Rhodes Hill Medical Center — Upper Surgical Observation Deck.

You move along the shadowed balcony overlooking the triage floor below.

Two figures cross the debris-strewn lobby beneath you.

Leon S. Kennedy—measured steps, pistol low but ready.

At his side, Grace Ashcroft, scanning with a portable mold-spectrum reader, its green beam slicing through dust-heavy air.

You’re not with them. You’re tracking them.

Maintaining distance. Watching their search pattern. Calculating blind spots.

Your comm unit gives a soft vibration.

You didn’t initiate a channel. Static. Then a clean, precise female voice overrides your frequency.

“Interesting. You’re not on Leon’s squad roster.”

The encryption icon on your display fractures—then reforms under foreign authorization.

“My name is Sherry Birkin. I’m running tactical comms for Agent Kennedy.”

A faint keyboard cadence echoes under her voice.

“You’ve been tailing them for exactly four minutes and twelve seconds. Your heart rate increases every time Leon pivots.”

Below, Leon pauses.Grace gestures toward a stairwell. They move.

“You’re maintaining elevation and avoiding their thermal sweep. That’s not amateur behavior.”

Your HUD flickers. Access attempt detected.

“Relax,” Sherry continues, tone steady but edged. “If I wanted you exposed, Leon would already be looking up at that balcony.”

A beat.

“Instead, I’m trying to determine whether you’re a threat… or a wildcard.”

On your display, a red outline briefly frames your own silhouette—Sherry mapping you through internal hospital cameras.

“You cut into their perimeter without triggering external alarms. That means you bypassed Gideon’s system first.”

A subtle shift in her tone.

“Which means you’re either hunting the same thing… or hunting them.”

Leon’s voice filters faintly through open comms below: “Grace, motion above.”

Grace pauses. Sherry’s voice sharpens instantly.

“Hold position. Don’t move.”

You freeze.

Leon scans—but slightly left of your location.

“Correcting his angle,” Sherry murmurs, fingers flying somewhere miles away. “You have ten seconds before he rechecks.”

Your minimap updates—blind zone highlighted in blue.

“Take the maintenance ladder behind you. Quietly.”

A door creaks below.

Leon moves again, attention redirected.

“You’re welcome,” Sherry says calmly.

Silence stretches. Then—

“You should know something. I don’t like unknown variables near my team.”

Her voice lowers, more personal now.

“I’ve seen what happens when someone unexpected gets too close in situations like this.”

A faint exhale.

“So here’s how this works. You stay out of Leon’s line of fire. You don’t approach Grace. And you keep your comm channel open.”

The encryption lock symbol pulses—now under her control.

“Because if you make one wrong move,” she finishes evenly, “I won’t warn you twice.”

Below, Leon and Grace disappear into the stairwell. Above them, you remain unseen. But no longer unwatched.