Author's Note: None of these characters are mine, you know the usual drill.

Sorry for the delay. I went for a very long vacation away from writing and now I'm back. So, here goes.

Degrading Conscience

Chapter 6: Trial by Error

Ada Wong in the guise of a rich heiress, walked elegantly among the crowd. She had not garnered any interest in the motives of these people buying the merchandises but she did notice that not all of these people come from the States. The hall itself was large enough and if a potential disaster arose, she would have enough cover to avoid the danger.

She eyed the man beside her, Jake Muller who was to be her 'bodyguard' for the event tonight. As if she needed one, but it was the only cover they could come up with and when Leon didn't quite fit in with the rest, Jake would have to be the suitable candidate. Not that she was complaining. The less Fisk saw Leon, the more convinced she was that the monster would ever get to lay a finger on her beloved.

"Well, it looks like everyone who has a stake against the world is here", she purred, to Jake and her comm as they stood amongst the crowd. She wasn't so surprise with the presence of emissaries sent by rich warlords, drug lords or any other sort of scum who would think that bio weapons were a frontier to a better warfare advantage. This might do more harm than good.

But people were people. And there would always be fickle people to deal with.

"Focus on the event, Ada", Jill said through the comm link, sounding a little weary. After all, that woman had spent most of her sleepless nights in anticipation of this event. This would be their only open window on getting Fisk for what he had done.

"But of course", Ada murmured.

"Security isn't as tight as it should be", Leon said through the comm system. "There are some people who aren't aware of the event".

"No worries, Leon. We're just going after him", Jill assured him. "Lay low and wait".

"Miss Wong", a voice bellowed from behind her, making Ada freeze momentarily on the spot. She should've guessed that there would be some familiar faces among the crowd. Before she could decide whether fleeing with her grappling gun was a good idea to avoid any attention, she was swept into a tight hug. Jake could have hardly enough time to react to the stranger's actions.

"My and I thought Derek had been the enthusiast. I hadn't expected you to actually show up", she murmured. "Jake, do you remember Dave?"

A knowing look ran through Jake. It had been quite a while since he had worked with that familiar face thought that would definitely make a good story sometime later-it was just safe to say that he had earned Jake's trust. Going simply by Dave, this Brit was one of the best arms dealers and had enough working experience with Ada to know her preferences in her weapons order.

"You called", Dave grinned. "Fill me in and don't you dare spare me the details".

"Wait, who is he?" Emilie bristled through the comm link.

"He's alright", Ada murmured. To Dave, she said, "The details can wait. The auction is starting. Here, Jill manages our little troop so she calls the shots, take care of them".

She dug out the comm from her ear and promptly handed it to Dave. Without any further notion, she was off with Jake on her heels.

"Leon, tell you girlfriend to stop whatever she's doing", Jill's sharp voice blaring through the comm hurt his ears. He was sure that his hearing wouldn't be the same again after this mission, maybe he had gotten used to Hunnigan's firm but in a way gentle voice. Not Jill almost screaming her head off through the comm link.

"Easy there", Jake drawled. "We've got something".

"What's going on?" Carlos looked more than baffled. The man swore that this was the last time he was working in a team.

"Stick to our jobs, she'll update us later", Leon told the Mexican, as the both of them kept watch on the trucks at the loading bay. None of them seem to be transporting anything heavy say for example a cageful of live BOWs-which would be obvious enough an excuse for some ass-kicking. No such luck. That alone was disappointing. It meant that they would have to keep watch for the whole night and more scavenging for proof later on. If they needed concrete evidence to charge the whole lot of guests who were involved in the transactions, they needed to trace the funds. And no doubt Mr Fisk was a very hard man to catch.

"Jill, anything on your side?" Carlos asked.

"No", her reply was brief.

Through his comm, Leon heard Ada letting out a bout of harsh laughter. It only lasted for a short moment and then her voice almost in a very taunting manner. "Of course, he wouldn't be gracing us with his presence. He wouldn't even send his thug of a henchman to do the job".

Then the link was cut off.

"Shit", Carlos muttered under his breath when he realised what was to come. "He ain't getting clients, Jill. He's eliminating competition".

"Go, now!" Leon shouted, slamming the car door behind him.

"What-" Jill was cut off by the sounds of screaming coming from the hall along with the familiar hair raising moan of the undead.

MEANWHILE

When Jake had caught up with Ada at the cornering of the large white hallway leading to the outside of the expo hall, he came to a halt with a large gun pointed under his nose by men who considered themselves mercenaries. He had sided with them once but since he had found his purpose in life, he hadn't given much thought about his old life. Ada was in the clutches of a big bear of a Russian, Jake couldn't recognise the man but by the pissed off expression coming from Ada, he knew that she did.

"Well, having a party, huh?" he muttered under his breath. "Does it matter if I didn't want to come along peacefully?"

"She dies", the Russian grunted, holding out a handgun against Ada's temple. "Your communication, please".

"Sorry, don't get you past that thick accent, pal", Jake smirked, despite a lot of slight disapproving gestures coming from Ada. One of the thugs standing next to him cuffed him on his head. Snarling his outrage, Jake threw a fist at the nearest assailant. His effort went wasted when the Russian gestured for more of the thugs to wrestle the young BSAA agent down on his knees.

"Like I said, your communications, now", the Russian said slowly.

Digging into his right ear, he tugged out the comm device and threw it at the larger man who caught it nonetheless. He had never felt so much hatred for a human being when he witnessed the other man yank the spy by her hair.

"Any last words to your friends?" the man asked mockingly, holding the comm device by Ada's mouth.

Ada had been through more hell than this. She wasn't as much as unphased by what she was going through. Instead, she let out a loud cackle. It made Jake a little uneasy since that he was unaccustomed to hearing her laugh like this.

"Of course, he wouldn't be gracing us with his presence. He wouldn't even send his thug of a henchman to do the job", she said into the device, her eyes in the Russian. The man scowled, dropping the small device onto the floor and crushing it with the toe of his combat boots.

"Initiate phase two", the Russian said.

Ada was in a very suicidal mood at the moment, even if she was in the grips of the ham sized fists of the monster. "Tell your boss that he's a coward for not doing this himself".

"You will get that chance, kitten", in a swift motion, Ada was slammed head first into the nearest wall. It would have been a blessing if she had just lost consciousness outright. Instead, she found herself in the grips of a very bad concussion which sent the floor spinning under her feet. The Russian released the spy to one of his men.

"Take them alive", the man ordered. "They may be of some use to us".

Jake could do nothing but follow. If he were to get Ada out of this mess, he would have to be there with her.

All was going to hell for Emilie Dominique. She had never in her life come across a bio-terror attack let alone been stuck in the middle of it. Around her, disaster was approaching. There were guests who were infected which still laid unmoving while the freshly infected were mowing down any moving life form.

"Uh, a little help here?" she called out desperately into her comm.

"Miss, are you Emilie?" a man asked, he had a gun and was standing beside her casually as if there wasn't any viral outbreak occurring around them. There was something Bond-like about him, no pun intended although he has a distinct British accent. She could only give him a nod in reply.

"Then, come with me if you want to live", he offered her a hand. "Name's Dave, by the way".

They started to make their way outside, despite most of the ones who weren't infected were already stampeding towards the nearest exit points.

"Wait, Ada and Jake are still inside there", Emilie tugged him back towards the building.

"Not anymore, love", Dave shook his head as he led her away from the scene.

"What do you mean?" she spluttered. "They are off link. How are we going to track them?"

"Good thing that smart lass got a tracker", Dave grinned back.

Author's Note: Yeah, really tired, this came to me like in 2am in the morning, and was typed out around that time…