Leon S. Kennedy

Leon pushed for a post in Raccoon City having found himself fascinated with the area after reading all about the strange murders and disappearances that occurred earlier in the summer. Chief Irons had recently launched a recruitment drive of new officers to ease the growing concerns of the citizens, especially as missing-persons cases were on the rise again. At the time Leon had very little practical experience but made up for it with youth and enthusiasm. He had natural ability, intelligence and there was very little that frightened him. He beamed with pride at the prospect of becoming a police officer and had a strong sense of justice. His resume was sent to Chief Irons and he visited the R.P.D. and met his training officers, Rita and Kevin Ryman. His official start date was to be September 29th, 1998.

However, just prior to beginning this new, exciting chapter in his life, his personal circumstances were thrown into chaos when problems in his relationship led to him breaking up with his girlfriend. Leon had always been a little awkward around women due to his youthful nativity and this sudden loss hit him hard. Against all good sense, Leon attended a party the night before he began his new job and got drunk to drown his sorrows. Feeling rough the next day, Leon overslept in his motel and was late for his first ever shift as a police officer. Frantically, he donned his uniform and headed for Raccoon City. He tried calling his supervising officer several times but received no response. When he arrived, he found that the town had gone to hell and the streets crawling with zombies. He soon met up with Claire Redfield, the younger sister of S.T.A.R.S. member Chris, but they were soon separated and agreed to meet at the police station.

Inside, Leon found all the officers had been wiped out except for Marvin Branagh who was gravely injured. He later encountered Ada Wong; an agent of the rival company who falsified being in town looking for her missing boyfriend. Leon saw it as his duty to protect her and later saved her life from Umbrella researcher Annette Birkin. Although Ada initially had viewed Leon with annoyance, the way he took a bullet for her seemed to melt her cold resolve and as the night progressed, both began to develop feelings for one another. Leon’s youthful nativity made her safety his top priority and he was completely oblivious to her role as a spy, but although Ada felt a connection to the young rookie she had no qualms about manipulating him to further her own goals. Whilst in Umbrella’s lab, Ada was seemingly killed and Leon eventually escaped on an underground train alongside Claire and Sherry Birkin after they had destroyed the G-Birkin creature. But a little earlier, a mysterious figure had thrown Leon a rocket launcher during his final battle with the mutated T-103 Tyrant, leaving him convinced Ada was still alive. The incident had took its toll on Leon and he later admitted he thought about taking his own life several times during the experience.

Immediately afterwards, Claire headed off alone to search for her missing brother whilst Leon and Sherry were picked up by military officers and detained by the U.S. Government. They were very interested in Sherry following her exposure to the G-Virus and Leon met an official named Adam Benford who wished to recruit him for a soon to be established secret military agency designed to look into the existence of biological weapons. Leon accepted the offer in exchange for assurances over Sherry’s ongoing safety. The Raccoon incident also left him with a profound hatred for Umbrella and he wanted further opportunities to take them
down.

Leon began a rigorous training program to prepare for his new role. He rarely spoke of the Raccoon City incident and the only person he would really open up to was Adam Benford, the man who recruited him. Leon found Benford shared the same hatred of biological weapons as he did, and this shared interest led to them becoming friends. With access to the U.S. Intelligence network, Leon began to look more deeply into Umbrella and eventually came to learn of their operations on Sheena Island, a small backwater community somewhere in the Atlantic. He hired his friend and Private Investigator, Ark Thompson, to look into the corporation’s dealings on the island. The resulting investigation ended with the destruction of the Tyrant mass-production factory, delivering a stern blow to Umbrella.

In December, Leon began to search for Chris Redfield who had dropped off the grid following his trip to Europe. When he eventually learned of his location he attempted to notify Claire only to find she had become a ghost herself, leaving him frustrated. But a sudden e-mail received out of the blue from Claire explained her incarceration on Rockfort Island and that Umbrella had Chris under surveillance. Leon got in touch with Chris and provided him with the co-ordinates of Rockfort. Chris set off alone to the island and asked Leon to mobilise a rescue mission. The resulting events saw the destruction of the Ashford family and Umbrella’s South Pole facility.

Through government archives, Leon became aware of Albert Wesker and the threat he posed. He also uncovered further evidence that Ada was still alive and was working for Wesker at the rival company. By now the new government administration had laid out their intentions to earn public support and regain trust by taking a firm anti-Umbrella stance. One of these measures was Anti-Virus Weapons Protocol No. 7600; a directive that afforded Leon a number of special privileges in order to further investigate Umbrella Corporation and eradicate their biological weaponry. As a direct tie in to this order, Leon found himself dispatched to South America in 2002 to investigate Javier Hidalgo’s relationship to Umbrella. Javier was a notorious drug lord and leader of the Sacred Snakes crime syndicate. He was joined on this mission by Jack Krauser, a U.S. SOCOM operative. Over the course of this operation, they discovered Javier was in possession of the t-Veronica virus and had used it to treat his daughter’s illness. He had also used the virus to produce several B.O.W.s, including the V-complex; a giant plant that had the potential to take over and infect the surrounding eco-system. Despite all Leon had learned about Veronica from Claire, the virus was thriving in the hotter climates of the South American jungle, but eventually Javier was defeated and the spread of further infection was halted. Manuela Hidalgo was taken into protective custody by the U.S. Government just as Sherry had been four years earlier. Krauser had sustained a serious injury during the mission and left the military shortly thereafter. Leon was later told he had died in an accident.

By now, Leon had matured a lot and was becoming a valued government operative. He and Benford would often speak about one day forming their own bioterrorism unit within the government. At that point in time the U.S. had the Federal Bioterrorism Commission (F.B.C.), which was almost a military force within itself. But what Benford and Leon had in mind was a small cell of specialised agents working under the direct supervision of the President. But this idea was still far off from becoming a reality.

In 2004, Leon’s duties were expanded further after his superiors assessed his growing skill set and believed him suited to V.I.P. protection. He received special training via a secret organisation working under the direct control of the new P.O.T.U.S. and was to join the security detail for President Graham’s family. But before he could take up his new position, Ashley Graham was abducted whilst on her way home from university. Following extensive background checks, Leon’s first assignment was to investigate her abduction and bring her home safely. Because the government feared an inside leak had led to her capture, it was agreed Leon being sent in alone would minimise further intelligence leaks. Before departing on his mission, Leon travelled to San Francisco to meet Joseph Kendo who crafted a new customised firearm known as the ‘Silver Ghost,’ which was a totally new model taking inspiration from the H&K USP, S&W Sigma, and Ruger P85. Meanwhile, intelligence received from the F.B.I. soon took Leon to an isolated region of rural Southern Europe where he uncovered a sinister religious cult known as the Los Illuminados. Through interactions with an escaped researcher named Luis Sera, Leon learned of the Las Plagas parasite and how the cult had captured Ashley Graham just to infect her and ransom her back to her father. The parasite took over the host’s body and transformed them into Ganado. The Los Illuminados planned to use Ashley to infect the President’s inner cabinet and allow the parasites to slowly take over congress and the military.

During the mission, Leon was captured and injected with the parasite but he refused to let this slow him down. He also encountered old flame Ada Wong and when he accused her of working with Wesker she did nothing to deny the claim, but refused to reveal her reasons for being involved in this incident. Leon also had a reunion with Jack Krauser; the former comrade he was told had died two years ago. Krauser had faked his death and switched allegiances, now also working for Wesker. It was Krauser who was responsible for Ashley’s kidnap and they came to blows. He also let enough information slip for Leon to conclude the goal of Krauser and his employers was to resurrect the recently defunct Umbrella Corporation. But before Krauser could dispatch Leon, Ada came to his rescue and eventually Leon managed to rescue Ashley and destroy the parasites growing in their bodies. Thanks to more assistance from Ada he managed to destroy cult leader Osmund Saddler and retrieve the Dominant Plaga sample. But Ada took the sample and fled by helicopter, leaving Leon keys for a jet-ski to escape the island. Although their reunion had been brief, the old feelings between them had been stirred up and after politely turning down Ashley’s advances, he admitted Ada was a part of him he just couldn’t let go of. He later asked Ingrid Hunnigan for her phone number but she playfully rebuffed him as he was still on duty. Following the incident he submitted a detailed mission report, a copy of which was delivered to the B.S.A.A. Leon believed the events in Europe were directly connected to remnants of Umbrella Corporation and all his knowledge of the Las Plagas parasites would prove to be very useful five years later when the incident in Kijuju occurred.

In 2005, a t-Virus outbreak was reported in the town of Harvardville, located approximately 100 miles away from the ruins of Raccoon City, in a suspected terrorist attack. The infection was confined to the airport and the authorities soon had the area completely sealed off. The White House dispatched Leon to deal with the situation and he hoped to uncover intelligence leading to rogue former Umbrella employees in hiding who the government believed were peddling the t-Virus on the black market. Leon and two members of the local Special Response Team infiltrated the airport and rescued several stranded civilians, including Claire Redfield in a strange twist of fate. One of the terrorist suspects was later identified as Curtis Miller; brother to S.R.T. Captain, Angela. Leon went with her to arrest him but all they found was the family home ablaze. Leon later went to WilPharma’s facility and saved Claire who explained that the building had been attacked. They also discovered Curtis Miller had injected himself with the G-Virus and transformed. But eventually Leon and Angela managed to defeat the creature and escape with their lives. Later that night, they arrested rogue WilPharma researcher Frederic Downing, the mastermind behind the whole incident and recovered the t-vaccine development data.

A few days later Claire and Leon parted ways again, promising their next meeting would be in more normal circumstances. He had also gotten close to Angela during the course of the incident and promised to see her again. In the aftermath there was a little friction between the U.S. Government and the B.S.A.A. after the B.S.A.A. were
denied access to the clean-up operation. In order to smooth relations, a meeting was set up between Leon and Chris Redfield, with Claire mediating. Although previously acquainted, this marked the first occasion they had met face to face. Both had fought bioterrorism for many years and had the utmost respect for each other’s achievements. The meeting was positive although what was disclosed still remains classified.

In 2011, Adam Benford became President and together with Leon, soon established the Division of Security Operations (D.S.O.), as a spiritual successor to the now defunct F.B.C. and the secret military agency Benford himself had created after Raccoon City. The primary function of the D.S.O. was to use specialised agents to combat domestic bioterrorism. Less than a month later Leon was taken off his vacation and assigned to ‘Project Oz.’ He was dispatched at short notice to the Eastern Slav Republic; a small country in the Eastern bloc locked in civil war. His job was to verify reports that B.O.W.s were being used in the conflict, but immediately upon his arrival he was told to withdraw as all American citizens were being evacuated. Instead, Leon ignored the order and pressed on alone, rendezvousing with a dying C.I.A. contact and later confirming the presence of Las Plagas and t-Virus B.O.W.s in the area. He was captured by the rebels and interrogated by Alexander ‘Buddy’ Kozachenko only to later escape when the hideout was raided by government troops. He also met Ada Wong, who was here on a private mission of her own to steal a sample of the new Synthetic Plaga being developed by President Belikova’s scientists. Kozachenko took the Synthetic Plaga into his body and used Licker Betas to launch an attack on the Presidential palace. Leon and Ada infiltrated the beehive laboratory underground and helped each other escape. After Ada stole a Plaga sample and fled, Leon and Kozachenko worked together to supress attacks from several released Tyrants. After they were saved by a joint U.S.-Russian airstrike, Leon shot Kozachenko in the spine to kill the Plaga inside him, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Kozachenko had wanted to kill himself but Leon refused, explaining that he owed it to all his friends who had died to continue on living. Leon eventually reported back to Hunnigan, but was more than a little disgusted by the way the U.S. Government had handled the whole situation.

Over the next two years, the D.S.O. were extremely successful in eradicating bioterrorism incidents in the U.S. and Leon was a big part of that. He also became the supervisor for the revived Sentinel Nine program; a project initially started by the F.B.C. to develop and test specialised equipment designed to combat biological weaponry.

In 2013, Benford informed Leon of his desire to reveal to the world the full truth behind the U.S. Government’s involvement in the Raccoon City incident. He believed that by publically admitting the part they played and the mistakes committed, it would convince others to do the same and unite nations together to combat bioterrorism. Initially Leon was hesitant but trusted Benford implicitly and stood by his side. The date for this landmark speech was set for June 29th at Ivy University in Tall Oaks, but unbeknownst to Leon and Benford, National Security Advisor and leader of The Family, Derek Simmons, took drastic steps to ensure this speech would never be heard. Simmons believed revealing the truth about the government’s collusion with Umbrella would only result in catastrophic distrust in the U.S. and destabilise global security. The Family orchestrated a bio-terror attack on Tall Oaks which killed Benford and infected the entire area with the C-Virus. Leon came across Benford’s zombified corpse and was forced to put him out of his misery. He later teamed up with Secret Service agent Helena Harper to investigate the attack, only to find themselves framed by Simmons for causing Benford’s death. During their investigation they found a laboratory beneath Tall Oaks and Leon watched a video tape depicting the birth of Carla Radames as Ada Wong’s doppelganger. Tall Oaks was later destroyed in a sterilisation operation and Leon and Helena only survived through the deep catacombs underground. Afterwards they were informed by Ingrid Hunnigan that the virus had also been unleashed across Lanshiang in China. Leon asked Hunnigan to fake their deaths so they could continue their pursuit of Simmons.

They made their way to China but their ruse to avoid detection failed as Simmons had arranged for a Lepotica to be deposited on their plane. Following the ensuing battle, the aircraft crash landed in Lanshiang and Leon and Helena found themselves engulfed in the chaos released by Carla and Neo-Umbrella. They also came across Sherry Birkin and Jake Muller and helped them combat the Ustanak creature. Later, whilst exploring a medical facility, Leon found himself in a standoff with Chris Redfield who was busy hunting down Radames. At this stage both men believed Carla was the real Ada Wong and almost came to blows over her fate. Chris was adamant she was responsible for the whole incident but Leon, given his past experiences with Ada, believed otherwise. In the confusion Carla eventually escaped and Leon and Chris went their separate ways, promising to do the right thing to end the crisis.

Leon and Helena eventually confronted Simmons, who finally admitted responsibility for the biohazard in Tall Oaks, insisting Benford’s death had to be done to protect the United States and global security. When Simmons was later infected with an enhanced strain of the C-Virus and escaped on a train, Leon and Helena gave chase and battled him until he was eventually seemingly killed in the harbour. Now finding themselves in the district of Tatchi, Leon and Helena witnessed the C-Virus missile detonate nearby and worked with B.S.A.A. troops to evacuate the area. After a long struggle and some assistance from the real Ada Wong, they eventually made it to Neo-Umbrella’s headquarters at the Quad Tower and encountered Simmons yet again.

After a long battle spanning the entire length of the tower, the Family leader was eventually killed. Although Ada disappeared out of his life once again, she left behind digital evidence proving Simmons was responsible for the Tall Oaks attacks. When they returned to America, Leon attended Deborah Harper’s funeral and helped clear Helena’s name so she could resume her career in the secret service.

Following the incident, Leon and the D.S.O. continued their investigations but they were relentlessly hampered for many people inside the government were traitors and accomplices of Derek Simmons. Leon was also haunted by his shooting of Adam Benford and always felt uneasy when in the company of his successor. He also discovered one of Benford’s assistants had sold information to shady organisations and suspected the new Defence Chief or even the Vice-President was also involved. In late 2013, Leon supervised an operation to arrest a leading Senator named Steven Air, who was confirmed to be selling classified secrets to bio-terror organisations. But before they could make the arrest, Air was forewarned and instead three D.S.O. agents were killed after a bomb was planted in their SUV. Leon was not in the vehicle at the time and was the only survivor. The next day he visited the morgue where the bodies of his team were kept. There he began to get depressed and began reflecting on the kind of person he thought he wanted to be when he grew up. When one of the bodies began to reanimate through viral infection, Leon shot it dead. He requested an extended leave of absence and checked himself into a rural retreat in the Canadian Rockies where he would remain for over four months. He became totally disillusioned with his life and the seemingly never-ending fight against bioterrorism. He was convinced he was stuck in an endless loop.

In Spring 2014, Leon was suddenly visited out of the blue by Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers. Numerous small outbreaks had occurred across the Great Lakes area of the U.S. and Rebecca had studied the infected bodies and determined the cause to be a modified viral strain with elements and traits closely resembling the Las Plagas parasites. With Leon’s knowledge and expertise in this field they wanted to recruit his help in a bid to apprehend weapons trafficker and creator of the A-Virus; Glenn Arias. Initially Leon was not interested and almost came to blows with Chris until Rebecca calmed them both down. Leon also came face to face with a man called Patricio, the same man who sold out his D.S.O. unit which led to the loss of his team. Patricio begged Leon’s forgiveness and disclosed that Glenn Arias was plotting with surviving members of the Los Illuminados movement to stage a massive attack on New York City for revenge against the U.S.A. Patricio was later killed as agents working for Arias stormed the hotel and abducted Rebecca. Leon agreed to accompany Chris and the B.S.A.A. ‘Silver Dagger’ team to New York and they arrived just as the outbreak began. Both Leon and Chris worked together to storm Arias’ hideout and save Rebecca. They later dispersed the vaccine across the city and Leon wondered how long they would continue fighting B.O.W.s., but the experience in New York had helped his old resolve to return. Following the incident, Leon returned to active duty with the D.S.O.

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