Old Vendettas

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The BSAA were as swift as ever with their rescue and clean up efforts in the aftermath of the New York attack. People were already being evacuated from the worst affected areas, a precaution they were told, nothing more. It was a chance to sweep the bodies from the streets and remove the charred remains of one Glenn Arias. There were emergency medical units being errected in many buildings. People were thankfully vaccinated, but there were still a great many wounded wandering the streets. Even the heroes themselves had found their way the one of the larger medical units, though one of their number would soon be regretting that decision. 
Chris Redfield would be given little warning before his wife zeroed in on him, lean limbs pushing people aside before she slapped him hard enough to make a sound that echoed. “You force me behind a desk, and this is how I have to find you?!” She hissed, holding up her PDA with a flashing red dot that showed Chris’ current location.
The small nurse who had been treating Chris for superficial wounds stared at the brunette with wide eyes, already quite terrified of this formidable looking woman.

“Hey now, that wasn’t my fault.” Claire replied, holding her hands up in surrender when Ciara jerked her arm free. “If you need a job, a can give you a job.” She added.

Wesker narrowed his eyes as he watched a billy lean his cheek into Rebecca’s palm. “You say you owe him your life, but you were the one who turned a convicted felon loose.” He replied thinly, tapping something on his PDA that quickly had Billy howling in pain.

Ciara shook her head. "Why would I trust you? You think I'm crazy? You can't trust anyone but yourself these days." She added, pulling a cigarette from her pocket and lighting it. "You really think I'm stupid don't you?"

Rebecca turned on Wesker, trying to slap the tablet from his hands. "Stop that! You're hurting him!" She cried out.

Claire inwardly groaned when she saw Ciara pull out a cigarette, Leon would just love that. “Believe me, I know how hard it is to trust people.” Claire assured the younger woman. “But I also know, sometimes you just need someone to give you a chance, right?”

Wesker caught Rebecca’s slender wrists and pushed her away. “Does that statement have a point?” He sneered.

"is this an invitation to strip? Cause I've been there and done that." Ciara snorted. "I suck at dancing."

There it was, the jealousy dripped from his words like molten lava. "You're hurting a man for no reason. He did nothing... Captain, please?"

Claire just wanted to scream. Every word out of Ciata’s mouth just made it even clearer what a terrible mistake Claire had made. Despite this, she found herself smiling very slightly, thinking about how terrible Leon was at dancing too. There was so much she wanted to say, but was afraid she would just freak the poor girl out. You don’t just blurt ‘hey kid, I’m your mother’ out. “I find that hard to believe.” She finally replied.

“You sound so surprised by that.” Wesker replied coldly. “What does it matter to you what I do to him? Why do you care?”

Ciara pulled her hair out of it's ponytail and shook out her hair. It was the same shade as Leon's. "Lady you're really creeping me out." She told her.

"Because he saved my life. Not everyone deserves to die, Albert." Rebecca said, daring to rest her hand on his arm.

“Yeah... I know.” Claire replied with a heavy sigh as she rubbed at her eyes, wishing so much of this girl didn’t remind her of Leon. “Will you at least sleep on it? I was serious about being able to find you a job. A respectable job.” She added, inwardly groaning when she realised she sounded like a total killjoy. 

“Redfield saved your life too, would you have me leave him alone also?” Wesker asked thinly, though he was looking down at the slender hand on his arm. “What makes this one different?” He added, jealousy still tainting his voice.

"Last time I had a respectable job, lady, the boss slapped my ass and made me wear a skimpy maid outfit. No thanks." Ciara snorted, taking a long drag off her cigarette and blowing it into the air above them. 

"The difference is, Billy didn't do it out of a duty he felt. He did it out of kindness. There are kind people in the world, surprisingly enough." Rebecca said softly.

“I’m not in the habit of dressing my employees up as maids.” Claire replied, folding her arms across her chest. It was killing her to hear these snippets of the kind of life her daughter had been living. “I like a man in uniform... just not that uniform.” She added with a smirk.

Wesker glanced past Rebecca to the dark haired man who now planted heavily from the pain he had just endured. “You are so certain it was kindness?”

That statement was enough to get a smile out of Ciara. It was Leon's. All the way down to the down to the slight dimple in her cheek. "Then you're missing out." She teased. "See you around, lady." She gave her a slight wave tossing her cigarette to the ground and snubbing it out with her toe.

"What else would it be?" Rebecca asked in innocence. "I'm no Jill Valentine you know. There's nothing about me that a man wants other than to feel like he's saved his baby sister. I'm nothing special, Captain."

That smile knocked all conscious thought out of Claire, leaving her unable to stop Ciara from walking away. She had seen that smile a hundred times, and it haunted her dreams knowing she was also the reason that smile always faded.

Wesker smiled, glad Rebecca didn’t understand just how dazzling she truly was; he would enjoy seeing her blossom. “You think long legs and large breasts are what it takes to attract anything other than a useless meat head?”

To tie it all together in a meeting now Ciara mounted a motorcycle and kicked it into gear. It roared to life and she squealed it onto the roared, not bothering with a helmet. 

"Any man." Rebecca whispered, staring hard at the wall. "I couldn't attract a fly."

Claire sat down on the curb right there, feeling like an even bigger failure than she had when she had that huge fight with her brother. The selfish part of her wished she had simply chosen a different bar to get a drink, at least then she wouldn’t know what a fuck up her daughter’s life had been even without her help. 

“Flies are attracted to shit.” Wesker pointed out with a smirk. “Are you really upset by that?”

Claire!" Sherry jumped out of her car, looking more than a little worried. "Don't run off like that again!"

"At least it's something." Rebecca said with a soft sigh. She turned back to Billy once again kneeling in front of him. "he's been missing longer than Jill. Does that mean he was the prototype for her?"

“I didn’t run off.” Claire replied without looking up. “I wanted to get shit faced and forget this day ever happened.” She added, feeling very much like everything she did turned out wrong and hurt good people.

“How would you know how long he’s been missing?” Wesker asked suspiciously. “Have you been looking for him?”

"Well look how that turned out for you..." Sherry said firmly, holding out her hand. "Come on. I found Chris and got him tucked in now it's your turn. We'll fix this in the morning. Nothing good happens in the dark."

Rebecca nodded her head. She rarely lied and she saw no reason to now.  The twitch to Wesker's jaw made her worry a little. Was he truly jealous? If so, why?

Claire looked up at Sherry, dark circles already forming under her sleep deprived blue eyes. She glanced between Sherry and Jake for a moment, wanting to tell her she wasn’t doing things right then, but was sane enough to know she couldn’t take her misery out on the younger woman. With a heavy sigh she accepted the blonde’s hand and hauled herself to her feet. “We need to get things right between him and Jill.” She breathed, hoping if she focused on somone else’s problems, she wouldn’t dwell on all the things she wanted to tell Leon right then.

Wesker simply turned from the cell and slammed the door shut, leaving Rebecca locked in there with Billy. It shouldn’t bother him, but it did. Why?
“You shouldn’t piss him off, little girl.” Billy remarked gruffly, though seemed almost unable to lift his head.

Sherry nodded her head. "I totally agree. Which is why I told Jill that I found a weird virus in Chris' blood and I wasn't sure he was going to make it." She grinned, her cheeks making deep dimples on each side. 

"I'm not afraid of him." Rebecca said softly. She brushed back his matted hair, smiling sadly. "Oh Billy. I'm so very sorry. This is all my fault. We need to get this off of you."

Claire felt a little of the darkness lift when Sherry confessed this, she even grinned and messed up the shorter woman’s hair. “You know she’s going to kill you, right?” She asked as she got into the car, though Jake was the one driving.
Back at the hotel, Jill had found the room Chris was in, and of course no lock could keep her out. She was sat in silence by his bedside as he slumbered, not even sure what she would say to him when he woke up. He had broken her heart, and apparently it had been easy for him.

“Don’t.” Billy shook his head, his steel coloured eyes meeting Rebecca’s only for a fleeting moment. “It’s rigged. If you pull it, there’s a poison in the tubes.” He gave a quiet snort. “Apparently he learned from his mistake with Valentine.”

Chris was snoring heavily as he slept. It had been a hard day for him. He dreamed of Jill. He didn't want to leave her but he'd been certain it was what she wanted. She'd been so short with him lately. That hateful shout when she'd seen him after the fight with Glenn Arias was more than he could take. It was the last straw. She was done. It didn't take a genius to tell him that.

Rebecca nodded. "All right. I'll find a way around it. There's always a back door." She promised him. "I'm so very sorry, Billy. You don't know how long...how hard I've been looking for you."

Jill was staring down at the simple platinum band on her ring finger. It felt like a lead weight lately. They had rushed into getting married when they got back from Africa, so eager to make up for all that lost time. Less than two years into the marriage, and Chris had gone AWOL, losing all memory of the ones who loved him. Jill had been out of her mind with worry until she heard Claire’s boyfriend had found him. That happiness was short lived, as Piers took Chris straight out on assignment before Jill could even speak to him. That’s when it all went to hell. He came back from a China, forced her behind a desk and threw himself into his work. They had grown distant, and she had started to almost resent him. That didn’t mean she didn’t love him. Chris simply didn’t understand how hard it was for her to have to worry if he came home alive, all because he had been scared of the very same thing happening to her.

Billy gave a quiet snort and shook his head. “No one ever really looks for a ghost.” He replied almost sadly. He had thought of her every moment he was in this place. She had been so sweet, so trusting... willing to give him a second chance when their own government wouldn’t.

"Jill..." Chris moaned softly, rolling over and reaching for the empty bed. When his fingers found nothing he gave a soft sigh. 

Rebecca studdied the device on his chest, lines appearing in her forehead. This one was nothing like Jill's. It wasn't even the same color. "He never ceases to amaze me." She breathed, reaching out to touch Billy's chest. "Albert is so strange and beautiful...that mind of his is dark and..." She shook her head, struggling with the right words. Admitting that she loved him was dangerous. It always had been.

Jill lifted her head when she heard Chris breathe her name. She saw him reach out across the bed for her, and her chest grew painfully tight. She had been so mad at him after everything that happened with Glenn Arias. He had kept her totally in the dark, even choosing to bring Rebecca back into active duty rather than tell Jill herself anything at all. Jill reached out, slender fingers tracing his powerful jaw as she sighed heavily. He was her entire world, and it felt like he didn’t even see that. 

Billy’s steel coloured eyes narrowed as they watched Rebecca; even he could see the truth. “What happened to you?” He asked quietly. “How can you love that monster?”

Chris remembered very little about the two months that followed his leaving Jill. He'd been called in on an assignment to find an old teamate of his that had been issing her two years. And that was when hell had begun. He wasn't sure who was alive or dead or a monster. All he knew was that he was being rushed to a contamination hospital and he was exteeextr sick. Not to mention Jill was no where to be found.

The two months had gone by quickly for Rebecca. She thrived in Wesker's labs. With no one to hold her back she was able to work as she'd only ever dreamed. She was in heaven. She wasn't sure she'd ever smiled so much .

The past two months had been hell on Jill, and not just because her husband had left her a second time. About 7 weeks after she had woken to find Chris missing from the hotel room, Jill had been rushed into hospital with excruciating stomach pains. She had the darkly humourous thought that she had survived death, just for her appendix to finish the job. If only. Jill was given the news that she had been 4 months pregnant. The vital word was had. Once the doctor delivered the news that Jill had just lost the child she didn’t even know she carried, the dark haired woman simply nodded. She wasn’t known for letting people see her emotions, let alone perfect strangers. She simply thanked the doctor and returned home. It was here that she fell to pieces. There was no one to call. Claire had been distant lately, carrying troubles of her own. Sherry and Jake were always off on assignment. She entertained the thought of calling Leon, but for what? He couldn’t  turn back the clock. Jill simply curled up on the bed that seemed far too big since Chris had left and sobbed until she thought she would throw up. She was thinking about how much she hated him in the same moment Chris was being wheeled into an isolated hospital along side Jessica Sherewat. 

Billy saw how happy she was, and was ashamed to admit it turned his stomach. Wesker had dialled up the dosage so much that he could do nothing but follow orders like a drone, unable to even speak to Rebecca. But like Jill had been, he was still aware. Still aware that his sweet Rebecca was taking joy in creating something that was going to cause misery to millions of people.

Chris wanted nothing more than Jill. But he knew he had no right to her. Even so, he was dialing her number, barely able to concentrate through the pain. "I need you..."" He wheezed.

Rebecca had waited a while to see if anyone had even noticed she'd gone missing. Just like Wesker said,  no one so showed even the slightest concern. This was the first day she lost her smile. This day she sat in Wesker's office with her head down, her shoulders shaking as she cried into her arms.

Jill sucked in a gasping breath when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Through bleary eyes she saw the name on the screen and her heartbreak turned to bitter anger. “What the fuck do you want?” She practically spat into the phone. 

Wesker stood there watching her for some moments, curious about the human condition of missing people. He didn’t understand why she was so upset. “Will it help to hear that they are all miserable?” He asked as he clicked the door shut.

At her tone, Chris simply hung up. The cell phone slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor as he looked  up as Jessica. "She...you were right...we are done..."

Rebecca lifted her head and gave him a watery smile. It was hard to comprehend that Albert Wesker was trying to make someone feel better. 
Slowly she shook her head. She just wanted someone to love her. It was heartbreaking to know that no one did.

Jill dissolved into fresh sobs, clutching the phone to her chest. She had always tried to get. He is to talk of a family, but he would always change the subject. This was just one giant joke, the universe giving her what she wanted, then snatching everything away when she needed it the most. The worst part was... she was sure she heard Jessica’s irritating voice in the background of that phone call. 

“I would say I’m sorry... but I’m not.” Jessica replied with a snort. “Are you?”

“Not even... if I told you Chris is currently writhing in pain without his Valentine?” Wesker asked with a barely concealed smirk. “And the rest of his happy little crew are so self involved, that they haven’t even called each other in weeks.”

Chris shook his head slowly, staring down at the start white sheet that covered his blackening veins. "She's done with me.. Hell, she probably won't even show up for the funeral."

Rebecca shook her head again. "Can you...Can we...get out for a little while? Just you and I? I need a few things and it would be nice not to go alone." She admitted quietly.