[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 532 - Hcf

"Those Umbrella executives all think I'm an obedient hunting dog. Point me somewhere, I bite."

"And in reality?"

"In reality, my true employer is a rival organization called 'HCF.'" Ada laid her cards on the table.

"Umbrella's competitor."

"Their resources and technical reserves are every bit as deep as Umbrella's."

"Before the Walker outbreak, I was already a senior figure in an American-Chinese crime syndicate."

"I helped the organization expand fast. Too fast, it drew the FBI's attention. They dismantled us, and I went on the run."

"That time as a fugitive was what brought me into Albert Wesker's line of sight."

"Wesker was working for a mysterious agency called The Organization at the time. Another Umbrella competitor. They needed top-tier spies badly."

"He didn't let the FBI take me. He recruited me personally into The Organization. That was also when I made contact with Derek Simmons, started taking assignments from the Family."

"Later, they sent me into Umbrella under cover as a researcher. The objective: steal core bioweapons data and virus samples."

Leon didn't interrupt. He just listened.

"That mission at the Atlanta CDC, on the surface, Wesker sent me to investigate the new variant."

"Covertly, HCF had their own orders. Bring back valuable experimental material." Ada glanced at the waterproof bag sitting on the coffee table.

"John's Hard Drive was on HCF's list specifically."

"A double agent." Leon offered his verdict.

Though still a step below Wesker, Wesker ran three sides at once.

"Dancing on a knife's edge," Ada said. "One misstep and it's ruin with no way back." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Wesker has already started suspecting me."

She took Leon's hand.

"Once he finishes his business at the Spencer Mansion and officially joins HCF — if HCF can't reach me — they'll send someone to investigate. It's only a matter of time."

"Wesker took a loss that size. He won't let it go." Ada laid it out calmly, one piece at a time.

"Umbrella, The Organization, The Nest. All three sides are hunting me."

"I am nothing but trouble right now."

"That's what you're worried about?" Leon closed his hand around her wrist and pulled her closer.

Ada didn't resist. She let him draw her in.

"I don't want to bring that trouble here." Her voice dropped.

"I've seen this place. It's just finding its footing."

"You have William. You have Marcus. You have the Tyrants. And now this hard drive."

"Once it's exposed, this place is finished."

"The firepower they can bring — Fort Benning doesn't even compare."

Leon laughed.

"What's funny?" Ada's eyes sharpened with irritation.

The situation was right on top of them, and this man was laughing.

"You. Worrying yourself in circles." Leon pinched her chin and tipped her face up, forcing her to meet his eyes.

"You decided to walk away and stay here. That makes you mine."

"Whoever comes looking for trouble, I cut them down."

Ada looked at the face inches from hers.

That completely unreasonable certainty. That iron refusal to flinch. It settled something in her chest she hadn't known was unsettled, a kind of security she had never once felt before.

She'd never experienced anything like it.

"HCF's special ops are well-equipped, and Wesker will use any means necessary." She was still trying to outline the threat, still running through the math.

"Then one comes, kill one. Two come, kill both." Leon let go and settled back into the sofa.

"I don't give a damn what letters they put in their name."

Ada went quiet for a long time.

Then she threw herself into his arms and bit down hard on his lip.

When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing.

"I've completely fallen into your hands." Ada lay against Leon's chest, catching her breath.

"That's called coming in from the cold." Leon stroked slowly along her spine.

"The data on that hard drive, William should be able to use it."

Ada nodded toward the coffee table.

"John had some genuinely original thinking on genetic recombination."

"Combined with William's G-virus data, they might produce something unusual."

"Something like controllable evolution..."

"Tomorrow we throw it to them and let them figure it out. Right now, the only task is rest." Leon lifted Ada and carried her toward the bedroom.

Outside, the sky had gone fully dark.

High on the walls, searchlight beams swept the wasteland in slow, methodical arcs.

The moat excavation pressed forward at a speed that defied logic, driven by several Tyrants who didn't know the meaning of tired.

Down in the underground laboratory.

Marcus had Rebecca pinned in front of a microscope, lecturing her on the underlying principles in his usual relentless stream. William stood off to the side washing test tubes, dropping in the occasional comment, each one earning him a sharp tongue-lashing from Marcus that sent him right back to silence. Candice ignored all of it, her focus entirely on the data in front of her.

This fortress that had clawed itself out of the apocalypse was growing wild, in its own way, on its own terms.

And hundreds of kilometers away, at the ruins of the Spencer Mansion.

Wesker stood before a field of wreckage. His leather shoes pressed into charred black earth. Several fully armed soldiers in black stood at his back.

He held a damaged communicator. A broken dial tone crackled through it in fragments.

"Commander. No body matching Dr. William Birkin was recovered. The hard drive is also gone." His adjutant stepped forward.

"And Ada has disappeared."

Wesker didn't touch his sunglasses.

He stared at the two Tyrant carcasses, blasted beyond any recognition, his jaw clamped shut, the muscle in his cheek working slowly.

The mission had failed.

How was he supposed to explain this?

➤ Next: Wesker Prepares to Fake His Death and Escape