A/N: So, I wasn't aware of it until it was pointed out to me (generally I don't read many hetero fics, even if I write them) that apparently, someone had something similar to a specific part in this chapter in their fic as well. Normally I try to keep some semblance of originality if possible, so I apologize but by the time we realized this, Pqfire09 and I already referenced it too many times in our RP to edit events. D: Again, apologies, but it's only a minor detail compared to the rest of the story.

Jake Muller had been in and out of reach for the span of the last two years, he roamed around multiple places across the globe to do exactly the opposite of anything he could have imagined back in his time as a well paid mercenary. Bioterrorism, J'avo, they seemed to be reoccurring events. But it hadn't been until recently that he'd been contacted out of the blue by Sherry. After everything that happened in Edonia, then six months after in China, the two of them had parted ways with very limited contact. The message he'd received from her more recently had practically been a plea for help, one he couldn't decline.

She wasn't too descriptive with details, the mission itself was sketchy. Apparently, they'd sent her in to help retrieve files that some remnants of Neo-Umbrella had stashed away about the C-Virus, something that could quite potentially lead to an actual cure. She'd explained before how the antibodies they'd gotten from his blood were used to create Anti-C, a drug made to prevent someone from being infected with the virus. The files they were after held a possibility of giving them more, of allowing them to create something to help revert those poor souls back to their human state.

Sherry had been insistent at first, and he'd obliged, but before he'd actually been able to arrive she had sent another message. This time, she was notifying him that she'd been spotted and was in trouble. What was originally meant to be little more than him giving her a hand had turned much more serious and into something he couldn't back down from. Sherry had gone so far as to send the exact coordinates to where she was, and Jake had stopped at nothing to get there. It was a small building, more of an outpost than anything according to the petite blonde. He didn't think like he should have, he just acted.

The guards didn't stand a chance as he plowed through them with inhuman strengths all in thanks to the experiments of one Carla Radames. More J'avo, only it wasn't a Neo-Umbrella stamp posted on their arms. It was a patch for Tricell, something he'd barely caught onto as the bodies had spontaneously combust as they were overcome by the extent of damage he'd delivered with little more than his bare fists. He searched from room to room, until he stumbled upon one with high tech controls. Although impatient in his search, he stepped inside the moment he caught screens as they flickered through different camera angles on the other side of the room. Sharp blue eyes shifted between each one with a pause as they settled on a familiar form backed into a corner on one of the screens.

Not fully sure of what he was doing, he flipped a few of the switches and with a little luck, more of the screens shifted to different angles of the scene. There was a stamp at the bottom of the screen - it was the same name he was sure he'd seen on the building near the end of the street. It wasn't that far, if Sherry was there... He paused his train of thought as another camera with an outside view zoomed in on a batch of soldiers. It didn't take long for him to recognize them as B.S.A.A. operatives; of course he'd noticed that it was none other than the renowned Chris Redfield who had been at their front. Always on a mission to try and save the day. He snorted with a slight narrow to his gaze.

What the hell were they even there for? Sherry had told him she was working alone. "Damn B.S.A.A. always stickin' their jarheads where they'll only cause trouble." The odd thing was, they looked as though they'd been retreating. Why couldn't they have offered any help to Sherry? Jake's eyes moved back to blonde on screen; she was still alive, and she hadn't looked too roughed up on the outside, but he reckoned a lot of that was all in thanks to her super girl trait. The exhausted, spent look on her innocent features however had made something in his stomach churn. The sound of stretched leather softly lifted into the air as his hands closed into fists and made a quick turn to start on his way. He couldn't leave her like that.

He'd deal with those damn J'avo and whoever the hell else was behind them for whatever they put Sherry through.

Before he even had a chance to escape through the door way, he heard it. An explosion that echoed in an ear shattering volume and shook the buildings around it. He glanced back toward the screen; the images of Sherry had gone dark, blurred over with static as the camera went offline. Other sights from within the building had shut off simultaneously, the few that remained were on the outside - and they were what revealed the state of the building, which was little more than rubble. It was at that moment he felt something curl inside of him like a tendril around his heart and squeeze. It stopped beating. He stopped breathing.

"SHERRY!"

The sound of his own voice carried back to him as he found himself unable to look away from the screen. Sherry couldn't - no, she was a super girl, right? Invincible. Untouchable.

He was lying to himself, even if he refused to admit it.

"Sherry..." He almost didn't recognize the sound when he repeated her name, something caught at the back of his throat. No, not like that. He found himself rooted on the spot, unsure what to do, what to think. It was a new feeling he'd never experienced before, something that went beyond even what he'd felt for his mother on her death bed, the only woman he'd had the heart to care for.

But now there was Sherry. And Sherry was gone.

A glimpse of movement from one of the few remaining camera views revealed the B.S.A.A. squad. They were so... Calm, so fine with the situation, some of them even seemed satisfied. Bioterrorism, J'avo, the viruses. If there had been anything in that place that could have posed as a threat, they wouldn't hesitate to annihilate the building, it had been done before hadn't it?

The B.S.A.A. were responsible for the explosion. For Sherry. Realization washed over him - Chris. Chris had been responsible for the death of his father, and now there he was again standing proud with his men in front of the same blast Sherry had been trapped inside. Now it wasn't just one thing that the Captain of the S.O.U. had taken from him. The man had cost him Sherry, the one person who managed to help him turn away from the life he'd built around himself for the better. To say it was personal was an understatement, it already had been. Now... Now, Jake wanted bloodshed for something he could never get back.

With a last glance toward the fuzzy screens where the blonde had been moments ago, Jake turned on his heel with the decision made and set in stone.

I'm sorry, Sherry.

He didn't voice the words. He wasn't sure he could.