Had another idea for the RookieBug AU, so uhh @polarspaz enjoy I guess. Here's a small scenario in which Leon met Carlos, since canonically, both were at the police station, but just about a day apart.
I will say, I'll definitely be returning to do a part two of this one.
Carlos was in a pretty bad mood as it was, but having to deal with multiple zombies and weird skinless wall crawler was definitely not helping.
Barely managing to dodge the claws of one of those things, he was quick to slip into the west office, closing the door behind him before taking a few steps back, the aim of his gun never leaving the door. He was pretty sure it wasn't intelligent enough to open doors, but he'd rather be safe than sorry.
After a few seconds of nothing but the clicking of claws on the floor outside, he sighed in relief. Deciding to give himself a minute to breathe and hopefully just wait out the monster outside, Cralos took another look at the office. He'd already been here when he first came into the hallway, but now he allowed himself to really take it in.
The welcome banner that he made fun of previously now taunted him with the air of tragedy. He wondered if the rookie ever made it through his first day before all hell broke loose, or if this was all set up early, and the kid never even got the chance to see it. Judging by the still closed and locked desk, it was probably the later.
Was he even still alive somewhere out there? Or did he get killed on his way to safety? Or worse...
Carlos shook his head, not wanting to think about it. His eyes fell on the dead cop sitting at one of the desks. Truth be told, he wasn't sure if the cop was a zombie or not, but the body hasn't gotten up to attack him yet, so he was happy to just leave it be. Unlike the other one that lay dead on the floor, its head split open like a fresh melon with a single well-placed shot. Well, if he was being honest, Carlos knew it was just luck, but if anyone asked, he was just that good.
His musing was interrupted when his comm bursed to life with some static, Tyrell's voice coming in clean despite that, "Hey, uh, not to freak you out or anything, but uhh... There's something coming your way...?"
"What? What is it?" Carlos replied, now completely on guard.
"Don't know. Cameras couldn't pick it up clearly. It was moving too fast. But it definitely wasn't human. It was too big, and uh... I think it has a tail...?"
"A tail...? The hell...?" Carlos once again aimed his rifle at the door, as he slowly moved closer to it. Leaning lightly against the wood, he strained his ears to see if he could hear anything beyond the occasional click of the claws of the monster outside the door.
There was nothing.
He stood there waiting for a new noise for what could have been seconds or even hours before sighing. Maybe T was wrong...
Yet, just as the thought occured, he was startled by a loud thud of something heavy dropping at, what he suspected was the end of the hallway, right by the staircase. The said sound and the following cry of the creature by the door starteled him so bad that he actually flinched back from the door, almost missing the sound of someone outside letting out a curse as the monster made a run for them.
Quickly regaining his nerves, Carlos as quick to open the door and head after the beast. He couldn't let this thing kill anymore people. But right as he rounded the corner, pulling his gun up to aim, he was met with a sight he wasn't expecting.
The creature was there alright, but it was hanging in the air, limp, with what looked like a blade portuding from its back. Standing behind it was someone, or rather, something much taller. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, but it was easy to tell that it wasn't. Its feet were wrong, and it was covered in some sort of dark armour.
Gun still aimed in its general direction, Carlos watches as the skinless monster was flicked down by what he now saw was the other creature's tail. Now that there was nothing more obscuring it, he could see that it was very imsect-like in nature and quite tall, if a little lanky. It was panting heavily as the two protrusions on its face (mandibles, he quickly realised, the thing has fucking mandibles) closed over it, covering it up like a mask. It sighed before shaking its head.
"Man, I really need to learn to control that thing..." it said to itself as it looked at its stinger-like tail, which was now laying flat against the ground.
Carlos blinked, taken off guard. This thing... it talks...? But... How-?
Before he could even finish that though, the creature looked up at him with an inquisitive hum before its eyes widened, obviously having not expected anyone to be there. Carlos flinched, quickly readjusting the aim on his rifle.
Seeing this, the creature took a step back, raising its mismatched hands. "Wait, no! I'm not a threat! I swear!"
"What the fuck are you?!" Carlos demanded, not letting his aim waver for a second.
"A... A police officer...?" the creature said in almost a questioning manner.
This caused the solder to stop, blinking again as he lowered his gun to give the creature incredulous look. "A cop?" he repeated, "You?"
"Yes!"
"No way..."
"Yes way! Well... Technically not since they never really gave me a badge... But I was supposed to start working here!" the inhuman responded in an almost boyish manner.
Carlos blinked as he finally registered the ripped up police uniform on the insectoid creature standing before him on the other end if hallway. It took him a moment before the dots connected in his brain. "Wait... Are you Leon?"
The other's eyes widened as he blinked before eagerly nodding. "Y-yes! That's me! Leon S. Kennedy. H... How do you know my name...?"
"You're the rookie from the welcome banner in that office..." Carlos said, finally completely lowering the gun as he slowly stepped closer. "What happened to you...?"
Leon looked away as he let his arms fall down now that he was no longer at gunpoint. His tail curled around his legs in an almost shameful manner. "I don't know... I was going through the station, trying to find another way out, or anything else that could be useful for us when my entire body starred to hurt. It was too much and I guess I passed out, because I don't remember anything after a certain point. When I woke up... I was like this..." he said, looking at his armoured hand. "I know I didn't get bitten beforehand and it's been a couple of hours and I'm still feeling like myself, so I don't think I'll turn into a mindless monster anytime soon, but... I still have no idea how this happened..."
Carlos sighed as he looked at at the other once again. It was hard to imagine what he might have looked like as a regular person. It was a little hard to imagine he ever was one. But the styled hair, the humanoid right arm and the uniform begged to differ...
The other looked back at him again. "Who exactly are you? And what are you doing here? I was sure we blocked this part of the building off..."
"I'm Carlos, here with the U.B.C.S."
"U.B.C.S.?"
"Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. I'm looking for Dr. Nathaniel Bard. He's an Umbrella researcher."
Leon blinking. "Umbrella Biohazard... What does that...?" The bug man shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Why exactly are you here if you're looking for him?"
"Our intel tells us that he should be here in the S.T.A.R.S. office." Carlos says, a part of him hoping that this mission will be over soon, now that he ran into someone more familiar with the space than him.
Only for that hope to immediately be crushed as the rookie shook his head. "Mh-hm. No one's there. We lost the second floor east hallway not too long ago. Had to complete block it off. I can assure you, no one living is up there."
"Is Bard-?"
"I don't think so. Actually, I don't even know if he was ever here..." Leon quickly answered, crossing his arms. "We took stock of the survivors before things got too out of hand. While it is hard to remember each an every one of them, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered having a doctor here amongst us. It would have been useful..."
"So you're telling me he was never even here in the first place?" Carlos said, frustation obvious in his voice as he stepped closer to the cop. "Oh, well that's just fan-fucking-tastic! What the hell are we supposed to do now? Where are we supposed to look?!"
Leon blinking, tilting his head as he looked up in thought. "Your intel told you he was in the S.T.A.R.S. office?"
"Yeah..."
"Then they must've told you that for a reason. There might be a clue there as to where he actually is. If nothing else, it's worth taking a look."
Carlos sighed as he crossed his arms. "But you said it yourself. The hallway is blocked, and overrun."
There was a moment of silence before the blonde spoke up again. "I can help you get there."
Carlos blinked as he look up at him. "What?"
"Yeah."
"But-"
"Listen," Leon sighed before looking at the soldier, "I might not understand nor like what happened to me, but I'm not stupid enough not to notice how it benefited me. Nor am I an enough of an idiot not to use it to my advantage. I'm almost completely armoured except for one arm, which they can barely get close enough to bite considering I have claws and a tail. Not to mention that I can still very much use a gun. Point is, if you want to get to that office, you have much better chances getting there safely with me than alone. So let me help you. You have a lot to gain, and nothing to lose."
Carlos looked at him, the other holding is gaze in an almost challenging way, and he had to admit... "You're right..." he sighed. "You're probably much better equipped for dealing with these things than I am... Fine, I'll let you tag along."
The cop's mandibles moved up in what the brunette could only assume was his version of a smile. "Great. Glad we came to an agreement. So, what's the plan?"
"First, we gotta grab a battery from the evidence locker." Carlos said, throwing a glance back at the hallway he came from.
"What for?" Leon asked, tilting his head.
With a Cheshire grin, Carlos held up a detonator. "We have a wall to blow up."
