Akurin, however, didn't mind being dragged. Her fingers close tighter around Leons. Although she had the slightest fear that she'd be left behind, she forced a smile onto her face.

Ada shot Leon a fiery look, pure and full of untapped hate.

"Then move your ass."

Leon gave Akurin a reassuring smile before turning to Ada and glaring indignantly at her.

"Well, perhaps if someone gave me a chance to, I'd have been able to do so EARLIER. What crawled up YOUR ass and died, Miss Wong?"

He couldn't figure her out. And it annoyed the crap out of him.

Ada stopped short, somehow managing to get Akurin to smack into Leon.

Ada turned, and looked at Leon.

"This isn't some sort of...DATING game, Leon. We don't have time to be all touchy feely. Alright? You weren't even going to move your ass as long as she's here. We should have left her behind until you got Ashley."

Akurin blinked at this.

"I can go hide somewhere, y'know..."

Leon blinked back at Akurin, apologizing silently, then glared at Ada.

"I never said it WAS a dating service, thank you for asking. And I don't see a problem with it right now. Plus, who are you to tell ME what to do at this point? All you ever do is leave crucial bits of information out until AFTER I need it and run off. As for leaving Akurin behind? I would rather shoot myself in the foot. She can use a gun, she can see, she can hear and if nothing else, she keeps me from feeling like shit. So I would appreciate cutting back on the animosity towards her. She's really NOT as bad as you probably think she is. And me? Who cares what the hell you think of me? Your never around to know anything ABOUT me to begin with!"Leon looked at Akurin again. "...I would prefer if you stayed with me. It probably wouldn't be as easy as it was this time to get you away from them."

He sighed. Why was Ada acting like that? And what the heck DID she mean by 'reevaluate our relationship'? They HAD a relationship? Apart from working with one another in Raccoon? Well...it hadn't even been that. She'd seen him a total of--what, four? Five times?--during that, and each time, she'd promptly run off afterwards. At least with Claire, they'd been separated by an accident.

Ada seemed surprised by the outburst, and shook her head.

"Why can't you just put her in a box like you do with Ashley?"

Akurin suddenly looked panicked.

"You put Ashley in boxes?!"

Akurin hesitated for a moment, as if worried Leon was going to suddenly throw her into a box.

Ada rolled her eyes, kicking open a door and looking about.

"Yes, he puts Ashley in boxes. He's such a good guardian, isn't he?"

Leon made a noise that resembled a growl. "I told Ashley to HIDE in the boxes while I cleared out the area of things that would hurt her. In case you were curious, she CAN'T use a gun. Nor can she seem to do anything but sit there and let them hit her with a mace or pitchfork or sickle or pick her up and carry her off and scream at the top of her lungs--which is painful, by the way."

He looked at Akurin and grinned at her. "Only as a last-ditch attempt to mail her back to Daddy. But I didn't have enough for the postage, so I had to take her out of it. After an hour or so of silence, anyway." He winked, hoping she'd get that he was joking.

Akurin blinked at Leon, a small giggle escaping her. Ada shushed her quickly, before Akurin looked up at Leon, as if suddenly realizing something.

"Leon...I swiped this for you."

She offered him an insignia...and then she pulled the Broken Butterfly out from under her skirt and looked around.

The skirt thing made Ada raise a brow and shake her head.

"I know she can't do anything. Why don't you just shoot her and be done with it, Leon?"

Leon took the insignia, nodding his head in thanks and ALSO raised an eyebrow at the skirt lifting. When Ada spoke, he turned to her and grinned.

"...because that's not doing my job, is it? I'm supposed to bring her home. Safe and sound and ALIVE. Bringing her back in a body bag is not an option. Nor is bringing her back infested with a parasite. We need to find her and get that thing out of her..." ...And me, Leon thought. He wasn't going to add that in front of Akurin.

Ada shook her head, distracted for a moment. Within seconds, she had been jumped on.

Akurin blinked nervously and fired, managing to get a perfect headshot without hitting Ada. Letting out a shallow sigh, Akurin wiped her brow, removing the sweat and splattered blood. She looked insanely weak, her eyes dull. For some reason, the whites of her eyes were getting darker...almost...yellow.

Ada didn't notice, and Akurin hoped that Leon wouldn't notice either. She didn't want him to know that she was infected.

He was probably just as surprised as Ada was when she was jumped...but before he could react, Akurin jumped in and took care of the problem. Having her along with them WAS a good idea! Ada couldn't argue with that now! But then...

"...Akurin?"

Leon HAD noticed...he was seriously worried. When had SHE been infected? Surely not longer than he had been...but rather than say anything, he offered her something that Luis had given him a while back...a couple small pills.

"...that'll help with the...well, you know."

He blinked at her and hoped she got the idea and take them.

Akurin's eyes lowered to his hand, and she shook her head.

"No. You need them more than I do. You have to save Ashley."

Ada looked at the other female, who was beginning to stagger. Akurin gripped her stomach, crying out.

"We need to hurry, Leon. It won't be long before she's completely taken over."

Leon shook his head. "I'm fine for now, plus I have more of them left. Take them and let's go." He looked to Ada now. "I know. This'll at least DELAY it...do you know where to go to get them out? I know it's asking a bit much from you right now, but...well, both of us need it. And Ashley, when we find her again too."

This was getting ridiculous. Three people infected on their side and one not. Thousands--if not millions--infected on the OTHER side. What the heck would they do if they couldn't find the machine to kill the parasites? Shine a flashlight in an open wound in their chest?

Akurin took the pills from his hand suddenly, swallowing them and leaning against a wall to get her balance. "Hnn..." She looked like she was in a lot of pain, her eyes starting to go back to white.

Ada looked around, and pointed towards a door. "Through here. Go down the hall way, three lefts and you should be there...I'll come with, just to make sure." Akurin straightened and leaned against Leon, the only thing that helped her calm down, now. Her fingers wound into his tactical vest, her eyes looking up at him with a look of pure shame. It was as if she hadn't fought hard enough to save herself. And now, now? She, if she didn't get help, would probably end up being the death of Leon.

Leon nodded to Ada, giving Akurin JUST enough time to take a few steadying breaths after medicating herself before grabbing her hand and pretty much DRAGGING her through the door and into the other room--he either ran by anyone in the way or shot them with the Killer 7 to knock them on their ass and followed Ada's directions. He sincerely hoped it wasn't too late for her...and himself.

Akurin was fairly surprised. She couldn't run all that fast, the medicine taking awhile to work fully. Ada stormed after them, shooting people who had threatened them from behind. As she kicked open the door, she pointed towards the machine.

"There. Right there. I'll go see if I can find Ashley, alright?"

Ada looked at them, Akurin clinging to Leon, the poor female was so exhausted by now it was hard for her to stand.

Leon would've carried her if he had the choice, but he had to be able to shoot. Inwardly, he thanked Ada as he heard her gun going off and the commandos' pained sounds comingfrom behind him. When they'd made it to the machine, he was pretty much torn an this point...make sure the machine works on himself so it didn't hurt or kill Akurin or get her taken care of first because she needed it?

"Okay. But...how do we work this thing? And how do we know it won't kill us?"

Leon held Akurin up easily--it was almost like he was hugging her tightly, really--and looked at Ada, his mixed thoughts and feelings showing quite plainly in his eyes. It was almost like he was giving her puppy eyes only minus the cutesy part.

Ada took a deep breath.

"It should already be set from the moment you sit in the chair. All you have to do is hit the blue button and it'll start. And...it won't kill you. Just the parasite. Here, I'll set it for you....you should put her in first."

Akurin pulled away from Leon limply, managing to walk to the chair and collapse into it.

Ada took a deep breath and pressed the blue button, shackles closing around Akurin's wrists and ankles.

And then she began to writhe and cry out before falling limp.

Dead.

Ada gasped, typing in a few keywords before walking over to the female.

"Leon..." Ada said, her voice suddenly sympathetic.

Leon nodded, crossing his fingers--mentally, of course--and watched Akurin flop into the chair. He had problems swallowing when the shackles went around her wrists and ankles. He had problems BREATHING when she started to writhe, and when she made those noises, he swore his heart almost stopped--and when she stopped moving, he did as well. He stayed just the way he was until he heard Ada's voice...it seemed like hours flew by in the span of seconds. He shook his head, not looking at Ada, and turned and walked out a door. Not the door he'd come in through...but a door none the less. He didn't bother looking around the room. Would it really matter if he did?

Ada bit her lap, looking over at the male as he left. Akurin was pale, and cold, and Ada didn't know what to do. She couldn't very well chase after Leon and leave her here, and she couldn't stay with Akurin and let Leon run off.

And then a very small, shallow breath woke Ada from her thoughts. Ada looked up at the female, blinking as she saw the female's color come back to her face and a robotic voice came from the machine.

"Eliminated," It said coldly.

And then...


"LEON! Where is he?! Leon?!"

Leon couldn't hear. Hearing wasn't important. He could see, but his vision was unfocused. That wasn't really important either. Even if he could do either, it wouldn't register. Leon was ready to give up. Ada could find Ashley and take her home after getting rid of her parasite. Saddler and Salazar could be killed easily enough--or just left to their own business. The world could keep turning and he wouldn't have any idea what was going on anyway. So...why was he here..?

Ada watched as the female--got up herself-- and ran out to the general direction of where she thought Leon had gone.

"Leon! Leon, where are you?!" The panic in her voice rose, and all of a sudden, she quieted.

She had failed. Leon had left without her. Leon was GONE. Akurin's eyes were misty, now. Ada looked out and blinked. Ada pointed to the figure, hissing at Akurin to look up.

Leon's eyes finally focused. And what he saw made him nearly fall over. "...Ashley!?"

He ran over to the control panel, his head thinking only of his work right now...it was all he seemed to have to live for at the moment. He pressed several of the keys, which forced the door to slide open.

"...Ashley, are you okay?"

(( Since no one is playing Ashley OR Ada, I figure I might as well take them both until people decide to show up...>__> ))

Ashley coughed in reply, falling against Leon.

"Leon!" She cried, as she wrapped her arms around the familiar male and sobbed into his shoulder.

Ada's ears perked at this. "Leon!" She called out, hoping the male would be within distance to hear her.

Leon patted Ashley awkwardly, then looked towards the other door when he heard Ada's voice.

"...Ashley, come on. We need to get that parasite taken care of. Now."

Before giving her any time to resist or say anything, he grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the other room. He didn't know what he'd do if he saw Akurin like that again...but...he had to do SOMETHING about Ashley, at least...

Akurin had managed to wander back into the room, sitting in a corner. Ada opened the door just enough to hide Akurin, not realizing this.

"Quick, quick. We need to get her into the chair. I've worked out the kinks, it seems like everything will be fine."

Ada ushered a frightened Ashley into the chair and looked over at Leon.

"...I'm sorry, by the way."...and then she added...

"I hope you can find her."