Chapter Text
*This story begins roughly one year after the events of RE2*
Working as a bartender, you've gotten used to all types of people you've served. In the old fashioned buildings you served at, you would see new faces every day as well as familiar ones. And yes, you constantly bounced around to different locations, pretty much wherever you were needed, you'd go willingly. You wouldn't call yourself a people person necessarily, but you could at least put up with them for the money. Some drunks or blunt people would say you're easy to vent to since your face remained calm a majority of the time. But in actuality you were an expressive person, a bit mischievous too. Not like that really mattered though. They'd almost always tip you more just because you'd listen to their sorrows and stresses without being judgemental.
Over time you've learned to pick up on the people who were going to talk your ear off. It was usually their faces - being either blank, pale, or red around the eyes. So when you were preparing to end your shift and saw a young looking woman walk in, you just knew she would vent. Usually you wouldn't care and just let the next employee take over for you, but when your eyes locked with hers, brown eyes staring into yours, it made something inside of you want to speak to her. Plus she was drop dead gorgeous, so that's another major reason you stayed. You figured going a bit over the clock wouldn't hurt…
"Welcome. What would you like?" You ask stoically as she sauntered over to the stool to sit directly in front of you across the bar counter. A strand of her raven hair fell loose in front of her face while you leaned forward on your elbows.
"Water," she answered, suavely tucking the hair behind her ear and resting that hand under her chin, eyes half lidded as she seemed to examine you. A small smile forms on her lips as her eyes trail down before they look back into your eyes a few seconds later. Just from her face, you could tell she's been through something that's still affecting her now. Yet you also realized you were standing there and not getting her order fulfilled.
"Would you like that in a bottle or a glass?" You bend down to grab a water bottle and set it on the counter. Her eyes shut as she hums as if it's a hard question.
"Neither," she deadpans. You freeze for a second, not expecting her to sound so emotionally gone. But then she locks eyes with you again and smirks. "Looks like my joke wasn't very amusing. It's been a long day for me and I don't plan on staying long. I'll just take the bottle. Here's the money to pay for it. Whatever is left is your tip." She holds the bill in between her fingers.
"Okay," you reply and hand the bottle to her while she stands, exchanging it for the money. If she was just going to grab a water bottle, why didn't she just go to a grocery store? And apparently you were wrong about her. With her rather blank expression, you expected her to dump a whole backstory on you, but she's a woman of few words. Unfolding the bill, your eyes shoot open to ogle at the Benjamin Franklin in your hands. Shocked, you watched her adjust her dark red dress shirt before she turned to you. Then you saw her say something, but you had no clue what it was since you were mentally checked out. "Sorry, what was that?"
Her small smile dropped to her blank expression again, making you feel a bit bad for not catching her the first time.
"The restroom," she explained.
"Oh, it's right over there. Beside that vending machine," you answer immediately and point.
Her eyes glance over without her moving her head and she smiles once again. "Can you hold this while I'm gone?"
"Oh, actually my shift is done, so-"
"I won't take long," she insists, reaching her hand over the counter and dropping an object right in front of you. Caught off guard, you fumble to grab it but end up dropping it to the floor anyway. After quickly retrieving it and standing back up, you look at the woman apologetically, yet she is already gone. Your eyes were just barely able to catch a glimpse of her going into the door to the bathroom.
'Well someone's in a rush…' you complain to yourself.
Glancing at the object you're supposed to hold onto, you tilt your head confusedly. It was a standard red pen, nothing to it. You swivel your wrist around to look at it from every angle, trying to find at least *something* unique about this thing. But it really just was a standard pen.
…
Minutes passed as you waited for the woman to return. Tapping your foot, you eye the clock. At this time, you should already be only a few minutes away from your home. Yet here you are.
After another few minutes, your patience had run out. So you march over to the bathroom to find her yourself. Surely she must be adjusting her makeup if she's taking this long. Stepping inside the bathroom, you bend over to glance under the stalls. There were two people in the stalls - one on the floor about to puke and the other simply peeing. Yet neither of them appeared to be the woman.
"I still have your pen, ma'am, and I'd like to go home now," you attempt to coax. That should be enough to get a response. Yet all you get for a reply is the woman sitting on the floor throwing up.
Wishing to cut off your ears to never hear such a sound again, you decide it's time for you to leave the bathroom and recollect yourself.
…..
In the end, you never saw the woman again that night. Or for the next several nights. You held onto the pen though, hoping she would return eventually. Yet from the fact that you were always in a different bar every night, the chances of seeing her again were slim to none.
And it turns out funnily enough that you didn't even see her again inside a bar at all.
Since it was your day off, you decided to explore the mall to browse at the selection and get some exercise in. And it was just as you were exiting a store that you noticed a familiar red shirt in the distance. At first you felt like a fool for chasing after a person simply because the shirt they were wearing was nearly identical to what that woman had on, but all wasn't in vain. When you eventually caught up to the person, you realized it actually *was* the woman.
"I didn't expect you to find me so soon," she greets in a surprisingly teasing way before she even looks at you. At first you thought she was speaking to someone else, yet she didn't have any phone or communication device on her when she faced you and smiled.
"Here," you held out the pen and shrugged off her comment.
"I also wasn't expecting you to return this to me as well." Her fingers brushed against yours as she took the pen, but then she suddenly stepped closer and tugged on the collar of your shirt. Unintentionally, you stumble forward, managing to stop yourself from crashing into her as she hooked the clip of the pen on your shirt. Then she smirked at you while adjusting your shirt a bit before backing up. "You should keep it for now. As long as you have it, I'll find you."
Your eyes glance down at the pen then back up to her with confusion. "Wait, what? Are you my bodyguard or something? I don't even know your name - let alone anything about you."
"Ada Wong. Consider me to be a mercenary," she replies and just walks away from you without a goodbye or any further explanation. You're left even more confused as to who this woman was. Did someone you know hire her to watch you? "And one more thing." She turns her head to the side, sporting a serious expression for once which makes you subconsciously straighten your back to prove that you're giving her your full attention. "I'd recommend avoiding a specific person wearing a black suit."
…..
You took Ada's last words to heart, going so far as to avoid literally everyone who wore black. Because of this, you became rather paranoid. While you didn't know what this person with a black suit would do to you, you trusted her words enough. It wasn't every day that a woman you met for the first time gives a one hundred dollar bill and soon warns you about a person.
…….
For the next month, you've been set onto an edge. And you haven't seen Ada since. Truthfully, you were beginning to doubt her words of advice. Your life was the same as always.
"Tch. Fine, I'll go to another bar." You snap back to reality from a day dream you were having just in time to see a man with his black hair slicked back turn and leave the bar. In that moment, you literally froze. He was wearing a black suit… Ada's words hit you full force as the man exited through the doors, turning his head to look at you just before the door shut by itself.
This can't be happening..!
A chill ran down your spine, his face stuck in your mind. You cursed at yourself for not paying attention. Your guard was let down at the worst possible time!
All you could think of was getting out of there and going home for the night. Your boss was hesitant, but upon seeing your pale face, she knew better than to keep you there.
Looking back, this was the stupidest decision you could have made. That man had literally just left the bar and could've been around the corner. But all you could think about was getting the hell out of there. And you ultimately paid the price when you slammed into a person in front of you because you were too distracted looking behind you. Yet the person you ran into didn't even budge from their spot and grabbed your shoulder. Fight or flight kicked in and without even getting a look at the person's face, you went around them and took off. However you didn't make it very far since your arm was tugged back rather forcefully.
"Going somewhere?" Their voice was unrecognizable to you. And it sounded off too, like they were using a voice modifier. And you weren't too far off because when you caught a glimpse of them, they had a black crow mask that covered their whole face. A plague doctor? The figure was wearing a large black trench coat along with black gloves and shoes. "Come with me."
"Wait a-" the figure covered your mouth and suddenly you became sleepy before you passed out in their arms.
…..
Coming to, you open your eyes to a dark room. It was a bedroom as far as you could tell, and you were even laid down on a bed. The small room was rather barren with only a nightstand that had a lamp on it. Said lamp was on, but the bulb was incredibly dim. As you looked around in a daze, you also noted that there were no windows in the room.
"I warned you," a woman's voice suddenly sighed, making you jump. However, fear immediately turned into pure relief when Ada entered the room and stood beside you with her arms crossed over her chest. "I know I told you to avoid a person in a black suit, but the worst thing you could've done was ignore him. Now you're even higher on his list of victims."
Your head hurts too much to respond to her. Why is that man so dangerous anyway? And why are you a supposed victim?
While you think to yourself, Ada removes her oversized coat and tosses it in your face.
"You give me no other choice," she sighs while you fumble to pull the coat away from you. And once you finally did, Ada had a gun pointed at your head.
Your stomach dropped, that heaviness in your head now the least of your worries.
"Listen carefully. I need to kill that man and you're going to let him lure you to his hideout. Of course you could refuse…" She explains, trailing off as she cocks the gun and tilts her head to the side innocently.
"W-what do I have to do?" You stutter, body utterly tense.
Her smile seemed much more sinister with a gun pointed at your head and her little laugh only added to your anxiety.
"Good girl. Looks like you'll be more reliable than I thought."