A Kennedy Promise

Elevator

After what seemed like forever, Simmons, in his beast form, finally fell dead. Seeing that there was nothing else for Ada to do there, she flew away in her helicopter and headed to the roof. Helena nodded at the elevators and prayed that those still worked. Leon simply nodded. They entered a lift with clear glass panels. Leon looked out of the glass, staring blankly at the explosions that were still happening. His mind was clearly somewhere else. They were so close to getting out, but it felt as though things haven't quite ended yet. Juliet recalled being in the elevator back at Umbrella's lab. She shuddered at the thought.

Helena approached Leon. She asked, "Ada's more than just a friend, isn't she?"

Juliet's shoulders tensed up. Leon stared at Helena, then at Juliet.

"She-"

His sentence was cut off. A nearby explosion hit the elevator and smashed the glass panels. The two agents covered their faces from getting hit by the shards. Juliet screamed, clinging onto the handrail. The lights went out and the elevator stopped moving. Helena quickly opened the emergency hatch. She got out first with Leon's help. Leon then boosted Juliet up before getting out himself. The elevator was unbalanced.

"You trust me, right?" Leon asked Juliet.

"Yes, of course," Juliet panted. "But what- why?"

"Good," he replied hurriedly. He pulled her towards him. "Hold on tight to me, OK?"

"I don't-"

"Now!"

She did as she was told and clung onto him tightly. The elevator shook vigorously underneath at them. Leon and Helena immediately grabbed hold of the cable. A split second later, the elevator dropped all the way down. Juliet screamed again, wrapping her legs around his torso.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!"

Leon held onto the cable with his right hand. He kept his other hand around her waist. Helena was above them, steadily climbing up.

"Juliet. Juliet, hey focus on me," Leon called out, but she was staring down in horror. "Baby, look at me."

At that, she finally turned to face Leon. She was breathing hard.

"I need you to go up. Climb over me and follow Helena, OK?"

She shook her head. "I- I can't! What if I-"

"You can do this, baby. I'm right below you," he assured her. "I need you to climb up now."

She gulped. She nodded, taking a huge breath before slowly untangling herself away from Leon.

"Don't look down, baby. You're doing well," Leon encouraged her.

She could've sworn her hands were sweaty and trembling. She gingerly climbed up at a constant pace. Not once did she look down. She kept psyching herself up, making sure to focus on the cable and only the cable. All of a sudden, a small blast above them caused the window panels to shatter. Falling debris dropped down on them.

"Shit! Watch out!" Leon warned.

Helena managed to hold onto the cable, but Juliet slipped and screamed. Leon's instincts kicked in and he was quick to catch her. Juliet climbed over him again and reached out for the cable.

"Fingers crossed that doesn't happen again!" Helena shouted.

The trio continued to climb up, but the cable suddenly felt like it was being pulled down. Leon glanced down, only to see Simmons in his jaguar-like mutation catching up to them. Leon cursed again, urging the two women to hurry up. It clawed at Leon, but Leon dodged its attack. It was getting shot at, diverting its attention to the attacker.

"Ada!" Leon shouted.

The creature leapt towards the bridge Ada was on. Ada rolled away just before it could charge towards her. Leon looked on worriedly.

"...She really shouldn't have ditched the helicopter."

Ada continued to fight it head-on, but it was obvious she was quickly losing. Helena had safely arrived at the top and pulled Juliet up.

"Let me help you up," Helena offered Leon.

However, Leon had already set his sight elsewhere. He looked up at the two women briefly before turning back. The beast had knocked Ada down. Ada didn't look like she was getting up any time soon.

"Leon, no!" Juliet shouted, but he had already jumped off.

"Cover me!" Leon shouted back.

Leon immediately protected Ada. Helena took out her own sniper rifle to keep the zombies off Leon's back. Juliet grumbled but took out her handgun. The beast rolled out its railgun again and shot at Leon and Ada. Juliet felt her heart stop as the bullets rained on Leon's back. It didn't matter if he was wearing a bulletproof vest, that must've hurt and Juliet didn't like it. After the assault, Ada woke up and pushed Leon away. The two continued to fight it, using the strategy of attacking it from both sides.

"I didn't want to bring this up earlier, but..." Helena started. "I can see that you and Leon have something going on, and well, those two have some sort of history, right?"

Juliet ignored her. She continued shooting at the undead. Helena felt embarrassed. She chided herself for being so nosy.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Leon and I escaped Raccoon City together, with two other survivors; Sherry and my best friend. I guess Ada did too," Juliet interrupted. She sighed loudly, trying to suppress her anger. "I don't like Ada, and I never trusted her. She damn well knows that. She's playing all these games, and she's been trying to turn Leon's head. I mean- It's not like I have some claim over Leon but... ugh!"

Helena watched her completely missed her shot. Juliet grumbled, changing her magazine.

"For the record, I think you and Leon are better together," Helena said.

Juliet gave a small smile. The fight below was winding down. Simmons had changed back into his human form. Out of nowhere, he caught Leon off-guard and knocked him over the ledge. Leon clung onto the edge of the platform and tried to pull himself up. Simmons stepped on his hand, causing Leon to almost fall. Helena had her sights set on Simmons through her scope, but before she could take the shot, Ada had stabbed him in the cracks between his torso. She jumped down with Simmons but used her hook shot to save herself after throwing him into the fire. Leon climbed up, watching the silhouette of Ada getting smaller.

"LEON!" Juliet called out.

He turned to face the two women. He made a hand signal, pointing to the fire escape of the building.