New recruits

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“And she’s due for transfer at 05:00? No, there’s no paperwork. Just have her ready for my guy to collect before then.” 

Several days later…

“Good morning, Barry.” Albert Wesker seated himself at his desk, cool blue eyes glancing across at the other man. It was early, and the teams would be arriving shortly. Each one had been hand picked by himself, with assistance from Barry Burton over the course of several months. He had staggered their start dates, wanting to watch how well they accepted the change in set up as each new team member was added. The last addition had been Forest Speyer, who was a former team mate of the next new arrival; Jill Valentine. A former army lieutenant he had secretly plucked from confinement as she awaited the ruling of the court martial she had been subjected to. He had given her a simple option; join the unit he was building with Raccoon city police force, and her record would be destroyed, no one but him would know she had even been convicted. Refuse… and well, they both knew he didn’t need to tell her the punishment for what her superiors considered a crime. Jill’s moral compass was far stronger than he willingness to blindly obey orders. For what he had planned, that was exactly what he needed. 

Jill was pacing outside the ornate gates of the RPD, a building far too beautiful the belong to law enforcement, or so she believed. She was muttering a little pep talk to herself, seemingly trying to convince herself she belonged here, and that second chances like this shouldn’t be wasted. Suddenly she found herself giggling almost helplessly. What would her father say if he knew his only child was about to start a career in law enforcement? Henri Valentine, french born thief and deadbeat dad.

Billy knew he shouldn’t have expected to hear the words in return, but he had to make a conscious effort to swallow his disappointment anyway. He knew she still loved Wesker, it something he would simply have to come to terms with. “I owe you a lot more…” He breathed, taking hold of one of her slender hand and kissing her fingertips lightly before pulling her as close to him as he could, his lips teasing a slow kiss from her own. 

The kiss brought a hundred memories flooding back to her. While they had never been to a formal event such as this one together, Chris had often danced with her in the tiny kitchen of her cramped apartment. Or there were the times he would finish work late, and simply climb through her open window to crawl into bed so he didn’t disturb her coming through the door. But most of all, there were the million times he had simply kissed her no reason at all. Before they could leave the ballroom and the kiss develop into something heavier, there was the sudden sound of an outraged female voice. 
“Chris!” She one was hissing his name from directly beside them. “What the hell?! I go to use the bathroom, and you throw yourself at the first bitch who smiles at you?!” Jessica Sherewat was scowling at Jill, clearly blaming her for everything.
Jill didn’t make a move to pull herself away from Chris, though she had taken a dislike to this woman in the red dress who seemed all breast and no brain.

The kiss didn't last nearly as long as Billy probably hoped it would. At the sound of of a strange woman screeching, Rebecca pulled away from him and marched through the crowd. But as much as she intended to make it toward her most hated former teammates, she never would. 

Chris simply smiled at Jessica as he stepped away from Jill. It was as if the other woman didn't exist. "Are you jealous?" He asked, giving her his irresistible devil may care grin. "Cause that's what I was going for." He added, now pulling Jessica into his arms and sweeping her deeper onto the dance floor.

Rebecca had no idea what was going on until she was pulled into very familiar arms. Cold hands rested on her hips and she jerked up her chin in defiance. "You." She hissed. "How dare you come here. There is nothing here for you." Her attempt to step backward was useless. She shook her head. "You don't scare me anymore. I'm not the girl you left behind." 

Carlos stayed behind. The sight of Jill being broken made his insides feel like they were being ripped out through his throat. Angrily he turned back into the swirling crowd and headed for Chris. 
He grabbed the other man and yanked him out onto the balcony. He barely gave him time to react before he had thrown his first punch.

“Oh, of that I am quite certain.” Wesker purred, the arms that held Rebecca as hard and unmovable as marble as he danced with her. “You are finally becoming the woman I knew you were.” He added, still wearing his glasses even here, in formal attire as he danced with her. “But it does beg the question… did you really think you could hide this from me?”

Jill was storming along the deck of the ship, berating herself for letting any man have this much power over her. She was so caught up in her emotions she barely saw the dark haired woman in the red dress walking in the opposite direction until it was too late. While they didn’t slam directly into each other, they did graze arms, and Jill felt a scratch on the bare skin of her forearm. The other woman kept right on walking, so Jill simply assumed it must’ve been the other woman’s bracelet that caught her. She rubbed her arm, seeing there was no more than a scratch, and kept on walking. 
Jessica followed directly after her parter, trying out pry Carlos off of him. “The hell is your damned problem?” She demanded hotly.

Rebecca was so caught up in the moment she didn't hear the ruckus that had stopped the dancing. The room was now silent but all she could hear was the pounding of her heart. "I wasn't hiding anything. All my business dealings have been done out in the open. Despite what your massive ego may think, none of this was done to help you." Again she tried to step back, hating her gaunt reflection in his dark glasses. "You're not getting my joy." Oddly she wasn't sure she was talking about her serum.


The distraction was enough for Chris to send Carlos crumpling to the floor. He turned toward where Billy was stomping toward them. "This part of your problem." He gasped, wiping blood off his nose. "Get rid of him before it gets worse."

Wesker smirked, his lips parting as though about to say something before his ‘date’ appeared at his side. “It’s done.” she commented simply, not seeming to care that he was dancing with another woman. Ada Wong then disappeared back into the crowd as though she had never been there at all. 

Billy glanced between both men and simply gestured his security team over. “This is you being here just for Valentine?” He snorted as Carlos was hauled back to his feet and restrained in handcuffs.

Rebecca pursed her lips and shook her head. "Playing games as always." She muttered. "Leave me out of them, Captain. Take whatever it is you came for and leave me to my work. We obviously have very different goals here." This time she managed to place her hands on his chest. She turned her head, looking for Billy. She wouldn't dare call out for him. She knew Wesker well enough to bet that showing that kind of weakness was dangerous for the other man. 

Chris scowled slightly and glanced at Jessica out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't wanted her to keep thinking about Jill. He was going to have to sweet talking her as it was. "Where is the lady of the hour?" He asked Billy, as the crowd began to shuffle around them. "Wasn't she supposed to make a speech or something?"

Wesker allowed his arms to slide away from Rebecca, and he made a sweeping gesture, signalling she should leave now if she wished. “Until next time, Officer Chambers.” He purred, a knowing smile on his lips. Her moment of glory was to be short lived, if his partner had completed her task correctly. 

“There’s time. Apparently you haven’t had enough to drink yet, that would mellow you out.” Billy snorted as he began to turn away, still holding onto Carlos.

In her room Jill had shed her lavish looking dress and balled it up before tossing it into the corner of the room. She never wanted to see it ever again. She had showered and now wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror, seeing her red nose and puffy eyes didn’t make her feel any better. Her gaze drifted to the silver pendant around her neck, and she wanted to cry all over again. He had moved on the moment he left her to die in RC, so why couldn’t she just get over him?

Rebecca made the mistake of placing her hand over the slight bump on her belly as she turned to move into the crowd. She felt the tiny life inside her move and her heart fluttered. She and Billy had to leave. She had a feeling everything she'd done here was going to fall apart in a few short hours.

"Fuck off." Chris muttered, grabbing Jessica and heading for the opposite exit. He would send her off to look for something and find Jill. Then they would leave Carlos to die on the ship. The other man was not his problem.

Wesker saw the tiny, sub conscious action, and that did not bode well for Billy Coen. 

Billy had handed Carlos over to one of his men with instruction to keep him contained until the event was over. He needed to find Rebecca. His gut was telling him not to let her out of his sight. 

As everyone was going their separate ways above deck, below Jill had sucked it up and gotten dressed. She was clipping the last of her gear into place and checking she had enough supplies, should anything go south. Every now and then she paused to scratch at her arm where she had bumped into the other female earlier on. Once she was certain she had everything she needed, she headed out. First she would check the hold, look for anything that didn’t belong.

Rebecca couldn't find Billy in the sudden chaos that ensued. A man began to scream and then turned and bit the woman beside him. Then the lights began to flicker and went out. 
She turned to the door but someone had locked them in. She didn't have to guess who.

"You looked amazing in that dress." Chris breathed as he leaned against the wall in the suddenly dark hallway. "But I have to admit, you look so much better in your combat gear."

The screaming only got worse, like a chain reaction that rippled through the ballroom. Soon people were being trampled as everyone attempted to flee whatever was happening in the darkness. Billy was calling Rebecca’s name as he fumbled with the flashlight on his cellphone.

Jill knew the voice right away, but turned on the small light clipped to her shoulder strap anyway. Her fingers twitched against her side arm, her emotions wanting her to simply shoot him and keep right on walking. “You don’t get to tell me that. Not any more.” She replied quietly, the tone of her voice betraying that Chris had well and truly dampened the spark she once carried.

Dark memories flooded back to her as Rebecca ducked beneath a table. She watched as a woman was dragged out and torn in half. It barely registered that she'd spoken to the woman about blood less than an hour ago. 
Hearing her name, she took a deep breath and shouted for Billy as loudly as she could. She trusted him. It was something she'd never offered to anyone else.

"It's a free ocean, babe. I can say whatever I want." Chris told her, following behind her. "So what's your plan? Take joy until he actually makes you happy?" He asked. "How's that going by the way?"

Large fingers curled around Rebecca’s slender ankles and suddenly she was dragged from beneath the table. Before she could scream however, a hand was clamped over her mouth and she was brought face to face with familiar steel coloured eyes. Billy held a finger to his own lips, signalling she needed to remain quiet, then removed his hand from over her mouth.

Jill scoffed and rolled her eyes, though Chris wouldn’t see it. “Right, and you fucking bimbo barbie’s brains out night after night, that’s happy?” She shot back. “You gave up on us Chris, not me, so don’t come riding in on your fucking high horse like I’m the villain in all of this.”

Rebecca nodded, her heart beating wildly. She had so many things she wanted to tell him in that moment. 
She could care less about the people dying or the monsters rising up around them. She'd faced her own monster and come out ahead. 

"Oh screw you. I have his...you are the one who refused to return phone calls and letters. You are the one who ignored a phone call when you were told about Claire. Get off your own goddamn horse!" He shouted. "You don't know anything. Your knight in armor is not the hero you think he is."

Billy glanced around them, holding Rebecca tight against him as he took their situation in. “We were so careful… we screened everyone. We searched their luggage, patted them down. How did I..” He swallowed hard, clearly blaming himself for something he couldn’t have prevented. 

Jill stopped in her tracks and spun around to look up at Chris. “What phone calls? What letters?! I spent months looking for you, just to have Barry finally show up and tell me to give it up… you weren’t mine to have anymore!?” The look in her grey eyes would prove that Jill had no idea what Chris was talking about.

In that moment Rebecca decided to push down her rush of emotions. There was no use to them. They would do nothing but get the two of them hurt. She ended up simply shaking her head at him. "It was Jill." She muttered. "It was all of them. There's no way to do things right when they are involved." Her chin wavered ever so slightly. She could never tell him. Not even about the life inside her. Even that would have to be dampened to keep what she clung so desperately to. 

Chris shook his head. "It's done, Jill. You did everything you could to avoid him because of Raccoon city. He gave you what you wanted." A gunshot in the distance kept him from saying more. Screams from the ballroom and pounding on the door nearby made him draw his gun. "Isn't you're new guy in there?" He asked, almost smiling at the thought. Carlos had, after all, tried to beat the shit out of him.

“Why did you even let her on board?” Billy asked as he backed them further into one of the corners of the room, still holding Rebecca tightly against him. 

“Apparently, the thing I wanted most… likes to dangle itself just out of my grasp.” Jill breathed, looking up at Chris purposefully before she too drew her gun. “But let me guess, your new bitch is conveniently out of harms way?” she snorted, again walking on ahead.

"Because it would draw him..." She ground out. Ashamed she yanked out the gun Wesker had slipped into the front of her dress. She elbowed Billy to let her go. "We need to get out of here. None of this matters right now."

"Who? Boobs Macgee?" Chris laughed. "Hardly. She's in the big middle of it. I don't mess with girls who don't win." He grumbled. He paused at the ballroom door and gestured to Jill. "Ladies first."

Billy didn’t ask. The shadow had always been there, looming over whatever this relationship even was. He loved Rebecca, but he knew she didn’t love him. When he felt the tiny elbow in his ribs he allowed her to move ahead, though his steel coloured gaze kept watch as he followed behind.

“No, you do like to leave them to die though.” Jill had almost quirked a smile at his first comment, before the bitter resentment returned. She very carefully tried the door, noting it was locked, then crouched down in front of it. A moment later her pick was in the lock as she chewed on her lower lip in concentration. Jill paused briefly, sure she heard what sounded like a wet squelch coming from the darkness they had just walked through.

The silence that fell over the room was sudden. It made Rebecca's heart leap into her chest. She paused, reaching back for Billy.
 The joy she'd made hadn't done this. The tests were fine. Whatever this was it was from Wesker's work. Something brushed her ankle and she cursed. This ruined everything.

"Fuck.",Chris hissed. "What the hell is that?!" He saw something that looked like tar sliding beneath the door and reaching for Jill's ankle. He was barely quick enough to grab her around the waist and yank her back away from it.

Rebecca wasn’t entirely correct. Of course her formula was good, it couldn’t have been anything but perfect. The problem… was Jill. Once the joy was in her body, it joined with the T virus. It mutated further, and the creatures now tearing each other apart were to blame. Ada had done her part. She had taken the tiniest sample of Jill’s blood when she ‘bumped’ into her. It had taken no more than 30 minutes for the shit to hit the fan once that single drop of blood was simply dipped into someone’s glass of red wine. It was a chain reaction that couldn’t be stopped.

Jill let out a startled gasp as she was suddenly hauled back against her former partner’s chest and they stumbled back a further few steps. “What the fuck…” She was staring at the thing reaching under the door with wide eyes.

"We have to get out of here." Rebecca spoke through her teeth. She was angry. The mucus was sliding up her calf and trying to dig itself into her skin. Billy had gone silent. 

"Could do with a zombie or two right now." Chris muttered. The door had swung open and was allowing more of the sludge to pour out. For a moment he thought he saw a figure rising up out of it and then disappear back down.

No matter how much she may protest, Billy lifted Rebecca up into his arms. “The deck. It can’t have made it up there yet.” He breathed close to her ear as he took slow and careful steps to avoid bringing attention to them.

Jill hadn’t seen the formless shape, her attention had been pulled by the wet slighting sound in the hallway with them getting louder. It had been the only warning before thick, slimy greasy appendages suddenly grabbed hold of Chris’ head.

Rebecca's breathing was quick and angry. "All of my tests were perfect. People were fucking happy. It was working. He ruined it on purpose because he couldn't stand me being happy. I wasn't even taking the drug and I was fucking happy! We're joining the BSAA. We're going to kill that bastard!" She hissed, dissolving into sobs. 

Skin began to pull away from Chris' neck and he cursed in Russian. His grip got tighter on Jill. Lucky for him the creatures only managed to pull away the face that wasn't his own. "Well...this wasn't how I wanted this to play out." Nicholai purred as he turned away from the ballroom sludge and ran with his package deeper into the hallway. He was headed towards an upper deck when Carlos' voice screamed out her name. "He can hunt but he'll never find you." He whispered in her ear. "My partner is here just for him."

“The BSAA? Are you sure?” Billy asked uncertainly. “Becca… you know they’ll try to take it off you. HE, will try to take it off you.” Clearly this was a different ‘He’ than the one Rebecca referred to. “Can you really trust them?”

Jill felt her body freeze when she heard the voice against her ear. He had come so close to violating her in RC, only the arrival of the Nemesis had prevented him from following through with his obvious desire for her. “CARLOS!” She screamed his name against her desire to fix this situation. Fear was quickly turning to disgust. Had Chris ever been on this ship? Had she willingly kissed her greatest enemy?

Rebecca didn't say anything else until they were on the deck of the ship. Even then all she could do was wrap her arms around her lover's neck and bury her face in his neck. 
"Billy? What the hell?" Chris shouted from across the deck. He stomped toward them, stuffing a weapon into its holster. "Where is everyone?" 

"What's he going to do?" Nicholai laughed. "He didn't even save you the last time. You're alone, Jill Valentine. You're always alone."

Billy was quick to protectively place himself between Chris and Rebecca. Enough had happened that he no longer knew who was friend or foe. “You tell me.” He growled. “Everything went to shit right after you made a scene with Valentine in the ballroom!” He gave Chris a once over and scoffed. “Nice to see you took the time to ditch the monkey suit though.”

Nikolai knew exactly how to wound the proud Jill Valentine. It was only for a moment that the fight left her, but it was enough for him to drag her far away from where anyone would hear her. Jill wasn’t to know of the conversation between Chris and Billy hours earlier, or that her former lover was on board this ship for one reason and one reason only; Her.