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.

Jessica narrowed her eyes at Chris, not taking too kindly to his tone. “Oh sure, now you want my help? What happened to asking Jill to rescue you?” She snorted, though had retreated to the task she had been doing while Chris was out of it. The double agent had removed a small vent near the ceiling by dragging her bed over to it. “I need you to boost me up. I can find a card key, open the door and you can go back to ignoring your wife.”

The aircraft landed with a sudden jolt, which was a purposeful action. Wesker had found himself wanting nothing more than to reach into Billy’s chest and rip that device off, just to watch the poison kill him.

"You think I'm stupid?" Chris snarled, his eyes suddenly dark. "You think I don't know that you're not going to slide your little ass through that grate and never look back?" He grabbed a handful of Jessica's hair and gave her a rough shake. "Fuck you! I'm going to rush the guard and I'LL get us out."

Rebecca sat up at the jolt, her blue eyes as wide and innocent as ever. "Are we there yet?" She asked, worried something had gone wrong.

Despite him jerking at her long hair, Jessica smirked up at Chris. “I knew you liked it rough.” She mocked, then shoved him away from her. “And, you’re thinking about my ass.” She added, putting some distance between them.

“Yes.” Wesker replied, his tone clipped and rather curt. He rose to his feet, though made no move to help Rebecca to her’s. “Are you done fawning over the beast?” He added, casting a hateful glance in Billy’s direction.

"I'm motherfucking Chris Redfield. It's what I do." He snarled, stumbling backward to the bed. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"What?" Rebecca asked in confusion. She wasn't sure what he was talking about considering she'd been asleep.

“You’re an asshole, that’s what.” Jessica replied, though her back was to Chris as she tried to crawl into the vent by herself. “Oh boo boo, I’m Chris Redfield. I get everything I want then piss it all away.”

Wesker opened the door, and stood there simply waiting for Rebecca to leave. “Need I remind you what happens to your pet if he steps out of line?”

Chris saw red and little else. He grabbed Jessica by the ankles and yanked her down. Then he pulled her beneath him and pushed his thumbs against her eyes. "You can't see anything." He hissed. "Let's make it permanent."

Rebecca paused in her descent from the helicopter and frowned deeply. "Are you threatening me?" She asked darkly, holding out her hand for him to help her. "Over, Billy? Seriously?"

The door to the isolation room swung open just as Jessica bowled in pain, blood running freely down her temples where she lay on the ground. Jill couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There was little doubt she was going to come running the second Chris had told her he needed her help, but this was the last thing she had expected to see.

“Not threatening, just aggressively reminding.” Wesker replied with a snort, helping her from the helicopter regardless of whether she had wished for him to or not.

Chris once again saw nothing that he was used to. Suddenly Jessica was gone, the dark hospital room, all of it. All that remained was the little girl. "Tell me your name." Chris asked her, reaching out to her. "Come here. I'm going to take us home now."

Rebecca nodded her thanks and held out a paper to him with her free hand. "I have a list. You can get these for me, right? You do that and we'll get the incidental stuff."

The little girl didn’t move. She was watching Chris with sad eyes. “No. You’ll make mommy sad again. It hurts my chest when mommy cries.”

Wesker glanced over the list, then simply nodded. “Here.” Again his words were short and succinct, though he did hand her his credit card. Albert Wesker was not a man accustomed to being anyone’s second choice, and seeing the way Rebecca looked at Billy was creating a rage in him he hadn’t known before.

Chris shook his head. "No...I promise not to do that. I'd do anything for her."

Rebecca looked suprised at his offering. She gave him a warm smile and took the card, her fingers lingering on his own. "Be careful. Ok?" She said softly.

The little girl shook her head, her dark hair hiding her face as she stared down at her feet. “Not anything... only things that benefitted you.” She whispered. “You like to be a hero, but you won’t let her be yours.” 

Wesker snorted and walked off. It was his own way of keeping from letting her gentle words crack through his thick skin.
Billy shook his head as he watched his tormentor retreat. “What do you see in him?”

"I don't need a hero." Chris said softly, kneeling before the girl. "I need to be one. I've spent my life this way. You...you're too little to understand."

Rebecca didn't answer. She seemed far too deep in her thoughts as she turned and quickly headed the other direction. "Come on, Billy. Ciara is waiting."

This caused the little girl’s head to shoot back up, her mother’s eyes narrowed at Chris. “I understand that your jealous that she’s stronger than you! That’s what you’re really afraid of!” The child was there to voice Chris’ fears out loud.

“Where did you find Ciara?” Billy asked as they walked. “Didn’t think he let you out of his sight long enough to make connections with a houseplant, never mind a person.” He snorted. The dosage in his system had been dialled back somewhat, as Rebecca needed protection from someone who could act while his master wasn’t there to bark orders.

"I know she is and that's what scares me most...one day she will realize that and leave me." Chris breathed, still thinking he was speaking to the child.

"Wesker's left me alone alot. Ciara...has been in my contacts for a while. She...it's a long story. I'll explain another time but we need to get to her before he figures out I've sent him on a goose chase." Rebecca said, all but starting to run.

Cool fingers were brushing against Chris’ cheeks as slender hands took hold of his face. “Snap out of it, Red.” Jill’s voice breathed. Unlike Jessica, she was taking a somewhat gentler approach to bringing him back to his senses. 

Billy’s much longer legs meant he simply had to take longer strides to keep up with Rebecca. “If there’s something I should know about her...”

Calling him Red was the right move. It made Chris think of his sister. This made him worry. "C-Claire." He struggled through her name but in the end it won out. "Jill." Upon seeing his wife he grabbed her and held her tightly. "You came...I don't deserve you but you came..."

Rebecca waited until she was in the car to speak. "Ciara is someone that Wesker's would love to sink his teeth into. "She's Chris Redfield's niece."

Jill hesitated slightly, but soon returned his embrace. She was still hurting considerably from the pain he had caused her these past two months, but tried to push past it once she knew he was in trouble. “Come on... someone will have figured out I opened that door by now...” she breathed, pulling away and simply stepping over Jessica’s unmoving form as though she wasn’t even there.

“What the hell?!” Billy hissed when Rebecca broke the news. “How does he not know about this?” He added, knowing that if Wesker did know about another Redfield, she would’ve been hurt a long time ago.

Chris followed her to the door then stopped. "Jill, I'm sick. I can't go with you or I'll hurt you more than I already have." He said gruffly. 

"It's partly because there's not too many people that do know. I don't even think she does." Rebecca said with a frown.

“Trust me, at this point that isn’t possible.” Jill replied rather bitterly. 

“How is that possible?” Billy didn’t know very much about the Redfield’s, only that Wesker hated them, and Rebecca owed Chris a debt. The one thing he knew for certain however, was that family was the most important thing in the world to them.

Chris cringed as if she'd struck him. "Yeah. You shouldn't have come here." He breathed, stepping back. 

Rebecca shook her head. She really didn't know. She had not kept up with much. But all she could do was guess that some how before or during Raccoon city, Claire had gotten pregnant. "Her mother gave her away at birth."

Jill sighed and ran fingers through the hair she had allowed to grow long because she knew Chris liked it that way. “You can’t stay here.” She told him simply, glancing at Jessica for the first time. “You ran off to save double agent barbie, was that why you left me?”

“Shit... did she even know who the father was?” Billy asked, wondering how these people got all this rescuing done when they had such messed up lives themselves.

Chris shook his head. "Jessica sent me a video later. After...I had a fight with Claire...oh god." The guilt hit and then the memory. Both had equal pain and bitterness tied to them. "You...you sit there on your high horse pissed at me but...you lied to me." Chris was backing up further into the room, his hand on the door. Alarms we're beginning to sound and he acted like he couldn't hear them. "You and her both lied to me about the baby. You knew what I would say."

"Considering her name is Ciara Kennedy, yeah. I'd say Claire knew." Rebecca said. There it was again, that twinge of bitterness that whispered her best friend never really was. She'd lied to her, kept things from her. Finding out alone had hurt. Rebecca never truly felt as if she'd belonged anywhere and this betrayal had only made matters worse. 
"Hey! Watch the road!" There was a thump on the driver's side window as a woman on a motorcycle kicked it. "Stupid, bitch!" Rebecca recognized the sleek Harley Davidson and simply smiled.

Jill seemed to drain of all colour. She was staring back at Chris with those same blue grey eyes of the little girl he had been hallucinating. “I knew you would kill your self trying to do the right thing!” She shot back. “I never broke you, Chris! I did only what Claire asked me to!”

Billy had been staring at Rebecca open jawed, until they almost hit the rider. He knew about Leon through missions Wesker had sent him on with Ada Wong. He was struggling with the thought that Leon had been screwing around with the Redfield girl, as the way Ada told it, she was the one he was in love with.

Chris shook his head again, the door beginning to close. "You lied to me. You knew I'd tell Claire to keep her. You two didn't even consider that I would be able to keep her safe too. It's no wonder our daughter is dead. The whole fucking world thinks I'm a loser!" He shouted, his knuckles white on the door.

Rebecca found a parking lot and pulled over, the motorcycle following her. When she got out the rider had not yet decided how she would handle the situation.

Jill stared back at Chris for a painfully long moment in silence. “So that’s what this is? You think I’m nothing without you? That none of us are able to be strong without you there to beat the shit of things?!” She hissed, her fingers balling yo tightly at her sides. “I agree with Claire! That child would have had no life with us, with any of us! And don’t pretend you’re all cut up that I lost the baby. I tried to talk to you about starting a family, and you froze me out every damn time!”

“You stay in here.” Billy warned, assuming that from the angry reaction they had gotten a few minutes ago, this woman was not exactly going to be nice to Rebecca.

"Seems like you'd made the decision for us long before we ever talked about it." Chris hissed, his muscled shoulders working with his effort to keep calm in that moment. "And you were right this time too. The child had no life. So why the hell are we standing here arguing about it?" He turned his back on her, again seeing the little girl standing in the room. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!" Chris screamed at her. He stepped back into the room, tripping over Jessica. "There's your mother! Leave me to die! Why won't you people let me do that, goddamn it?" 

The young woman was stomping toward the car, indignation in her indigo colored eyes. "What the hell, man?!" She shouted at Billy. "Are you teaching your bitch to drive or is she just stupid?" It was clear she was not scared off by his size.

“See. You made mommy cry again.” The little girl whispered as she looked past Chris. “Don’t you get it? It hurts because you love her. She loves you. You’re making it harder than it needs to be.” She added, her tone sounding a little more grown up now. 

Billy narrowed his steel coloured eyes at the dirty blonde, a hand reaching out and shoving her back roughly before she get any closer to the car. “You were riding too close to us.” He told her gruffly.

Chris' head twitched. She sounded like Claire. "What would you know about love? You're just a kid." He muttered, pushing himself to his feet. "You shouldn't have come here, Jill. You read the letter. I ended it. I gave you what you need most, your freedom. There was no reason to come here." He turned back to his wife, staring at her feet. 

"What? Are you serious right now? Your bitch pulled into my lane!" She shouted. "Are you blind or something, you overgrown piece of meat!" She shoved him, knowing full well she wasn't going to move him.

“Look me in the eye and tell me it’s what you want, it’s what will make you happy.” Jill replied, her cool hands again taking hold of Chris’ face as he averted his gaze. “You do that, and I’ll go. You’ll never have to worry about me wanting to protect you ever again.” The words caught in Jill’s throat, knowing there was a good chance he would crush her all over again.

Indeed, Billy didn’t budge, though he did lift his fingers and curl them around Ciara’ throat. “I ain’t Rebecca, no trying to bully me, brat.” He sneered.

Chris thought about the comments of love and the way he'd been keeping Jill locked up in a cage. It tore him apart but he was afraid to lose her. "I..." He kept her gaze this time, his hands settling on her hips. "I..." He needed her. That was all there was to it. Letting her go was not going to be an option. He'd done nothing but think of ways to go back. "I want to go home." He whispered, his lips brushing her's. "With you...I want to...make this right. I don't want to lose you." 

Ciara didn't back down. She dug her nails into his wrist and bared her teeth. This lasted only until Rebecca came running up and shouted for the man to stop. "Becky, what the hell?" She gasped out, scowling at Billy. "Where did you get this giant slab of meat from?!"