-1Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in the work below. If I did. . .nevermind, you don't want to know.

Synopsis: Set six months after the Las Plagas incident, our favorite RE characters crossover with a few (hopefully) familiar TV characters. Rated 'T' for bad language and stupid humor. Borders on AU.

Author's Note: This one got away from me for a little while, but it was nice to come to it with a fresh perspective. Hopefully, you'll like this chapter, short though it is.

Resident Evil: A Crossover

Chapter 8

Leon stood tensely in the 1st floor laboratory doorway, watching Chris as he talked to Jill on the radio in low tones. The other man made a frustrated sound and kicked the headless body at his feet, yet another altered zombie. He traded a glance with Hunk, who's usually stoic expression showed concern. The other team had finally killed the last of the escaped bioweapons, but not before several civilians had been lost.

What bothered Leon was the unpredictable mutations that they had encountered. An El Gigante, a Tyrant, and a Regis Licker, running in the same pack, cooperating to evade their human trackers. There was something inherently wrong with that scenario. B.O.W.s were supposed to be weapons, incapable of rational thought, their only need to find fuel for their reanimated bodies. There had been exceptions in the past-Nemesis was a prime example-but this was far from normal.

They themselves hadn't run into anything more deadly than Crimson Heads and that Mimic creature, but he now he was really starting to worry. They hadn't even managed to clear the G and T-virus section, yet. God only knew what waited for them in the other areas, he thought with growing anger. Kevin had already been injured, damn it! It was a miracle that he hadn't been reinfected!

He glanced into the now empty hall, and the locked door that led to the Las Plagas section. They couldn't go in yet. They still had too much to do here. Still, Leon found that he was anxious to see just what Albert Wesker had done with the prehistoric parasite.

When he'd been infected by the Los Illuminados, he hadn't let himself think about the possible consequences. He'd had a job to do. Rescuing Ashley had been his first priority, and Spain had been nothing compared to Raccoon City. But when the parasite had taken temporary control of him and forced him to attack Ada, he'd realized just how dangerous the Las Plagas were. If even one of those damned things had made it back to Washington, the results would have been catastrophic.

And Saddler nearly pulled it off, Leon acknowledged with a frown. If President Graham had sent another agent in to rescue his daughter, she would have returned home as a mindless puppet, a slave of Saddler and his quasi religious cult. The nightmare he had survived in Raccoon City had prepared him for the violence of the work that the government had thrust upon him. There were only a few agents in the world who with the skills necessary to survive such a disaster, and he was the only one the president trusted enough to protect his only child.

Leon's frown darkened dramatically. David Graham might not have been in office when the government had forced Leon into the program, but he had to be aware of the circumstances. More than once, he had found himself wondering why the president didn't just cut him loose, and let him go his own way.

That he wasn't happy with his work was obvious. He was polite and respectful, but he made no effort to hide his discontent. President Graham knew, all right, he just wasn't biting. He wanted the man who had saved his daughter to continue to protect her. Period. Anything else was simply unacceptable.

Claire watched as Leon glanced out the door, his expression one of impatience. For all of his nonchalance, there was clearly something about the Las Plagas parasite that bothered him. Maybe it came from being infected by it, but somehow, she didn't think so. Or at least, she thought that it was something more than that. She just didn't know what.

He was so different, now, she thought with a silent sigh. The open, giving man she'd fallen in love with was gone. Oh, she'd signs of him here and there, but not enough to ease the ache in her heart. Leon was bitter, angry, and hard, and he hadn't bothered to hide it. He made no excuses, offered no apologies. He didn't care what anyone thought of him, and he'd made that perfectly clear with his rude behavior. People could take him or leave him, and Claire had the feeling that most chose to go, rather than bang their heads against the brick wall that was Leon Scott Kennedy.

She listened to Jill's words as she described the scarlet-clad women who had come to their aid with a rush of anger. Ada Wong, she thought venomously. The spy who had used Leon in Raccoon City, and had nearly killed him to get her hands on a sample of William Birkin's G-Virus. The deadly, beautiful woman who had loved Leon enough to sacrifice her life for his.

She had always hated the fact that the woman's death had affected Leon so greatly. He had truly mourned her, even though she had betrayed him. Leon had always claimed that he hadn't returned her feelings, but a part of her had always doubted him. How could a man grieve so deeply for a woman he hadn't loved?

She heard her brother sign off, his curt farewell belied by the softness of his voice, and she thrust thoughts of the beautiful Asian spy aside. They had other things to worry about at the moment. Chris sighed heavily as he hooked the radio on his belt, and she knew that he was worried about Jill. He loved the woman to distraction, and he hated being separated from her. "Jill's okay?" she questioned in a low voice.

"Yeah, she's fine," he said with another sigh. "They're going to meet us here."

"Good," Claire responded with real relief. "We need all the firepower we can get."

Chris only shrugged and glanced across the large room, a habitual frown pulling his brows together as he observed a similar expression on Leon's face. "What's wrong with Kennedy?" he asked, his voice taking on an edge despite his best efforts.

"I don't know." Claire mimicked his shrug. "He's been glaring at the door to the Las Plagas section for a good ten minutes now. I don't think his memories of Spain are very pleasant."

"Probably not," Chris murmured, remembering Leon's flat words about being infected with the parasite. "I'll go tell him about Jill and the others and check it out. Make sure you're locked and loaded," he added sternly. "We'll leaving soon."

She snapped a truly terrible salute. "Yes, sir!"

He grinned as he turned away, his smile dying as he approached a very unhappy Leon Kennedy. "Jill and Coen are on their way here," he informed the other man. "I told them we'd would wait here for them."

The younger man only nodded, and Chris hesitated before adding, "They had a little help, Leon."

Leon nodded again, his blue eyes darkening. "I heard," was all he said in response.

Chris considered questioning him about Ada Wong's dubious help, then decided against it. From what Claire had told him over the years, he knew that Leon had taken the woman's death hard. It couldn't be easy for him to know that, not only had she survived, but that she was working for the enemy.

Leon glanced across the room, his eyes locking Claire's slender form. He hated that she was a part of this, but there was nothing he could to change it. She'd chosen her path. He only hoped that Ada behaved when she finally put in an appearance. He had no doubt that they'd run across her eventually; Ada was very serious when it came to ensuring his safety. Still, she'd better keep her damned mouth shut about their affair. He wasn't exactly ashamed of his involvement with her, but the last thing he wanted was for Claire to know about it. She might hate him, but that had never stopped him from loving her, or worrying about her opinion of him.

He forced his unease aside, his expression turning thoughtful as he sought to give his allies as much information as he could. "I ran across several files in Spain," he began slowly. "Luis-the researcher that helped me-believed that the Las Plagas had a collective consciousness. That they could communicate on an almost subliminal level."

"Like an ant colony?" he asked, his mind flashing back to Alexia Ashford and her poisonous insects.

"Pretty much." He glanced up, meeting the other man's gaze briefly. "But unlike ants or bees, there was no queen parasite to direct them. Unless. . ." his voice trailed off as he remembered the staff Saddler had had in Spain.

"Unless what?" Claire demanded, taking a step closer. "What aren't you telling us, Leon?"

Leon frowned at her, and her cerulean eyes flashed in response. "If you'll let me finish, I was going to say that-"

"The staff." Everyone turned to Nottingham with identical expressions of surprise, and he took an involuntary step back. He truly hated being the center of attention!

"Exactly." Leon tried not to smile at the assassin's apparent discomfort. He let out a harsh breath and attempted to explain. "The staff that Osmund Saddler used to control the Ganados in Spain had a parasite in it. He transformed before we fought, and the staff merely became a part of his mutation. He'd obviously had a parasite in him, but he could control it, even combined the two. Maybe. . ."

Leon hesitated, not wanting to mention the source of this next bit of information. "One of my contacts called it a Master Plaga, and believed that sound waves may have been used to control the parasite. Kind of like the low frequency used for a dog whistle. Saddler used that staff to control his followers, but I don't know if it was necessary only for control, or if he needed it to communicate with the Ganados. I don't believe he did," he added with terrifying simplicity.

"Wonderful," Claire said with a sigh, her gaze meeting his. "What you're saying is that these B.O.W.s might be able to communicate telepathically?"

He gazed into haunting blue eyes, unable to look away. "Yeah," he told her softly, "I guess I am."

Nottingham's dark brows drew together in a frown of his own. "If they could communicate thus, it would certainly explain how they coordinated their escape, even though they were housed on different levels."

"Well, that's just peachy," Kevin muttered. "If they're that smart, then every B.O.W. in this damned place knows we're here already. They were probably hiding when we first came in, just waiting for us to make a mistake. That's how they cornered us so damn easily."

Yoko stirred at his side, her delicate features distorted as she also frowned. "We never found anything to indicate that kind of intelligence, Kevin."

Hunk snorted at that. "They were obviously smart enough to fool a facility full of trained scientists like you, honey."

Kevin's eyes narrowed on him slightly. "Yoko is not a scientist," he said, an edge to his normally jovial voice.

"Then, what the fuck was she doing here?" Hunk asked caustically. "Fetching coffee?"

"Hunk." Leon sent him a warning glance, and the older man subsided, though he was far from happy about it. "Yoko's presence here goes back to Raccoon City, and we both know how hard it is to get away once you're under Umbrella's thumb."

Hunk merely shrugged and folded his arms over his chest, his expression going blank. "You'll explain later, then?"

Leon smiled faintly. "If we survive this, yes."

The mercenary grunted. "Good enough for me, blondie."

Leon chuckled and settled back against the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest, keeping his gaze trained on the open doorway beside him. "I hope they get here soon," he muttered as unease began to fill him. "I don't like staying in one place like this. It's dangerous. We'd be better off if we kept moving."

Chris frowned at the paranoia in his words. "Since when have you been paranoid, Leon?"

Hunk snorted. "You're kidding, right?"

Kevin laughed a little at that. "We're all a little paranoid now, Chris. Personally, I blame Raccoon, but hey, that's just me."

"No, it's not," Leon returned, grinning as he added, "old man."

The other man merely flipped him off. "Don't make me come over there, Rookie. I'm too damned tired to kick your ass right now."

Hunk smiled widely. "I'd love to see you try, Ryman. You can't take Kennedy here and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah," Kevin muttered, waving his words aside. "You two had better be nice to me, or I'll sick Yoko on you. We'll see how long you last, then."

"Kevin!"

Hunk didn't even bother to hide his disbelief as he burst out laughing. "Yeah, and what's your little girlfriend going to do, Ryman?" he asked gaspingly. "Bitch at me until I drop dead? If that didn't work for my ex-wife, it's sure as hell not going to work for her."

"Nope." Kevin smiled smugly. "She's shoves like a guy, Hunk. She'll push your ass on the ground and stomp you to death, just like she did with those zombies back in Raccoon."

"Oh, brother." Yoko gazed at him with exasperation, then reached out, placed both hands on his shoulders, and pushed. "Maybe that will teach you to be nicer, Kevin."

Kevin stumbled back a few steps, his surprised expression quickly changing to one of delight. He grabbed her and pulled her close, his sienna eyes gleaming wickedly. "See?" he questioned with a grin. "What'd I tell you, Hunk? My girl can kick anyone's ass."

Leon laughed, glad to see his two closest friends getting along, even as he was surprised by how open Hunk was being. The mercenary almost never talked about his life; Leon hadn't even known that he had an ex-wife. But he'd accepted that Hunk had secrets a long time ago. He didn't need to know the other man's life story to be his friend. Hunk was loyal, and that was all he cared about. Loyalty was a trait that most of the people he knew didn't have-at least, not when it came to him.

He crouched and laid his attaché case on the floor before him. He opened it and withdrew a second holster, the one he was technically supposed to be using. He'd never gotten used to having a gun strapped to his thigh, as opposed to under his arm. He'd used the rig in Spain, but had constantly wasted precious moments reaching towards his shoulder before remembering that his gun was on his hip now. But with what they had already run into, he'd feel a hellova lot more comfortable with a second weapon that was easily accessible.

Leon strapped the holster into place around his right thigh, then reached for his favorite weapon. He sighed as he realized that Claire still had his Killer7, and he was reluctant to ask for it back. As much as it bothered him to be without it, the thought of Claire being hurt far outweighed his own discomfort. Reloading every six shots was risky, especially when a Crimson Head was racing towards you.

No, he thought as he glanced her way, he'd leave the .45 with her. He could make do with another piece of his government arsenal.

He pulled out the fully upgraded, .9 millimeter Blacktail and loaded it. He secured it in the new holster and shoved four boxes of .9 millimeter bullets into his survival vest. He glanced at the few he had left and sighed heavily. Yoko hadn't proven to be the best shot in the world, but she needed the ammo even more than he did. She might have survived a night in Raccoon City, but she didn't have any real combat experience, and it would kill Kevin if anything happened to her.

Leon grasped the five remaining boxes of bullets and carefully closed the case. He strapped it to his back and rose to his feet, striding towards Kevin purposefully. "Take these," he said, shoving the boxes into the older man's hands. "Yoko's going to need the ammo for that Beretta she's using."

Kevin grinned at his obvious reluctance. "Thanks, kid."

"Yes," Yoko said with a smile. "Thank you, very much."

Leon did his best to return the gesture. "Sure thing."

Hunk waited until he returned to his door-side vigil to add, "Don't worry, Leon. I've got a shitload of .9 mils in my case."

"Thank God," Leon muttered under his breath. He hated running short on ammunition, and anyone who knew him knew it. "I brought a lot of shit, but I usually use the Killer7, not my .9's."

The other man glanced at Claire, who had that very same gun in her sweet little hand. "You could've taken it back," he pointed out reasonably. "I'm sure she would've understood."

Leon merely cast him a dark look in response. They both knew that he would do anything to keep ensure Claire Redfield's well-being, including letting her keep the gun he was most comfortable with. Hunk was just being Hunk, letting him know that he still didn't approve of his friend's feelings for the woman, without doing anything that would put a strain on their friendship. If there was one thing the mercenary was good at, it was straddling fences.

"One of these days," he said as casually as he could, "you're going to have to tell me just what Umbrella did you piss you off so much."

Hunk's weathered featured hardened even as he shrugged. "Ask again, once we're back in D.C., and I'll tell you."

Leon raised one tawny brow and said, "I will ask, Hunk."

"And I just said I'd tell you," the mercenary returned with the slightest hint of impatience. "But until then, leave it the fuck alone, Leon."

Leon studied him for a minute longer before nodding. "Well, do you want to finish checking the rooms between here and," he jerked his head towards the Las Plagas door, "there before the others arrive?"

The mercenary nodded curtly. "I hate sitting around on my laurels when there are no targets in sight."

Kevin frowned at that. "I thought you were a sharpshooter, Hunk. Aren't snipers supposed to have patience?"

"There's a reason I'm not a sniper anymore, Ryman." Hunk pushed away from the wall with a smirk. "It's probably the same reason you never made it into S.T.A.R.S.."

The older man shot him a dirty look, and Chris covered a smile with his hand. "Patience isn't my strong point, either," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm good, but it's not my specialty anymore."

"I'd definitely get bored," Claire declared with a rueful smile. "Sitting in one place for hours on end, never moving. . .No thank you."

Leon smothered a laugh at that. Patience had never been Claire Redfield's long-suit. "So, are we ready to do this?" he threw out as he drew the Handcannon.

"Yes," Chris replied instantly, adding, "so long as we don't leave this section before Jill and the others join us."

Leon only nodded and turned to Nottingham, who had been observing them all in silence. "Any objections, Dragon?"

"None," he answered in a surprisingly soft voice. "I would prefer that this section be free of bioweapons before Sara rejoins us."

Hunk snorted at that. "I have a feeling your girlfriend can take care of herself, Dragon."

Ian shrugged, his black-clad shoulders rising and falling with the motion. "Nevertheless. . ." He slid one his revolvers out of its holster and thumbed the hammer back. "Shall we?"

"After you," Leon returned wryly.

He smiled faintly, his amber eyes gleaming, as he turned away. He found that he liked Leon Kennedy, despite his anti-social programming. First Billy, and now this one, Ian thought with a silent sigh. No matter how hard he tried, he simply wasn't capable of being what his father wished him to be. While his love might be unconditional, his loyalty was not, and that was all Kenneth Irons truly cared about.

Leon watched the assassin take a position to the right of the next door. He took the left, trading a glance with the other man, before grasping the knob. He turned it and slowly pushed the door inward, holding the Handcannon out before him. An image flashed through his mind of Bitores Mendez ambushing him in Spain, and he resolutely pushed it aside. He wouldn't be lucky enough to have Ada's help this time around, and now definitely wasn't the time for a flashback. There was too much to be done to let himself be distracted by the past.

It was another laboratory, this one even bigger than the last. Leon scowled as he spied the papers scattered all over the floor. He hadn't found any files he could take back to President Graham as proof of Vorshlag's activites yet, and he wasn't happy about it. Every room they'd investigated had already been searched and stripped clean of any incriminating documents. So far, it seemed that Wesker had done a thorough job of covering his tracks.

Leon sighed as he spied a two bodies on the far side of the room. One was half hidden under a table, while the other lay face-down in clear view. "Crawlers," he muttered to himself, approaching them with cautious steps. He'd been bitten more times than he cared to remember in the R.P.D. before realizing that if he watched closely enough, he'd see the head move with the slightest of motions.

Sure enough, the one on its stomach turned its head almost imperceptively. Leon suppressed a shiver and planted a boot in the center of the zombie's back. It moaned and began to move at the contact, trying to reach the source of food it had lured into its path. His blue eyes narrowed with hatred as he pushed the zombie back to the ground and drew a bead on the back of it's head.

The skull shattered under the impact of the 50 caliber bullet, splattering the plain tile floor with bits of blood and grimaced and stepped carefully over the mess, glancing towards the desk. Hunk was crouched before it, his weathered features hard, as he he reached under it. Leon raised one tawny brow as he watched the mercenary grab the zombie's ankle and pull the reanimated corpse into the open. What had once been a woman hissed, her opaque eyes flying open, as she sat up and reached for the other man.

Hunk didn't move, strangely calm as he pressed the Desert Eagle to her forehead and pulled the trigger. The zombie dropped back to the grouned, the back of its head gone, a pool of coagulated blood spreading out beneath it. He glanced up, caught Leon's eyes on him, and shrugged once. "Just figured I'd save you the trouble, kid."

"Thanks," Leon returned in his driest voice.

The mercenary grinned suddenly. "Don't mention it, blondie."

He returned the smile warmly. "Don't worry, I won't."

Claire watched the former U.S.F.U. agent laugh with a concerned frown. The man was a killer. Leon had to be aware of it. They called the man Mr. Death for a reason, and he didn't even try to hide the fact. Why the hell had Leon let someone like this into his life? she asked herself incredulously. The man she'd known had had a strong sense of right and wrong. He never would have joined forces with someone who took lives for a living, let alone one of Umbrella's best mercs! What had happened to make Leon turn his back on his beliefs so completely?

Leon turned his head, his bright blue gaze meeting hers, and her heartbeat skipped in response. Yet even as she watched, the warmth fled from those azure depths, leaving them cold and flat. He nodded at her and turned away, leaving a hollow feeling in her chest. Yeah, she wanted to know what had changed the man she loved to such an astonishing degree, and damn it, she was going to find out!

"I wouldn't."

She turned to find Kevin and Yoko standing just inside the doorway, the policeman's handsome features atypically somber. "Why not?" she asked stubbornly.

"Because he'll turn on you," came the unexpected response.

"Leon would never do anything to hurt me," she hissed, glancing around as she struggled to keep them from being overheard. "He's not like Hunk."

Kevin only sighed. "You don't realize how much damage you did when you took off, honey. Just leave him alone, before you do more."

"Kevin." Yoko placed a hand on his arm, a faint frown marring her features. "I saw how he turned on you in the infirmary. He obviously has problems. You can't honestly tell me that you blame them on her?"

"Yeah, I can." He shook his head, his dark hair falling into his face. "You don't know what he's gone through, Yoko. What this one," he glared at Claire, "put him through. If it hadn't been for her taking off, he never would have ended up in Washington in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Claire asked with surprise. "What did I have to do with his going to work for the government? I wasn't even here."

"Exactly." Kevin glanced at the man in question, who was scowling as he searched the desk drawers, and said, "You left him alone, sweetheart. You know what he was like back then. He didn't stand a chance without you, and you fucking left him anyway."

"Now, wait just a minute-"

"Kevin!"

He looked up to find Leon watching him with furious blue eyes and winced inwardly. "Yeah, kid?"

"Is there a problem here?" Leon asked, his voice taking on an edge.

"Nope," he lied lightly, hoping like hell that the kid hadn't heard what he'd said. "I was just chatting with soldier-girl here."

The younger man's eyes narrowed with suspicion even as he grunted. "Well, there's nothing we can use in here, so let's on move on to the next room."

Kevin only nodded at the warning underlying his friend's words. He backed out of the room, managing a deceptively carefree smile for Chris, who's thunderous expression said the he had heard everything. "Don't say anything to Leon about what you just heard," he murmured, keeping the smile in place.

"Why not?" Chris asked, his low tone laced with anger.

"Because he'd kill me, and frankly, I'm not ready to die," Kevin answered with a combination of exasperation and real fear.

Chris frowned darkly, and he only shook his head. He knew that Leon would never actually hurt him physically, but was fully capable of cutting him out of his life, just as he had with S.T.A.R.S. all those years ago. Yeah, they'd turned their backs on him first, but he still hadn't forgiven them for it, and Kevin didn't want to lose the younger man's friendship. Leon could hold a grudge better-and longer-than any woman he'd ever known!

Ian stood to one side of the doorway, expressionless as he listened to the drama taking place around him. He was beginning to think that the thick, confidential file that the government had on Leon Kennedy didn't tell half of his story, leaving him to wonder just what it was that had Ryman so worried. The file hadn't included any personal information, save that he had adopted a child who had miraculously escaped Raccoon City with him. There had been no hint of either emotional or mental problems, just commendation after commendation for valor in the line of duty, culminating in a Purple Heart for his rescue of The President's daughter six months prior.

The man who had been proclaimed a hero throughout the United States swept past him, his expression set, and Ian merely sighed to himself. As much as he was coming to like Leon Kennedy, it was none of his business, and there were more important matters at hand. Like clearing this section of bioweapons before Sara and S.T.A.R.S. rejoined them. He would allow nothing to harm his lady.