Chapter 3
The submarine shook and groaned as it broke through the icy ceiling above. The resistance from the tank it halted didn't assist in making the ride any smoother. All standing occupants had to grab onto something hanging from above to avoid falling over. Once it had finally settled they filed out, Rain and Ada being thrust to the front of the group. They both looked up with apologetic eyes toward the bodies emerging from the vehicle; knowing the liability they posed.
"Just the two of you?" Alice asked with a confidence the clone hoped was legitimate.
"It'll be enough," Jill replied in kind and then turned to her cohort. "Go ahead."
"Agent Ocampo raised the trigger syringe to the left side of her throat and took a deep breath before penetrating. The Las Plagas virus invaded her body and within seconds imbued her with colossal strength and resilience. When the call for attack came from Jill, she slammed Ada on the back of the head, rendering her unconscious, and charged toward the men while Jill made a run for Alice.
"Shit!" Rain exclaimed as she was pulled down by the dead weight. "Lady, I know I totally forgot your name, but I need you to wake up right now. We've got to move; we need to help them."
The sound of a great deal of bullets permeated the air and thudded into the figure standing just a few feet away from her. Her body, riddled with holes yet still standing. The small pieces of metal seemed to meld into her form, then wiggle through her body like insects, then simply fall out; melting the snow as soon as they touched it.
"Oh my God," Rain turned back to her anchor. "Like, you don't even understand how bad we need to go right now. Shit is getting ridiculously real."
After what seemed like years of trying to get the unconscious woman to stir, she finally realized she needed to seek out another option. Then she remembered the knife. Pulling it from her jacket sleeve she slammed it down between the break in the cuffs. Effectively separating each side. It was, of course, then that Ada began to awaken.
"Good! You're alive," Rain pulled her to her feet. "I know you've probably got a massive headache, but you're supposed to be some big bad fighter from what I've gathered, so we need to help them."
"Ok," Ada agreed, her eyes closed tensely in pain and her hand holding the back of her head. "Help Alice. Jill isn't to be underestimated, but she has a weakness. Remove the device on her chest and she'll stop fighting. The clone with the Las Plagas is a different story, she's nearly invincible. If you survive your fight with Jill you'll need to help us find a way to dispatch her."
Rain shook her head in amazement, "You should never ever give pep talks. Good luck anyway."
She then noticed the predicament Alice was in and broke out into a run. Jill was holding the dark haired hero up by the throat and about to grind her head into the rotating caterpillar tracks of the tank. As she approached them, her plan was to drive the knife directly into the base of the blonde's spine and pull her back away from the vehicle so Alice would be safe.
That plan failed.
Jill's heightened senses picked up on the impending tackle and instead of enacting a slow, painful death on her current enemy, she settled for bringing her head down on an uprising knee before turning swiftly to extend a foot into a charging abdomen.
The wind was knocked out of her, but Rain was used to it at this point. And she knew that even the slightest second of weakness would cost her life. She rolled the side just as a heavy combat boot was about to come down on her head.
Getting back to her feet, she swiped the knife at her opponent and managed a slice on her upper arm before rearing back in anticipation of a retaliatory attack.
It didn't come as swiftly as she imagined it would, instead Jill reached up to examine the wound and smiled when her hand came back up with lines of crimson liquid coating it.
"We're about to have so much fun," she looked like a cat ready to torture a dying mouse.
Rain swallowed hard, and then she felt the first of the emotions she'd wondered about concerning the last man standing in the submarine silo: it was sadness.
"I somehow doubt that," she admitted, melancholy dripping from her voice.
But still she tried. She tried so hard. She even got in two more missing swings with the knife before it was effectively kicked from her hand. Her forearm throbbing in pain. Then there was the blocking and the retreating. Jill guiding every single movement with one of her own until finally Rain's footing slipped on the ice and she lie prone on her back. The blonde pounced, straddling her, and wrapped her hands around her throat.
"Poor Seventeen," she mocked softly as the girl's hands tried to pry her own away. "You lucked out the last time I put my hands on you, but not anymore. You've lost your function, and now you need to be disposed of."
Rain fought and grunted as tears leaked down the side of her face; fear and hopelessness starting to merge.
"Shhh," Jill moved closer; so close that their breath would have mingled if dying girl had any left to expel from her lungs. "You don't have to be afraid. There may not be a heaven waiting for you, but there won't be a hell either. Medical waste need not fear an afterlife."
It was then that the fear turned back into fight. She may not survive much longer, but she wasn't going easy. As her hands slapped, punched and scratched the set around her throat tightened. Just before her vision started to fail she looked down at the glowing red device resting mere inches away from her. And with the last of the strength Rain possessed in her body, she used both hands to fiercely rip it off.
The moment it happened she was free. Jill fell to the side clutching her chest, coughing and spurting.
"Destroy it!" she managed to get out before she collapsed fully.
It wiggled in her hands as the brunette stumbled over to the knife. She knelt and held the bug down with her foot before lifting the sharp weapon above her head and slamming it down in the red center. Then all movement stopped and the light died slowly. She sat there for a brief moment; partially to make sure the thing was actually dead and partially to just breathe. She'd never realized how amazing it felt until just then.
The break was short lived as the oxygen returned to her brain and she remembered the prone antagonist just a few feet away from her. Her movements were still a little shaky, but she managed to reach down and grab a purple collar, pulling her enemy to her feet.
"Get up!" she forced the words through gritted teeth. "Get up so I can look into your eyes when I stop your cold heart from beating."
She slammed her against the tank and held the knife against her throat. "So you can look at my face as you contemplate the existence of hell."
"Rain, wait, please," the blonde begged.
"RAIN!?" roared the response. "I'm Seventeen, remember? Worthless, soulless clones with no family, friends or real history don't get to have names! You made that very clear."
She increased the pressure of the blade on her throat just before another voice called out her name.
"Rain, stop!"
It was Alice.
"She's not a threat anymore," the voice was growing closer. "Don't do this."
"I don't care if she's a threat. She's done horrible things and she can't just get away with them."
"She did those horrible things under the control of Umbrella. Her name is Jill Valentine and she used to fight the very people that gained control of her."
"And part of the horrible things she did was creating people just to decimate them. Giving them memories and lives and feelings only to destroy them in sadistic ways," She countered. "It's time for the monster to destroy its maker."
Alice couldn't tell if Rain's resolve would falter, but she didn't have time to chip away at it. Her clone was still doing a number on Ada and Leon and she needed to help them before it was too late. She decided on one final push before she set off in the other direction.
"Listen to me, Rain," she tempered her voice. "I don't have time to stop you from doing this. But she didn't create a monster in you. All she created was memories. You are the hero that risked her own life to save a little girl. You are the brave one that fought to save her new friend. She may have helped create the girl who marched against the NRA, but if you drag that knife across her throat it'll be you that creates the monster."
Tears fell down both Rain and Jill's cheeks as Alice dashed back into the fray. The blonde cried for all the pain she'd caused the woman in front of her and the brunette for all pain it would cause to let go. She warred with herself for a few more agonizing seconds and finally stopped both the tears and the internal struggle.
"Alice's words aren't going to save you," she said as Jill subtly nodded her head in acceptance. "I am."
She threw the knife so it speared into the ice and started to move away.
"Because no matter how I was created, or what you believe; you're alive right now because I have a soul."
"I know," Jill softly to her back as it moved forward. "I'm so sorry."
They moved forward together to catch the grand finale of the Las Plagas fight.
The clone saw her own form fall into the waters below. Dragged down by the monsters that were now her siblings; never to return to the surface again. It created an ache within her heart, but she had no tears left to cry. Exhaustion was setting in on all of them. Especially Alice; who collapsed just as the rescue helicopter made its landing.
Once Alice's eyes started to open aboard the helicopter she scanned the vessel to see who'd made it; specifically looking for Becky. When she saw the young girl, who was now technically her responsibility, a smile crossed her face and she breathed a sigh of relief as she caressed her face.
Her elation continued as she also noticed Jill was aboard as well. She'd worried that Rain may not have been able to control the bloodlust that she was at war with.
"Good to have you back," the blonde smiled.
"Good to have you back," Alice replied, then looked to Rain. "Thank you for saving them both."
Both Jill and Becky turned to regard her. One with a happy smile on her face, the other wearing a sad one. Rain swallowed, not knowing what to say. She opted for a humble nod and appeared to be newly fascinated with one of the notches on the floor.
With about twelve hours of flight time looming ahead of them they all tried to get as comfortable as possible and made an effort at stealing a little sleep. Becky curled up safely in Alice's arms. Ada, begrudgingly, cuddled up to Leon. And that left the last seating pad to Rain and Jill. The discomfort they both were feeling had nothing to do with the thin cushioning.
"You can take the seat," Jill offered. "I can throw a blanket on the floor."
"No, you take it. I don't think I can sleep right now; too much going on in my head."
"Same here," the sad expression returned. "Do you think maybe we could compromise and I could sit next to you for a while?"
"It's not my helicopter," Rain answered evenly. "You can sit wherever you want."
"Thank you," was the soft reply.
Seated side by side, they stared at anything but each other. The brunette pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around them as if she were cold, as the blonde sat forward, looking like she was ready to jump from her position should Rain even think about requesting it.
She knew she needed to apologize. Knew that even though none of the horrible things that had happened were her of her own will, that she still did them. But how do you apologize under those circumstances? She thought that maybe if she could just get the first word out, she would be fine from there and the rest would flow smoothly. That first word just seemed so hard to find.
Maybe the first words didn't need to start with "I'm" and "sorry". Maybe instead of being negative right off the bat, she could be positive.
"Thank you for sparing my life," she kept her eyes on the ground. "I know that must have been hard for you given how horrible I was."
Rain had really hoped there wouldn't have to be talking involved with the sitting.
"The way it's been explained to me, you weren't doing anything of your own accord. I shouldn't be mad at you for acting in a way you couldn't control."
"But you are," Jill pointed out.
"But I am," Rain agreed. "That's part of the problem, all this hurt and anger I have inside me doesn't get to point back to a source because the source is gone," she turned her head to finally look at the blonde. "And you wear her face."
"If I told you that I was sorry for causing you and so many others pain, would you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Does it make you feel any better," this time it was Jill who looked in the other woman's direction.
"No, I don't think so," Rain pulled her eyes back to the floor.
"Would it make a difference if I told you that I lied when I told you didn't have a soul? That I didn't know even at the time if you did or not because I don't know if the soul exists."
Rain thought for a moment and then responded, "Yes, that would make a difference to me." She forced her eyes to meet green eyes once more for the question she was about to ask. "Did you lie about what you did with the other Seventeen model?"
It was Jill's turn to pull her gaze away. She clenched ledge of the seat with her hands. "You have no idea how much I wish I could answer yes to that question."
Rain nodded in sad desperation, "Did you kill her?"
"Yes," simultaneous tears fell from a faraway stare.
"How?" Rain's voice shook as she started to shed her own.
He jaw clenched, "With a bullet to the back of her head. She didn't suffer, nor did she see it coming."
"Why?"
"Please don't make me answer that question," she begged. "I'll answer anything else, but I don't want to answer that."
"I didn't want to be a clone used for zombie bait," Rain's sadness turned briefly to anger. "We don't always get what we want."
It was Jill's turn to nod and then she looked her square in the face. "The Red Queen thought I was becoming attached."
Rain squinted her eyes in confusion. Was she saying that she possibly had feelings for the murdered clone?
"I don't understand. How could you become attached to anything?" She asked.
"It's more complicated than you think, I wasn't a robot, I was still a human being. I just didn't have control of my will. Needs still had to be sated. I still had to eat, I still had to sleep, I still had..." it was time to look away again. "...urges."
Rain regarded her quizzically, "Did you love her?"
A confused, far off expression overtook Jill's features as she let her mind tackle the subject for the first time, "I don't think it was possible for me to love at all with that thing on me," she paused again, then added, "I do know that I didn't want her to not be there."
The dark haired participant of the conversation felt like her mind was about to explode. Trying to understand the complexities of this entire dynamic was far more involved than she'd previously imagined.
"Did she love you?" She finally asked.
Jill still couldn't meet her stare, "I can't imagine it would have been possible for anyone to love me in that state."
Rain simply put her hands on her face and tried to rub the idea away. She knew she felt sorry for the other clone, and she was wondering if she was starting to feel sorry for Jill. Shaking her head she moved her hands through her hair and simply willed the thoughts away. It was all just too much to take in at one time.
"I think we can table that subject for now," she said, hugging herself and running her hands up her arms. "Damn, it's freezing in here."
Immediately the blonde looked around for something to warm her and found a blanket overhead. Unfolding it, she moved closer to wrap it around the clone, but Rain involuntarily flinched at the proximity, causing Jill to back off and simply extend the blanket out to her with one hand.
"Here."
Rain immediately chastised herself for her reaction. The woman was handing her a blanket, not brandishing a knife. She needed to get her body under control.
"Thanks," she took it and wrapped it around herself as Jill sat back down. "Is this the last one?"
"Um, yeah, I think so. There weren't any more up there."
"Well, here," she lifted the blanket. "We can share this one."
Jill surveyed the offering. The blanket wasn't small by any means, but it wasn't exactly large either. They would have to sit fairly close together in order to share it.
"I'm ok," she rebuffed with a small smile. "It's not really that bad." Though she'd already started to shiver.
"It's Russia and you're wearing purple spandex, come on," was the somewhat demanding reply.
"It really isn't as thin as it looks, I'm good."
Then it dawned on the dark head that Jill was only saying that because she knew it would make things uncomfortable. She'd rather suffer in the cold for hours than impose. Rain's eyes softened as she let the realization wash over her. This woman was just as tortured as some of her victims. More than that, she was a victim herself. They were all victims of Umbrella's sadistic worldview. She knew it wasn't going to fix everything, but the simple kindness started the ball rolling.
Sliding across the open expanse of the seat, the clone moved next to warrior and placed the rest of the blanket over her as well. Green eyes looked down at her in both confusion and elation.
"Look, we both tried to kill each other in the last couple of hours, so I'm not saying that we can be friends overnight," she paused briefly, trying to find the right words. "But I like this version of you. I'm glad I didn't..."she trailed off, not being able to finish. "What I'm saying is I'm happy to share the blanket."
After a few breaths, Jill situated herself under the cover, "Thank you."
With a contented sigh Rain closed her eyes and laid her head back in an effort to go to sleep. But one last question persisted in its need for an answer and she had to ask it before rest would come.
"Jill?"
"Yes?" the answering tone was obviously reticent.
"You don't actually like that purple body suit, do you?"
"Oh god no, I'm getting new clothes the second I have the opportunity," She answered relieved.
"Good."
And with that the two former enemies dozed off, sharing the same blanket.
"How did this happen?" Alice's brow furrowed in confusion and her head tilted to the side as if understanding would sleep in better from a vertical optical perspective.
"I've seen a lot with Umbrella, so not much surprises me," Ada agreed. "But I must say I'm somewhat taken aback by this."
"What's wrong?" Leon grunted. "Why are you guys acting weird? Are they gay or something?"
Alice gave him a light slap to the ribs, "They hate each other. Or at least they did a few hours ago."
Three perplexed faces stared down at two sleeping women. A dark head lay softly snoring on a shoulder that was not her own. Resting atop it were the contented features of a blonde who seemed more peaceful than any of them could remember her being.
"Should we wake them?" Leon asked. "We're almost there."
"I'm not sure Rain can wake up that way and not flip out," Alice answered. "I mean, I don't know this version of her very well, but the other ones I've met tend to get violent fairly quickly."
"Maybe we should move them before they wake up," Ada offered.
"Yeah, right," Leon huffed. "Blondie's a trained killer. I don't know why she's not awake right now."
"She is," they all started a bit when the soft response came from the very topic of conversation. "She just didn't want to move and startle the already traumatized girl resting on her shoulder. Which will be made even worse should she open her eyes and find three trained killers eyeballing her as if she were a science experiment; now disperse!"
"Agreed. C'mon guys," Alice said with a smirk.
Were she to have been completely honest, she would have also had to admit that she'd been awake for over an hour. Her neck was even stiff. But for reasons that she dare not even try to think about, she didn't want to move away from the warm body resting against her own. That didn't seem like much of an option anymore, however, given the fact that they were about to land. So, she decided her best move was to start to slowly move around and see if it roused her counterpart. After a few shoulder rotations the snoring ceased and the girl started to stir.
Rain was lucky in that she was so exhausted even her brain had shut off for the most part, for when she did have small snippets of dreams they were filled with monsters, fighting and danger. When she awoke to find herself on a helicopter, disorientation started rush over her and she was confused as to what was going on.
She was even more perplexed to find herself resting against the purple clad body of her former enemy. With a jolt she moved away and slammed into the back of the hold. Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the reaction.
"It's ok," Jill put her hands out in a non-threatening manner, but didn't move forward in her efforts to calm the girl. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Hey, everything is alright," Alice added. "You're safe, remember. We're about to land in the U.S."
The cloud of confusion dissipated and she felt embarrassed by her reaction.
"God, yes, I'm sorry," she wiped at her eyes. "Just waking up in a new place kind of freaked me out."
"It's understandable," Jill stated with a sad smile. "The last time you woke up to see my face it was because I'd knocked you out and kidnapped you. I'd probably be jumpy too."
Alice noticed the melancholy in the statement and worried about her friend. The regret she was feeling about the clone would be nothing compared to what she was going to have to face depending on who'd survived the attack on the Arcadia. There was bound to be some hostility over it all and, just like Rain, understanding would take time.
"She may have woken up to the same face, but it was a different person," she corrected, looking at the blonde, then at the clone. "I would imagine Rain, better than most people, can understand the complexities of that."
"I do," she agreed, with a soft smile. She knew Alice was referring to rogue twin that nearly killed them all. Standing, she moved over to Jill and offered a hand to help her up. "Come on, once we land we can find you some decent clothes."
With a soft chuckle the hand was accepted with gratitude. Hopefully Rain wouldn't be the only one with a forgiving disposition.
Walking through the halls of a dilapidated White House was something none of them imagined they'd ever do. Even Leon and Ada, who'd spent a decent amount of time at the established home base, felt a sense of unease grow in the pits of their stomachs whenever they roamed the halls of the last stand of humanity.
Rain was fairly certain she would have been prescribed a high level anti-anxiety medication were there any doctors around not busy dealing with lost limbs and mortal wounds. It was one thing to wake up to the zombie apocalypse. It was another to move into an entire decimated world the very next day.
Her mind was pulled from its meltdown once they met up with Wesker. He'd asked to speak with Alice alone, and their stalwart hero once again left Becky in her charge.
"Don't let go of her hand," she said and signed as she knelt before the little girl and then rose to address Rain. "We may be surrounded by humans right now, but that doesn't mean we've escaped the monsters. Keep your eyes open."
The grim reality of man's dark side invaded her mind as she gripped the child's hand tighter.
"No one's going to touch either one of them," Jill tone was matter of fact.
As Alice took her brief meeting with Wesker, Rain tried to talk to her charge about anything other than what was going on. She found out that she liked horses and softball. And as the child went on about all of the things that were not the horrific reality, the older woman chastised herself for her earlier inclination to give in to her fear.
She was a grown woman, with the capability to protect herself. She had survived this long on sheer will and luck. With discipline effort, she could not only survive, but help fight back. And once they were all escorted to the roof of the White House her resolve to that end was even more firmly rooted. Humanity was at war, and she was absolutely going to be a part of that fight.
