Ada walked stealthily through the dark corridors of the NEST Laboratory. The hum of emergency generators vibrated through the metal flooring beneath her tactical boots, casting alternating red and white pulses across the sterile white walls. The air smelled of ozone and something metallic—blood, perhaps. Her mission was clear, although the atmosphere around her was permeated with danger and chaos.

The echoing footsteps of Mr. X reverberated from somewhere ahead, each measured tread sending tremors through the facility like a countdown to their inevitable confrontation. Closer still came the guttural growl of Nemesis, the bio-organic weapon's heavy breathing creating condensation on the cold glass of nearby observation rooms. In her mind, there was only one priority: retrieve the Umbrella research and extract. But everything changed when she reached the specimen containment wing.

Through the reinforced glass, she spotted him—a young man strapped to an examination table, medical monitors surrounding him displaying erratic vital signs. His clothes were torn, his face pale beneath grime and dried blood, but there was something familiar in the set of his jaw, the determined glint in his eyes despite his weakened state. She didn't recognize him until he raised his head, their gazes locking through the barrier.

"Ada..." His voice was hoarse, barely audible through the glass, but unmistakable. Recognition hit her like a physical blow. Leon's son. The child from the photographs Leon had kept in his wallet during the Raccoon City incident, now grown into the young man before her.

She smashed the keypad with a precise strike, the door sliding open with a hydraulic hiss. Moving quickly, she severed his restraints with her combat knife, the blade glinting in the emergency lighting. "Don't move too fast—you've been sedated," she warned, her voice betraying none of the turmoil beneath her composed exterior. "Can you stand?"