpse of what her life would have been if Leon hadn’t intervened. While she certainly hadn’t been a saint after the events in Raccoon City, she had learned a form of compassion through him; a compassion that had driven her to protect him from Wesker against all odds. She would make no apologies for any of it… even killing this woman’s brother.
“I have no regrets.”
Jennifer once again grabbed her cheeks and shoved her head back against the gurney so that she couldn’t move. That was when the knife came; the tip pointing less than an inch from her face. The woman’s expression held a fury she hadn’t seen since her former benefactor.
“Well then, I suppose it’s only fitting to allow you to make one last choice,” the woman replied as she slowly moved the blade from her left eye to the right. “An eye for an eye; you chose which one I take. Your left … or your right?”
In the stillness of the room, she could hear her heartbeat pounding against her eardrums as a familiar wave of anxiety washed over her. In her current state, she was helpless to fight back against the woman’s intentions to mutilate her.
“I thought your boss wanted me alive?”
The woman smiled broadly. “Alive yes… however Zeus made no mention that you had to be in one piece.”
“Well then…” Ada replied when she realized how this was going to play out. She then gathered what saliva she could muster and then spit it in the woman’s face. “That’s my answer for you. I’m not about to give you the satisfaction, Miss Krauser. So you do what it is you’re going to do, but know this… I don’t regret killing your brother. He was psychotic just like Wesker and deserved his fate. If I could do it all over again, I’d still make the same choice.”
Jennifer wiped away the spit before grabbing her hair and bringing the knife up. “Stubborn to the end. Fine… both then. When you start to feel the pain, I want you to ask yourself one question. Was doing all of this for Leon truly worth it?”
Leon…
Ada allowed herself a brief moment to picture his face which in turn brought a sense of calm as the knife came towards her right eye. In the past, she had defied Wesker on more than one occasion concerning the man’s intentions to kill him, but in the end Leon’s life had been worth it. Nobility like that was always worth protecting.
Closing her eyes she took a deep breath to steady herself…
… and felt the tip of the blade press against her eyelid.
Next: Chapter 4-3: Zeus
Suggested Collections
Featured in Groups
Ada Wong and Helena Harper have been captured by The Family. Now they are being transported to a secret facility known only as "Olympus". On the trip there, Ada has flashbacks from her past as she tries to contemplate her next move as a prisoner; giving insight on the woman that she was and would eventually become. However, the final leg of her journey will end in a confrontation with an enemy who harbors a special hatred towards her... and it's a confrontation that will not end well for one of them.
Chapter 4-2: Captured starts now!
Chapter 4-3 can be found here - bgshepard.deviantart.com/art/R…
Chapter 4-2: Captured starts now!
Chapter 4-3 can be found here - bgshepard.deviantart.com/art/R…
© 2014 - 2024 BGShepard1
Comments10
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
By the way, I'd love too see Ada with her long ponytail that she loved to braid hair <3