~Project K~ {Leon S. Kennedy} Pt.17 Ready for round 2?“Yeah scream any louder because we can’t hear you from ALL THE WAY UP HERE!” you shouted down at Ashley as she looked up across from her as the two of you were on the platform.
Okay, listen here you spoiled brat, I'm going to condense this down again so that you can understand it: Ashley Graham has had no need to learn to defend herself during her life. She is the one you are to protect. Ashley has been forcibly taken from her home, injected with a parasite, and very nearly killed several times for something she had no control over. I THINK SHE HAS THE RIGHT TO SCREAM A LITTLE IF SHE SO WISHES. YOU HOWEVER HAVE NO RIGHT TO SCREAM AND BITCH AT ASHLEY. SHE IS YOUR CHARGE. YOU ARE TO PROTECT HER. BUT IT'S INHERENTLY CLEAR THAT YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING UNLESS IT PERTAINS TO SUCKING THE LIFE FORCE OUT OF LEON.“Hi Karla!” she shouted with much enthusiasm.
Look, Ashley has an attitude. Being screamed at BY ONE OF THE PEOPLE SENT TO PROTECT HER would not elicit an enthusiastic response. And yes, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to make Ashley seem dumber than she really is. And to that I say; kindly go fuck a cactus.You pinched the bridge of your nose as you sighed while Leon was loading his rifle, smirking at your reaction. “You’re gonna be the death of me Blondie.”
That would only solidify the Amazing idea that Ashley becomes a hidden bad ass and comes through as a Sue Hunter.“As long as you die after getting me out.”
Now that is a response I can see from Ashley! And it is fucking beautiful.Your eyes narrowed down at her in a death gaze.
“Kidding, kidding please don’t kill me!” she whimpered.
And of course as soon as Karla-Sue turns on TEH GAZE OF DEATH - what is she? A basilik, now? - Ashley backs down. This is so hideously OOC of Ashley and is just another failed attempt to establish how much of a bad ass the writer wishes Karla would be. See, most people, when caught in a trap, typically DON'T appreciate being patronized and yet when Karla-Sue does it to THE WOMAN SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING she instantly gets away with it. Leon doesn't call her out on it and when Ashley tries to stand up for herself she's immediately upstaged and shot down.“You’re lucky Nemesis died in the Raccoon City incident otherwise I would’ve trained it to kill my enemies, including you.” You pointed down at her as she stared up in confusion.
YOU DON'T SPEAK TO YOUR ESCORTS LIKE THIS! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MUCH THEY IRK YOU! IT DOESN'T! YOU ARE A MILITARY FIGURE, YOU ARE IN UNIFORM AND YOU ARE EXPECTED TO ACT IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER! THREATENING YOUR CHARGE IS NOT PROFESSIONAL NOR DOES IT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE ANYMORE OF A BAD ASS. YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT IT DOES MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE? THE IMMATURE, SELFISH ASSHOLE ALL SANE READERS KNOW YOU TO BE!“Neme- what?”
A loud sharp bang replaced your reply as it broke off the first ring holding Ashley down.
She screamed in shock.
You smiled evilly.
Spitefic time. And while I had been avoiding it this is going to be a bit of a different one as I can't think of any other way than to insert myself into this for the sound beating this asshole needs.Hearing voices, Ashley had screamed to gather attention to her area. She hoped that if she did this Leon would soon arrive to help her. The young woman didn't hold out much hope over his partner however, a woman named Karla Smith. She was much too rude and often left everything up for Leon to do while she waited Ashley had noted.
"Somebody! Help me!" Ashley tried again, her voice sounding shrill with the panic she felt. Any wayward enemy could do any manner of things to her, pinned to the wall as she was.
"Yeah, scream any louder," snarled an all too familiar voice. Despite her best efforts Ashley's nose wrinkled in disgust at the sound of Karla's voice. "It's not like we can't hear you FROM ALL THE WAY UP HERE!"
Leon turned to his partner, and though she couldn't be sure from the distance between them, Ashley could have sworn she saw something akin to appall on his face. "Hey, easy. We're hear to rescue her, remember?" His voice was quiet, probably meant only for Karla to hear, but Ashley could just make out what he had said. This didn't seem to please her as her arms folded over her chest and she all but turned her nose up into the air.
"Maybe if she wasn't so useless she wouldn't be in this mess! I swear, this Blondie-" the way she said it it was clear to Ashley that it was meant to be an insult, "-will be the death of me!"
Ashley's eyes narrowed as her panic began to give way to a smoldering anger. "Only if you die after getting me out!" she snapped back vehemently. The glare Karla shot at her did little to calm Ashley. She clamped her jaw and glared right back. Beside Karla she could see Leon shooting the army woman another disgusted look as he began to tug the rifle from around his shoulders. Ashley gulped, her glare dissolving. It wasn't that she didn't trust Leon but she worried that Karla might do something to make him miss the bars pinning her to the wall or worse....
Karla must have taken this fear for backing down from her glare as she smiled smugly. "You're lucky Nemesis died in Raccoon City or I would've trained it to kill my enemies - including you!"
Ashley's brow furrowed, her mouth opening to ask just what a Nemesis was. Likewise Leon looked livid at the way his partner was acting and had lowered the rifle to speak to her about it however he was beaten to the punch.
"HEY, FUCKASS!"
Ashley jumped at the force of the shout and Leon and Karla both spun around to face whoever had shouted. It took a few minutes but soon the woman had come far enough onto the strange jutted out platform above her that Ashley could make out basic details of the newcomer. Short, dark hair framed her face and she seemed to be wearing a pair of sunglasses though Ashley never was one to see the point in wearing shades indoors. She dressed in a rather lax fashion with a simple muscle shirt and a pair of dark pants.
"Who are you?" Leon questioned warily, rifle raised just enough in case he had to use it on the woman.
"That's not important, Leon," she answered.
"How did you know-"
"Your name?" The woman waved her hand at him. "Top secret. I'm not here for you anyways, keep doing what you do and we'll be gold!" A brief smile crossed her face before the glare returned and was aimed at Karla. "You however! We have WORDS to having!"
Karla huffed and Ashley could only imagine her hazel eyes flashing at being confronted in such a way. "Who the hell do you think you are? Another stupid tocino sent out late?"
This didn't faze the unnamed woman. Instead of answering right away she merely reached out and slapped Karla across the face. Ashley's jaw dropped open though she couldn't contain the amount of glee that she was sure was shining in her own tawny eyes at this sight. Likewise Karla seemed affronted, her own mouth opened and fishing for a response and her eyes wide. Leon reached up a hand as if to place it on the stranger.
"Hey-"
The woman carried on as if she didn't hear him attempting to gather her attention. "You are the MOST selfish, bratty, immature excuse for a military woman I have EVER had the misfortune of seeing! You are in UNIFORM and you had best fucking act like it, you uncute brat! You do not go around threatening the very person you are meant to be protecting nor do you get the right to act high and mighty over someone who has no previous knowledge of adequately defending herself!"
Ashley couldn't help but to feel a swell of happiness over this defense on her behalf. The woman continued, even as both Leon and Karla continued to try to interrupt. In fact, she had grown even louder, shouting over them to make sure to be heard.
"ALL YOU ARE IS A LITTLE PISSANT WHO THINKS SHE'S QUEEN OF THE WORLD BECAUSE SHE'S GOT A FANCY VIRUS THAT HAS NO BUSINESS EXISTING IN THE FIRST PLACE! T-PLASMA? WHAT EVEN IS THAT?! BESIDES YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ASHLEY WHEN YOU'RE GUILTY OF RUNNING OFF LIKE A DAMN COWARD TIME AND AGAIN ON LEON OR EVEN JUST SITTING BACK AND MAKING HIM DO ALL THE WORK UNTIL SUCH A TIME WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO UPSTAGE HIM AND GET BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN!" She paused, panting for breath.
"That was a little much, don't you think? And I still want to know who you are," Leon spoke up firmly. Whether or not the woman would have answered him was never found out as Karla quickly took the chance to put in her two cents.
"Who do you think you are?" Karla snarled, her fists clenching and unclenching. "What do you know about being in the army? Huh? Do you think it's EASY? I'm tougher than most, you know!" At this point Ashley watched as Karla began poking the woman hard in the chest causing her to jerk back a bit each time.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," warned the woman, her expression darkening further. Ashley hadn't thought that was possible and she waited with bated breath over what would happen next.
"Karla, come on-" Leon began. He went ignored once more as he attempted to ease the situation.
"Oh, yeah?" Karla challenged, poking her again and again. "What are you gonna do about it, bitch?"
Ashley wasn't quite sure how it happened but one moment Karla was poking the woman in the chest, a sneer in place over her face, and the next the stranger's hands had snapped out, encasing Karla's and twisting hard in the direction of the back of Karla's hand. Karla was dropped to her knees, yelping in surprise as she was rendered useless with a simple and rather unthreatening move.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?!" Karla shouted, a slight edge of fear in her voice.
"Let her go!" Leon ordered, though Ashley noted a lack of conviction in his voice. He seemed to be curious as to where this was going.
"In a moment," the stranger relented, nodding to Leon before turning back to Karla. "You asked what I'm doing? Well, I'm putting you in your place. See, this is a move learned from my own military training. Quite effective don't you think? I don't need to rely on some wishy-washy force field like you do. So I suggest you stop looking down your damn nose at everyone around you and actually try bettering yourself so that maybe you could be something great." She released Karla, who snatched her hand back to chest, glaring up at the other woman.
The stranger then turned to Leon, patted his shoulder - and Ashley could only assume she smiled at him - as she told him "You however keep doing what you do!" And with that she was out of Ashley's sight.
Leon shot two more times before she was finally able to get free, “Talk about near death experience.”
‘You just wait; this isn’t half as bad as what I’ve got in store for you.’ You chuckled to yourself as Leon raised a brow at your sudden evil chuckle. He had to admit though; he loved it when you were so evil looking…it aroused him in certain ways.
Both of your thoughts were caught off when the doors below busted open and more Illuminados came in trying to get Ashley back.
“Ashley stay there!” Leon shouted down at her as he took the rifle out and readied it as you jumped down and started to shoot the Illuminados while Leon took care of part of them from before.
A few minutes.
A few gunshots.
Some screams.
And some insults passed as finally every single one was dead, bad thing was…you were stuck here with Ashley.
FUCK YOUR BLATANT OMITTING OF ACTION SCENES! FUCK YOUR TREATMENT OF ASHLEY, A CHARACTER I DON'T EVEN REALLY LIKE! FUCK YOUR TRYING TO SHOW EVERYONE UP! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-“Karla, take care of Ashley and be careful.”
“I’d rather fight Nemesis than this.”
“Karla?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t kill Ashley.”
It says a lot about Karla when LEON HAS TO REMIND HER THAT THEY ARE THERE TO KEEP ASHLEY ALIVE!“That’s a promise I can’t keep there Kennedy oh well.”
“Karla!” his reply was a door slamming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Redfield…”
“Um, yeah.” Karla said tilting her head to the side while rubbing the back of her neck.
“Sorry I…might’ve known her brother…Chris.”
“Might’ve?” Karla questioned while dropping her hand.
“The last I saw of him was back at the Spencer Mansion I hope he made it out alive.” "Might have?" "MIGHT HAVE?" "MIGHT HAVE?!" IT'S NOT "MIGHT HAVE" JILL DOES KNOW HER BROTHER YOU STUPID FUCK! THIS IS NOT A THING THAT CHANGES EVEN IF HE DOES - IT WOULD JUST BECOME PAST TENSE!Jill said trailing off as her eyes saddened at the mention of her friend. (Going by Jill’s story in the game.)
“Well, we should go to that police station to find Claire.”
“I’ll drop you off and make sure you find her, after that I have to go back to my partner.”Partner? Does she mean Carlos? But that wasn't necessarily her partner, that was just a U.B.C.S. member she ran into and they helped each other out. Or does she mean Brad Vickers? WHO DIES AT THE POLICE STATION ANYWAYS close to the BEGINNING OF RACCOON CITY. In fact Claire and Leon cannonically come in towards the very end of the outbreak while Jill was there since the beginning. Their story timelines JUST DON'T MATCH UP and thus it's hard to integrate them as such into a believable fashion.“But you’ll…get out of here though…right?”Notice the amount of concern for Jill? Yeah, that's because the author actually likes Jill, where-areas she doesn't like Ashley. The differences in their characterization is blatant and obvious because of it. Ashley is made out to be childish and immature in such a way that it's 'wrong' or 'bad' and Karla never expresses any sympathy or concern for Ashley's predicament or well-being. Then we get Jill here who can obviously hold her own and knows what she's doing but Karla is all worried about her. The favoritism isn't even subtle.Jill nodded and gave Karla a wrist watch that had a timer set, “In less than seven hours Raccoon City will be blown up with everything in it, you must get out before that, hopefully with all of your comrades.”
“They can’t do that!” Karla retorted as Jill placed a hand on her shoulder.
“In less than seven hours,” Jill repeated. “The Military will launch a missile to destroy this city. Get out of here before that happens.”
“My father can’t do this…” Who said your father had any say into the missile launch? That was an order FROM THE PRESIDENT. Leon even SAYS THIS AT THE BEGINNING OF RE4!You mumbled before changing the subject. “You will be out too right?”
“Yes, I promise we’ll see each other again someday…maybe we’ll be old wenches by then.”“Well…you will anyway.” Karla smiled as Jill laughed at her joke.
“Come on, it’s not safe here anymore.”Time left till destruction of Raccoon City: 6:55:09You know, is there any point to these flashbacks? If you wanted to add them into the over-arching story THAN WRITE A PREQUEL AT A LATER DATE. Or better yet, just start the entire fanfiction series FROM RACCOON CITY'S INCIDENT!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I could’ve gone by myself you know.”
You snorted, “Yeah and risk you breaking something in this castle? Or worse dying?”
Why would Ashley possibly breaking anything in the castle be anything of relevant concern? Oh, wait, I can answer my own fucking question again; because if she breaks something, case in point being the OIL LAMPS SHE USES FOR EXPLOSIVES, then that means she could use it as a makeshift weapon and then show how she's not as useless as the writer would have us believe.
I see what you did there. I see it and I am not impressed.She huffed and you suddenly pushed her up against the wall.
I'm getting all sorts of femme-slash vibes again!About to question your actions, she followed your aimed gun at an enemy. You shot the Illuminado head on and Ashley let out a held breath.
You looked over to her while holding her gaze, you smirked. “Told you, you would’ve died without me.”
“Oh very funny.”
“Indeed.”
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“It’s dark in here Karla.”
“Be lucky I brought my flashlight.”
“EW…there’s so much cob webs!”
You know, this is supposed to be another part where the reader is supposed to hate Ashley for being childish.... except for the fact that this is the exact same thing Karla does and we're supposed to just think it's cute when she does. Recall when she whined about the rain after Leon passed out after the lake battle? Or when she whined about having to step into sewer water a few chapters back?“And dust. Looks like the cleaning people skipped this place.” You said sarcastically while walking slowly in the darkness with Ashley following right behind…a little too close for comfort.
Typically when someone is treated like they're the mud that ruined a person's favorite pair of shoes they aren't going to rely on that person anymore. Thus why I'm having such a hard time in believing that this version of Ashley would still be practically hanging off of Karla for protection. As of recently in this fic Karla's done nothing but drag Ashley through the dirt and practically spit on her. This is not a normal reaction for Ashley to have. Ashley is a college student with an attitude and not this meek little thing that will take the abuse and run with it without complaint.“You still have that puzzle piece, right?”
“Yes, its right here.” She replied showing you the piece of a puzzle.
When did they get that?“Good girl you actually didn’t lose it.”
You patronizing asshole, that's all you are. You belittle everyone around you just to make yourself feel better and it's absolute bullshit!She rolled her eyes and snorted before muttering something under her breath.
Suddenly your earpiece went off with a beeping noise and you huffed before answering good ol’ brother dearest. “What?” you snapped.
“Karly! What are you doing?”
Wait, why is it that Zachary can get through but Hunnigan can't?! You can't do this! Leon's communications were cut off, logically yours would be, too! While Ramon and Saddler are rather ham-fisted villains they are in fact smarter than this!“I’m busy so beat it.”
“Doing? Oh god! You’re doing something to Leon aren’t-”
“EW! Zachary! Shall we not?!” you shouted while moaning in disbelief of your brother’s perverted mind.
“Sorry just checking up on you while doing some work for dad.” He answered nonchalantly.
“Oh. Okay.”
“Anyways,” a can is opened in the background. “I’ll let ya go, don’t screw up baby sis.”
“Beat it.”
What even was the point of that?! Just to establish Zachary, Leon's Clone-Stu, still exists? What purpose does that even serve? And why?!You hung up with him and finally you and Ashley entered a room with armor statues in the four corners. In the middle of the dark, dust collected room was a slate raised up from the ground and on top was a puzzle to rearrange.
You pointed to it as Ashley looked at you, “Work on that while I inspect the room. There’s an eerie feeling in the air.”
You're in a dark, dusty area with statues of armor everywhere and no living creature in sight. You're in a castle so it's bound to be chilly to cold there. It's only NATURAL that it would be eerie. Saying this does not make you special because you picked up on an "eerie" feeling before the armor statues begin trying to murder you.“Leave it to me.” She said without actually complaining for once
I kind of wish I had done an Ashley Abuse count now.... God that thing would undoubtedly have sky rocketed.as she began rearranging the pieces.
You looked around the room not finding much actually so instead you dusted off the shelves.
“Karla I think I got it!” you ran over to her as she finally set the last piece, and when she did the wall on the other side slid across revealing a crest, not only that but the armor suddenly sprang to life.
You - what? Dude, you have to go INTO the room that opens after you finish the puzzle and then you go in, pick up the crest off the bust which then spins around to reveal a blue chest with the Serpent Ornament inside and THEN the suits of armor spring to life!“Damn, Ashley, get the crest! I’ll handle these duchebags.”
“Okay.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You ran from that room and up the stairs not bothering to use the flashlight, at the end of the hallway an armor suddenly raised its weapon as you pushed Ashley out of the way it missed and crumbled to pieces. Hearing the others coming close you grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her back the way you had entered.
And we're back to manhandling Ashley. Great~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leon looked up as a door slammed and then upon seeing Ashley and you he smiled. Ashley on the other hand ran up to him and hugged him. “Leon!”
“Hey, you did good!” he said hugging her back as you took a piece of cobweb off your shoulder while dusting your cap on your pants.
“Oh you too Karla you were marvelous.” You imitated Leon’s voice in a childish manner as he looked at you while letting Ashley go.
“Oh you too Karla, you were marvelous.” He copied as you rolled you eyes.
You want to know why Leon complimented Ashley in the first place in-game? Because she managed to do well on her own without injury! He seemed legitimately proud of her. In fact, she even takes the time to apologize for her own bratty behavior that landed her in the trap in the first place but you'll notice that apology isn't in this fic. At all. It's just skipped over meaning the writer either didn't understand why Ashley apologized or because she wants to make it seem like Ashley didn't learn anything from her mistakes.“Sure whatever.”
“Come on let’s go.” He says while slinging an arm over your shoulders and leading the way out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Why am I stuck with you again?! I just got through rescuing your butt.”
Dude, seriously, you're not done rescuing her yet. You're still in enemy territory. Until you straight-up, legit get her home you're still on the job you brat.“It’s not my fault Leon didn’t wanna take you with him.”
“It’s not my fault you don’t know how to fire a gun.”
This is coming from someone who, in a flashback in previous chapters, didn't know how to shoot a firearm either. Notice how she looks down on someone who doesn't express an interest in firearms, too.“Oh you’re so funny.”
“Aren’t I? I’m the next George Lopez.”
“Good for you.”
“Well thank you.”
You two were back to back, arms crossed, not speaking to each other.
Then WHY did we just have that contrived dialogue above?!Upon seeing you and Ashley not speaking to each other, Leon Kennedy knew this would be a long journey. One angry woman was bad, but two angry women was hell and back, for him anyway.
The cart ride was a relief; no enemies were going to come at you. You sat beside Leon as he looked between you and Ashley conspiring ways to make you two get along. You glanced at him as he looked at you; a smile crossed his face as he patted your thigh and left his hand there.
A smile replaced your frown as you poked his forehead, “Your middle name is Scott.”
He raised a brow at your comment but quickly glanced over across at Ashley who was giggling uncontrollably. You laughed along with her quickly forgetting your bitter argument from before.
It was a good thing you were so random at times, and random meaning you were unpredictable.
This is a common pitfall for Suethors. They somehow get it into their heads that being random is a good thing. Random for the sake of random is not what makes a good character seem weird, quirky, odd or what-have-you. Random is not funny, either. It's merely annoying and serves no purpose.
If you want to make a quirky character than you have to give her or him odd traits. A good example would be Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. While most people thought her as weird she had a certain charm about her, she was loyal to her friends and rather intelligent but because she believed in things others didn't this often put people off of her before they got to know her. THAT is how you make a "weird but lovable"character.Leon chuckled while shaking his head, you were a weird but loveable woman and he preferred that over anything else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Yes I skipped the King’s and Queen’s Grail crap, k? so sue me.Lol.)
Like that's a fucking surprise anymore, just skipping entire segments and scenes of the game/gameplay. Really, it's not funny or cute. Stop doing it.You three walked into the final room and while looking up you saw a giant disgusting organic mess hanging from the ceiling.
“Ew.” You mumbled as you three walked deeper and by doing so you never saw it coming.
The insects known as the Novistadors came flying from behind as it picked up Ashley first than you.
YOU HAVEN'T STATED ANYWHERE IN THE NARRATIVE PREVIOUSLY THAT THEY ARE NOVISTADORS SO YOU SHOULDN'T KNOW THAT AT ALL! LIKEWISE ASHLEY IS THE ONLY ONE THEY WANT! THEY DON'T NEED KARLA! They really don't! Yes, Umbrella is involved in this but not to this degree. Wesker wanted a Plagas sample and to keep men in the loop there. He sent in Krauser and Ada. Umbrella wasn't helping Saddler more than was necessary to keep Krauser in place there. So why they would know about "Project K" or even want to have her on their side is beyond me.“What the-?!”
“Karla! Ashley!”
You didn’t waste any time in waiting for Leon to rescue you, instead you brought out you’re Swiss army knife and stabbed the creature in the leg making it drop you.
That thing has more than one leg, fuck ass. It's still going to have a hold of you.“Crap.” You muttered as you were falling through the air.
Is it time to sing "Ding Dong, the Sue is dead"?! For real and for true?!“Hang on.” Leon mumbled as he ran forward and caught you in his arms as the other insect carrying Ashley flew out the window with her screaming.
Damn.... way to get my hopes up for a second there.“Oh no, princess is gone…again.”
Your princess is in another castle.Suddenly the buzzing became louder as you both looked to all sides, “Great more of them.”
“Yeah…ready for round two Kennedy?”
That... That sounds so wrong on so many levels. Never say that again.