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.

“How many times must we go through this same argument?” Jill asked all too defeatedly. “You don’t know what he’s capable of like I do, you think I haven’t lived every day since you rescued me with the fear that he is still out there? That somehow he will be able to control me again? That he will... make em hurt you again?”

Billy smirked again as the blades above them began to whir to life. “Thanks for the faith in my piloting skills, but no. We don’t need a parachute, we don’t fly high enough. Even if you had one, you would shatter both your legs before it had chance to fully open.” He added, again simply to tease Ciara.

Chris gave a loud snort. "You didn't hurt me. Didn't even come close. And he can't control you. Not without that thing that I..." He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "I gave to Rebecca." He didn't have to say that the young woman would have been able to figure out what Wesker had done wrong and fix it. Only now did he realize his mistake. "Goddamn it, I screw up everything, don't I?" He groaned, slapping his forehead. 

Ciara didn't look at all pleased with this. "Oh I get it. This is like the woodcutter part of the story where you take me out and try to remove my heart. Well, don't expect it to be easy for you, Meathead."

Jill shook her head. “No. You just trust people, and that isn’t a bad thing.” She assured him gently. “And for the record, I kicked your ass.”

“Yeah, you’d have to actually have one for me to do that, right?” Billy retorted with a smirk.

"That's bullshit. If you had I wouldn't be standing here. You gave me a scrape on the chin." Chris argued, hoping he'd just gotten himself out of a very big mess. He glanced toward the door, only to see Sherry there shaking her head. He wondered how she'd gotten away from Jake. "Look, you two need to understand something. My sister doesn't need me. She's made that clear. I'm going after Ciara just to make sure Wesker can't hurt her because of me. You are both staying here with the devil's seed and that's final." 

Ciara couldn't help but grin, still not stepping into the helicopter. "Now you're catching on." She said almost too softly. Then it was there again in her indigo colored eyes. The idea to run. It was nothing against Billy but it was all the young woman knew to do. Fear had taught her so many things and none of them were good.

“You say that like you’re the boss.” Jill snorted in reply. “I have no intention of sitting here. If you think I’m letting you go after Wesker alone, then you really don’t know me at all.”

“You want me dead that badly?” Billy asked. He knew the look in her eyes, because he had seen it so many times in his own reflection.

"Are we really going to argue this? Do I have to lock you up when we get home?" Chris snapped. "Jill, don't...I can't fight him if I know there's more at stake. I can't..." He couldn't say it. Not again. He couldn't keep admitting he was weak. If he did he would get it locked in his head and he would make a mistake that Wesker would use against him. 
"Not like you have a choice." Sherry said with a strange smile. The sound of a helicopter suddenly grew louder. "There's my ride. You guys fight the tyrant before it takes down hero boy and we'll fight Wesker. Oh...did I mention there's a Tyrant on the roof?" She shut the door and took off running, jumping into the helicopter that Jake had hovering nearby. "See you guys soon! Love you!" She called out as Chris and Jill made it to the roof. 
Chris had just enough time to open his mouth and shout an obscenity before the tyrant threw a heavy punch that sent him sailing across the tiles. 

"It's not you..." Ciara confessed. "It's...There's so many things...I can't be responsible for a life. That's not fair!" She shouted, taking several steps back from the chopper.

Jill didn’t have time to shout a few choice words of her own at the young woman they considered a daughter. She had just enough time to bend almost completely backwards as the tyrant took a swing at her. Clearly he wasn’t going to ignore her like the other infected did. “Shit...” she stumbled back several steps before regaining her footing and looking around the rooftop for something to take the creature down. 

“You think fair has anything to do with any of this?” Billy asked, though didn’t yet chase her. “If you run, the second he finds out poison will be released from this fucking thing on my chest and that’s it. How about that for responsible for a life?”

"This one is special..." Leon wasn't far away. He was leaned against the wall and gasping, holding his ribs. "He's not like the others. He's smart." He groaned. "He's been looking for you and Chris. Shouting something about making you cry..." 

Ciara looked down, closing her eyes. She was no Redfield like her Uncle said. She wasn't brave. She had nothing to prove. "Why? Why would he waste you because of me? I'm worthless." She breathed, her nose now red as her mother's often was when she was upset. "Gutter trash. They all called me that."

Jill’s gaze snapped to Leon only for the briefest of moments before she was again watching the tyrant. That moment was all it took to see he was badly injured. “Well, big guy. What now?” She shouted at the tyrant, confident she could take more of a beating than Chris right now. Ironically, it was her last encounter with a smarter than average tyrant that set her on the path to the more than human creature she currently was.

“You still don’t understand, do you?” Billy asked, his voice softening when he saw that adorable red nose. “You’re a Redfield, that alone is enough to make you very important to him. But more than that, you’re also a Kennedy. He won’t admit it, but the kid is another thorn in his side.”

Chris pushed to his feet, his vision blurry. He heard Jill's voice and forced himself to stumble forward. "Don't..." He ground out. 
Upon hearing his voice the tyrant turned and smiled. "Take him out first. He made her cry. He pays with his eyes..." He purred.

It took her a moment but Ciara took the steps forward and climbed into the Chopper. "Just don't...make me look down or anything." She told him firmly. "It won't be pretty."

Jill heard the words, and then everything seemed to go in slow motion. It was the spencer mansion all over again. That split second decision she had made to trade her own life for Chris’, and how everything had seemed to slow right down. It didn’t change anything... she would gladly do it all again. Jill turned her back on the tyrant, no other thoughts ininher head besides getting Chris out of there as she sprinted across the rooftop.

Billy smiled slightly, accepting the silence challenge. “So... you thought about what you would say to your parents if you see them?” He asked as they left the ground behind them.

The tyrant shared her speed. They made it to Chris in the same moment. The grey skinned monster would have made it first if not for Leon. The other man jumped on the monster's back causing him to stumble several steps. "Go! When you see Claire...tell her...I'm sorry." Leon shouted, his arm around the monster's neck.

"Fuck you." Ciara had clearly thought this through as she put her head almost between her knees.

Jill was halfway to hauling Chris to his feet when Leon’s words hit her. “No! Don’t you dare!” She all but sobbed. “You let go, and you run!”

Billy chuckled quietly and dipped the chopper to one side, then quickly back to the other. “Two choices, brat. Enjoy this lovely flight in silence, or talk.”

The look of resignation was there in Leon's eyes as he jerked back on the tyrant's neck. He was going to redeem himself. "Tell her she was right." He whispered as the two of them went tumbling off the building into the darkness below. 

"That's what I would say!" Ciara shouted, only now realizing she hadn't buckled herself in. She went a lovely shade of green as she tumbled into Billy's lap. "I'm not lying!" She wailed. "You're a Meatheaded, bastard!"

“LEON!” Jill howled the name of the man who was just as much family as Claire herself was. She foolishly even tried to reach out and grab him, despite knowing it was useless. She was left kneeling on the rooftop staring into the darkness. 

Billy readjusted Ciara’s position slightly, so she was now in his lap, with his arms caged around her as he held the controls. “All these years, and that’s all you would say to them? What if you already met? Had passed them a hundred times without even knowing?”

Chris grabbed his wife and yanked her backward. "Zombies!" He shouted, all but scooping her into his arms. He knew she'd hate that but they had to before the undead reached them. 

"That would be weird." Ciara said, settling herself against his chest. She felt safe here. "What should I say to people who were brave enough to save the world but not brave enough to save me?"

Jill didn’t protest Chris gathering her up, for a few seconds she barely even registered it had happened. She had done it again. She had failed someone she loved. Not just Leon, but Claire. How was she supposed to tell the younger Redfield Leon was most likely dead because he had saved her ass?

“Maybe they thought saving the world was the only way they could save you?” Billy replied, his lips close to Ciara’s ear as he spoke. “You think you’ve seen it all, brat, but trust me... there’s shit out there you couldn’t imagine in your deepest, darkest, nightmares.”

Rebecca sat where she was, her fingers pressed to her lips. She hadn't meant for anyone to get hurt, not really. The memories of her beloved Captain's loss were now overwhelming her. She had gone back to the mansion in search of him. Even after she was firmly told not to. "I went back for you. It was raining. Everyone else had gone on to other places. I don't know what I thought I would find. I found your gun...the desert eagle. Remember? I never told anyone. I never told them how much I mourned you." She confessed. "Do you think Claire will look for him the way I did you?" 

"Like your master?" Ciara snapped, frustrated that he'd gotten under her skin. "He's some pretty scary shit, man."

“I’m counting on it.” Wesker replied with a smile, taking far too much pleasure in what he had just seen. “Either way, I win. If she doesn’t, if she accepts he is gone... she will blame Chris and Jill for his death.” He watched the screen a moment longer as Chris had to pick his wife up to drag her away from the scene before turning his gaze to Rebecca. “That was reckless. Any part of that rubble could have collapsed on you, and no one would have ever known.”

Billy snorted and nodded his head. “And yet sweet little Rebecca is all too willing to spread her legs for the asshole.” He growled. Billy felt betrayed, like the woman he had loved and missed all these years... was no more than a pretty little lie.

"I'm not sure if it would have mattered." Rebecca confessed. "I came away from there no different than your gun. I was a tool to be used by someone else."

"You guys are all the same. Pinning over the sweet girls." Ciara snorted. "You even sound like she was the one who got away. As soon as I figured her out I would have dumped her ass from the memory banks."

“You let it happen.” Wesker pointed out. “What changed? Why have you suddenly seen people for what they truly are?”

“You’re too young to understand.” Billy replied gruffly. “You weren’t even born when I met her...”

"I wanted to believe that people were good. Even you." Rebecca confessed. "If Chris can't be...no one can."

"So how old were you when the monster killed you?" She asked. Ciara didn't see him as alive, his blue eyes were faded, his expressions guarded.

“Was he ever? How many people died in the destruction he caused all these years, simply to get to his goal?” Wesker asked. “Look how reckless he was in throwing away the life of his young protege, Piers, was it? And even now, I imagine he is bitter the boy got to be the hero, and not him.”

“Which time?” Billy asked with a sad smile.

Rebecca shook her head and got to her feet. "I have a headache." She admitted, rubbing her forehead. "I swear, the more I learn about the human race, the more I want to take myself out of it." 

Ciara was glad to be out of the helicopter. She fell to her knees in the grass, breathing in the fresh air. She was never going back to the monster's hell.

“Were you ever really in it?” Wesker ashes, though didn’t yet get to his feet. “They were always beneath you, Rebecca. But you look tired, get some rest. I need to make sure Billy brings the new test subject back.”

Billy hopped out after her with an amused smirk. “Seriously? This is your reaction to a ten minute helicopter flight?” He snorted. “Kid, you’ve got a lot of growing up to do.” He added, for the simple reason he knew Ciara hated it when he treated her like a child.

Rebecca shook her head again. "Really? That's what you're worried about?" You're not going to at least...tuck me in?" She purred, pausing in the doorway. It was the first time they'd been alone in a while and she had a reason to keep him distracted. 

Ciara fell on her back in the grass, looking up at the stars. "You're just jealous." She laughed, taking in another deep breath. The air was cool and clean, she could taste autumn in it. "You couldn't keep up with me and you're scared."

Wesker glanced over at Rebecca, hearing the barely concealed invitation in her voice. He couldn’t help but smile. She had clearly come into her own since leaving STARS behind. He rarely used his superhuman abilities outside of battle, but in the blink of an eyes he had crossed the room and scooped Rebecca into his arms. “Will you scream if I... tuck you in?” He teased.

“Oh yeah, all those shades of green you turned? You’re right, I could never keep up with that.” Billy replied as he slumped onto the grass beside his young ward.

Chris didn't feel like he could move another muscle. He'd run as far as he could with Jill in his arms. He all but dumped her into the grass, not even seeing the two people lying not even twenty feet from them. Then he tumbled down next to her and groaned. He was done. At least for the moment. 
Ciara saw them and was on her feet in an instant, her eyes wide. She didn't know who these people were. It was too dark to see. But they were ruining everything.

Jill simply lay there beside her husband, hot tears still rolling down her temples. She had gone to pieces seeing Leon plummet into the darkness like that, and finally she understood how hard it had been for Chris. 
Billy saw them arrive, and thanks to the serum in his blood, his eyes could pick up things in the dark that Ciara couldn’t. This wasn’t going to go well for him. “Hey, we shouldn’t get involved...” He breathed, catching Ciara’s fingers without actually standing up.

"Hey...are you guys okay?" There it was. The Kennedy need to protect and serve. Ciara couldn't help herself even if she wanted to. Her fingers curled around Billy's. This was the only thing keeping her in place.
"Huh?" Chris turned his head, recognizing the voice. "Ciara..." He breathed, now trying to force the last of his energy to allow him to roll over.