Code Name: EVE

A/N: Okay, April is going to be a very busy month for me. Also hurt my hands in a three hour message board posting marathon >_< BUT, I will have nothing but time to write in May.

Seeing as we’re nearing the end of this little adventure, I’m going to stop trying to write one chapter ahead of the posting. So, though this update came a little earlier than usual, it may be a few weeks until you get your next chapter.

As you can see from the new code in the summary, there’s a new brand of hanky panky coming into play. Also, there’s a mention of LeonxAshleyxKrauser, even though I don’t have time to write a scene for it in this particular story. Anyway, have at it, and I’ll try not to leave you hanging for too long *curses final exams and the month before them*

When that constant buzzing noise—almost like a ringing in his ears, but more of a feeling than a sound—woke him, he found Ashley tangled up with Heather and Ari. For a while, he closed his eyes again, but it didn’t take long to realize he wasn’t going to get back to sleep. Lacking anything better to do, he tiptoed out to join Krauser in the hall. The man was sitting on the floor cleaning his knife, and Leon sank down beside him. A long silence followed. “How are you still alive?”

“Just lucky, I guess.”

“Don’t jerk me around. I want to know.”

Krauser looked at him. “I knew the island was gonna blow. When Wesker and his bitch betrayed me, I figured I better make sure I had a way out. It’s an island, there’s more than one boat out there.”

“I watched the ruins go up in a ball of fire.”

“I’m fast. Plaga’s urge to survive.” He paused. “Honestly, I didn’t think I was gonna make it when Wong took me down, but I wasn’t going to let her of all people be the one to stop me.”

“Why did you take Ashley?”

“She’s my mate.”

Leon eyed him. “I wouldn’t have pictured you going after someone like that. You don’t have a lot of patience.”

“She’s a squeaker.”

“What?”

“When we fuck, she squeaks. You know, like a screamer, but not as loud.”

Leon stared at him. “And…?”

“I like it,” Jack shrugged. He found the noises rather cute.

“That can’t be all…”

“No shit,” Krauser laughed. “But if you had a mate, you’d understand.”

Eyebrows drawing together, Leon shifted away from Krauser, disguising the action by reaching into his pocket for his pills. There wasn’t anything threatening in the way Krauser said that, but something still made him feel uneasy.

“How did you get off the island?”

“I passed out. I think Ada took me out and dropped me off somewhere. I woke up in a hospital, in a quarantine room.”

“You were in a hospital for two years?”

“They tried to get it out for a year, but I think they decided it was hopeless. Then they started using it to collect data.”

“Sucks for you.” Jack leaned his head against the wall and stared at the lockers across the hall.

Leon scowled at him. “Gee, thanks,” he said sarcastically. “Besides, it wasn’t all bad. If they hadn’t figured out I needed these pills, I’d either be staggering around like a Ganado or going through Centrum like you guys.” His eyes wandered away. “Wait a minute…” He looked back at Krauser. “Ashley was already your mate when you left the island?”

“That’s what I said.”

Maybe he’d missed something. All the researchers knew was that his plaga had male sex cells. “What exactly does plaga mating involve?”

Jack laughed at the indirect way the question was asked, and came back with an equally indirect answer. “Like you never thought about hitting that…”

“Even if I had, it would have been inappropriate and unprofessional. And why didn’t she tell me that you…”

“Why should she have? Wouldn’t it have been inappropriate and unprofessional?” Jack smirked. “You’re such a pussy sometimes, Kennedy.”

Leon rolled his eyes and decided to avoid the bait. “I was interested in someone else, anyway.” Krauser raised an eyebrow at him and Leon smiled a little. “Ingrid, my radio contact for the mission.”

“Ingrid?” Jack laughed at the name. “What is she, sixty?”

The smile faded as Leon stared blankly at the ceiling. “She’s dead.” Before, Leon never would have guessed that anything could shut Krauser up, but the following silence indicated otherwise. “A lot of people died before they figured out the extent of the damage.”

Nothing snide to say to that, and Jack wasn’t the sort to offer Kennedy condolences, so he just kept his mouth shut. Suddenly, the smaller man laughed, though he buried his face in his knees to muffle the sound. Even Krauser was taken aback. “What?”

“Get this,” Leon was still chuckling a little when he locked eyes with Krauser. Not because anything was funny, but at the irony. “It was a helicopter accident. A fucking helicopter accident…” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “They were flying over the city, radioing intel to the people on the ground, you know, and something… attacked them or shot them down or malfunctioned. Either way there was screaming, static, and a bang and some smoke. Not everyone has your idiot luck.”

“Don’t push me.”

“Hey, if the shoe fits.” Heaviness settled onto Leon’s shoulders. Krauser was staring at him, and he could feel it on the side of his face, his shoulder, his arm, like heat. The expression was contemplative, but Leon couldn’t tell if the emotion behind it was hostile or benign. When it didn’t stop right away, he finally said, “What?”

“What kind of plaga do you have?”

Leon wasn’t sure how to phrase the response. “… a controllable one. Saddler gave everyone the same plagas, right?”

Yes, Saddler gave everyone the same plagas. That, Jack had already deduced for himself. Ashley and Leon had the same kind, as did Heather and Ari. “So Saddler gave everyone male plagas?”

“Sure. That’s what the scientists told me. Why?” Leon waited while Krauser thought it over, but the only answer he received was a small headshake and a shrug.

XXX

Two well-muscled bodies, covered only by a sheet. Sparkling blue eyes and sly gray ones. An inviting smile and a lascivious smirk. Both directed at her. Ashley tried not to stare as shirtless Jack and Leon--standing obliviously close to each other--removed their bandages and checked on their respective healing progress, but she couldn’t shake the fantasy. She wouldn’t pick Leon over Jack, but… Well, Jack piqued her interest in double penetration. Granted, thus far she’d only tried it with Jack’s cock in her ass and some inflexible, improvised object in her pussy. She never admitted it to him—not worth the teasing—but she did wonder about two dicks. It’s not like she would mind if the second belonged to Leon… Flesh felt so much better than plastic… The thought alone made her blush with a combination of guilt and embarrassment, and she shoved the daydream away.

XXX

They decided to make their way into Time’s Square. Actually, Ashley had insisted, and the other three backed her up. With nothing else to do, Leon followed them, no matter how weird it felt. It didn’t help that Heather stayed between and just behind him and Ashley as they went, holding the shotgun in a way clearly meant to be threatening. Krauser and Ari walked ahead of them, whispering to each other. Leon had tried to listen in on them, but when he discovered they were whispering in Spanish, he decided not to bother. His concentration was better spent watching for danger. They hadn’t encountered any creatures, but they’d already had one altercation with some human hosts and they’d only be walking for some hours. He barely even noticed when they gestured Heather up to join the whispering.

XXX

Still another fight and several more hours later, they reached Time’s Square. Heather and Ari discretely joined up with Leon and drew him away from Jack and Ashley. The excuse was that they needed to split up and look for anything useful, but Jack also wanted to speak with his mate in private. It wasn’t hard to tell that she liked Leon, but he felt the need to run his plans past everyone in the colony. As soon as the others had Leon out of earshot, Jack took Ashley’s arm and led her around behind the remains of the stage.

Misunderstanding, Ashley stared up at him. “Now? Are you serious?” Regardless that it was neither the time, nor the place, Ashley wasn’t feeling very frisky. This was the last place her parents were supposed to be before they’d disappeared, and finding them was higher priority than stroking Jack’s libido.

“Just wanted to talk for a minute, about Leon.”

Ashley fought back a guilty blush. “What about him?”

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wreckage. “I want to initiate him into the colony.”

“Oh… How do you mean?”

The ex-soldier continued to watch her, gaze calm and level. “You already know that.”

Did she? When Salazar had performed that creepy ritual, she remembered being forced to drink something slimy from something plant-ish in nature. But they didn’t have access to any of the things they’d had at the castle here. Then again, Jack must have claimed her somehow, right? Like that time in the forest when… Her lips parted and her brow wrinkled. “You don’t mean…” she didn’t finish that sentence, because if he didn’t mean ‘mating’ with Leon, she didn’t want to look like an idiot. But she did blush. Her threesome fantasies didn’t need that kind of fuel.

Jack smirked. “Something wrong, princess?”

“W-what did Heather say?” She tried to deflect the line of questioning. Ari, she didn’t expect to complain. Heather didn’t like Leon much.

“She said she’d feel a lot better about him if he wasn’t an outsider.”

“What did Leon say?”

“I haven’t talked to him yet,” he shrugged. “I wanted to run it by everyone else first.” The grin came back. “But it doesn’t look like you’re going to resist at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ashley tried to sound indignant, but she probably sounded a touch trapped, anyway. And it made Jack laugh.

“You think I can’t tell when my sweet little mate is horny?”

Embarrassed, she tried to come back with something to rebalance control of the conversation. “Well,” she crossed her arms and squared her shoulders, “you’ve got to let me watch…”

“Watch?” Chuckle. “After the first time, I’ll let you join in.” Wink.

Blush. Dammit.

“But we do want him to be as comfortable as possible the first time, and he doesn’t strike me as the kind who likes an audience.”

Ashley nodded, eyes flicking down. “When are you going to do it?”

“Soon as we get a chance to be alone. Probably while we’re resting tonight. I think the worms only come out at night.”

“What if Leon doesn’t want to?”

“He killed me once. If he doesn’t want to, he’s strong enough to stop me.” When the girl didn’t respond to him, he put an arm around her shoulders and led her off to search for clues. There wasn’t much. The news cameras were smashed. Blood—human and plaga alike—stained the pavement, but there wasn’t much they could do with that. Jack, however, started collecting and examining broken cell phones.

“What are you going to do with those?” Leon asked. They were camera phones, but they were too smashed up to be of any use.

“Get me to an electronics store and you’ll see.”

XXX

The sun fell down the sky. Leon and Krauser found a Radio Shack, and Krauser sent the others on to find food or weapons. Two days, they’d all gone through most of four bottles of Centrum. Then again, even though Leon only had to take three of his a day, he was also getting low. They only gave him enough of the special vitamins to last for a couple days at a time, to keep him on a leash. Well, he didn’t have any reason to believe that Ashley wouldn’t think of him during the supply hunt. It kind of sucked. The longer he was with them, the more isolated he felt, especially with Krauser whispering amongst them behind his back. Like he didn’t feel weird enough around Krauser all ready.

When they first entered, the place, Jack genuinely started to dissect a phone he’d found in an attempt to retrieve the internal memory card. When the others left, he started watching Kennedy out of the corner of one eye. He’d tricked the brunette into helping him look for some random item in the backroom, and now he needed to make the opening to pounce. It didn’t take long. Kennedy kept fiddling with the broken cuffs still around his wrists. “Didn’t you ever learn how to pick locks?”

“Not all of us have your knack for causing trouble.”

“Heh. Look who’s got a spine.” Jack grabbed the other man’s wrist just below the metal circle and brought his arm up to look at the lock. “Or maybe pretty boy likes wearing bracelets,” he smirked as he locked eyes with Leon.

Odd sensations radiated from his abdomen. Some combination of adrenaline and… Leon resisted the urge to pull away, standing his ground instead. “Ashley’s parents are the important thing, we can worry about these later.” Not only did Krauser not answer, but he didn’t let go. Didn’t move at all. Leon jerked at his wrist. “What are you doing?”

“Aren’t you tired of being alone?”

Blue eyes wandered down to the other man’s abdomen. Leon felt dazed. The noise made him want to attack and kill, but that scent made him want to fall at Krauser’s feet. The latter was scary, but it’s what the plaga seemed to want the most. “What- what-” The conflict of feelings made it hard to finish the thought. Much less articulate it.

“I’ll make it go away,” Jack whispered, tightening his grip and drawing Leon closer. He could tell that Kennedy’s plaga wanted it, whether or not Kennedy had realized that yet himself. He could smell it, the same way he’d smelled it on Ashley all that time ago.

Oh, shit… Since when was Krauser gay? No, not entirely, with the way he pawed at Ashley all the time, but all the same… Then again, Leon wasn’t exactly one to talk here. He’d been restraining his plaga’s strange urges since he stumbled across Krauser and Ashley in the school. The school… Don’t think about that, don’t, don’t…

The large man turned Leon around and twisted his arm behind him. Only enough to keep him from putting distance between them, no real intention to cause pain. “I don’t want it to hurt you, Leon,” Krauser breathed in his ear. “I know we get confused sometimes, because it’s natural plaga behavior, but I’ve been trying.”

On top of the use of his first name, Leon felt the tip of a bold tongue flick out and trace the scar on his cheek. Far too uncomfortable. “Don’t do that,” he growled, struggling. To his surprise, Krauser released him. The ex-agent whipped around and backed up to the shelves to put distance between them. “I’m not gay,” he said shakily.

“Neither am I,” Krauser smirked. “It’s not about you and me, it’s about them. And it’s okay.”

That took a minute to sink in, but then Leon realized what Krauser had been getting at during their conversation at the school. “You’re a female.” Leon wanted to laugh, but he was still feeling too off balance.

“And you’re a male.” Krauser stepped forward and put a hand on Leon’s stomach. “So it’s okay.”

The hum screamed at him, dusty flowers caressed him, and he couldn’t move. Leon shook his head. “This is too weird.”

When Leon didn’t try to escape, Jack ran his hand up Leon’s chest and wrapped his fingers lightly around his neck. His plaga wanted to throw Leon on the floor and fuck him, consent or no, but Kennedy was no Ashley. Jack was sure he could take him, but he would still put up one hell of a fight. Then they would both get hurt, and there would be problems with the others. Natural plaga behavior or not, they were all still part human. “Only because you don’t know what it’s really like.” Moving closer still, Jack brushed the palm of his other hand across Leon’s nipple.

Leon jumped, beginning to feel turned on despite his self. Krauser’s smell all but suffocated him at this range. That horrible sound faded, his headache with it. And Krauser wouldn’t stop rubbing his chest. “Ashley…”

“I already talked to all of them about it.” He turned Kennedy’s head to one side and leaned close to his ear. “Don’t be so nervous. You’ve never been… initiated before, but it’s not that bad. You might like it. Ashley did. You should have seen how hard I made her come.”

The mental image of Ashley, cheeks flushed and gasping, only made his arousal worse. “You’re not going to fuck me.”

“I don’t have to.” He licked Leon’s neck, from his shoulder to his jaw.

Leon flinched a little. The licking was too much. Did Ashley have to put up with it too? “Then how is this supposed to work?” Krauser didn’t answer, but evidently took that as a ‘go ahead,’ because he grabbed the hem of Leon’s shirt and shoved it up to his shoulders. “Wait a minute, what exactly is this going to-”

Jack cut him off with a hand over his mouth. “Don’t be so worried, pretty boy. Your little flower is safe as long as you want it to be.” When Leon tried to protest again, Jack pulled his shirt over his head and twisted it around his fist, trapping Leon’s arms, blinding him, and effectively muffling any other protests.

He felt teeth graze his collar bone, lips in the hollow of his throat, and eventually a tongue on his nipple. Leon groaned and fought his shirt, but Krauser didn’t let him go that easily. Instead, he felt calloused fingers following his six-pack southward. Weirdness aside, the promise of relief was welcome. His pants suddenly felt way too tight. If only that damn zipper wasn’t there… But the hand stopped at his belt and followed it around to his back instead. He couldn’t help the frustrated growl. Not being able to see that it was Krauser doing this made it too easy for his plaga to take over. As such, even when the obviously masculine arm held him to the obviously masculine body, Leon couldn’t help but lean into it. Apparently Krauser was aroused as he was. Too weird, but the friction of the other man’s shirt on his own bare chest made his plaga too happy.

Using his body to pin Leon to the shelves, Jack lifted the neck of the shirt clear of Leon’s nose and mouth. He wanted to take the time to get to know his new mate, figure out what each touch to each part of his body would do, but this one had to be quick. Claiming first, fun later. Kissing and nipping the other man’s lips, Jack ground his hips against him. He hadn’t been quite sure how to claim a mate with a male host himself, but the plaga knew. With Kennedy no longer struggling, Jack let the bug do what it—she—wanted.

Jack finally released his grip on Leon’s shirt. As he struggled to disentangle himself, he felt hands tugging sharply at his belt. Finally. He sighed and tipped his head back as rough fingers delved into his underwear, kneading up and down his length.

“Finish undressing,” Jack growled.

“I’m not your-” Leon’s response was interrupted by a harsh squeeze to his member. Instinctively, his hands flew up to push Krauser away, but he had a good grip on him.

“Do you want to do this or not?”

“All right, all right…” As soon as the other man let go, he turned his back to him. “Jesus Christ…” He still hesitated, though, and glanced back. Krauser stripped out of his shirt and unhooked his belt. His eyes quickly darted back to the wall. Plaga or not, he knew he didn’t have to do this. Krauser had been living with his plaga longer, and he hadn’t been in an environment where he had to repress its urges—lucky bastard—but all the same… How could he be so… calm about this? Strong arms ensnared him from behind.

“Need some help?”

Before Leon had a chance to respond, the remainder of his clothes were pushed off, falling around his ankles. With the barrier gone, he realized Jack was completely naked as well. His plaga wanted him to melt into the source of heat. A female wanted him. He wouldn’t have to be alone anymore. He could feel the human’s hardened cock against his host’s ass and… Leon blushed in the dark, a combination of embarrassment and panic, and whipped around to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. Mistake. His erection brushed past Krauser’s and sent a jolt through him. Leon put his hands on Krauser’s shoulders, but before he could shove, Krauser thrust hard against him. Their shafts slid past each other and Leon gripped Krauser harder instead, letting out a startled gasp.

Jack’s rhythm was sharp and jerky, but it felt good and Leon no longer protested. At least not coherently. He fisted his hand in the silky, brunette tresses—very poor choice for going into battle, but not bad on a mate—and pulled Leon’s head back. Hungry lips quickly gobbled up the grunt of pain. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed entwined. At one point, he managed to wrestle Kennedy to the ground and get on top of him. All he knew was heat and sweat and panting, and then an apex of pleasure, and then release. He hadn’t noticed when his mate came. It was a good thing for his mate to enjoy it, but it wasn’t the most important thing. Two fingers scooped the globs of white fluid from Kennedy’s stomach. His lips were parted, helping him catch his breath, and Krauser suddenly thrust those two fingers between them.

Before Leon registered what he was doing, Krauser’s hand was clamped over his closed mouth, and he’d swallowed the fluid impulsively to avoid choking on it. He batted the hand away and sat up. “What the hell, Jack?”

“It was necessary,” Jack half grinned, half shrugged.

First the knife and now this. “You can’t just do things without…”

“Come on, pretty boy.” Still straddling Leon’s lap, Jack leaned closer to his face. “If I told you you’d have to do that, you would’ve stopped before we started.”

Leon eyed him and then snorted. “You’re such an asshole.”

“Damn straight.” He nipped Leon’s neck and then slipped away to find his clothes.

Leon shifted onto his knees and looked around too. He probably should have been more freaked out, but he felt too calm. His headache was gone. The sound was… not gone yet, but much less annoying. Of course, he hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t like he thought it would be. Other than the attraction toward Jack, he still felt like himself. A happier version of himself, but still himself.

The others were already back when the pair exited the room. Ashley sat between Heather and Ari with her head on Ari’s shoulder. Six eyes fixed on Leon, but it didn’t last long enough for him to get uncomfortable. Krauser brushed past him and knelt in front of Ashley, who threw her arms around his neck.

“You came back early,” Jack said.

“Ashley was upset,” Heather said, rubbing Ashley’s back.

“About what?” Jack asked, giving his little mate a concerned look.

“My dad…” Ashley murmured without lifting her face from his chest. It was solid. It was warm. It was safe.

Leon joined them, kneeling beside Jack. “We’re going to find him. Don’t worry.”

“It’s not that,” Ashley turned to look at Leon, cheek still resting between Jack’s pectorals. “He’s always so… What if he doesn’t love me anymore, because of…”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Leon said.

“But it’ll ruin his political career. And even if he doesn’t hate me, what about my old friends? None of them… Maybe I shouldn’t have come back…”

“What happened to the girl who was kicking outsiders around all day, huh?” Heather asked. “If there is some kind of problem, we’ll deal with it then.”

“Even if it does damage his career, he’s not going to stop loving his own daughter,” Leon said.

“Worst thing, we go hide in the cabin again,” Ari added. "And you talk to your parents in secret."

“Holed up indefinitely with my girls, huh?” Jack grinned and put an arm around Leon’s shoulders, squeezing roughly.

“Who’re you calling a girl?” Leon smirked. “You’re the queen bee around here.”

Ashley smiled uncertainly. Then the smile faded and she sat back to look at Jack. “You’re the female? You dick, you’ve been calling me princess all along, I should be calling you princess…” The news and her response made Heather laugh.

XXX

Across the street, a black clad figure with a night vision goggles watched from a window. He wasn’t a plaga. They’d be more likely to sense enemy plagas, but if they did catch him, Krauser alone could make quick work of him. Holding his breath, staying close to the floor, he army crawled out of the room and met his buddies in the hall. “Krauser and Kennedy came out of the backroom. They’re all sitting around talking.”

A cool, emotionless, male voice spoke through their ear-pieces. “Wait until they sleep, then make sure they’ll find us. Ambush them in the building. I want the female alive.”

“Alive?” The mercenaries looked at each other. “Sir, how are we supposed to-”

“Figure something out.” The connection clicked off.