Abduction of the President's Daughter Incident

Prime universe
(Capcom's primary storyline)

The 2004 Abduction of the President's Daughter was an investigation led by a secret government agency close to US President Graham in 2004. During Leon S. Kennedy's investigation, it was revealed that Ashley Graham's kidnapping was part of a larger conspiracy to implant a parasitic organism into the President or senior government officials when returning the girl, brainwashed.

Background

Los Iluminados had historical ties to rural Spain, clinging on to the old pagan ideals of a pre-Christian Europe. The First Castellan of the region was instrumental in Christianizing the region by suppressing the cult's practices and sealing their sacred Plaga parasites, of which they worshipped greatly, an expansive underground labyrinth above which a monstrous castle was built. The story of the righteous and just lord's battle against paganism for the protection of the villagers was told from grandparent to grandchild for generations. Although defeated, the cult continued to survive in some way for the next few centuries.

Some time prior to Autumn 2004, the cult's leader, Osmund Saddler, corrupted the mind of the unpopular Eighth Castellan, Ramon Salazar, into allowing entry into the underground. Converting him to the cult's beliefs, Ramon sought to release the parasites to atone his family for its apparent sins in keeping the parasites from human eyes. Some villagers were hired by Salazar and brought into the catacombs for an apparently important "excavation" project in the caves in search of what was left of the parasite. All they found however, were mere fossils; that was, however, all they could see. Unbeknownst to them, the parasites survived in a spore-state, reforming their bodies inside their new hosts. This process took some time, and the miners returned to their normal lives. With people beginning to experience violent convulsions, the cause was discovered to be the growing parasites gaining control over the nervous system.

With the Plagas' survival being confirmed, Lord Saddler indoctrinated the village chief, Bitores Mendez, during a festival to mark the end of the harvest season. Mendez would then return from the church to order a church meeting the following Sunday, which everyone had to attend. It was here that the villagers, over a period of a few hours, were indoctrinated into Los Iluminados, throwing aside their children's tales as lies, now believing the First Castellan to be tyrannical have forced the parasites away due to a jealous feat that the religion was a threat to his power. When the villagers began to notice the convulsions after the service, they assumed it to be a divine action against the "heathens" who did not follow Saddler's teachings. At some point later, Saddler had the villagers injected with Plaga eggs, telling them that it was sacred blood intended to "cleanse" their bodies. With people experiencing convulsions afterwards, but being too devout, they did not suspect Saddler as being responsible. Losing their ability to feel emotions, some parents gave blank expressions when their children started to die - with the Plagas unable to gain control over the children's nervous systems, they began to experience painful fits before dying with a disfigured look on their faces (caused by their nervous system's poor control over muscles). Not long after, Saddler informed them that people may be seeking to infiltrate Los Iluminados and should be considered a dangerous threat and killed; the people ("Ganados") blindly followed.

In mid-2004, Luis Sera, a scientist working for Saddler's bio-weapons development project on an island, contacted a friend of his in search for help. Unfortunately, his friend had already died, but his call was intercepted by the mysterious Ada Wong, an agent who had recently come under the employment of an organization on the request of bioterrorist Albert Wesker. Learning about this organism, Wesker sent Jack Krauser - a former USSOCOM solder - to earn Saddler's trust and obtain a sample of the parasite. As a non-local (and, more importantly, an American) he was not trusted by the cult. However, Saddler accepted his offers of assistance eventually, and worked him into his plans.

Events

In the Autumn of 2004, Ashley Graham was abducted from the University of Massachusetts by Krauser, obtaining a Dominant Species Plaga for his services. Fearful of the implications of the abduction reaching the media's ears, information about it was suppressed. With the intelligence agencies suspecting an internal involvement in the kidnapping, all agents were individually-screened to confirm their lack-of-involvement. Due to these actions, however, Leon S. Kennedy was sent to look for her in Spain on his own, after agents in Europe confirmed her sighting there.

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