Their Last Escape

by antihero276

Former S.T.A.R.S. Officer Jill Valentine unexpectedly meets U.S.S. Special Agent HUNK at the R.P.D., his extraction overridden. Pushed to their limits, they are forced to work together to survive. With only days to escape the T-Virus infested Raccoon City before it is destroyed, they are stalked inexorably from the shadows by a deadly Pursuer, intent on carrying out its mission.

50. Chapter 49: Such Sweet Sorrow

S0UL SURVIVOR: I gave my view on Village in other chapters, but I'll reiterate quickly. It's Resident Evil in name only now. Capcom has strayed too far away from what made it RE. They should have just made a new IP, about Vampires and Werewolves, and I might have been interested. Alas.

nliochristou: Ada had a partner in 6 already, Agent, the cooperative mode. I'm canonizing that aspect and giving it an origin story instead of making it just a non canon thing. Just like I'm canonized the non canon Ghost Survivors scenario for GHOST. Because there is story potential there in making them canon. Ada also clearly canonically wanted Leon to run away with her, join her, be her partner almost certainly, and cried after Raccoon City when she was all alone, in her Resident Evil 3 epilogue. She might be cold and dangerous, bad news, but she isn't unfeeling and clearly doesn't always want to be alone. And was vulnerable during and after Raccoon City. It's something I delve into and explain more, she's complicated, like my HUNK. If I could write a relationship dynamic for HUNK and Jill, trust me, I can for GHOST/Agent and Ada lol. He meets her at just the right place and time, as I had Jill meet HUNK, and like Jill is for HUNK, GHOST is the sort of person she needs around, especially since she starts the next story meeting GHOST at her lowest point, after NEST's destruction, Leon's rejection and her injuries. GHOST will be in the right place at the right time... or the wrong one xD. Depends how you look at it.

Also for the 'out of character feel', it is also out of character for HUNK to ally with Jill as I have them do in this story. Game HUNK would not have intervened to save her from the Nemesis, would never have worked with her, would not have been the slightest bit interested in her. If ordered to he would kill her. If his pickup was scrambled, he would have found a map and legged it across town, or called up his contacts for the route to the Dead Factory... he would have escaped Raccoon City on his own. Then there would be no story. But that's just it, I'm not writing Capcom's HUNK or Ada, any of the characters, but my takes on them. Delving into them and making them undergo actual character development, inner conflict and making choices, doing things they didn't in the games. Expanding, going through arcs. My alternate universe aims to be mostly faithful, but will alter events and characters as the story requires and as I interpret them, fleshing them out and giving them more humanity. If the exact original depictions of the characters are desired, one can always simply play the games. They aren't going anywhere.

Magd305TLC: Thank you, friend, glad you enjoyed the chapter and that we agree on Jake lol.

evolution-500: Thank you kindly as ever, friend.

Jinero: HUNK: "Hmm. Another weapon against him. Good." Though HUNK doesn't even know Wesker has taken a serum and has superpowers as of yet.

Brainwashed Jill would probably be involved, but I think it's Excella for the most part who will foil HUNK, instead of just having Brainwashed Jill subdue him. HUNK will underestimate how batshit crazy she is. Doesn't know she 'loves' Wesker. He'll know she's a ruthless femme fatale executive type trying to use HUNK for her own gain, he's Genre Savvy enough for that, having worked in that world for years, but not that she wants to destroy the world with Wesker. He'll think she only cares for the bottom line of Tricell, and has hired him to keep an eye on Wesker so he doesn't endanger her company. Thus he will smell an opportunity, but be wandering into a trap Excella and Wesker have set for him. At which point a dormant biological/possibly nano weapon HUNK is infected with in 4 by Simmons/the Government to make him toe the line while rescuing Ashley with Leon will be reactivated by Excella. Seizing control over him. Cue Wesker emerging to gloat over his control of HUNK, while masked, brainwashed Jill stands next to HUNK. Wesker and Excella keep that a secret until Jill is unmasked in the scene where she fights Chris. At which point others will intervene, allowing HUNK to break free and help fight Wesker, join the good guys again B.S.A.A./Blue Umbrella. I don't think Wesker would force Jill and HUNK to fight each other, I think he would draw more amusement having them both as slaves under his thumb, collectibles. And HUNK not knowing who the mysterious woman in the cloak is, while Wesker and Excella do, like he's the outsider of a sick private joke between them. Wesker is a petty son of a bitch, like every supervillain of his caliber.

Nightroad816: Probably no Jill in the story, but never say never. HUNK already knows Ashford has some screws loose, everyone does, they just don't know how many yet. When Commander Ashford goes full batshit crazy when the H.C.F. attacks Rockfort Island, HUNK will declare him a lunatic and assume command of the island, under some U.S.S. articles of mental unfitness or some other loophole in the book. I think he will look out for Claire, in his way, like commanding the island's mad scientist who experiments on prisoners not to touch her. And visit her to talk, learn more, in the days leading up to the attack on the island. HUNK will not leave Rockfort Island or go solo. After Claire is let out by Raval, and Alfred tries to actuate the self destruct sequence, he will allow Claire and Steve to flee the island to chase Alfred to the Antarctic to kill the mad Ashford and stop him from waking his sister, while he stays behind with the surviving Umbrella employees to battle the H.C.F and try to retake Rockfort Island from Wesker's invading forces. And of course meet Chris when Chris arrives on the island, and direct him to his sister's location in the Antarctic.

Spartan: I'd say his dynamic with Carlos is a healthy one, and has something to do in HUNK's memory of how he himself once was. Innocence and optimism lost. He respects and is glad that this rookie Corporal is now on a better path than he took. Is better off. HUNK let him off the hook from Umbrella for a reason, prevented him from being executed by Colonel Vladimir. Carlos looks at HUNK as a tragic figure, and hopes he finds a way out of Umbrella before it is too late, that he gets to redeem himself in full. He is grateful, and knows he owes the man his life. There is no conflict between them any longer. Any irritation HUNK got from Carlos was because he reminded him of himself... but now that he's figuring himself out, he realized that similarity isn't a bad thing. That he used to be a better person, more human. And can be that again. One day. Letting Carlos go was part of his redemption arc, he was basically setting free his own good side instead of having it ruthlessly executed, as he would have years before.

Akira-Hayama: Would love to depict HUNK from the outside POV's again, how the Umbrella personnel view him, compared to how view him, but right now he's my primary viewpoint for Umbrella, is in the perfect position to be.

I definitley wanted to nail the dynamic and relationship between HUNK and Christine in a limited number of chapters lol there will be more of it if I get around to the Code Veronica sequel for sure. Glad to hear I succeeded for you. She's really the villainess equivalent to Jill's heroine figure for HUNK, both the same age pretty much, similar in a number of ways, but opposites too. Vital for showing HUNK's present day life at Umbrella, his place in things. I think they make a good villain ship for sure lol... but that said she is still bad news and not good for him. And he knows it. But old habits die hard.

I wanted Christine to be the 'villain on the hero's side' type character, (not that HUNK is a hero lol) and to make her a multi layered, human villain at that. Genuine towards HUNK, while being ruthless to others, more of her villain side will be seen inevitably. Presenting the image of the ice queen type while having more to her than that. She's certainly not as bad as Spencer and Vladimir of the trio at the top of the Inner Circle, but that's really not saying a whole hell of a lot lol. She is running experiments with the viruses and B.O.W.'s, virologist shit, test subjects, she's just not as insane about it as a number of other Umbrella scientists, a bit more about the money and business aspects of the job, fancy parties and meetings. She was one of the many wasted Umbrella characters Capcom never bothered doing anything with, figured I'd dust her off and make her a full fledged character with a personality and mind. I enjoyed writing her for sure, one of those characters that sort of came together for me over the story and clicked. Her role in things.

Good old Agent/GHOST. I have a weak spot for that poor tacked on co-op character, only inlcuded by lazy Capcom to give Ada a partner in 6. And they didn't eeven bother having him appear in cutscenes, couldn't even open doors xD. So like everything else, in my other story I took him, combined him with another character, and turned him into someone. I quite enjoy the process, taking my time to figure who they are in the story, how they would react to things. I think him and Ada would meet up with HUNK and Leon in a RE 4 adaptation lol then it would get awkward. And maybe Agent thinking HUNK doesn't know who he is, and sort of trying to talk to him, pretend to be someone else. HUNK at some point just saying "Later, GHOST." lol or something like that. Agent/GHOST will also sort of be a cautionary tale to Leon, how he would have ended up if he went with Ada in RE 2.

The HUNK layers are being pealed back for sure lol. Not to worry, if I get around to a sequel he'll get his new uniform, body armor, mask and helmet, and new weapons at that. Ones that pack more of a punch. QUARTERMASTER gadgets as well, if I can come up with them lol. Oh it won't quite be an in person reunion sadly... just wouldn't be realistic. But HUNK will do what he can for Jill from where he is. Hopefully it's enough... for now.

kingalastor1: Thank you kindly. Quite a spot on summary of the dilemma, and it's a damn shame, from the potential the series has. They really did have Wesker go full blown Supervillain in 5... to his character detriment. If I did an adaptation of that game I'd try to make it more coherent and sensible, just like I'd alter my telling of Revelations and 5. 4 and Umbrella Chronicles implied he was going to revive Umbrella I believe, and then that got scrapped in favor of Uroboros Doomsday Supervillain plot. One of the games should have had Spencer as the primary villain, directly causing the trouble, but someone as important as him was relegated to a part of Wesker's story, which is stupid as hell. You are right, the RE 2 Remake could have been better as well, I think it's just because of how awful the series had become that it seemed like a breath of fresh air for once. Promptly ruined outright by the terrible RE 3 Remake. The fact is Capcom just doesn't know what the hell it is doing, they throw shit at the wall and hope it sticks, with no respect for characters, plot, survival horror, etc. Instead of a new IP about Vampires and Werewolves, which I would be interested in, they had to slap it on to RE for brand recognition. Pathetic. I have higher, albeit cautious hopes for the new Silent Hill in the works, than the sad direction Resident Evil has taken. Time will tell. At least Capcom ain't making it.

Echo Five: Bella won't live long enough to see the formation of the B.S.A.A. HUNK will see them as having been inevitable, with the rise of bioweapons, and respect them as adversaries of Red Umbrella. Especially given the S.T.A.R.S. folks and Carlos being the founders. Though has little to no respect for the U.S. Government, given their own bioweapons program and the presence of Derek Simmons and The Family among them. Birkin and Marcus are thankfully too dead to care lol, if they were alive they would despise any organization out to foil their experiment work. Though Birkin was clearly going to join the U.S. Government's bioweapons program, work for them to continue his projects away from Umbrella, until Spencer/Henri/HUNK thankfully put an end to that ambition of his.

117: On the other hand, those 'other Spencers' would see that HUNK is trying to go on the straight and narrow path with Blue Umbrella, that it is an anti bioweapons organization which he has founded. Knowing what their grandfather was, why wouldn't they donate to and support the exact opposite of his vision? ;). Blue Umbrella is not Red Umbrella or Neo Umbrella. It's about atonement of former Umbrella personnel. And they would have nothing to go into hiding over. They had no involvement in Umbrella like Oswell and Bella, and House Spencer is a powerful, famous, wealthy house connected to the Royal Family. Not going anywhere. Children are not to blame for their parents/grandparents actions. Relatives of Stalin were stand up, good people, and look at the tyrannical mass murdering monster he was. Supporting Blue Umbrella and the B.S.A.A. will only aid in mending the image of their family name. Doing right. The entire Spencer family is not evil. Life isn't that clear cut black and white. Evil ain't genetic. Oh, and I could see Ashley Graham supporting Blue Umbrella as well, prodding her father towards aiding the man who saved her life, even when President Graham is out of office. Allowing Blue Umbrella to even be formed in the first place, as the President at the time it is established, and owing HUNK a debt. HUNK is a man who is just seems to be unintentionally collecting powerful, wealthy benefactors, apparently lol. Lady Spencer, Christine Henri, the Spencer kids, Ashley Graham and President Graham. Excella later as well, though with truly ulterior motives, of course.

Storm: Thank you kindly, I very much think the same. There are a number of strong visual images I had writing the story that I wish I could be translated into art. Like HUNK in his damaged armor, mask and gear going face to face with giant Colonel Vladimir on the deck of the Leviathan, U.S.S. behind HUNK, U.B.C.S. behind the Colonel. Or Jill and HUNK watching the devastation of Raccoon City from the Arklay Mountains. Or HUNK going Splinter Cell on her at the police station, for their first meeting. Alas, I'm no artist. But if anyone wants to do art of this story, by all means, have at it.

Not entirely crippling, Umbrella is global, but it and Sheena Island will be the start of their downward spiral for sure. Both Islands will probably be retaken by Umbrella, but the damage done, and the blood in the water attracting the other sharks. The beginning of Umbrella's final act. U.S.S. has bases around the world, and the Leviathan of course. They weren't always located at Rockfort Island, but yes they will lose a good deal of valuable personnel and material against the H.C.F.

Vong: Jill already has enough information to infer there's a lot of drama and pain and complication behind that whole thing, she's no fool, and is a good investigator. It's a matter of public record who Lady Spencer is and that she is married and has children. And she just found out from HUNK there was a long time affair going on between them. And HUNK and Nikolai let a good many other things slip about HUNK through the adventure that she remembers, enough to piece a good deal together. I think she has enough on her plate at the moment though, and her own life, instead of delving too much into HUNK's background or life story, despite her curiosity.

Salty76: Gal has the HUNK thirst, one can hardly blame her. She came up with his code name for a reason. She's a multi layered villain I had a good deal of fun figuring out and showing more of, she and HUNK make a good team. Of bad guys, but still lol. Human. Her feelings are a bit complicated towards him, people often are. He's her teenage crush that she eventually ended up with in an affair, she cares about him in a selfish way, and is insecure towards his past and connection with Lady Spencer, deep down feels second best. She has the cold, calculating, ruthless, sophisticated and elegant side and surface she shows to the rest of the company, and kind of a bit of a kooky girl side she displays in private with HUNK, playful. She's not very stable deep down, and likes her fun. HUNK is a thrill to an often tedious job, having Umbrella's top (and sexiest to her) agent as her right hand man, bodyguard, assassin, spy and paramour, but not a throw away one. She wants him to love her the way she loves him, but probably knows he doesn't. Is insecure with that, but is still going to have a good time with him. Show him the world, teach him her ways. Odd couple. And yes indeed, HUNK's a complicated fellow, conflicted, especially after the events of this story. I do indeed enjoy editing, adding to and refining the chapters. Sometimes I think of ideas at the last minute and have to add them in. And now and again go back and adjust things after posting chapters. Probably will go back over this story and try to fix mistakes, add some stuff and whatnot at some point. But I have other priorities right now. Glad you're enjoying it as well ;).

LyKaiosK: Could be. Though HUNK's colors are more grey and red than black and red. Varying shades of grey. Though I could see the black and red combination for the new U.S.S. uniforms when he is part of Wesker's Red Umbrella faction between RE 4 and RE 5, of course. Villain colors, signifying his relapsing back into villainy. Then when he turns good after 5, I can see his colors becoming a lighter grey uniform and blue, blue gas mask lenses at Blue Umbrella. Always do like my superhero/villain colors, playing with them thematically.

Thank you all for the reviews, as ever. On with the show:

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October 5th, 1998, 4:32 PM

Room 302, Gordian Motel, Arklay County, United States

Jill stared again at the bracelet tracking device on the bedside table where she lie... the red glow of the light emanating back at her... the white and black metal umbrella shaped safety catch glinting. Sitting next to her glinting sapphire, rosary bead necklace, sheathed combat knife, swivel headed flashlight and notepad with a pen attached to it. It made no noise... didn't move... but somewhere on some computer screen her location was being broadcast. And the light was almost hypnotic. But then... her mind had been drifting for the past four days. When not enduring the pain. It was a wonder she hadn't gone mad... or maybe she had and didn't know it yet. It all came drifting back to her in pieces... when she slept, and when she was awake. Replaying everything in her head. It was difficult to believe it hadn't all been a nightmare she had managed to wake up from. It had been real... all of it... her wounds reminding her of that fact every single moment. And the heavy burden that weighed down on her mind. As it had turned out... Barry and Rebecca had already set up shop at the motel a couple days before coming to get them. His car had been waiting for them in the parking lot, where they had stowed their weapons into his trunk that already had a few, plus ammunition. Apart from their sidearms, of course... those they had held on to. Barry had come down from his family's new, safer residence in British Columbia... linking up with Rebecca on the way back to Arklay County... and was on the phone with them as often as he could be, updating his wife and checking in on their daughters.

Barry had handed the phone to Jill, that morning... to say hello to Kathy, Moira and Polly, and show that someone else at least had made it out of the city. They had all wished her a happy birthday... and she had patiently listened, fighting a smirk, as the girls had sang it, along with Rebecca, Carlos and Barry wishing it to her separately. Barry promising to go out and get a cake for that evening and some more alcohol... the big '2 and 4' he had called her age. With Rebecca chiming in of course, teasing her that she was getting 'old'. She had told Barry not to bother, but he had been adamant, so she had quickly given up. It had been nice to hear their voices again, reassuring... it had been too long since she'd seen Kathy or the girls. She remembered the welcome hot meal for her and Carlos, once they had undergone their first treatment from Rebecca... they had been famished by then. Though had forgotten their appetites in the chaos, after the minuscule meal back at the clock tower. Barry had called in a favor with some of his friends at an Arklay department for the police chopper, returning it to them after the four of them had settled into the motel. He had only been allowed to take it into Raccoon City when the Quarantine Zone had been lifted, the military pulled back. He never would have found them in time, if not for Carlos. Jill... even HUNK had accepted their fates. But not Carlos... he and Barry had pulled them all out of the fire one last time. After... parting ways with HUNK and the U.S.S., they had come here... not far beyond the Arklay Mountains... close to a small back road town. Though there was a good deal of traffic running through it now, between the police, CDC, army, and national guard. Helicopters, APC's, troop trucks and Humvees moving through day and night. Radiation suit equipped troops headed towards the devastation that had been Raccoon City... reforming the Quarantine Zone, just in case anything had slipped out of the city. Rebecca and Barry had tended to her wounds over the days, redressing them, helping where they could... and Carlos as well.

The Corporal had fared the best between herself, HUNK and him... though that wasn't saying much. He was walking with a limp, and even after all his rest she saw it in his eyes... the exhaustion within. The trauma was present and evident. Despite his quick smile and jokes. She knew he was pretending, wearing a mask.

Jill wasn't sure which of her wounds hurt the most... depending on the hour it might have been one or the other. The pain in her burned, healing hands... her throbbing leg... her aching shoulder and her sore face. The numerous other cuts and bruises she'd gained along the way. She knew she was going to be a mess of assorted scars when all was said and done... a collection. Far more of them than she'd picked up at the Spencer Mansion, physically and likely mentally. Still... most of her wounds were healing. On the mend. She was alive... and relatively whole. She could stand and move around properly enough. The pain was becoming less so... more of a throbbing and deep soreness by now, instead of fresh. She had refused going to the hospital, despite Rebecca's suggestion... a hospital meant questions, and coming into contact with too many others. The government and their federal agents... and after what HUNK had told her about them, the bioweapons program they were covertly running, their foray into Raccoon City to recover the G-Virus and likely B.O.W. data... they could not be trusted. Along with her knowledge of the corruption of Raccoon City's 'elected' officials. How far she knew it had spread beyond the city, Umbrella's reach. She felt a stranger in a strange land, now, seeing everything the way it was, instead of the illusions she'd believed before the Spencer Mansion.

It didn't matter, she supposed. She had Rebecca and her medical bag, Barry, the Arklay Mountains' herbs... and Umbrella's only good product... to thank for that. And HUNK's earlier patch work on her, expertly done... Rebecca had even complimented it, and asked who had done it. She remembered the stares from the alarmed staff and other people staying at the motel, seeing her in her condition along with Carlos. They had asked if she wanted them to call an ambulance, but Barry had requested otherwise for her. Assured the staff they had a trained medic present. Jill had sought seclusion from the stares as quickly as possible... and only really stepped outside at night for some fresh air, but didn't go far from her room. Choosing among the assorted fresh clothing Rebecca had brought along and changing into it had been a bit difficult, but manageable. A blue tank top and a pair of dark shorts had fit the bill... casual clothes. She would have to find something more professional when they moved on again... Barry and Rebecca had brought plenty of cash with them, as needed. She would pay them back when she could... but for now the comfort was preferable to another, sharper outfit. Thankfully the blood stains had come out of her tube top, skirt and sweater in the wash... at least. Her olive green military sidepacks and pouches, straps she had recovered from a fallen U.B.C.S. Mercenary during the city's downfall remained hung up in the bathroom after she'd cleaned them. Looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror had been awful enough... but some of the worst pain so far had been showering... the heated water striking her wounds... she had decided to keep the temperature lukewarm, easing it up a bit.

The first shower since she got to the motel, she had been in there for an hour. Until the freezing cold chased her out. She wished, as she had for the thousandth time... that HUNK had stayed with them. That they could have shared it together... and treated each other. That she could have seen the extent of his pain and injuries... instead of the stoic front he had put up. Even hiding it as well as he had, she could tell how bad it had been. She wondered what his treatments had been from the blonde doctor who left with him in the mountains. Still feeling a pang of bitterness at the memory of that sight... her stealing him away from where he belonged. Returning him to that corporate prison. She wondered if he was mending... how long it would take. If surgery had been necessary or not. Umbrella had state of the art medicine and medical technology, the finest doctors... and would surely spare no expense on the man who delivered them the G-Virus, as they hadn't with the heavily armed extraction team. Still... she wished it had been her and Rebecca taking care of him. People who could be trusted. And feeling his comforting hands on her body... tending to her her, as he had back at the apartment a lifetime ago. As he had throughout the escape.

The silence had gotten to her early on... being stuck in the midst of memory. And the waiting until she could activate the device, four days, as he had instructed. To mitigate it, she had turned on and watched the news between naps, meals, checkups from Rebecca and chats with the others. Ever the cop... even in her pain and exhaustion... she had needed to know the state of the country, how it was responding to the outbreak and the nuclear strike. Watching history playing out before her very eyes. Preparing herself for what was to come. The worst. The footage of the aftermath... the crater that had been a city of one hundred thousand people. Her home erased. The President's formal resignation at a press conference at the White House. The media frenzy. Governor Graham's impressive fire and brimstone speech in Congress that had earned him a standing ovation, even some applause from many of those across the aisle. Likely not even agreeing with the Governor, but wanting to look like they did for the cameras to stay in office. Lest their enraged voters drag them out into the streets like they deserved. A nest of vipers, the bunch of them. Politics never changed. And other survivors of Raccoon City popping up here and there. Too damn few of them... far too few. Traumatized from their experiences. One of them, to Jill's equal surprise and relief, was Alyssa Ashcroft of all people... front and center... as she had been as a local, intrepid star reporter before the incident. Jill and her had gone to school together... though she had been four years older... she had read her work with her morning papers, and had seen her face plastered on billboards and the sides of buses around town. Apparently she had led out a group of other, assorted survivors, escaping Raccoon City just in the nick of time, as Jill's group had. Jill saw their faces behind her... most of them unknown to her... a couple of them familiar. One was a blonde waitress from Jack's Bar whose name she couldn't recall... standing next to a dark haired man in a tattered grey suit, holding her hand. Further down the second familiar face belonged to a dark haired man with a stubble lined face, clad in a dark, tattered, worn, bloodied R.P.D. vest and uniform. The white lettering standing out upon his chest. Standing next to a young Asian woman in a long sleeved open blood stained green shirt, jeans, a black tank top and backpack, holding her hand down at his side as well. Jill wryly reckoned the outbreak had not only brought together her and HUNK, it seemed, but a number of odd couples.

The sight of the familiar man sent another pang of welcome relief through her as the sight of Alyssa had. Kevin Ryman, the roguish hotshot who had tried out for S.T.A.R.S. screening process and failed twice, an old colleague of her and Chris. They hadn't been close, and he hadn't gotten along with Chris... but Jill had respected him a good deal. He had always been kind enough to her, at least, beneath the bragging and bravado. With the right temperament adjustment, and better team work, he would have made it on to S.T.A.R.S. she was certain. Especially now, after whatever hell they had just survived and escaped from... his skills and teamwork seemed to be beyond reproach. And he had already been a sharpshooter like Chris and Barry.

Alyssa had worked with Ben Bertolucci and her back in Raccoon City, the three making a good investigative team... they had been a couple of the few suspicious of Umbrella's activities through the city, and had tried to look into the Dead Factory as well, once, before being run off by Irons' goons. After the mansion incident Ben had come from out of town for an interview with the survivors, and they had gladly given it. Of course the story had been suppressed... but she had been glad to get it off her chest and help steer him in the right directions. He had been looking into Annette Birkin, had even ambushed her into an interview, and snooping around the Umbrella Orphanage especially. Clearly on to something. She remembered the last time she'd spoken to Ben, during the downfall of the city... he had been headed to gather more dirt on Chief Irons, and find his girlfriend before getting the hell out of town. He had been seeing Mayor Warren's own daughter, Katherine, privately... Jill had warned him of the risk he was taking in doing so, but it had fallen on deaf ears. And was bitterly ironic, with her own feelings now for someone far more dangerous. Sadly, it seemed neither Ben or Katherine had managed to make it out of the city... at least as far as she could tell from here. All she could do was hope and pray they had reunited, escaped the city and would turn up... along with Robert Kendo and his daughter Emma. Even as the odds looked slim to non existent. She would have to call Joseph's San Francisco gun shop at some point and inform him of the bad news. Offer her condolences... whatever they were worth.

Maybe Jill and Alyssa could still track down Mayor Warren and make sure he was held accountable, at least. Wherever the heinous, egomaniac bastard was hiding. Somewhere tropical, no doubt, with an off shore bank account that would last him the rest of his life. Between the bribes he had been taking from Umbrella, along with embezzling tax payer money and campaign donations. Another priority to investigate, now. And then there was the damning banquet invitation Carlos had found at Raccoon General, to Doctor Bard, the creator of the vaccine in her veins. It revealed the link between Umbrella, the Mayor, Irons... and an even bigger fish than the other men. Senator Tester himself. It went at least as high as the state level, this Umbrella conspiracy. She imagined Alyssa would want to get her hands on that scoop. Chase him out of elected office and into jail where he belonged. A cell he could share with Warren. Though more likely he would simply flee to another country like Irons, if... when it all came out. Another offshore bank account... they all followed the same playbook. Evil, cowardly politicians... rats fleeing the sinking ship. He had probably already ran for the hills, when the outbreak hit.

Justice felt like a hopeless pipe dream... but it was one more task on an ever growing list that required it. One she wouldn't... couldn't overlook. She had to remain herself, especially now. There would be justice, somehow. She would not let them all have died in vain... her home to have gone up in nuclear hellfire without a vindication. There would be a price to pay, and so many were guilty of it, not just Umbrella. Alyssa had covered the downfall of Raccoon City... Jill remembered her last broadcast the night the U.B.C.S. had arrived and fought the horde. She had been with a ragtag group of survivors, and her cameraman... recording everything she could, even as hell broke out around her. Live in the middle of a war zone. It figured. Not even a horde of the dead, mutants and a nuclear strike had been able to stop her from getting to the bottom of a story. And it seemed she too, true to her career, had been out collecting evidence throughout the entire downfall of the city, even when the horde had taken over. After Operation: Bacillus Terminate, she had popped up on the news, making claims about Umbrella, their viruses and their B.O.W.'s... with two other survivors to back up her story, former employees of Umbrella who had worked at NEST and one of their commercial facilities respectively. The young Asian woman holding hands with Kevin, named Yoko Suzuki... and an older black woman with a bandaged leg named Linda Baldwin who was standing next to a scruffy, dark haired man with folded arms, clad in a mechanic or plumber's outfit, from the look of it, complete with a tool belt of bloodied tools and a holstered nail gun. She wondered if HUNK knew of either of the two employees... but couldn't be sure, given Umbrella's size. It wasn't like everyone knew everyone at a global corporation. These two would surely be valuable, come the trials. It made her fear for their lives... remembering HUNK's words about the U.I.D. and U.S.S. Would his first mission upon recovery be to assassinate them? Could he even go through with such a thing again, if ordered to, after all he had been through? Jill didn't know... and wasn't sure she wanted to know... but she hoped otherwise. That he wouldn't do such a thing... even knowing the nigh certainty he already had done so to others like them for years. Maybe with his successful delivery he would be free to take only the missions he wished to. Less harmful ones.

She knew she was probably reaching... making excuses for him again... justifications... but it was all she could do, hating the helpless feeling. The two former employees hopefully would go into hiding. Had security they could trust. How many other former Umbrella employees had defected and managed to escape in the chaos? How long before Umbrella implemented their cleanup operations?

Jill had written down both of their names... and intended to follow up on them at some point, to get in touch with Alyssa again. She wrote down other names of interest as well... every confirmed survivor. Everyone who had been involved in the incident... members of the government and military, as high as Simmons. For her investigation. The trials for Umbrella would have to start at some point. But she wasn't naive... knew that the wheels of justice turned excruciatingly slowly, assuming they managed to turn at all. Jill wondered how far the trials would go and how long they would take. Umbrella was global, not merely restricted to the United States. Even if they managed to fold Umbrella USA, the greater part of Spencer's power was spread elsewhere, in Europe especially. To say nothing of the U.S. Government having its own bioweapons program on the back burner, according to HUNK... it might make things awkward if that can of worms was opened in court along with Umbrella's. What was to stop Umbrella from taking the government down with them? Throwing it and the country into chaos... civil war, even, if the scope of it reached the outraged public? Jill hoped they both burned for what they had done to her home. Once they found Chris... they could follow up on the leads. And whatever leads he had surely found in Europe by now. They were going to have their work cut out for them. Maybe they could give Alyssa her big scoop, or at least another one. They certainly didn't lack for amassed evidence.

Jill had assembled all the notes and evidence she and Carlos had gathered over the past days... putting them all on one table, covering its surface. Along with some recovered items... like her sapphire, her and Brad's S.T.A.R.S. Cards, her pictures of the team and of Ace the family dog respectively. Among other items. And for Carlos there had been the Mr Raccoon bobble head Carlos had recovered from the train... along with his salvaged conductor's hat and his emerald. And, even more to her amusement, a calendar of sexy swimsuit clad models for the year he'd retrieved at some point during his 'supply raids', that he hastily grabbed away from her and tucked back away in his room with a sheepish grin. And... there was the scuffed lighter with the black and white Umbrella logo on it... the same one as on the tracking device the U.S.S. Agent had left with her. She had considered it for a time, turning it over in her hands... wondering. Where and who he had got it from... and what the logo denoted, black and white as opposed to the red and white umbrella. She had never seen that design before. It wasn't broken, at least, would be good as new with some fresh lighter fluid. Apart from that, Carlos had retrieved an impressive amount of useful evidence on his own. They had come out with a good deal, between what had been stuffed into her pouches and his backpack. Files. Notes. Documents. Related to Umbrella and the circumstances surrounding the outbreak. And... the syringe. Containing numerous droplets of the T-Virus vaccine. She wasn't sure who to give that one to... who could be trusted to examine it. How deep the conspiracy went. For all she knew the CDC was compromised as well. She doubted there was enough of it left to create a cure... but it could set scientists in the right direction. One day. And there was her own blood... she would be willing to provide if it led to a cure. But she had to make sure it didn't end up in the wrong hands. Maybe Rebecca would like to help her. She would discuss it with the girl later... when she wasn't checking up on and tending to her and Carlos's injuries, she was on the phone often with her parents up in Alaska. From what she had gathered Rebecca's family was fairly well off... they might be of some assistance as well, if need be. If they didn't get more help it would be just the four of them now... plus Carlos. The Corporal had decided to stick around instead of taking off after he'd recovered, making a long distance call to check in on his grandmother and the rest of his family down south. Speaking his Portuguese tongue rapidly the entire time, as on the other end they had all huddled around the phone, nearly overwhelming him with chatter.

He had claimed to her with a grin he wasn't about to miss out on another good fight... a worthy one this time, a righteous cause, now that he was free from Umbrella's shackles. Good... she had seen how well he had operated... and they were going to need all the help they could get. They would probably need an army... but Carlos was as good a start as any for their recruitment drive.

All the same... Jill didn't know where she stood now... if she would have to fight both the government and Umbrella. How deep it all went into the government. Someone named Simmons was involved in the bioweapons program... that much she knew... she would look into it. Look into many people and things, before acting. They had to play it careful now. As horrific as Raccoon City had been... it had been easy to spot their enemies there. Now it was another game altogether... covert warfare. Conspiracies. Espionage. But that also meant courts and evidence... a justice system. Territory she knew well... but territory that was also corruptible, vulnerable. It was going to get very complicated and difficult soon... but they had the means. Would have the means. They would rally everyone who opposed Umbrella together. Umbrella was massive... cast a great shadow over the world... but an umbrella could be folded. And they had made too damn many enemies over the years... especially now. She would see it happen if it took her death.

But... mostly she wondered about HUNK... about Umbrella Security Service... what would be next for them. Evidence burning... most likely. HUNK must have known that would be next for him... espionage, cover ups... maybe witness elimination... but he had left all that evidence with them all the same when he could have taken it back to the Leviathan with him. Using a loophole for Operation: NESTWRECKER to not only leave behind that evidence in their custody, but to get them off the hook. Using his authority to supersede Umbrella's own second in command. When those laser sights had flashed on from his agents assault rifles, she had been certain they would all be hauled away to their doom, if not executed on the spot. But he had come through... as he always had... and had made a sacrifice in doing so. Trading their lives and freedom for his own freedom. Going back to a company that saw him as a machine... no different from a Tyrant. A company she knew he hated, in spit of his dependency and addiction to it... that world he had been indoctrinated into for too long, by Spencer's own equally reprehensible daughter, no less. Groomed since he was young... used... molded into the perfect killing machine. Then discarded by Lady Spencer once she had tired of him. But Jill had seen the man behind the machine-like surface... where she doubted anyone else really had. Especially not at the company that was abusing him.

She would never forget his sacrifice, she vowed... she would have to make it count for something. Do right. Make the most of the time she had been given.

Jill looked to the device again carefully. It was strange to think he had been wearing it the whole time. A tracking device... tracking devices, she remembered him saying. He had been monitored all along... followed... by Umbrella's satellite network. Their progress monitored. How much of it had been tracked, recorded... what had they seen or heard? The devices couldn't have been his choice... but then, what choices did he have in their employ? Was it standard practice for Umbrella Security Service? Or had it been reserved for him alone... being as special as he was? The device looked a bit like a handcuff, she realized... a shackle... and maybe that comparison wasn't too far off. It made her feel deeply perturbed, on top of everything else she felt. She hadn't been able to save him, in the end. She would have traded all the evidence... even the G-Virus... just to keep him away from them. To take him with them, to the freedom and redemption he had earned... but had declined. She'd had her chance to destroy the sample... to take it... and she hadn't. His life had been worth too much. The future suffering and victims of it were as much on her hands as his and Umbrella's. They were joined together now, in more ways than one. She had done wrong for the many... the test subjects that would surely suffer the G-Virus... in doing right for the one. She would have to make amends, somehow. Toppling Umbrella would be a start, she supposed... rooting out as many in the bioweapons field as she possibly could. It wasn't just Umbrella and the US Government... but TRICELL Inc, Shén Yà Pharmaceutical, the WilPharma Corporation, the Saurian Corporation, Medvedev, Akembe Chemical and assorted others. Umbrella had merely led the way, inspired lesser, but dangerous competitors. Another part of Spencer's glorious legacy she intended to tear out by the roots, one day. But... one problem at a time. Just now... she had to heal... focus on it, or she'd be no good to anyone, much less herself.

They would take the fight to the enemy when the time came... but until then, she needed to recover physically and mentally from the ordeal. Rebecca and Barry had been kind enough not to question her extensively, despite their obvious curiosity... especially about HUNK. She knew she wouldn't be able to answer anything. Wasn't ready to. It would have to come out eventually... they understood, and she appreciated that silently. She wouldn't even know where to begin, even if she was in any mood or condition to talk about it. A long, strange, grueling journey... just as she knew another would soon begin.

At last, Jill sighed and lay back a bit further in bed against the pillows... reaching under to make sure her holstered Samurai Edge was still under it, safety on, but able to be drawn quickly from the holster. Force of habit... one she had developed after the Spencer Mansion... specifically, after Irons' and Mayor Warren's goons had started trailing her and the others. Or maybe they had been Umbrella's. She still wasn't sure... but there hadn't been enough difference to care. If they had been Umbrella's, likely they would have been professionals... the men in question had not been. When she was assured her Beretta was still there, patting the cool blue steel, she covered it again with the pillow, lay back down and closed her eyes again. Trying to escape her troubled, tiring thoughts. Fears. Sleep was the only real comfort she knew now. Drifting away... from the pain. And there had been no nightmares... miraculously. At least... not yet. They were inevitable... but in the meantime maybe the relief overshadowed even the grief, for the moment. Simply being alive... each breath tasting sweeter, even with the storm on the horizon. She knew a rare peace... tranquility... and longed to feel it as long as she possibly could. Knowing it couldn't last much longer. She was glad to be alive... to have made it... but it could have been better as well... she could have been with him... laying here in his arms. Both of them safe, and free. But there was no happily ever after in the real world. There was just surviving... getting through the day. Getting through the pain. Trying to make the most of what you had left. Who and what had not yet been taken from you. She at last began to drift off as the minutes passed, her mind lapsing in and out of consciousness, savoring the warm sensation... the relaxing sound of the falling rain outside the motel. Soothing.

And then... the phone rang.

In an instant she was pulled up to the surface from her nap, eyes snapping open and looking over towards the bedside table. To the red glowing light on the tracking device sitting next to the phone. Her heart all but seized in her chest, butterflies within her stomach. She had been expecting the promised call... but somehow... it surprised her, even now. Breathing deeply, uttering a pained sound... she rose up as rapidly as she could, lowering her legs over the side of the bed, sitting at the edge of it, and picking up the phone in a bandaged, trembling hand just after the fourth ring, nearly fumbling with it and dropping it. Slowly, carefully raising it to her ear... daring to hope it wasn't Barry, Rebecca, Carlos, or any of the staff. Trying to remain as calm as possible on the surface, and failing within, hearing her voice speak softly and hesitantly into the receiver.

"H-hello?"

"Happy Birthday, Jill."

That voice... in her ear again. Calm and collected. And strong. Despite everything that had happened. Free from the muffling effect of the gas mask... sounding nearly as he had speaking her name back in the courtyard. She breathed into the phone with relief, shutting her eyes tightly, hoping that she wasn't imagining it... still dreaming. Rubbing her sore face with a bandaged hand. The weight of it all coming back. The raw feelings. The conflict. Gradually finding her voice again, unable to resist a smile forming on her lips.

"HUNK... Jack... is that really you?"

"Of course it is. I had a promise to keep, didn't I? And... I wanted to keep it. Needed to. It's not much... but it's the best I can do."

Although his voice was calm... there was something to it that was different. Something grave. And even through the phone... she knew he was trying to keep it together as well. Probably doing a better job than her... but with difficulty. Breathing again, she opened her eyes... not really seeing anything. Seeing only him... in some unknown void. Wherever Umbrella had taken him.

"It's plenty. Thank you. Really. How did you... know it was my birthday?"

"Read your old S.T.A.R.S. card... back at the chapel, while you were out. Printed here on your tags as well."

"Right. Silly me. Already forgetting, in my old age. Feel sore enough to be an old lady too, lately. Nearly slipped in the shower."

"Twenty four isn't so bad. But I'm sure there could be better, more fun things to do than be injured and bedridden for it. Not that I'd know. Mine wasn't much better."

"You can say that again. Where were you for yours? What did you do for it?"

"I was in Spain, on a tedious mission. Eight years ago. Nothing serious. Boring. Wished it had been more exciting, at the time. That there was a target to kidnap or kill. These days I wish I had more assignments like that one."

Eight years ago. 1990. He was thirty two, she quickly mentally noted, pulse quickening. Eight years older than her. She wasn't sure if the information had accidentally slipped out... or if he was trusting her with it. Either way... it was information, for her alone to know.

"What were you doing there?"

"Security job for an Umbrella excavation in a cavern. I am just a security guard, when it comes down to it. Told you that before. Land was sacred to the locals, so we were there just in case. If they knew we were there, they weren't stupid enough to attack us, at least."

"Who's us? And excavating what? Sorry, cop in me, can't resist interrogations. Even now. I've been bored out of my mind here for days."

"Lady Spencer... commanding a team of agents and scientists. Afraid most of the mission details are classified."

"Right... what isn't about you, mystery man?"

"Well... don't think it's classified... that I'm glad you're ok."

"You can be charming when you want to be... you know that right?", Jill felt her bruised face beam of its own accord, feeling a warmth at the confession, in spite of herself. She uttered a slight laugh under her breath, gathering herself some more before going on. "How did you celebrate? Or is that classified too?"

"She made me a giant cupcake and jammed twenty four candles all over it. Lit them all up, ordered me to make a wish and blow them out. Before I could a gust of wind passing through the cavern did the job. Alas."

"Sounds like an ill omen, if you believe in such things. What was the wish?"

"Might have been. It was nothing that came true."

"Fair enough. Cute gesture, though. How did it taste?"

"Wasn't very good... bit burnt, covered it up with icing. She never was the best cook... but it was the thought that counted."

"It usually does.", Jill replied shortly, quietly, uncertain and hesitant to ask more about the evil woman. The details about Spencer's heiress. The agent's abuser... they both knew it, but clearly they'd had a strange, important relationship together. One that wasn't about to vanish, even after her abandonment. The damage done. All she could do was be here for him as best she could... as little as that was... and care about him. Clearing her throat, she moved them on. "What about you? Are you... are you ok? Your injuries. Are you... where are you?"

"I'm recovering. Still have some time to go... but I can manage. Had you patching me up the whole time, remember? Might not be otherwise."

"Pretty sure it was more the other way.", She felt her sore, bruised face break out into an involuntary smile again. How the hell did he do that... even now? When nothing about this was going to end well? When moments ago she had been troubled? When she knew the kinds of things he did for a living? She didn't know... but she loved it. Felt like a silly teenage girl again, with a dumb crush on the bad boy. "But you're being nice. I like that. The bad boy thing can only get someone so far... attractive as it can be."

"Trying, anyways. With you. Work in progress. As for where I am... I can't tell you that either. For both our sakes. But I am safe. I promise."

"No... you aren't. You're with Umbrella. Not with me..."

"Alive then, anyways.", The agent's voice amended with a hint of tired wryness. "It's enough for now. One victory at a time."

"I'm glad you are. Don't need to answer my question, though. Think I've pieced the picture all together already... or a good deal, at least. Have a sharp memory, and had nothing but time to heal and try to figure it out."

"Oh? And what picture might that be, Supercop? Paint it for me. Your professional analysis."

"You're in France right now, Secret Agent Man. Perhaps calling from Umbrella's Paris Facility. But you don't tend to stay there long... your missions take you elsewhere around the world. That's just the place you hang up your mask right now. You work for Comtesse Henri of Loire Village... a ranking member of Umbrella's Board of Directors, close to Spencer. Almost certainly the true head of Umbrella Europe, with Director Owens as the false front. I'd put her at the third highest position of authority of the company. Ambitious. Virologist. Blue blood through and through, wealthy, living in a castle that is Château Henri... has a sizable aristocratic family connected to others around Europe. Real party girl too, I heard she is. Friends with all manner of elites, aristocrats, politicians, actors and actresses. She and her husband Raymund get around, do their business abroad, though it seems to be a typical marriage of the elites, as in purely financial and political. Bet it wouldn't be difficult for me to find footage of the public galas she's attended with her entourage and bodyguards she drags along with her to such events. Could be that one of those men in particular is quite the hunk... good at the Bond routine... but I'm not exactly in a position to look at the moment. Not who I thought you'd be serving... but after Lady Spencer... I guess old habits die hard. I honestly can't blame the girl for wanting you working for her. Under her. Has the tastes of nobility, alright. Tell me... how close to the mark am I?"

There was a long silence on the phone that pleased Jill when she ceased, it had all come out in a torrent, having been unable to let it all out for too long... a grim smile touching her lips. Imagining one touching his. Or exasperation, at least. Hoping her summary and honesty pleased him. When he finally spoke again his tone was low and quietly appreciative. Some grim, reluctant amusement there. it was good enough for her.

"Close enough. A capable detective... even while on the mend. Impressive."

"I have to be. Had nothing but time to figure out the details. To remember what you and Nikolai spoke of. Piece together my investigation. Before, during and after all this. I did my research, after the Arklay Mountains. And will continue to. Ironside isn't the only wheelchair detective, about now. Once a cop, always a cop... and S.T.A.R.S. are the best... remember?"

"Never forgot. One of their members is, at least. Umbrella has made a formidable enemy. What about you? Are you recovering well? You don't actually require a wheelchair, do you?"

"Heh. Not yet, thanks to a certain someone. Recovering, slowly but surely. And wouldn't be doing as well if we hadn't brought out all these medical supplies. Rebecca is putting them all to good use, had her work cut out for her. We really did need her along with us, all that time in the city. Not that I'd wish it on her. Rookie or not, she's brilliant, and damn good at what she does. Barry brought the rest of the things we needed, or went out and bought some items."

"I'm glad. You are safe. In good hands."

"Yeah. Still rather they were yours, though."

"Likewise. And what about Carlos? How is he recovering?"

"He's healing much better than I am... made it out the best off of our Alpha Team. Mostly keeping to his room, getting drunk, watching zombie movies... as if Raccoon City wasn't enough. Some things never change. After you got him out of his Umbrella contract... he decided to stick around and help us instead of going back to his family in Brazil. For now, at least. He's going to come with us north. Barry and Rebecca have been waiting on us hand and foot, making sure we get what we need. Slowly but surely, we're getting there. Just need a bit more time."

"Good... that's good."

"You didn't tell me back there, something I've been wondering... and I hope isn't classified."

"Oh? By all means. Ask again. No promises, though."

"Those two people perched on the Colonel's cargo container, underneath his gunship, atop U.M.F.-013... the woman in the red dress, and the man in the same uniform and armor as you. You looked at them through your binoculars and laughed. Who were they?"

Another silence returned to the phone, as she waited patiently, knowing he was mulling it over. For a moment she was certain he would refuse to answer, move them on. Instead he surprised her again. His low voice spoke through the phone quietly. Pausing for a moment, before continuing.

"The woman is a freelance corporate spy named Ada Wong... or at least that's what she calls herself. Our paths have crossed. We've worked together before. The other in the same uniform as me? A rookie who was under my command, code named Agent GHOST. I thought he was dead, down below in NEST. Along with my entire team. He's the one who intervened and shot Birkin when he refused to comply. He survived somehow... and ended up making a better decision than I did. Defected from Umbrella. Earned his freedom. Relatively. I cannot fault him for that decision."

"That object she was waving at you... it was another sample of the G-Virus, wasn't it?"

"Correct."

"Then it would have gotten out of the city whether you carried out your mission or not."

"Yes. So it would seem. Many parties sought it... not just Umbrella or the U.S. Government."

"Wonderful. Another bioweapon floating around out there. And not even from Umbrella. I won't pry any further... as much as I'd like to. Ada Wong and GHOST. Huh. Raccoon City brought a bunch of strange people together, didn't it? Not just us."

"You could say that. You've been watching the news?"

"Yes. Like I said, putting everything together. My case, really. Haven't turned it off since I got to this room."

"It has begun."

"Yes. It has. Well... it did a long time ago. It just took this long for the rest of the world to catch up. Learn the hard way. The only way most people seem to learn their lessons."

"Yes. Human nature. Unfortunately."

There was a pause on the phone... as Jill tried to find her words. Maybe he was trying to do the same. The silence hung there between them... not awkward or uncomfortable... but with tension. She felt it between them, as if they were standing together still, uncertain where and how to proceed. Two stupid teenagers gazing at one another. Finally, a few words managed to escape her, still trying to gather her thoughts.

"HUNK... there's so much I want to say... need to say... and now that you're actually here, I don't even know where the hell to start..."

"I know... me too. I thought it would be easy."

Another silence... it had been so easy talking to him before. It still should be. But now the weight of it all pressed down on them. For what could well be the last time they spoke for all she knew. She couldn't let it go to waste... she needed to let it all out. Tell him what she felt. What she hoped he already knew. She was going to speak again when he beat her to it, low voice speaking slowly. Carefully.

"Jill... before we get into this... do you have a piece of paper and a pen? There's something I need you to write down."

"Yes, one moment."

The notepad and pen weren't far away. On the bedside table next to the glowing device... but she needed a few moments all the same. Setting down the phone and drawing a slow, deep breath. Trying and failing to regain her composure. She needed to keep a straight head, and be in control. Couldn't lose it. The cop over the woman was needed now. Pain or grief had to wait. She needed to be at her best with him, even under the circumstances. Especially under them. She had known this was coming for days... but somehow she had not been prepared for it. Or ready. At last, she rose the phone to her ears again, the notepad in her lap and pen in her right hand, speaking calmly and professionally to the agent. Or at least projecting the illusion of it.

"Ok... what is it?"

"An address. 1428 Elm Road... Ellensburg, Washington."

"Alright... got it written down.", Jill confirmed with series of scratches of the pen swiftly, lowering it again and looking over the address. It didn't ring any bells that she knew of. "And what is this place?"

"The residence of Captain Mikhail Viktor's family."

Shock slammed into her and spread through her veins at once... along with a memory. Of the Captain's final words to her... as he stood between her and certain death... in the form of the hulking, enraged, bullet ridden Nemesis at the end of the train. Pushing her to the safety of the front tram carriage. Remembered the grenade explosion that had claimed him, engulfed the rear train carriage, destroyed the engine and brakes and flung the Tyrant out the window into the baying horde they had been hurtling through. She looked over to one of the tables she had dumped her gear on... to the Captain's dog tags, photograph and unopened letter sitting together. She had been all but tearing her hair out over it when she lay them there... regretting not having asked him the address, at the end. Carlos hadn't known, and it hadn't been written on the envelope either. It would have taken forever to track down... on top of the long list of things to do. She remembered that HUNK had been there... when the Captain had requested it of her. He had been listening, before sealing the door once she was through it and preventing her from going back... ensuring her to safety... and he had remembered. Even after everything that had happened, he had remembered. Cared enough to. Went out of his way for the Captain... and for her, using his Umbrella connections to make it easier on her. In an instant, despite her attempts to remain in control, she felt her eyes filling with tears, choking on her words... a burning sensation touching the inside of her throat and spreading. Touched by the gesture.

"HUNK... I... you...-"

"I know, Jill. It's not much... but it's what I can do. I'm not finished though. You made him a promise. You have to go there... and keep it, before you go do what you must. Before the war starts. And... I want you to make another promise... one to me."

"Of course I will... anything... what is it?"

"To pay a visit your father as well, when you are able. While you are still in Arklay County. Whatever else he was... his mistakes... he is your father. Loves you. He'll want to know his daughter is alive. Even if he is to blame for his... situation... there are few things I can think of that are worse than a father not allowed to be one to his children. Give him another chance. Forgive him. Have mercy for him... as you have for me. Repair what was damaged, while you have the chance. For both your sakes. Or you will regret it for the rest of your lives."

"I-...I will. We will. I... promise..."

Jill managed to vow to the man... eyes sparkling... feeling a droplet run down her bruised face. Trying to wipe it all out of her eyes and off her cheek. She needed to stay in control, as long as she could. She couldn't break down... it wasn't time. She needed to stay strong. Even knowing she wouldn't last long. She only had so much time left with him. She could not waste it with weeping. With grief. She forced her shaky voice to speak again, more controlled, but quavering.

"Thank you... HUNK... just... thank you..."

"You needn't. I owed it to the Captain as well. I pay my debts. He asked me to do something, back on that train... I tried to fulfill his request. This is the least I can do for failing to do so."

"What... did he ask of you?"

"To keep you close to me. You and Carlos. Not to abandon you. I didn't do what he wanted. You can keep your promise now, where I failed to keep mine."

There was a resignation in his tone at the confession... but she knew he was resolute. Remorseful. He was owning it... and trying to make amends. The only way he knew how. The tears lingered despite her attempts to rid herself of them. She wanted to comfort him... wished she could hold him... wanted to tell him he hadn't failed, hadn't abandoned them. Reassure him. Before she could, he moved them forward again.

"There's something else... the signal device. You have it close by?"

Jill looked over to the cuff-like device on the bedside table... reaching over and picking it up. Looking it over slowly, fingers tracing the black and white umbrella safety catch. Nodding to herself.

"Yes. Right here."

"You need to deactivate it, Jill."

"I... understand..."

"Do it right now, then... please."

Swallowing, Jill obeyed, tapping the button on it again. The red light illuminating the umbrella slowly dying away upon it. There was something about the sight that hurt her. Knowing she had just vanished to him... that he wouldn't know where in the world she was when they left this motel. She closed the umbrella shaped safety catch on it again with a click... turning it over in the palm of her hand. Sighing wearily.

"It's done."

"Good."

"I don't see how. I want you to know where I am. To be able to contact me. I want to know where you are... I want to... I want...-"

Jill trailed off and stopped, feeling the burning in her throat worsening. Unable to help herself. The tears remaining where they were. Threatening to pour freely, but still she smothered her feelings as best she could, a failing effort. She felt so foolish... childish... her inability to control herself. She hadn't cried since the Arklay Mountains... but look at her now, since she had met him. Being cold and holding it all at bay was a challenge she was losing. How effortlessly he opened up her being. Made her feel things. He spoke again after a pause... his voice low and understanding. And serious.

"I know. I want that as well. There are many things I want. But you need to listen to me very carefully now, Jill. This is very important. And the hard part."

"I'm... listening..."

"First... Albert Wesker is alive. Out there, somewhere, planning something. Building an army. Assembling professionals, likely to take on Umbrella. Ada and GHOST were working for him. Undoubtedly will deliver the G-Virus to him. All of you would best off being ready for him, just in case. Umbrella is almost certainly not his only target. He's the one who wanted you as a test subject. Commanded Nikolai to capture you for him. Your genetic structure, altered from the virus and the cure."

"What?"

Jill's flat, stunned voice returned, a wave of shock hitting her and spreading in a ripple. Coiling in her insides at the sudden revelation. Remembering the laboratory below the Spencer Mansion, alongside Chris. Wesker pointing his Samurai Edge at them... telling them he didn't need Umbrella anymore. The tank the Tyrant had emerged from... its clawed hand tearing through the smirking man in the sunglasses who had been fawning over it. Wiping the smirk away in a spray of blood. Impaling, lifting him in the air and then tossing him aside. Stalking after them as the self destruct sequence was initiated, as they fled down the hall, Wesker's blood forming its massive footprints, a trail down the corridors. Wesker had already been dead before the explosion... it was impossible. Beyond impossible... but there was nothing joking or false about HUNK's voice. Did Chris already know, out there in Europe as HUNK was? He had torn Wesker's office apart before he had taken off... but hadn't mentioned anything, as he surely would have. Was that who he was dealing with right now while they had been in Raccoon City? She didn't know... but when they found him, she intended to inform him, and ask him if he'd known. She managed to gradually find her voice again and speak her bewilderment, breaking the silence.

"We watched the Tyrant stab him... watched him die... and the explosion... how...-"

"I don't know. But he does. And he is alive. Wherever he is. Trust me on that. Make use of the information as you will. Act accordingly. Umbrella is not your only enemy. The only threat."

"I know. And I understand... thank you. I don't know how... but I'm going to find out, some day. Whatever he is planning... we'll stop him. I'll pass it along to the others, when I get the chance."

"Good. As for the device... I want you to wear it... on your missions against Umbrella, anytime you can. Keep it close... like I'm wearing your dog tags. Keep it hidden. And remember me. Remember you were right about me. And remember... our time together. It has a functional battery life lasting over a decade... high tech... but you are never to activate it again for any reason other than your life being in peril. You must be absolutely sure you are going to die before you activate it again. Don't activate it because you miss me... because you want to be with me again, to speak to me. You must never try to find or contact me for any other reason, through it or through conventional means. I will not turn spy for you within the company, endangering you or myself further needlessly. There are enough traitors and spies at play in my world... and I am compromised enough as it is. I have managed to secure my place in the company again... reassure others of my loyalty... but my footing here is precarious. Many eyes watch me since my return, more than usual... all of them looking around for signs of treason. Do not look for me any further. Just go forward in your endeavors, as I will in mine. If the day ever comes where you activate it... I will know. I will come and find you. Or die in the attempt. No matter the repercussions to me from the company. I will leave it all behind, if necessary, to come and save you. I don't... I can't walk away from you again. Once was too many times. But it is a one time choice. Irreversible. And will carry consequences while I am at Umbrella. Better it just be some old trinket you wear to remember me than you having to use it. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I... I do... I don't like it... but I do..."

"I want you to live, Jill. Really live. Do that for me, will you? To move forward with your life... be who you are. To be as careful as you can... even knowing that's impossible. You're a cop... you're going to risk your life seeking justice... as one always does. Just... make sure you get through this. Don't let Umbrella bring you down, discourage you again, as they did after the Spencer Mansion. You aren't alone... you'll get through this with the others. Your friends."

"And what about you, Jack? How are you going to live... after all this?"

"Day by day."

"What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

"Well... you know me... nothing and nowhere good."

Somehow, regardless of the turmoil, the alarm and confusion over Wesker... the knowledge of another dangerous enemy out there... she laughed in spite of herself. Somehow, he always managed that. Probably without even meaning to. He went on steadily, his low voice lined with consideration.

"The truth is... I live in a gilded cage... people here claim to appreciate me... believe I am their top agent... but after over a decade... they still don't know me. They appreciate what I can do... and they use me. Rent me out for one mission or another. I'm not much better than a mercenary. A common henchman. You were different. You knew me, in the time we were both conscious... for not much longer than half a day... and you still understand me better than them. Treated me like a person. Like something more than I've been. Something of substance. Something nobody else ever did. Like someone. I wish I'd known you sooner. And could for longer."

And as quickly as he had made her laugh... he made the tears threaten to stream out again. Steered her emotions like a marionette... she felt helpless. She swallowed, trying to stifle the burning in her throat. The raw grief that threatened... not seeing anything through the tears. It came to her, then... through the silent tears. The heart of the matter. She hadn't thought she was going to tell him... that she would let it go unheard, hope he recognized it on his own... but it needed to be said aloud. Made real. She couldn't risk leaving it hanging between them, if she never saw him again. He had to know now. Summoning her courage, she did exactly that.

"I love you, Jack...", She admitted to him at last, breathing deeply. Feeling her heart racing... stomach knotting. Telling him more of the truth, releasing more of the weight that had been pressing down on her. "I've never felt the way I do for anyone else. I never thought I would. Especially after the mansion. I thought Umbrella would consume me, in the end... take away everything good in my life... but along the way, trying to escape what they did... you found me instead. Even if you are with them... you are not one of them. And you... you chose me over the entire world. Cured me. Saved me. I will always remember that. Always love you for that."

There was a silence on the phone in the wake of her confession... save her own breaths she tried to get under control. When he spoke again... something quavered in his normally rock solid voice slightly... but he forced it to remain in control. And she knew he was exerting himself with all he had, admitting to her what he did. That he felt her pain. And it was his own. She was talking to the man, not the Umbrella Agent. The man in the courtyard. The rooftop. Maybe the boy he'd once been, long ago. The one he thought had died. She hoped as much.

"I... never thought I would feel what I do, again. I was sure I had forgotten. I never wanted to hurt you... the way I have been hurt. I never meant to... to do what was done to me. I just... we're from two different worlds. I never dreamed one like yours existed... until you showed it to me. Shared it with me. A world outside Umbrella. I wanted to leave with you. Join you in it. I wanted to be with you, where you are now, in that room. To wake up... with you at my side. And I couldn't. I had to make the choice that I did... and I know I will always regret that. I did the moment I made it."

"We can have that.", Jill swallowed, telling herself it as much as she was him. Hoping to God that it was true. That life could be merciful enough. "We can have it one day... maybe when this is all over. Maybe this doesn't have to be goodbye. Maybe we can both hang up our guns for awhile... and just be alive."

"Maybe. I'd like that. To think there will be something after this. That I'll survive... have a reason to, this time. And... I want to believe you will win this war... in the end. That someone will prevail, over Spencer."

"I will win. We will win. We have to. And if the chance comes to walk away from Umbrella... to escape... take it. For the love of God... don't go down with the ship. Don't die for those monsters. You are not them. Not like them. You don't have to be. You are who you choose to be. You will find another way. You deserve so much better."

"You're the first person to think that. That I deserve something more. That I'm better than them. Not just one of them. After everything I've done. Thank you for that. Thank you for everything, Jill. For believing in me."

"You earned my faith. More than that. I'm all yours... if... when the day comes. I promise. If you'll be mine. I already am yours."

There was another silence... and in spite of the tears, the raw emotion, it was a comfortable one. Even as they reached the inevitable. He finally spoke with obvious difficulty, unable to hide it any longer. Or ignore the writing on the wall.

"I have to hang up now, Jill. Give my regards to Carlos. Tell him I wish him luck, and appreciate his gesture with the crucifix. It was more than I deserved."

"Jack... please... don't go... you can't, not now..."

"If I don't... I never will be able to. You remember what Shakespeare said about parting? He was correct."

"Yeah... but there's nothing sweet about this. Just the sorrow..."

"I would tell you that time heals wounds of this nature... that you're young, and the young recover from this sort of pain... but I would be lying, in my own experience. It would be dismissing you. I hope you are different from me in that respect, though. You're stronger than I ever was. Grounded. Stable. So just... try to move forward, rely on your friends to get through this... but don't forget about me. Not the agent... but the man you reminded me along the way still existed. What we shared. It's been an honor. I won't forget any of it. No matter what I have to do... who I have to be on the surface, after I hang up. There's not much of 'me' left... but everything I have left... the good... it belongs to you, now. Not to Umbrella. Nor to Lady Spencer."

"I won't let it all be for nothing... I'll save you. Somehow. Some day... I will. I promise."

"I believe you. You already have. Goodnight, Jill. Be careful. And... I love you, as well."

The line went dead before she could say anything to his unexpected confession... come up with something. Maybe it was just as well... she didn't know what she could have said... lips parting. Her throat was raw, choked, infused with grief. Spreading through her veins like a poison. A shaking hand hung up the dead, useless telephone... and she slowly lay back down in the bed numbly... gripping the tracking device, fingers rubbing over the metal. She felt the damp, warmth streaming down her face, flowing freely as she looked up to the ceiling overhead... not even really seeing it. Seeing him... his mask... that shattered red lens and the exposed steely grey eye beyond it. The peace that had been in it, standing with her on the rooftop of the Dead Factory. Her quiet, hollow voice speaking as if of its own accord, a pained murmur that went unheard by the indifferent universe.

"HUNK... Jack..."

She rose the tracking device again slowly before her teary eyes, studying it carefully, before shackling the cuff to her wrist, securing it into place firmly. Penance. A gesture of care from him... and a reminder of her failure of him. Another person she couldn't save, when it had mattered most. With the click as the umbrella shaped catch closed shut, she stopped holding back, stopped trying to resist it... and openly wept, then. Shuddering and sobbing. The grief burst out and poured like a torrent of emotion, her heart racing wildly in her ears. A dam breaking. So much grief that all the physical pain seemed to go away, for a time. She gladly stopped holding any of it back. She wanted to scream... tear at her hair... but all she could do was lay there and grieve. Helpless. Grieve for lives and dreams lost in Raccoon City and its aftermath. Her failure to save the city. All of it coming back in a rush... the deaths of Brad, Captain Mikhail and damn near everyone else in the city. The Nemesis... the infected... the B.O.W.'s and mutations... the Pale Things... the Grave Digger... Nikolai... the missile strike... and dwarfing even them... him. His broken mask... that grey eye looking back at her from one of the shattered lenses. The tranquility she had seen in it. The acceptance. Somehow, he would go on... continue serving Umbrella... had virtually sacrificed his life for their freedom. Had been able to go through with it. Had the strength for it. After everything he'd done for them, he'd had to walk out of her life the same way he had entered it. Abruptly. As simple as appearing behind her in the ruins of a police station... and as simple as hanging up a phone. It wasn't fair. None of it was. It never would be. It wasn't right. All of it was gone... beyond her reach. In a flash. She had never felt so powerless as she felt then. Her life since the mansion had been broken apart several times, fixed back together... broken again and altered unrecognizable. How much of her was left? What had come out the other end of the tunnel? Would she even be able to look at herself again?

Jill knew she had to get it all out of her system, like a poison threatening to consume her. Even the tears along the way in Raccoon City had not been enough. She had to pour it all out of her... drain it... to gain the strength to do what must come next. To be reborn into another woman... the survivor of Raccoon City. The hunter of Umbrella. Part of her had died there... with everyone else. As part of her had died at the Spencer Mansion. With her hopes and dreams. And part of her had been born there, amid the city's destruction, waking up in that chapel. She had to find out what that part would become, in the end. She owed it to herself... and to him... to everyone who had died and survived... to go on.

To try.

She wept for the lost. Everyone and everything she had lost and failed along the way. And just as much... she wept for what might have been. What should have been. Some of her friends had survived... they were waiting for her... there were others like her ready to go to war with Umbrella. Who would fight with her. Even knowing that... just then, it didn't matter how many of them she had or would have. Who she would meet in the future or their importance to her. Who she would become or whether she would prevail in the end. In that moment... she was what she had been at the start of her last escape. Forced to flee and abandon her apartment, and sent back to square one by circumstances she couldn't control.

Former S.T.A.R.S. Officer Jill Valentine was alone.

---

October 5th, 1998, 11:55 PM

Master Bedchamber, Château Henri, Loire Village, France

The man who had once been a boy named John... before his own unsought legend had consumed him... stared at the cell phone in his hand for a long time from where he sat at the edge of the sizable bed... feeling his throat burning. A coiling in his stomach, like a viper constricting inside. Sensations he had not felt in years, and had nearly forgotten. Grief... finally reaching him. Pain beyond the physical. Catching up after all the time it had been frozen, or the only outlet had been anger. Drawing closer. Weakness, threatening him. As he held it at bay the best he could, he didn't see or feel the phone. Didn't see the elaborate, furnished noble bedroom or feel much of anything beyond what threatened. Though felt the cold steel of her dog tags against his skin beneath the suit. Saw her blue, soothing eyes looking back at him from afar... from in the clock tower courtyard. He wasn't sure how long he sat there like that, a statue... only what pulled him back out of it again. At least distracted him from it.

"Ese eet done, my love? Are you ready to put Raccoon City behind you?"

The Comtesse's accented voice made his head rise and turn... looking to the blonde's petite, slender figure posed in the doorway, illuminated in the dimmed, ambient light of the bedroom, and the candle light. Fresh from the shower, hair done up in a fancy manner. She stood clad in her heels, finest white lingerie, glinting assorted jewelry including her wedding ring and ruby and diamond encrusted silver and gold necklaces, slim tiara and earrings... along with a red silk night dress, changed from her other no less revealing attire for their dinner that evening. Freely exposing much of her perfect, inviting form, her hands folded in front of her midsection in that regal poise she enjoyed adopting. As meticulous with her appearance in private with him as she was at the parties she dragged him to, dressing like royalty. Appearances were everything to her... especially for his eyes. But she didn't look at him with lust... or enticement... not yet... but with concern, in those large blue eyes. Sympathy. He wasn't sure if it was genuine... if she really cared... or if it was just another mask. What was real and what wasn't with her or anyone. He knew with Jill... it was not the same with the Comtesse. Nothing was.

"Yes... it's done.", He heard his voice answer the young woman at last, using all he had to keep his voice under control. He set the encrypted phone she had provided for the call aside on the bedside table, looking back to her as she moved to join him on their bed. Feeling her weight settle on it nearby. "Three wishes fulfilled. Thank you, Comtesse. I couldn't have done all this without you."

"No you couldn't. And that ese ok. We compliment each other. Make up for each others weaknesses."

"Yeah... weaknesses..."

His voice echoed distantly, with no effort and and even less care. As the clock struck midnight, and a new day began, she moved around behind him, feeling the movement on the bed... and her arms wrapping around him. Pressing herself up against his back and leaning in closer. He felt her lips on his neck... kissing it tenderly... saw one hand looping around to his front, brushing over Matilda in her holster... and down to the red tie, Tugging upon it lightly, entwining it around her fingers. She was silent for a long time... simply holding and kissing him. He closed his eyes, pretending she was someone else. As he'd once pretended she had been Bella, when they had begun this little arrangement of theirs a couple years back. It wasn't kind, or fair to her... he knew that... but then, when had he ever been kind or fair? Or her? She was a married woman, he was an assassin. She was using him every bit as much as he was using her, if not more so. They were two murderers and criminals in an affair... she had not bloodied her own dainty, pretty little hands, of course, that's what he was for... but she had given many blood stained orders. And then there were her test subjects, at both facilities she ran. Likely she had killed more people than him already despite her youth, in her way, as bureaucrats, politicians and scientists always did in impressive numbers. Through proxies, to evade their guilt. The entire structure of this was wrong... and a lie, as arousing as it had been to be bad with her. As enjoyable as it was with her. To sate his cruel impulses that he had to remain in control of elsewhere, in his duties. As he had been in just such an affair with Bella. He had enjoyed having her behind her husband's back, as he had enjoyed Bella, once the guilty feelings had evaporated. More importantly... where had kindness ever gotten him? Nothing that he had wanted. Nobody. He wasn't sought after for his manners... looked at by women the way he was for them. Feared by others. Death didn't have to be polite... it simply existed... and did what it existed for. Bella had been a fool to try to teach him civility and manners... an illusion she had wrapped about him, perhaps to appease her own guilt for what she had really sought to make him all along. What she had succeeded in creating. Assuming she felt any remorse for anything. Creating something that did not deserve to be loved... something others had claimed to love... and now Jill existed among them as well. Even if she was different from the others... he could not comprehend why she felt the way she did. And half of him believed she was lying, even while her actions contradicted it being a lie.

True or not, he could trust nobody and nothing now but his gun. His instincts. Christine's soothing kisses slowly receded... and he heard her voice murmuring in his ear quietly.

"Eet ese going to be ok. Zis ese not your fault... or 'ers. I cannot blame zis girl Jill for falling in love with you. Or you 'aving some feelings for 'er. You shared a struggle of life and death together. Protected each other. Zat ese a powerful bond, not so easily broken. She was drawn to your strength, I think. Like me. You make us feel safe. Een a world like zis one... that ese no small thing. I loved you ze moment we met as well. Zis Jill ese simply...-"

"That's enough."

The U.S.S. Agent's cold voice spoke, and he felt a familiar pulse of anger as she spoke about it... about her. A spoiled blue blood trying to compare herself to someone like Jill... and he seized on to it tightly, repressing the burning in his throat. The rising grief. Anger was more useful than pain and despair. Grieving meant acceptance... accepting the unacceptable. He did not have the luxury to be able to afford weakness, like she did. The anger was familiar as well... in the years leading up to Bella's abandonment. It had felt good before then. And now he had the clarity to focus that anger properly. Taking her wrist and turning back around to face her again, seeing the startled look that replaced the concern in her eyes. Pressing a hand to her chest and pushing her back firmly with ease among the red silk sheets and white pillows. Looking down into her eyes, he climbed atop her, pinning her hands on either side of her head. Pressing them into the bed. The moment he did so, she reacted instinctively, her legs wrapped and locked around him firmly, securing them together. Her large blue eyes remained on his, unable to look away... fresh desire overtaking them. Her breast rising and falling more steadily, an excited, aroused smile touching red lips. Leaning down closer, he kept his mouth just out of reach of hers and spoke to her in low, hard tone, staring back hard at her. Commanding her.

"No more talking about Jill. Do not speak her name. Unless she activates that device again, do not ask me about or bring her up again."

"Yes... daddy... I understand..."

The blonde murmured breathlessly, looking up at him, biting her lower lip... legs tightening around his waist. Slowly trying to grind back against him with want. The haughty Comtesse was gone... the ruthless Director was gone... in her place in an instant was a smitten girl wrapped around his finger, when they were alone together this way. Behaving in ways with him that she wasn't for her husband. A sexy little whore. His. Finally put in her place, where everyone else sucked up to her and fawned over her at those fancy parties. Cared about her titles. Told her what she wanted to hear. Put up with her bullshit, in a sycophantic way that he did not. He would be lying to say he didn't enjoy it. The effect. The power. To be the one in charge, the actual master of this bedroom. Especially of someone with her standing in the company, power, connections and wealth. Like the taste of power he'd had on the Leviathan, watching the laser sights dance over Colonel Vladimir's body, his agents awaiting his command to open fire on Umbrella's second in command. It hadn't been that way with Bella... she had called all the shots when he had been younger. Had clearly been in charge in all aspects. But with time... he had learned. Grown with that time and with experience. Become more the way he was supposed to be... and less the idiotic boy who couldn't put down a sick old bastard and throw him into the sewers to drown, where he belonged, without vomiting over it. A boy he now felt shame remembering. Weak. Naive. Stupid. Long dead, and better off for it. His cold, firm voice returned to the desperate young woman clinging to him, not taking his eyes off hers.

"Your understanding is not required. Merely your obedience. Say it."

"I promise. I'll obey... I'll be nice for you. Now please..."

"Good girl. Time you were well rewarded. My appetite is ready for dessert. How about yours?"

Leaning down he kissed her fiercely before she could speak again, tongue meeting hers and moving with it, tasting and savoring her. She uttered a gasp into his mouth, and he alternated between her lips and neck... marking her as his own. As she had done to him in so many ways. Exploring her all over with his mouth. A bit at a time he was divested of his clothing... throwing aside his holster strap containing Matilda, and he cast off her red night dress and white undergarments... the two of them getting tangled up in her sheets. Arousal only growing as it went on... a familiar but heated embrace. Her moans and cries against his lips ringing through the bedchamber when they were joined together fully, moving in rhythm as one. Moving from one position to another... feeling her tightening around him... her hand gripping his hair... or clawing pleasurably at his scarred back. The pain of Raccoon City, and that of the injuries faded as the adrenaline and pleasure coursed through him. Sweat glistening and running down each of their entwined forms as it went on. He tried desperately to lose himself in it, in her... the tempo and passion... building her up to her first release, as she would him to his. Holding back little of his strength, even knowing... it would come back, despite staving it off. The emptiness. The despair. And the regret. It would all return. His weakness. Come for him... as the war against Umbrella inevitably would as well.

Even now, with the Comtesse in the way he was... lost in an abyss of pleasure... he was what he had always been. Walking the way Death always had. The way he always would.

U.S.S. Special Agent HUNK was alone.

---

:( was always going to be a bittersweet ending for HUNK and Jill. Star crossed lovers for you. Alas.

You have more power in that relationship with the Comtesse than you let on, HUNK. A pity you're falling back into your old villain personality habits though. We'll just have to see which lessons from this story stuck with him and which didn't. He has never been good with coping with pain and trauma, his deep emotions. Doesn't do it in a healthy way. One of the few lessons Lady Spencer did not teach him, when she pulled the rug out from under him. One of the many problems she grew within him. Man has only begun his journey of trying to walk a better path... but right now, it's somewhat half hearted, stuck at Umbrella as he is. Surrounded by corruption, and far away from Jill's good influence. Still, he's not the man entirely who left for Raccoon City, but remains in as much turmoil or more than when he set out.

"I'll save you!" *Cue Jill saving HUNK and Chris in Resident Evil 5 from Wesker, tackling him out Spencer's window before he can kill them*. You'll save him alright one day, Jilly. Never fear.

You can see HUNK altering certain events gradually, his influence and the direction of this universe, hence tipping Jill off about Wesker before her or Chris canonically find out he's alive.

Coming up next... a tale of two Valentines ;). Stick around, we're nearly at the end of the story, folks.