Cannibal, Cannibal

[Ada Wong]

The stark white of the Nexus fell away, the sensation of stepping through the portal being not unlike plunging face-first into a body of water— overwhelming, confusing, tangling her thoughts into an indiscernible mess. The city-verse of Coruscant drowned out all of her senses in a flood of raw information and sights, the sprawling cityscape seeming like a crystalline forest of metal and glass, compactly-placed buildings gleaming and jutting out against the pale, cloud-free atmosphere. There were all the usual sounds of urban life and then some; Ada observed with great interest as a flying craft whirred past, thinking that perhaps she’d been struck a little too hard on the head, but— no. No, it was all real.

Shaking off her awe, Ada glanced around at the high-tech checkpoint she had been ushered into. The windows directly across from her provided a view of the glistening metropolis; the building was obviously designed to give first-time visitors a staggering impression of the city’s magnitude, and even without a bird’s eye view Ada could tell that the assembly of high-rise buildings extended for miles. Narrow concourses fanned out to either side of her, elevated walkways occasionally dotted with security cameras hanging overhead like a particularly oppressive cloud, countless lenses staring her down.

Her bloodied face and body were almost garish under the harsh, artificially judgmental glare of the overhead lights; there was nowhere to hide inside this building, every architectural aspect bringing the words ‘bright’ and ‘spacious’ to mind. Several of the other loitering visitors cast her strange looks, quietly shifting away at the sight of her gore-spattered appearance.

This was fine by Ada. She wasn’t in the mood for playing nice with a bunch of perfect strangers.

It felt like arriving at a party she really had no business attending. She had done this numerous times in the past to acquire information, sidling up to diplomats and benefactors when their tongues had been loosened by cheap Merlot and complimentary champagne. Still, a feeling of unease crept up her spine, an uncomfortable sense of being exposed, like having her back unprotected against enemy gunfire, twining through her muscles until she stood ramrod straight, eyes flashing, her chin lifting almost subconsciously to ward off any staring.

Ada regarded the soldiers in white armor with trepidation even as she waited to reach the point for spot checking. It was not unlike other military checkpoints she had encountered in the past, but then again, the scarlet spy ordinarily occupied her time with trying to sneak past such terminals, not going through them. It rankled, really, not being familiar enough with her surroundings to go unnoticed, but Ada was so, so tired. While one couldn’t see it from her stiff posture, a trained eye could likely discern the delicate way she was holding herself, arms curved just slightly toward, but not quite covering, her wounded hip, like a prey animal trying not to seem injured to a hungry lion. She needed a place to curl up and lick her wounds in peace.

“Welcome to Corusc… whoa, are you okay?”

Startled, Ada blinked and looked directly into the shaded visor of the soldier waiting to scan her, a peculiar rod-shaped instrument clutched in black gloves and half-raised in the air. Despite the helmet concealing the soldier’s face, the woman could tell that he was giving her a quick once-over to gauge how much of a threat she might pose.

Her eyes slid to the other troopers standing guard behind him, more specifically the rifles in their hands, and then returned to Helmethead. Wisely, Ada didn’t give any indication that she was bothered by this, smoothing her features into a neutrally pleasant look. She even smiled.

“Not really. Ran into some trouble on my way here, but I’m fine,” Ada said, because there was just no sense in lying, and then directed her attention toward the skyline, feigning impatience to be getting on with the scanning process.

The soldier visibly deliberated on something before relenting, gesturing to the side. “If you say so, lady. Stand with your hands at your sides for scanning.”

Doing as she was told, Ada glanced briefly at the ceiling as she waited for the trooper to finish with his scans, the rod waving over her limbs and giving soft hmmzzms every now and again.

She stiffened when the device gave an alarmed squeal. In an instant her eyes had flicked around to take account of the situation, noting how the other guards fell into defensive poses almost immediately. A mental catalogue of her weapons flickered in her thoughts, her posture having become rigid with tension.

“What is it?” One of the armed soldiers spoke, his voice altered into a clipped drone by his helmet. The black metal weapon shifted in his arms, white plastoid armor seeming shiny and luminous under the lights. Ada eyed the gaps in that armor where a black body glove peeked through, wondering if she would have the time and physical capacity to drive a knife-blade into it if things took a turn for the worse.

The guard who had scanned her gave no visible reaction aside from glancing boredly at the instrument, no doubt reading over the information there.

“Read-out says multiple life signs detected, two to be exact,” he glanced up at Ada, his helmeted head shaking just a bit at whatever she had done. “Unless you’re pregnant, miss, that has the potential to be contraband. Exotic species are not permitted into Courscant without going through us, so that includes any pets you might be trying to hide. You’ll need to hand over whatever you’re carrying for scanning. Immediately.”

Multiple life signs…? A shock of cold went down Ada’s spine, her eyes widening as the fear struck true. She hadn’t contracted something while dealing with the Los Illuminados, had she? Or had Albert Wesker found the time to inject her with some infernal substance during their little spat? Aside from the Las Plagas, there were far worse things that could have been done to her. She hadn’t felt the old familiar sting of a syringe, but—

Abruptly, Ada went totally still as she felt a stirring just above her ribcage, steadily wriggling to the ripple of black fabric at the chest of her qipao. As she and the stormtroopers watched in horrified fascination, the budge under the red cloth revealed itself, a panicked gasp rising in Ada’s throat when…!

“Peep!” A fuzzy yellow head poked out, tiny black eyes staring up at them in perfect innocence. It was a duckling.

“Oh my god.” The stormtrooper that had scanned her barked out a surprised laugh, then reached up and reeled away as if he could stifle his laughter through his helmet. Ada, for her part, reached up and scooped the tiny thing into her hand, staring absurdly as the soft pink bill nudged at her hand in curiosity. Well.

She how no idea how it could have gotten into her clothing without her noticing, especially considering the fitted style, but could only assume the baby duck had - somehow - wriggled in there while she’d been busy sloshing around the Fountain of Infinity and trying not to die.

“Okay, that’s… That’s adorable, but I really need to scan the little guy, too.” The soldier said, holding one gloved hand out to accept the animal. Ada had her suspicions that he maybe just wanted to hold it, but politely relinquished it to him.

Holding the small ball of fuzz in one glove, the duckling utterly swamped by the size of his hand, the stormtrooper lightly bapped it on the bill with one finger, delighting in the answering ‘eep!’ He quickly turned and gestured to the armed guards at his back, waving one arm excitedly. “Holy crap. Guys, come look at this.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the other troopers joined him, three bucket-shaped helmets bowed together to inspect the little thing. A collective ‘awwww’ rippled through the group as the duckling fell onto its back, struggling against the black-fingered gloves with its teensy-weensy orange feet kicking at the air.

This went on for a little under a minute, right up until Ada heard an impatient visitor loudly clearing their throat from behind her. Abruptly realizing their slip in professionalism (not to mention the growing crowd of exasperated visitors waiting to be scanned,) the two armed troopers stiffened and returned to their positions by the terminal’s exit, while the armored cop with the scanning instrument swiftly returned the duckling into Ada’s care.

Ada, for her part, held the baby animal with a great amount of gentleness, absent-mindedly rubbing its puffy chest with her fingernails. There was still blood and skin caked under them, flakes of rust and black chipping off and sticking in the yellow fuzz.

Clearing his throat, the stormtrooper began to speak. “Well, nothing too dangerous aside from the lethal cuteness your little buddy seems to have, haha. Though I am sending a notice to the EPD about all the weapons you’re carrying, so they may contact you with some questions. I’d strongly advise against answering anything but honestly.”

Stricken with a curious sense of déjà vu, Ada tilted her head to the side. “The EPD?”

“Yeah, the Empire Peace Division,” he said, walking over toward to control panel filled with all sorts of glowing computer displays. After a moment of tapping at the screen, he turned to her with a tablet-shaped data pad held loosely in his grip, numerical data spiraling in a dizzying array across the digital screen. “They’re always looking for volunteers given the amount of trouble they get from wandering Primes, so if you’re interested in keeping your nose clean… that’s the way to go.”

All Ada could do was nod, wincing a little as a pang of sharp pain jammed through her skull like an icepick, blurry darkness threatening to overtake her vision. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Thank you.”

She squinted at the tablet in the soldier’s hands, watching as he prodded at the screen and made a myriad of selections with one finger— tap, tap-tap! Then, to her surprise, a fully-body map of herself was staring back, all her injuries and guarded posture documented in soft bluish-white holographic light.

It was incredible, a stunning example of graphic reproduction tech. Technology like this had only been available to the most lucrative of top-secret organizations in her own world, but in Coruscant its seemed to be everywhere. There was simply no telling the true extent of military might the place possessed. Ada could hardly keep the unbridled interest from appearing on her face, dark hair falling across her face as she leaned forward to get a better look.

“Pretty fancy, right?” the soldier gushed, noticing her curiosity and apparently all too eager to showcase this bit of technology. “We just got a patch in today that adds extra muscle definition. Way better than the old models we had to work with. That stuff was too smooth, lacked character. But, here, check it out— apparently some game designers were asked to help with the coding.”

“Impressive…” Ada murmured, and she meant it. “Is this gateway always so heavily guarded?”

The soldier again returned to the control panel, but this time he gestured for Ada to join him. Waving his hand over the largest viewscreen of the plaza, he began to explain. "Usually we’ve got people who aren’t in full security regalia running the place, but there have been a few warning flags put up about dangerous persons in the last week who might attempt to evade Imperial custody or tear their way in. I almost pity the poor bastards when they get caught. But, enough about that. We need to get some more information recorded…”

He held the digital tablet aloft with great ceremony, then began firing questions at her that would give a corporate interviewer a run for their money. "Full name, occupation, special powers or abilities?”

There was no point in lying about her name, Ada supposed. "Ada Wong... I was an employee of a pharmaceutical corporation, along with several other companies of a similar creed. As for abilities… athleticism, specialization in martial arts, experience with several diverse weapon types… I’m fairly sure that’s everything."

Nodding his head a few times, the soldier paused over one part of the info he had just entered. “And what was your role as an employee of this pharmaceutical corporation? I’m asking because we can use this information to find the best possible fit for you in Coruscant’s workforce.”

Right, Ada thought wryly.

“I was an informer,” she said, less wryly.

“Riiiight. Covert activities it is. Do I even want to know what happened while you were in the Nexus? Just... if you’ll place all of your weaponry on this table for scanning…”

Ada relinquished her weapons, observing in polite silence as the soldier went about examining each item, painstakingly going over them with the solemnly droning scanning instrument. “Ah. Well. This is… quite the arsenal you’re packing, Miss Wong. The original scan didn't show this level of detail..." The stormtrooper straightened, the prior friendly camaraderie replaced with stiff-legged professionalism. "Since you’ve been so obliging and less disruptive than even some of the weaker Primes we’ve had come through, you will have 12 hours maximum to speak to the EPD about employment, or face confiscation."

The former secret agent nodded slowly, her eyes seeming unfocused as she took that tidbit of information in. Her fingers rubbed under the duckling’s chin. So, she would either need to leave Coruscant as soon as possible… or become an asset. Well, it could be worse.

“You’re registered with the system now. If you’d be interested in learning more about our city, the Visitor Center is right through there. They can even direct you to the EPD’s headquarters.” The stormtrooper indicated a glass division off to the side labelled as the VISITOR CENTER. Ada turned her head to look. A smartly-dressed woman sat behind a desk on the other side of the glass, head bowed, and her eyes fixed on the screen of her computer. Colorful displays filled with brochures and advertisements littered the area, some even decorated with a riot of moving images.

"Thank you," Ada said in turning back, almost forgetting her manners, but the soldier was already scanning the next person in line. Giving what was more or less a mental shrug, she decided to take his advice and pay the small information desk a visit.