There was something about Ada that just didn't sit right with Thea. She didn't make an effort to try and hide her thoughts, and Ada noticed that.

At first, Thea thought it was just her lack of trust. She always found it difficult to trust strangers, and now there were too important things on the line to just take some strangers in. She didn't even trust Leon with her life, let alone some random woman who claimed to be an FBI agent, looking nothing like one. Thea wanted to take another look at that badge of hers.

Then she thought maybe it was just jealousy. Ada was a beautiful and strong woman, someone Thea always wanted to be. But she only got headstrong and stuck-up, as her mother would say. Ada walked with grace, even in heels in the middle of a fucking apocalypse: Thea really admired her for that. And by the stolen looks Leon glanced her way, she knew the boy did, too. She couldn't really blame him.

But when it got revealed that Thea knew the way to Umbrella, Ada's cold stare burned a hole in her skin.

"How do you know the way?" Ada asked, her usual cold and hard tone bouncing back from the walls of the sewers they were in. It wasn't the best route, but it seemed to be the safest and fastest. Down here they had more chance of surviving than out in the streets.

But it was the fucking smell that almost made her turn back. There were a lot of things Thea could handle, but smells were not really one of those.

"I work there," Thea admitted, avoiding both of their gazes. The deafening silence settling between the trio said more than any words could.

They gathered that much that all the shit going down in the town was probably the doings of the lab, where her entire family worked. And where she had to get to survive this.

"You work for Umbrella?" Leon's shocked voice broke the silence first, causing her green eyes to snap toward his face.

He seemed shocked and maybe even betrayed, she didn't know. She wasn't good at reading others' emotions, since her family lacked a healthy example of showing emotions. But she gathered that much that he wasn't that pleased by her reveal.

Leon took a step back, getting closer to Ada and putting some space between Thea and him. Thea tried to hide her frown at his action, but it still felt like getting slapped in the face. They didn't like each other, fair enough. But they knew each other for a whole lot more time than he knew Ada, and he still chose to believe everything the other woman said. And Ada said Umbrella was behind this, so Thea got swept into a hole full of blame and distrust because of the company.

"Let's use that to our advantage," Ada advised, stepping aside and motioning for Thea to take the lead. Sending a sharp glare toward Leon, she power-walked ahead, not giving a damn if they followed. Fuck that blond bird for thinking she had any business with this.

And in the middle of her sudden fury, she forgot the fact that it was Ada who lead them until this point.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

Getting locked inside a small metal box with Miss FBI and Mr. Asshole was like a fucking joy-ride. Thea huffed out a breath as she leaned against the cold metal wall of the elevator, keeping an eye out for the two.

Ada mirrored her pose at the opposite wall, and Thea could swear she could feel the heat of the other woman's gaze on her from behind the sunglasses. Thea rolled her eyes, because what kind of asshole wears sunglasses inside? And in the dark.

You would think the FBI has more brains than that.

"So, let me get this straight," Leon broke the silence, standing comfortably in the middle of the cold air the two women's attitude brought upon them. Thea glanced his way, another one of her usual frowns finding its way to her face. She wanted to slap him. "Umbrella sells monsters like that to who? Our military? Somebody else's?"

"They don't sell the monsters, they sell the viruses that make them," Ada corrected, shifting her weight on her legs. Thea started checking her magazine instead. "And Annette and Clara are the ones making the viruses."

The blood froze in her veins. Her mother? That was impossible. She wasn't a great person, rather unpleasant on a few days, but Clara Keller being the one behind all of this? It seemed impossible.

But Thea knew her mother's entire life consisted of the lab. She lived, breathed, and slept there. The lab was her first home, their own home in the downtown area being only secondary. They didn't know what she was working on, mostly just saying it was a medicine or vaccine of some sort, but a virus? Especially one like this? That blew Thea's mind.

"Scary as that alligator was... Annette and Clara are far more dangerous. Especially together," Ada continued, Thea finally stopping with her fidgeting. It felt like her brain just got fried.

Did she really not know her mother well enough? Did her father know about this? How many people were in on this? What if accidentally she helped develop this whole thing without her knowledge?

Thea felt her heart sink in synch with the elevator, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously as her mind ran with a thousand miles a minute. Maybe there were signs, she just didn't notice them. Maybe if she would've caught things, she could've stopped this.

All those innocent lives are now gone. Or ruined. She doubted either of them would fully recover from the things they'd seen or had to do to get this far. In these few hours, Thea felt like she lived through multiple years. Leon looked like hell, too, but he held himself better than Thea: the thought of never seeing her parents again caused her mood to plummet. She wasn't even sure that she could look her mother in the eyes after all of this.

Ada might be a stranger, but she didn't lie to them so far. She was suspicious, sure, but Thea had major trust issues, and seemingly Leon got along with her just fine. Thea was sure it was just a her-issue, not Ada's fault. But deep down, Thea wanted her to be wrong.

Wrong about her mother.

She even met Annette a few times. Well, met might be a strong word, she walked past Thea when she entered the building one time, and Thea saw her in the lab when she went to check up on her mother. But she looked like a sweet but determined woman, it was hard to imagine she would actively seek out a deadly virus.

But after all, Thea didn't know these people. She barely knew her mother by the looks of it.

Thea mindlessly followed after Leon, Ada's footsteps echoing softly behind her. She barely registered when Leon opened the door at the end of the hallway, a soft voice finally snapping her out of her thoughts.

Thea froze in the doorway, her breath hitched in her throat as she stared at the scene in front of her. She saw so many disgusting and shocking things so far, she was sure those will be nightmare fuel for a lifetime. But when her eyes met with Annette's pale gaze, reality finally set in.

"Identify yourself!" Leon drew his gun in a heartbeat, stepping ahead with authority. Thea knew she should probably do the same, back him up. But she was too busy in the middle of her heart and mind ripping apart to do anything but stare ahead.

Her heart still wanted to believe that they didn't do this. That it was not Umbrella's doing, not her mother's and Annette's. But her mind knew better. Her mind wasn't naive like her heart, her mind addressed and stored all the trauma she went through today.

Her ears toned out the voices around her, her eyes mindlessly staring ahead. Her body desperately tried its best to protect her conscience from any more trauma by blocking out a lot of things. Thea thought she could take anything, she was a tough girl. But seemingly, she was wrong. She felt her heart break once again, the feeling heavily pushing down her chest.

Her green eyes involuntarily wandered to Leon's form, watching as his arm stiffed, holding his gun out more steadily as he said something to Annette. She sought comfort in the only person she felt like she knew here: because despite their past being chaotic, it was Leon who never lied to her. Leon was always straight to the point, his emotions and thoughts on display.

Right now he looked so conflicted, Thea wanted to help him. Just to feel a little better about herself.

His name was on the tip of her tongue when all hell broke loose.

Annette set the mutilated body in front of them on fire, Ada running after the fleeting woman with her gun raised in her hand. Leon didn't hesitate to run after them, Thea taking right after him, and since she was a faster runner than him, she got ahead of him in no time.

The ringing and numbness in her ears got broken by the deafening sounds of gunshots, her heart picking up as she franticly whipped her head around, looking for the source of the shots. But it was too late. She was looking straight at the barrel of the gun Annette was holding.

Annette's eyes met hers, and her pale eyes widened in recognition. But that still didn't stop her from pulling the trigger.

Time slowed down as Thea felt her heart stop, her eyes staring wide at the blonde woman in front of her.

Then she heard it. Leon shouting. A hard force brushed her off her feet. Some more shots being fired.

Thea finally came to her senses, or more like her reflexes kicked in. She pushed Leon of off her with such force she didn't even know she had and reached for his gun, pointing it straight at Annette. Thea fired off two shots, but unfortunately, all of them hit the concrete block right in front of her.

"You'll never get the G-Virus!" Annette shouted over the loud rustling of the concrete door closing over her, shielding her from them.

"Bitch," Thea breathed, letting her hand fall back against her knee, still sitting on the cold floor.

"Didn't expect that from a scientist," Ada commented, staring in the direction said woman disappeared. Thea couldn't decide if she sounded impressed or pissed off.

A low groan from her side caused her head to snap to the right, staring at Leon, still lying on his side from when she pushed him off.

"Scotty?" Thea's voice came out more panicked as she scooted over him, grabbing his shoulder to push him on his back. His face contorted in pain, another groan escaping his lips. Then she noticed how the uniform over his arm was bright red, the concrete under him stained by blood.

His blood.

"Leon?" Ada hurried next to them, squatting down to take a better look at the scene.

"Don't worry about me..." his voice came out strained, struggling to keep his head upright. Thea came to his aid, her fingers getting buried through his hair as she held him up, his bright eyes wandering to her. "Leave... Go and stop Annette before it's too late..."

"Hey-"

Before she could say anything else, Leon's eyes closed, his head falling against her touch. Exhaustion and the sudden blood loss came to bite him in the ass, and it left the two women too stunned to speak for a second.

Well, this is awkward.

"Can you take care of him?" Ada looked at Thea, her tone missing its usual edge, a hint of worry tinting it. Thea noted how her pair of sunglasses probably got knocked off during the shooting, now staring right into Ada's bright brown eyes.

"Yeah," Thea nodded, looking down back at Leon. Seemingly there was only one gunshot wound on him, and it only hit him in the arm. Nothing life-threatening. "Go and hunt down Annette."

Ada only gave her a solid nod before she got up to her feet and started searching for an alternative way to go after the doctor. It didn't take her long to find one, while Thea tried her best to not sound like she was dying as she pulled Leon next to a wall.

"God, you're fucking heavy," Thea huffed out, wiping off the sweat from her forehead, standing above the still-unconscious Leon.

Ada was still checking all of her ammo when Thea went off to find that one first-aid she caught a glimpse of on their way down here. Several long minutes later, even though she was basically running on her way back, Ada was already gone. The only thing indicating she was even there was her trenchcoat, thrown over Leon's slumped-over form.

The girl didn't waste any more time as she got on her knees, putting the first-aid box right next to her. Pulling out some scissors from the box, she hesitated a bit as she glanced at his arm. The entirety of his uniform's left arm got soaked through with his blood. Thea frowned at the sight before she let out a huff of breath.

She cut off the whole sleeve, careful not to hurt him further and placed Ada's coat over him more securely. It was oddly cold down here.

After Thea finished patching him up, she finally let herself catch her breath. She leaned her back against the cold wall, taking her place right next to Leon, gripping both his and her own gun in her hands. Taking a glance at the bloody cotton balls in the box and the blood underneath her nails, she felt like ripping her hair out. She hated when things got disorganized, and Leon getting injured was definitely not part of the plan.

"What the fuck do I do now, Leon?" Thea whispered in front of herself, tilting her head so she could get a better look at his face. He still hasn't moved from his place, and it started to make her worry.

Letting her head fall back, Thea cocked her gun and let her hands lay in her lap. The eerie silence around them turned to calm after a while, slowly lulling the girl to sleep. Exhaustion caught up with her in no time, and despite her best efforts she just couldn't seem to keep her eyes open.

After a while, the girl's head fell against the shoulder of the boy she despised for years with her whole being, her finger still on the trigger and ready to fight off anything that dared to approach them.