DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything of the Resident Evil universe. Everything belongs to Capcom, bless them.
So here's my first RE fic. Hope you like it!
JakexSherry, with probably friendly interference from LeonxHelena, ChrisxSheva and others. Sorry, I don't like JillxChris or LeonxAda much, so I won't be shipping those couples even if they are fan-favourites ;)
Also it's probably going to be a little unbalanced on the Jake's POW. It just feels better writing about him right now :)
Don't expect a big plot or clever twists, right now no genius idea struck me so I'm going to keep this simple and concentrate on my main couple. So it's going to be basically fluff but in a plausible, down-to-heart way (at least I hope!).
So, that's it folks. Read and review please!
Oh, almost forgot. English is not my first language so please, please, please, point out to me any error or odd thing you might spot in the text!
ALSO, please tell me what I should do to improve my editing. Right now it looks a bit off to me, tell me what you think! Should I use single line breaks and divide everything in paragraphs?
Perchtoldsdorf, Austria, April 2015
Sherry Birkin was in trouble. Big trouble. Ustanak-sized trouble.
The huge beetle-like B.O.W. was staring at her, a thousand beady eyes fixed on her movements, nothing human left in them at all.
Were it not for its humongous size, the critter would have looked pretty lame, slow and clumsy at a first glance, until you noticed the grappling hooks at the end of its fore-limbs, and the spear-sized needle that emerged from its oddly shaped mouth, still oozing a sickly green stuff.
Sherry had learned pretty fast not to underestimate that fucking bug, having just watched as it sucked dry her whole team, until only the skin was left.
She tried to hide her horror while one soldier after the other collapsed around her, empty sacks without a pound of flesh still in them, leaving behind only rifles and uniforms that clattered to the ground.
And the holes they managed to open in the thick armor of the mutated cockroach were already closing themselves up, regenerating at an increasing rate with every agents that ended up speared and tossed away.
The damned B.O.W. was hunting them and there was no escape.
Its eyes moved all independently and tracked down every member of the squad until Sherry was the only one left.
She tried to catch her breath, hiding behind a semi-demolished SUV, but one big kick sent the van flying in the air.
The girl had only a split second to roll out of the way.
Unfortunately, she had now nowhere to go.
Shaking with the adrenaline rush, she stood, eyes darting around the empty austrian square they used as base camp.
The squad was deployed here only the day before, but everything had been trashed so much that nobody would have guessed it.
The outbreak had gone terribly out of control, that much was clear.
The blonde agent managed to avoid a couple of strikes but she soon found herself outmatched.
A powerful limb pinned her to the curb, hooks biting into her flesh.
The ground beneath her was damp from both rain and blood and she felt the cold creeping up her body while warm blood spilled out of her wounds.
Impotent, she could only watch as the life-sucking needle came closer, ready to finish her off.
She was certainly no stranger to near-death experiences, they went with the job, but right there it struck her: nobody was around.
Nobody could retrieve her body, or at least her dog tag or badge. No squad was coming as reinforcement, no teammate was running just around the corner, trying desperately to rescue her. She was alone and she would remain so, even after her death.
For a second her eyes glazed over with grief and fear, then Jake's face flashed in her mind and she felt ashamed and relieved at the same time.
Ashamed of her moment of weakness, a trained agent should know better.
But also relieved that he wasn't around to see the scene, that he was safe or at least safer.
She would gladly have spent her last few moments of life thinking about the mercenary that was now missing.
Since China, Sherry had tried to keep track of him but after a brief stint in Middle East, she lost him and after a year or so stopped trying to keep in touch.
She resolved to die with at least his friendly face before her eyes but the bug's needle finally found its way and pierced her shoulder.
Despite all the pain that she had to endure in her life, and she endured plenty, this was worse.
The acid burning her flesh, liquefying it, just wiped her mind clean until only pain remained. Agony.
Torture.
She screamed.
Everything seemed to explode and turn red around her, she could feel the bug sucking, sucking her away while her whole body burned up in the useless attempt to regenerate itself.
When the bug finally stopped sucking and stepped away from the wasted body Sherry had mercifully lost conscience.
She couldn't see the hooded figure ordering J'avos about. Couldn't feel the infected hands lifting her up and taking her away.
Couldn't watch as what remained of her team was burned and the evidence wiped out.
In a couple hours, at the orders of the misterious figure, the square was empty again.
Kenya, June 2015
Jake Muller was keeping tabs on a pack of lions that were apparently scouting the same area of savannah that he was.
Obviously he could have easily defended himself, but he also didn't want to hurt the animals so it was best just to be sensible about it and keep the distance.
From the shadow of a rocky outcrop downwind the mercenary watched a couple lionesses keeping guard over the pack, cubs running around the adults and the big male peacefully yawning.
His mouth quirked in that little distorted smile of his and slowly he moved back, and back again until the pack's resting spot was out of sight.
More relaxed now, he resumed his search, taking out the old PDA he carried around. No signal, of course.
He could have hacked into a satellite, but that would have meant a bigger risk of being found.
And he liked being missing, so to speak.
Glancing down at the monitor, dirty and scratched, he tried to pinpoint the exact location, using a few mountain ridges in the distance to orient himself.
He was close to the target, a small village that apparently housed a few fugitives he had to catch and bring back.
The pay was good, not the staggering amount he used to ask before China, but enough to keep him off-radar for a couple months more.
That was the essence of his life now, keeping down and staying alive and it wasn't always an easy task.
He had to admit that he liked this life better, though.
It gave him lots of alone time to think without feeling to cheesy because of it.
He questioned himself, his father, his life and future.
He usually followed the train of thought until Sherry Stop, and then felt so cheesy and clichéed he had to drink something or kill someone, either one.
Lost in thought, Jake didn't realize how close he really was to the village until he saw the first mud hut emerging before him, and when he did realize it, he saw that it was too late to hide as several children and women were already looking at him, the hands raised to screen eyes from the setting sun.
Cursing under his breath, the merc decided to keep going, since it was impossible now to stop and watch until morning to better understand the dynamics of the place.
As he grew closer, he saw a dozen women of different ages, dressed in head-to-toe red robes with beads and bone ornaments on them.
Their dark skin was streaked with mud, as was usual for many tribes of the area, and they kept watch as the stranger walked towards them, ready to call for help from the warriors.
He was already going over some plausible stories to tell them when a scream was heard somewhere behind the huts, farther into the small village.
The women immediately turned their heads and Jake picked up the pace, avoiding a few children running back to their mothers.
"What the fuck..." he thought, definitely picked up the pace when he saw smoke rising, and then more screams pierced the still air.
The sun was almost set now, a beautiful twilight as always, but no-one seemed to pay attention to it. Running, Jake made it at last to the little village square, nothing more than packed earth and a few straw mats, only to see the cause of all that commotion.
A couple of villagers were kneeling near a bigger building, probably the chief's hut, hands scratching the ground in pain.
A hooded figure was nearby, discarded needles scattered around. In disbelief, Jake watched as the deep brown skin of the men started to crack and distort.
"Goddamnit, not again!" he almost yelled, clenching his fists and moving towards the hooded figure. It was a woman, he saw, and a sense of deja-vu struck him.
But no, that wasn't Ada Wong.
Or was she?
From his point of view he could only make out a wry smile before the woman suddenly turned and disappeared into the hut.
Jake moved to follow but was stopped by the already enraged J'avos the misterious woman had created.
Grabbing his gun he started shooting down the hostiles but more of them were running out of the hut, and around it, and some were even crawling down the roof.
The woman had kept busy, it seemed.
From the corner of his eyes he saw women shouting and crying, some of them had children to protect, but the one that caught his attention was a young woman sprinting toward the J'avos, the red robe flying around her.
"Stay back... Back, you fool!" Jake tried to warn her.
The last thing he needed was a desperate wife trying to protect a mutated husband, but when he turned his head again to check on her, he saw the girl spinning on one bare leg, hitting a J'avo squarely on the jaw.
The neck of the man snapped, sending blood everywhere, and suddenly the robe was discarded and the African woman stood beside him.
"What the hell... Who are you?" Open-mouthed, the merc watched as she drew a gun from the back of her pants, easily shooting down three J'avos close by.
"Now's not the time for introductions, Mr Muller" The girl was already engaged in another fight and Jake soon found himself caught in the powerful grip of a big guy, a warrior probably.
It took him several minutes to get rid of him and by then the girl had almost single-handedly killed every hostile in sight.
"Impressive" He was forced to whistle in appreciation and was rewarded with a bullet, shot right beside his left ear.
Turning around, Jake saw the J'avo that was about to strike him falling down, the girl had shot him right between the eyes.
From that point on the situation pretty much handled itself.
A few warriors that weren't infected cleaned up the mess, women started crying their dead and Jake checked out the hut, followed by the dark-skinned girl so skilled with a gun.
"So, who are you? Some sort of village security guard?" He asked her, folding his arm across the ample chest, stained here and there with blood.
The girl shook her head, putting her gun away.
"My name is Sheva Alomar, BSAA," she peered out of a hole in the mud wall, then tilted her head to look at him "and I'm here because of you, actually."
This caught the mercenary attention.
"So you found me. Don't tell me, the world need saving again? You want to leech me, again?"
He was sarcastic, not even bothering to hide the displeasure he felt at being found.
"Well, girl, I sure ain't up for kidding around so tell me what you want."
He leaned against a wall, never taking his eyes off the agent's figure.
"You need to come in. We left you alone for more than a year, Mr Muller. Now they need you and I was supposed to track your movements and call for extraction" She took out a PDA, flicked it open and surveyed something on the screen before looking at him again.
"Before you ask, should you require payment, they are willing to negotiate. I've orders to escort you to a neutral location, then you'll decide if you want to help or not"
Jake was a bit taken aback at this, but recovered quickly and scoffed.
"Right, neutral location my ass. Do I even have a choice in this? And who the hell was that woman anyway?" He asked, trying to keep his frustration at bay.
Sheva merely shrugged. "I don't know, my best bet is that she was following you too. Or maybe she was involved with whatever you were looking for around here"
She glanced at him, obviously curious, but then she shrugged again and motioned for him to follow.
"Hey wait a minute, who said I was going to come?" Jake held up his hands, stepping away from the wall but not moving a step towards Sheva.
"They already have my blood. And my genome. And samples from every possible part of me."
One eyebrow curved, mocking "And yes, that includes my..." He trailed off, a hand making a vague gesture toward his groin, "I don't have anything else to give, and even if I had I probably wouldn't come anyway."
Sheva stopped, turning to look at him.
"They don't need anything from you. Not physically. As far as I know, they need you for a mission." she calmly stated, not in the least impressed by the merc's bravado.
"A mission? What am I, a fucking BSAA agent now?" Jake was incredulous but after a moment decided to play along and sighed.
"Alright, alright... I know you guys, you won't quit until I've said yes. We'll talk compensation later, right now do me a favor and call someone for me on that smart PDA of yours. Mine's a bit rusty" Flashing a grin that could have hidden behind all kinds of thoughts, Jake stopped near the agent, ready to call the only person that could make the whole thing happen for him.
Quickly, he gave her a number and then waited.
"Who is this number?" asked Sheva, while the PDA dialed.
"My teammate. Agent Sherry Birkin, National Securi-oh, wait, she's probably something else right now. No matter, I won't move my ass for a billion dollars without contacting her first." his voice trailed off again as Sheva went utterly still and then closed the PDA, keeping eyes down.
"Mr Muller, we can't call Agent Birkin." she stated, her voice distant now, almost detached.
"And why the hell not? I don't care about protocols" Jake was irritated now.
He finally had a good excuse to call Sherry, and a stupid protocol was in his way? Hell, no.
"Call her, make sure she knows its me calling and..."
"Mr Muller," the agent interrupted, again, "we can't call her."
As Jake opened his mouth to protest again, Sheva raised her eyes and looked straight at him.
"Mr Muller... Jake. Agent Birkin is dead. KIA. Two months ago."
In that moment, the savannah freezed around him.
That's it!
Next chapter probably late tomorrow evening. Gotta wait until two a.m. here in Italy for Once Upon A Time episode release ;)