Chapter II

"Hey, looks like they were able to capture that Coen guy," Jill said, reading from the newspaper in her hands.

"Coen? You mean the Marine? Wasn't he the one accused of killing some villagers or something?" Barry said, tiredly peering over his coffee cup. It was a few weeks since they all were recruited into STARS, and while some of them had previously come from other law enforcement agencies, the training they had to go through was grueling, both mentally and physically. Already, Kevin Ryman, an RPD officer, had dropped out of the program, claiming that he didn't sign up to get his butt kicked. The other trainees who stayed behind are now hanging out at their makeshift office, taking a rest before heading home.

"I remember hearing about him," Enrico Marini said, thoughtfully perching his chin on one hand. "From the rumors going around, the guy wasn't given a fair trial."

"And then escapes after a few days of being thrown in the slammer," Richard Aiken volunteered. "He's definitely going to be executed now, even if he did kill those people or not."

"If that's true, poor guy," Jill murmured. "Even if he did take part of it, I can't believe anyone would be executed just like that."

"He deserves it," Chris interrupted. Jill looked at him in surprise. She'd obviously forgotten he was still there. He had been grouchy the entire day, and this was the first time he'd spoken since they got in the room.

"What do you mean?" Jill asked quizzically. "Everyone deserves a fair trial. He…"

"If you ask me, all of these criminals should just be executed. They bring nothing but harm to the rest of the community," Chris interrupted.

"It's a good thing I'm not asking then," Jill replied, her tone cold. She was evidently furious, to the point that she'd forgotten there were other people in the room. "Has it ever occurred to you that some of those 'criminals'," she spit out, emphasizing the last word, "are actually innocent? Or that they might not have done those things on purpose?"

"Does intent even matter? The bottom line is, they screwed up, and they deserve to be punished for what they did," Chris retorted. He knew his initial reaction was harsh, but he didn't expect a verbal attack from Jill. They'd gotten along relatively well, and he'd be a fool not to admit that he found her attractive, so the clash wasn't something he expected.

Well, you know what, you…" Jill started to answer, but was interrupted by the door swinging and the STARS' captain, Albert Wesker, walked in.

"I'm glad to see you're all here," Wesker said, glancing around the room. "Valentine, Redfield, enough of that. That's no way to treat your partner," he said, and watched with satisfaction as horror appeared on the faces of his recruits.

"Partner?" Jill practically yelped.

"Yes, Ms. Valentine, partner. I'm sure you know the meaning of the word," Wesker said smoothly. "Congratulations to all of you, you've all made it to the STARS team. You'll be divided into two groups, which will be composed of three sets of partners."

"Cool! A buddy system!" Joseph Frost cheered, but sobered immediately when Wesker turned to him.

"As I was saying, Burton, you'll be working with Vickers, Frost, you'll be working with me," Wesker said these words slowly, not taking his eyes off Joseph, who gulped. "We'll be the Alpha team. For the Bravo team…" As he droned on, Jill threw a glare at Chris, and then moved to the other side of the room, as far away from him as possible.

Chris nudged Barry. "What's her problem?" He whispered, nudging his head in Jill's direction.

"What?" Barry then saw who Chris was referring to. "Oh. Chris, I think you owe Jill an apology," he said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean? She's the one who nearly bit my head off," he said, his tone irritated.

"You mean you don't know?" Barry asked, surprised. When Chris shook his head, bemused, Barry continued. "Oh, that's right. You haven't been in Raccoon that long. See, Jill's dad was a thief. He was caught by the RPD a few months' back, around the same time that Jill just got back from the Delta force. Caused an uproar too. There were some people who protested against her being part of the squad, not only because she's a girl, but also because of her history. She proved them wrong almost immediately."

So that's why Jill reacted so violently! Chris cursed at himself for being insensitive. "Damn, I screwed up," he muttered.

"Yeah, you did," Barry said bluntly. "Better apologize before this gets bigger, not only between you two, but it might jeopardize missions if the partners aren't working well."

"Yeah, I will," Chris said, but looking at how Jill glared at him with her jaw set, he realized it wouldn't be easy.

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Here's Chapter II for you! I know it's super short, but it seems better to cut it here instead of plowing through with the next section I've planned out.

Yes, it's a flashback scene (the next one will be too). I'm just laying down some groundwork to show how the two work together (and also because this scene has played in my head way too many times, and I had to put it down on paper or go nuts)

Oh, and yeah, I tweaked with the canon. Billy has never attempted to escape from jail, Joseph was originally from the Bravo team, and Kevin Ryman never dropped out of the program (he actually failed twice, but that's a different story).

Anyway, R&R, please.