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.

"No!" Ciara snorted, gagging when the mud went up her nose. "I am... beautiful enough the way I am...Thank you." She managed, reaching beneath the water to try and throw mud back at him. 

Chris didn't answer. He didn't know what to say. Instead he nudged his wife and pointed at the tiny waterfall below them. "Looks like some people made it out of that town safely. Wonder if it's Ciara?"

“Can’t argue with that, brat.” Billy replied before he could help himself. It had been so easy to try and hate Ciara at first. He told himself she was just another Redfield brat, nothing he needed to concern himself with. But somewhere along the road she had wormed her way in his dreams, and then his waking thoughts. He didn’t think it was fair... on her. She was young and deserved every freedom she could grab a hold of. His youth had been spent killing. 

Jill didn’t want to look. She was tired. So very tired of putting her entire existence on hold while they made sure everyone else could go on as normal. There was a darkness that had been festering in the back of her mind for sometime now; Carlos would have dropped everything to disappear somewhere far away. So why couldn’t Chris? Did he even love her, or was he just scared of being without her? She loved him, had done everything he begged of her, even sacrificing the only life she knew to sit behind a desk. Jill tried to let the dark thoughts go and finally glanced out the window. Her inhuman eyes were sharp enough to see who was down there, but only recently she had learned not to let Chris know his different she was. “I hope they aren’t infected.” She remarked, not passing comment on who it was she saw.

Ciara blushed deeply. "You really think so?" She whispered, tucking her muddy hair behind her ears. She'd never had someone tell her she was beautiful before. Cat calls and preverted purrs didn't count. 

"Yeah. Fucking zombies." Chris muttered turning the helicopter toward a row of trees.

Billy smiled sadly, the suddenly bashful way she tucked her hair behind her ears reminded him so much of Rebecca. “The beautiful ones never see it, do they?” He asked, reaching out and wiping some of the mud off her pert nose.

Jill didn’t say much else during the flight. They were heading to HQ to trace Leon. Guilt still ate away at Jill for the sacrifice he had made, finding him was the only way to rid herself of that sickening feeling.

Ciara didn't know what to say. She simply stared at him, her eyes searching Billy's. "Thank you for coming back. I didn't want to be alone anymore."

Chris landed the helicopter in silence. He knew without looking where they were. Yet another Spencer mansion. It was hell. It was his nightmare and Wesker's home.

“You weren’t alone before you ran.” Billy pointed out. ”But for what it’s worth, I’m glad. Been a while since I got to chance a girl... literally.” He teased.

Jill was staring at the steep cliffs that surrounded the estate. Too many memories came flooding back and she screwed her eyes shut. “You sure I can’t convince you to wait here?” She asked, knowing that if it came to it... she would let history repeat itself to save him.

Chris sighed deeply. "Just promise me something. You won't do anything stupid this time. There's a way to beat him. We both know it. There's a way to break him." Once the engine was off he turned to face his wife. "When we get Leon back, we're done. We're going to retire and build our house. Okay? "

Jill’s pale blue eyes looked up at her husband for several long moments, looking for any tiny sliver of truth in that promise. “You mean it?” She finally breathed, daring to hope for the best. “No more world. No more being a hero. Just... us?” She added, needing to hear him say the words.

Chris nodded. "No more being a hero. It's time we started being just Jill and Chris and... Maybe.. a baby..." He leaned in and rested his lips on hers in a passionate kiss. "We deserve to be happy. You deserve it."

Jill smiled against Chris’ lips, a quiet rumble of laughter pushing past her own. “I think I’m a little old for that now...” She mused, patting his chest gently.

"Ok then. A kitten... Or a dog." Chris laughed helping her out of the chopper. "Just remember, we can't do anything if one of us does something crazy."

Jill was again giving Chris that watchful stare, like she was trying to read him. “That means no hunting Wesker down. We’re here for Leon, not to end a blood feud.” She reminded him.

"If we run into Wesker it won't be because of me. It will be him seeking us out." Chris said darkly. "We get Leon and run." He added, comically thinking of an anime man holding Leon over his head and running. He couldn't help but laugh.

Jill was grinning too, knowing exactly where her husband’s thoughts had just gone. “He has the right hair to be a damsel in distress...” She teased,  encore leaning back into the chopper to start strapping her gear in place.

Leon was watching from a monitor, not knowing what his best friend was saying about him. He turned his head to where Wesker sat, "They're here." He said woodenly. He hadn't wanted to say it. The words had left his mouth all on their own.

Chris couldn't help himself. He leaned over Jill to help her with the straps, leaving a trail of kisses along her slender neck when he was done. "We're almost home." He breathed.

Wesker heard Leon’s words and turned to watch the security monitor. He saw Chris and Jill sharing what they thought was a private moment and his lips curled into a cruel sneer. “Some things never change.” He growled. 

Jill pulled Chris’ arms tight around her, letting her gloved fingers rest over his own against her abdomen. She stood like that for a moment, thinking about how this could have been a different time, a different place... it could have been twenty years ago and she was pregnant with their child. She clung to the thought for a moment, then patted his hand before pulling away.

"Do you want me to alert Rebecca?" Leon asked, staring at the wall. He didn't want to think about things being the same.

Chris didn't look at the house as they moved up the steps. The memories we're there and raw as they had ever been. He could hear their teammates screams as if were the very first night. He would never get over it.

“No.” Wesker replied thinly, watching the monitor that showed the front door, and a stoic looking Chris pausing on the steps. “I want her far away from them. They probably think she is in need of saving.”

Jill understood and patted his shoulder as she passed him to take point and slowly edge the door open. It was quiet. Too quiet. It felt just as wrong and uncertain as it had that night at the spencer mansion.

"She is." Leon hissed, showing he was still in control of himself somewhat. "You'll kill her sooner or later." 

"Do they mass produce these places or what?" Chris hissed, stepping past his wife and into the darkness of the mansion.

“Or maybe I’ll have you do it for me.” Wesker retorted without even looking at Leon. 

“You know Umbrella and their unity crap. Unity breeds power, right?” Jill snorted, lowering her gun slightly to begin a sweep of the main hall.

"Is that an order?" Leon said, his fingers twitching ever so slightly. He was already turning away, deciding for himself this was the thing to do.

"Or maybe Wesker just can't let it go." Chris snorted. "You know how he likes his things the same."

“Oh no, not until I’ve see. You choke the life from sweet Valentine.” Wesker purred, well aware of the close friendship Leonnhad with the other woman.

“Not everything.” Jill murmured, though a bang from one of the other rooms kept her from saying more.

The bang kept Leon from responding. Though his insides took a dive. He turned back to the monitors and smiled. The undead that Wesker had let out had found Rebecca and he felt under no obligation to tell the man.

"Is that a locked room?" Chris asked, another bang sounding like a gunshot. That was the part he couldn't remember.

Just like his nemesis, Wesker seemed to have tunnel vision when it came to Chis Redfield. He saw nothing but the two thorns in his side as they predictably headed headfirst toward the danger.

“Please don’t say I have to play the piano to open the door...” Jill remarked, though she was grinning as she moved on ahead of her partner.

Leon tried to hide his smile as the first zombie fell on the slender woman and pinned her to the floor. It was the third one that bit her. She let out a terrible scream, the echos of it sounding all the way to Wesker's lab.

"Rebecca played it for me." Chris admitted, though Jill would have no time to answer as a scream roared through the house.

Jill didn’t hesitate. Locked or no, she was getting through that door. She fired a shot into the lock before a long leg kicked at the antique wood. “Come on... you worthless... piece of... shit!” She grunted as she repeatedly kicked at it.

Chris said nothing as the door splintered and gave way beneath Jill's third kick. She was so different than he remembered. Ageless. Powerful. Like the man who made her. He couldn't keep up with that.
He didn't have time to continue that thought however. Zombies were tumbling out the door toward him and Rebecca was fighting with one on the other side of the room.

Jill’s only thought was that she needed to keep these things away from Chris. Just like at the hospital, they practically ignored her to get to Chris. She fired several shots into the heads of some of them, until they were too close to lift her arms. That was when Jill holstered her gun and began tearing at the rotting limbs reaching out for the most precious thing in the world to her.

Chris was firing too, trying to decide if he even wanted to help Rebecca or not. He was leaning towards not. She was, after all, on Wesker's payroll.

Jill heard another scream from inside the room and consciously had to refocus her actions. “Chris, get her out of there!” She called, trying to clear a path for him.