There have been many times in Jill's life that she felt like she should be dead, granted, a fair number of them have happened this very night. Still, facing a reincarnated/mind-controlled leech man monster, really should get the job done. Between gun fire and actual fucking fire, there has to be a slip up in there somewhere; somehow she's supposed to die in a blaze of glory.
But she doesn't.
Despite the creature's best efforts, it's no match for Jill and Billy's determination, a twist she didn't see coming. They take their stand, it feels like hours of shooting nonstop, arms tired with the weight of the gun in her hands, Billy is the first to fall back.
"Jill, let's go!" He shouts gesturing towards an escape.
"We have to kill this thing!" She returns.
"Valentine, stay calm, we're activating the self-destruct on our end." Allen's voice sounds like the buzzing of a bee in her ear.
"Why am I not surprised?" She murmurs with an eye roll, "Fine, let's go!"
She takes off towards the exit only turning back to send a couple of shots towards that thing.
They reach a bunker, Jill's eyes scanning for a way out, any way out. But the monster behind her is fierce and angry, its roar is louder than the blaring of sirens above them. Self-destruct sequences, it's official, her life is a poorly written film.
"Jill look out!" Billy calls as the monster lunges at her, she barely manages to avoid it. Falling on her ass and in her shock sends a bullet skyward passed the beast.
"Shit!" She snarls, rolling to one side to get back on her feet; when she finally has her bearings back she can notice the flailing shrieking monster.
"Someone's allergic to sunlight." Billy smirks, it takes nearly ever fiber of Jill's being not to roll her eyes at that one. "Jill, can you bring the roof down?"
"I'm going to pretend you're being serious." She says firing a shot before glancing around the room; eyes landing on a valve she's willing to bet will do… something. Certainly something. Please.
"No need to pretend."
Dashing towards it she calls back, "Cover me."
"Way ahead of you."
Part of her wonders if she's the one dying as she opens up the roof, heart lodged in her throat as she takes in the pink and baby blue sky.
"Feast on this." Billy says firing one last shot at the writhing creature. Teeth and brittle bone fly off of the hit point, collapsing into the old lab and met by an absolute column of fire. Jill has a fist full of Billy's shirt as she takes the lead, dragging him away from their impending demise. She's really going to die this time, it's got to be this time. The falling debris gave it away more than Allen's frantic screaming on the other line; it's almost poetic in a way.
They escape into the wilderness just before the building implodes, the blast still sends Jill and Billy tumbling to the ground, overwhelmed but unscathed.
"Ho-ly shit." Billy whistles watching the destruction, "Look what we fucking did."
"Umbrella's not gonna be too happy we broke their toy." Jill says, still awestruck at the way the flames kiss the clouds.
"Yeah well, I'm not too happy about the nightmares I'm gonna have for weeks. We're even." Billy stands up followed by Jill, the two of them still entranced by it all.
"Good work." Jill holds out her hand to him and he surprises her; clasping her hand a pulling her in for a hug.
"Here I was thinking that I was dead either way, you're something else." He says with a smirk.
"Told you it'd be worth it." She chuckles.
"Valentine are you there!?" Allen shouts into her earpiece.
"You bet your ass I am."
She hears his sigh of relief and allows the feeling to infiltrate her still tingling skin. Wafts of hot air slapping against her face as she turns her gaze skyward, looking for the helicopter.
"Good, stay exactly where you are. Your ride is coming."
"That's what I like to hear."
"Coen still alive?"
"As alive as he ever was." She chuckles.
"What a day." He sighs, she isn't sure she's meant to hear it but she smiles anyway.
"I think that this may just be the worst day I've had in at least a few years."
Billy practically cackles, "How shitty is your life?"
"It got a whole hell of a lot better without this garbage." She points to the crumbling facility. "The less murder castles/secret evil labs there are in the world, the better."
"Couldn't agree more." Billy says holding out his hands towards the facility as if to warm them by a campfire. "Good thing a storm is coming in huh? Otherwise the park rangers would not be too pleased."
"And they were pleased with the mutated bugs, reptiles, and mammals?"
"It's called nature." He teases as the helicopter finally appears overhead.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Don't you forget it." He holds out a hand to let her climb in first.
Just as they're flying over the forest, admiring their handiwork, Jill's eyes lock on something else, just in the distance. There's no way… Not a chance… there's no conceivable way there's two of these fucking things.
"You seeing what I'm seeing?" Billy asks.
"I hope it's the PTSD again." She returns.
"Yeah… me too."
They arrive back in DC before noon, barely allotted time for a fucking shower, she and Billy are escorted to a conference room.
"You are planning to feed me, right?" Jill asks Allen the second she sees him.
"Yes ma'am, thought we could get the gritty stuff done so you don't get sick." He smirks, Billy's hair is still wet as he takes up a seat beside her. There are a few suits around the table, but not many, Jill assumes these are the small group of investigators.
"You did good work." He pulls up the security footage she'd managed to secure for him, "We extracted all the files and deleted them from their original servers. We also found this very interesting."
Suddenly, the camera flips around, two faces squished together watching the footage.
"Wesker." Jill practically growls.
"And William Birkin. We've got our guys."
"How did they have access to that?"
Allen opens a file folder and pushes it towards her, "High ranked Umbrella operatives, you blew up their alma mater. We hacked into their systems to take these pictures, and have audio incriminating a few others. We also have coordinates to every single Umbrella laboratory in the world. Information may be slightly outdated, but it's a lot of good leads."
"And… do you know what they saw?"
"I can't imagine they made anything out. The video quality, as you can see, is shoddy at best. The audio is even worse, we were only able to figure it out because of our connection." Allen sits down, broad smile painted on his face. "We got 'em."
"But." One of the suits speaks up, "It's not enough to go forward to the public with."
"Are you kidding me?" Billy asks.
He shakes his head, "We can make arrests, but to take down the whole company? No. We need more evidence that this was not just an isolated incident."
"What the fuck else do you want from me?" Jill asks, tense as she speaks.
"You and Coen will be assigned different facilities to take down." He nods to Allen.
"So, Jill, STARS Alpha team will be receiving instructions to investigate those mysterious murders, directly. There's another mansion in the area, Spencer Mansion." Allen explains.
"Spencer as in Oswell Spencer. Founder of Umbrella." One of the other men says it with a cocky grin.
"Coen, you'll be sent with a small team to Antarctica."
"Wow, she gets a mansion, I get the Antarctic. You sure I'm a free man?"
"Hey, it's a travel opportunity." She smiles at him.
"And you're probably going to have an easier time than she will anyway." Allen says with the shake of his head. "Besides, don't you need a job?"
"He can work for STARS once Wesker is out." Jill chuckles, "Make STARS into an exclusive Umbrella fighting machine." She says it jokingly but the room mulls over the idea thoughtfully for a moment.
"When you get back, is that what you'd want?" Allen asks Billy.
"We'll see if I make it back first." Billy looks at Jill with a soft smile, thankful even.
"Anything else you want to show me?"
"… You want to see yourself single handedly take down a tyrant?"
"Hell yeah!" Jill claps her hands laughing at his childish antics. And it's a badass clip, one she wants to steal and show to her future kids and the STARS office; not necessarily in that order.
Allen takes her and Billy to lunch, it's Billy's first meal out of prison and he enjoys it as a free man. Allen's gratitude is not lost on her, even hidden behind the wall of insults and teasing. It's like she's back in the military and they've just finished training; but for the first time in a while, she feels confident in her own skin. Nearly dying will do that to you, watching yourself take down a nightmarish monster will also do that to you.
"Don't let your ego inflate too much." Allen jests as he and Billy drop her off at the airport.
"Me? Never. You need to keep your head on straight too." She gives him a hug, "It's great working for someone who doesn't want to rape me."
He snorts, "It's great working with someone competent."
"Just the one, though." Billy laughs taking his turn to hug her.
"Try not to die in Antarctica, we can't have this ending like The Thing." She pats his back before pulling away.
"You've got it, I need to come harass you at work." He promises with a sly smile.
"Can I report that?" She asks Allen.
"I'll put it in my notes." He snickers, "Take care of yourself, get some rest, you've got a hell of a week coming."
"Correction, I have hell coming." She sighs, "I'll hear from you?"
"Course." Allen nods, "Unless you meant the man candy over here."
"In which case, I will also keep in touch." Billy laughs.
"You both are gross, and I have a boyfriend." Jill chuckles.
"Does he know he's got a long line of people ready and willing to kick his ass if he even thinks about hurting you?" Allen asks.
"Oh, he knows, mostly because I'm at the front of that line." She teases.
"Get going Valentine, at this rate you're getting home next week." Allen steps back.
"I'm serious let me know if anything changes, and Coen… be safe."
"I will. Now scram." He steps in line with Allen as she heads off towards her gate. Her body is exhausted, adrenalin and sheer will power having worn off, she's never been this spent in her entire life. She gets a few moments of rest on the plane before she's back in Raccoon, the sun low in the sky as they land. Her day is gone and it's leaving her confused.
Once she's in her apartment she's in the comfiest thing she owns, mind finally starting to process what she just fucking witnessed. That was all real she saw every last bit of that with her own two eyes, did all of those things.
Just as the panic starts to wash over her, the phone rings. Voice tired and heavy she answers, "Hello?"
"Jill! Oh thank god, I've called you four times today."
"Chris… I'm sorry." She rubs her temple, "I was trying to rest. Like you told me to." God he'd be livid if he knew the truth… And that she's lying to him. Sure it's not forever, but still.
"Jesus Jill, you couldn't have picked up to let me know you were alive?"
She snorts, "I wasn't sure for a while there."
"Everything okay? Are you still not feeling well?"
She hesitates, "I'm just tired."
"If I get home tomorrow and you're still sick I'm taking you to the hospital."
"Chris, I'm fine."
"It's been three days."
"I know and I miss you, so when you come home, we're not going to waste time at a hospital."
He pauses, "I miss you too."
"You'll be home soon." She says softly, hopeful to a degree, she misses him so damn much. "I'm really sorry about missing your calls, I didn't do it on purpose."
"I know."
"I love you."
"I love you." He chuckles, "I was just getting ready to walk to your apartment if you didn't answer this time."
"Oh? Maybe I shouldn't have answered." She smirks, guilt rising in her stomach. "Anything to report from the day?"
"Not really no."
"Me either… maybe you shouldn't have freaked so much, I'm boring."
"You? Never, you're just taking a much-deserved break."
Oh yeah, what a break she's had. "Not much of a break without you here."
"I wanted to cancel this trip, you wouldn't let me."
"And you're having a fantastic time with Claire, we've been over this." She sighs, "I'm going to make myself something to eat here soon. You can't be done for the day, can you?"
"No, Claire and I are going to some late-night movie."
"Sounds fun, go enjoy it."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." She hangs up, mostly because she isn't sure she can handle the weight of lying to him any longer. How ironic would it be if she felt so guilty she got sick?
She doesn't sleep that night, despite her body screaming at her to do so. The dark has her on edge, nerves practically tingling as every time she closes her eyes she sees a monster before her. There's a bit of bile stuck in the back of her throat even when she tries to sleep with the lights on. She feels exposed and alone, so fucking alone.
At about five thirty she gets up to watch cartoons like a little kid, blanket wrapped around her shoulders and eating cereal. It's therapeutic almost, the soft volume of the TV accompanied by the slight rain outside. The sunrise only really lightens the clouds to a soft grey and she likes the gentleness all around her.
Near noon, she hears her front door unlock on its own, acting on instinct she pulls out the gun she keeps on hand.
"Take one more step and I shoot." She says, taken aback by the familiar laugh that fills her apartment.
"Chris?" She asks, lowering the gun.
"That's my girl, ready to shoot intruders at a moment's notice." He walks in the door and shuts it behind him, luggage and all.
"Chris!" She drops the gun and runs into his arms, legs wrapping around his waist and face pressed into his neck. "Oh my god don't do that to me."
"Sorry, you're the one who gave me a key." He chuckles, adjusting his hold on her.
"I thought you weren't coming back until late tonight." She pulls back to take him in, perfect as he ever was. Chiseled features and cocky grin at the way she's latched herself onto him.
"I got bumped up." He claims weakly, "You look tired."
"I'm more excited to see you than I am tired, promise." She leans in and kisses his forehead.
"Uhuh, I think you have bags under your eye, young lady."
"Hey, don't be mean." She pouts, to which he responds by kissing her cheek.
"I'm not being mean, I'm making up for all the doting I couldn't do while I was away."
"Oh, is that right?"
"You bet your beautiful ass it is." He shifts her legs again while she places her forehead to his.
"I missed you. I wish you'd been here with me." And been around to help kill that leech monster… thing… That would have been very much appreciated.
"Well, I'm here now." He chuckles.
"Yes, you are." She kisses his lips this time, quick and sweet. "I love that you're here."
"I do too, and I love you."
"I love you too." She starts trying to put her feet on the ground, but he won't let her. "Don't you want to unpack?"
"Hmm, I was actually thinking of taking a nap."
"Were you?" She asks, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I had an early flight, remember? Would you care to join me?"
She feels herself blushing as she agrees, Chris whisks her off to the bedroom, laying her in the mussed bed before taking off his shoes.
"Hey, you are planning to tell me about your trip, right?"
"After we get some shut eye." He claims, shutting the blinds and crawling up next to her, placing a kiss on the side of her head.
It's the first time in days that she's felt safe, calm, and even content. She falls asleep in seconds beside the one person in this whole world she knows will keep her feeling this way. Forever.