Chapter Text
Nothing about the DSO containment facility screamed comfort. It was buried in the snow of a small European country no one knew of. The outside was a brutalist corpse of a building with no signs of life on the exterior other than the blinding flood lights that illuminated the barbed wire fences on the perimeter. Towering concrete walls with a reinforced metal door gave it the feeling of a sealed tomb. This sub-level prison was like Pandora’s box, except the only monster Leon had been warned about was you.
Surveillance cameras were attached to every corner of the building, following Leon and his assigned guard with every step they took. The halls smelled of antiseptic and the faint yet familiar iron of blood. Leon hated places like these. They were always quiet but never in a way that provided peace. It gave a false sense of security, like something would pop out and attack him at any moment.
All of a sudden, the guard stopped at a door deep within the facility. He didn’t say a word, just stood beside the threshold and gestured for Leon to enter. He didn’t question it, just walked through the door in silence.
Looking around, there wasn’t much to see. There was a wall of glass which looked thick enough to stop a bullet, completely dark on the opposite side, and that was about the only interesting thing. The only other objects in the room were a metal folding chair and a landline phone on the wall that looked like it had been disconnected years ago.
Leon shifted to sit on the chair, assuming something was bound to happen. And it did. Bright fluorescent lights buzzed on from the other side of the glass. His eyes were met with the sight of you sitting perfectly still. Your arms were resting on your knees. Head looking down, unblinking. Machines beeped occasionally behind you and monitors kept track of your vitals through wires attached under your plain, white clothing.
There was something empty looking about you. Hollow eyes, no expression, no signs of movement. You almost looked human. If it weren’t for the patches of rough, midnight black skin littering the limbs he could see, he wouldn’t have given you a second glance.
“Agent Kennedy,” from seemingly nowhere, a voice crackled through a hidden intercom system. You didn’t even flinch at the sudden noise. “Its vitals are normal. The subject is stable and responsive. Proceed at your own discretion.”
Leon didn’t enjoy being told how to handle you, and he also didn’t like that the voice had called you an ‘ it ’. You were still a human being. You had managed to somehow survive a virus that should have torn your cells apart on a molecular level and yet they gave you the title of an it like you were some creature in a zoo.
He stood from his seat and took a few curious steps towards the thick glass. He didn’t approach too fast in fear of startling you. Except he knew you likely wouldn’t budge until he spoke to you. But you surprised him. Your eyes snapped up from the floor and went straight to where his firearm sat on his hip.
You were still reading him when you looked up to meet his eyes. There was nothing there to show your emotions. No indication of fear or apprehension. Leon couldn’t tell what you were thinking as you studied him. It was unnerving to say the least but he didn’t lose eye contact with you, even when you opened your mouth to speak.
“You’re another babysitter I don’t need.” Your voice was hoarse from disuse. It came out in crackles that were less than pleasing to the ear.
Leon continued moving forward, stopping a few feet from the glass. “Consider me more of a long-term house guest.” He spoke slowly and carefully, as if any word that came out his mouth would make you freak out.
“Your predecessors were meant to be long-term too. They let me take care of them.” Your tone was flat as you made that statement. When Leon came here to do this job, he was aware of the casualties revolving around your containment. Multiple government agents had been listed as MIA on their files, and their last known location was in here with you. It wasn’t a comforting thought by any means that he might end up just like them, but he had survived stranger things.
“So are you going to talk me down when I go all crazy? Or is there something more exciting going on with you?” You asked him, eyes looking him up and down, taking him in - his tired eyes, the way his hand rested on his belt just in front of his knife, the way he didn’t seem amused by anything you said.
“I’m here to put you down,” he said. “Should it ever come to that.”
“Charming.”
The silence that stretched out between you was similar to the yards of barbed wire on the fences above ground. Leon wasn’t sure what to talk about because there wasn’t any topic on the planet that you would probably entertain. Unless he asked questions about your file? Did you even know the horrors the scientists had written about you?
“Do you feel it?” He finally asked. Even in the quiet tone he used, his voice still had a slight echo to it in the concrete chamber. Leon wondered if you could feel your body decaying and rebuilding itself all over again. He wondered if it hurt or if you had a completely new understanding of what pain was.
You looked at him in silence, looked past him, towards the security camera above his head that watched your every move. When you finally responded to him, there was no fear or hurt in your tone. It was boredom, almost surgical. Like you had said the same script over and over again.
“This body isn’t mine anymore. And it knows.”
Leon blinked. His jaw flexed uncomfortably. You met his eyes once more. They were filled with a silent, creeping certainty. It didn’t look like you were using your own eyes to see. “I should be dead,” You stated, just like your file repeated over and over again.
“They won’t kill me yet.”
“I’m not going to kill you either,” Leon answered. “You’re stuck with me until further notice. So get used to living under my watch.”
You gave a dry and humourless snort in response. Leon turned and pulled his metal chair towards the glass to sit close to it. You watched him the whole time, silently wondering why he was being so brave with you despite the fact you could smell the uncertainty wafting off of him in waves.
“You’ve read my file I assume? You’re brave for deciding to do this Agent Kennedy.” You commended him without a sliver of sincerity in your tone. He wasn’t brave. He was a fool for thinking he could control and contain whatever had claimed you.
“I have read it. I have lived some of it myself.”
That made you pause. Any sort of smugness and superiority you felt left your body. Sitting back in your chair, you closed your eyes. The machines behind you beeped in a slightly different tone, sensing a disturbance beneath the surface that Leon was oblivious to.
“So if I turn, Agent Kennedy,” You spoke softly, “You know not to hesitate.”
Your eyes opened and Leon held your stare. His look said all it needed to. If it came down to it, Leon would take you out of the game with one bullet straight between the eyes. You wondered if he actually could go through with it. Despite looking like you were rotting away, you still looked human and acted human enough.
When Leon looked away from you to his hands in his lap, you kept your eyes on him. You had a strange feeling somewhere deep inside of you that he truly wouldn’t be like the other Agents that met their fates at your hands. For the first time since the virus had taken you captive, you didn’t feel so distant from another living being.