Competition
"Dammit Redfield! You're joking right?" Jake cursed at the man giving orders. "I'm sticking with her." He rejected and grabbed Sherry by the arm.
"I'll be fine." She yanked herself out and gave him a disapproving look.
"Major Redfield! Please reconsider!" Lieutenant Nivans made sure his voice was heard.
"You have your orders, now complete the mission." Chris Redfield roared and looked at Jill. "Be careful. I'll see you when I see you." And he flashed a special reassuring smile towards her before driving away in the backseat with the rest of the team.
Jill Valentine turned to the three with a determined look on her face. "You heard the man. Agent Birkin, with me. Piers and Jake you're our eyes."
The original plan was to find Jake Muller and escort him back to the states safely. However, getting out of Edonia wasn't as simple as it was getting into it. BOWs swarmed the streets in certain parts of the area, and Jake especially wanted to eradicate all of them near his hometown; near his mother's grave. As for Sherry, she requested her superiors that she tags along on the mission after hearing from Claire that Jill's assignment was to find him. Its been almost a year since she reunited with an old friend- her old partner. Nevertheless, things don't usually go as plan. Piers Nivans recovered from being exposed to the virus and after some tests, he suddenly wanted to go back on the field like Sherry. He may be a little rusty on the aim, but he was one hell of a soldier Jill could not ignore. So she let him in on the escort mission, with Major Redfield's approval.
And the one thing that stood in their way of leaving the country was the amount of well bred intelligent BOWs blocking their rendezvous point with their getaway chopper. The plan to bait out The Family's battalion of BOWs was a piece of cake, so why not bait them out with a pair of girls who had the G and T virus? The two were obviously a goldmine for The Family to experiment and play with.
"I still think this plan sucks." Jake grabbed Sherry's shoulder with a hint of worriment in his eyes. He just made contact with her a few days ago and being replaced as her partner by a woman he just met did not fly by him so easily. "I have a bad feeling about this super girl."
"Intel received information of an ambush around 0200 hours at our location. We want to take advantage of this opportunity and ambush them instead." Jill reassured them.
Piers locked on to Sherry giving a firm eye contact advice. She gave him a thumbs-up before heading out. "I'll be careful, okay?" He nodded at her promise and let them go. Jake noticed the spark and immediately narrowed his eyes at the Redfield-wannabe. The two women disappeared into the night and ran across no man's land to the destroyed building across the street.
"Great..." Jake sighed and grabbed his jacket, readying his sniper rifle. "I'm stuck with the puppy here."
"Shut it. You're lucky enough that I'm not part of the enemy otherwise you'd be my first target to shoot down." Piers fiercely looked at him and loaded up his anti material rifle. "Foxtrot to HQ. This is lieutenant Piers Nivans. In position at the eagles nest ready to fire at will at the rendezvous point at 0200 hours." Jake glanced at the uniformed school boy and watched him meticulously focus into his scope at the empty room on the fourth floor building, even though Jill and Sherry weren't there yet. He even noticed his right arm slightly shaking at the trigger.
"Don't get the jitters now, lapdog. You don't want to accidentally shoot 'em." He joked and also readied his rifle.
"You're talking to the best marksman in the BSAA...Wesker." Piers cleverly shot back, making Jake's blood boil at the sound of his father's name. "Besides, even if I did shoot Captain Valentine, she'd live through it. As for agent Birkin…"
Jake noticed the change in tone and informalities when Sherry was mentioned. Its' only been a year since the outbreak in China and although he missed catching up with her, he felt something was going on between the two during the time of his absence.
"You got a soft spot for her or something?" His curiosity got the better of him. Piers just grunted, mildly glancing back and forth with Jake's eye contact and his scope.
"I owe my life to both Jill and Sherry…"
Jake felt a story come up, and again- curiosity got the better of him. However the delay and silence of Piers focusing on the mission started to aggravate him. "Listen lapdog, we actually have time to listen to one of your sob stories. So get on with it."
"I was evolving into a BOW last year. Captain Valentines antibodies stopped the spread from overtaking me and eventually my body adapted with her genes. I ended up being stuck half BOW and half human until Sherry's C-Virus started to work wonders on my right arm after surgically removing the BOW parts. Little by little, my arm is becoming normal." Piers took off his glove and lifted up his sleeve to reveal his white bandaged arm.
"Looks like you got super powers too." Jake mildly joked half paying attention to Jill and Sherry who was now at the rendezvous point resting.
"Not exactly. But Sherry visited me whenever she could at the government facility I stayed in because I couldn't go outside. I was a freakshow, but…her presence made me feel more human than a BOW" And Jake caught him with a small smile plastered on his face. It irritated him.
And to learn that she made frequent visits just for this guy irritated him even more. Sherry could've visited him in Edonia, it would've been nice. He knew they obviously grew close in the one year Jake was roaming around the middle east, it easily bothered him. It made sense to him now that Piers Nivans – who was supposed to be in the hospital resting actually requested to be on the field once he heard Sherry was tagging along.
"Awesome. Now I've been replaced by a lapdog." The mock in his voice sparked Piers to intently look at him.
"You cant be replaced if you've never been with her initially, kid." He smoothly shot back. Jake snarled at him and pulled out his handgun with his free hand pointing it Piers. Piers automatically did the same with his shotgun and rested the barrel on his lap, aiming for Jake's head. "I don't like you Wesker, so don't be surprised if one day you wake up and you find yourself burning in hell."
"The feeling's mutual." Neither man laid down their weapons, nor their gaze. Jake's teeth gritted and prevented another growl rip from his chest, whereas Piers kept his eyes locked and opened with a collected attitude.
"You can see us right?"
However both of them suddenly dropped their weapons at the sound of her voice through their headset and immediately crouched low against the wall to look through their rifle scope.
"Yes Sherry we-"
"Yeah yeah supergirl. Don't worry, I got my eyes on you." Jake cut him off and emphasized himself more. He glanced at Sherry through the window who lightly waved at them. "Get some shuteye already."
"Well I cant sleep knowing both of you are watching me intently." She chuckled and just leaned against the window looking with her binoculars at him. Jake mildly grinned when he saw her smile. Jill however was organizing and cleaning her semi automatic rifle on the table.
"When we reach the states, you better take me out and show me a good time babe." Jake taunted and continued to watch her every move through the window.
She smiled wider and just laughed at his teasing remark. "I'll take a few days off to show you around, just for you. Just promise you make a good first impression on Claire – she never liked any of the other guys I brought home." A grin tugged upward on Jake's face when she playfully responded.
"Flirting with her won't do you any good!" Piers quietly shot at and pushed him to the side, making Jake stumble.
"Mind your own goddamn business!" Jake sneered in a whisper for ruining the mood and pushed him back too.
"HQ to Foxtrot! You got BOWs on your tail as we speak! Your new orders are to regroup and retract 2 miles from the extraction point."
"Wait what?!" Jill shot up and grabbed her gun scanning the area. "HQ this is Captain Valentine, there are currently no hostiles at our rendezvous point."
Jake and Piers looked at each other knowing exactly what he had meant.
"Look out!" Piers tackled Jake to the ground once he spotted a missile shooting upward towards them from the streets. The fourth floor wall collapsed halfway at the sudden explosion, leaving the two exposed to the J'avo who swarmed in. The turn of events distorted their hand eye coordination as they were trying to grasp at what just happened. "A little help here?!"
Jake regained his composure and noticed Piers hanging on the ledge of the collapsed floor. "For fucks sake, now I owe YOU one, lapdog." He helped him up and the two started running towards the emergency escape ramp of the building.
"Piers! Jake! Are you alright?!"
"Yeah! Had a wake up call!" He roared through the headset at Jill and started rampaging through the ramp as more insurgents were in their way. Soon the two men found themselves jumping from building to building in this cat and mouse game for the past few minutes until they spotted a dead end.
"Keep up Wesker!" Piers jumped and rolled once his feet planted on the ground to avoid recoil. "You're- mmf!" and before he could finish his sentence, a random hand grabbed and pulled him behind the wall, throwing him on the ground.
"Lapdog?!" Jake ran towards the spot he disappeared at, only to be captured too. He felt Jill firmly covering his mouth and Piers' head laid on Sherry's lap covering his mouth too to keep quiet. He seethed at the sight while he heard the insurgents run pass their hiding spot.
"Are you okay?" Sherry asked the both of them as she gently removed her hand from Piers' mouth.
"I am now." Piers smirked since the position he was in with Sherry made Jake heated. Both of them exchanged evil glances at each other as Sherry was oblivious to the whole thing. She looked at Jill making contact with Chris on the phone.
"Yes, we're fine. Yeah, I got it. I'll see you when I see you." They spotted their leader making a ghostly smile and shrugging it off with a mumble after hanging up the phone. "Alright Kids, bad news." The three locked on to Jill. "We're splitting up and taking two separate paths. Piers and I are going to cause a distraction on the other side of town while you two head to the new rendezvous point. Here are your coordinates and I'll radio for pick up after you've been extracted."
Out of nowhere new BOW insurgents spotted them from afar and created pressure for them to move out quicker. Jill grabbed out her C4 and urged the two to leave. "Go now!" She ducked and also grabbed her rifle to show resistance.
"But we cant just leave-" Sherry didn't budge once Jake grabbed her hand signaling that they better get moving. Piers gave her a nod.
"I'll be fine. Just go!" He assured her and whipped out his rifle. And the two jolted out of the chaos.
It was silent between the two as they were walking through the trees and rubble of the forest. As much as he didn't want to ask, Sherry's face said it all. She worried about him, she was thinking about him, she wanted to know if Piers really was okay.
Jake heaved a sigh and furiously scratched his head knowing very well it was his fault Sherry moved on in the past year. They weren't anything special to begin with, but the feeling of trust and the secrets exchanged during the events in China tied them together. But he chose to lay low in the Mideast countries rather than the states. The few messages they sent during the past year made him look forward to the next time he saw her and it made him think he had all the time in the world to grow up to take things slow with Sherry. However, he didn't know she was also attaching herself with another man at the time. And he should've known that he took her sweet remarks as 'friendly' remarks instead.
The 'I miss you' messages were actually 'Its been awhile' messages. The 'I hope you're taking care of yourself' messages were the 'how are you?' messages. And the consistent 'I wish you were here' messages meant 'Should've came to the states'
Yeah he interpreted everything way wrong. It seemed the bond they've formed really was replaced by something stronger. But in Piers' terms, there probably wasn't anything there to begin with.
His thoughts caused him to explode. "You know! If you're so worried about your boyfriend back there you should've stuck by him!"
Sherry perked up at his sudden outburst. "What?"
"How come you never told me about lapdog?! Huh?! I don't like being played as a toy!" He confronted her straight up and furrowed his brows together.
She didn't falter at his intimidation. "First of all, I don't know what you're talking about. And second, Piers is one of my close friends. We aren't dating or anything." Then her voice rose. "Why do you care anyway?"
"I don't!" He balled his fists up and punched a tree, making a crackling indentation with the brown bark. "Never mind. Its none of my business."
"Then let's just focus on the mission." Sherry scorned annoyingly and walked ahead taking the lead, letting him know he was being an ass. Jake just scoffed and followed behind her. It was silent for the next few minutes and they found themselves walking slower to their destination. Her mood was peacefully content until-
"What do you see in that guy anyway?!"
Sherry just scowled for bringing back a topic she almost forgotten. She groaned and leaned on a tree as she was being mentally and physically drained. "For the last time, he's just a friend-"
"Who is seriously hung up on you." He pointed and crossed his arms leaning next to her. She waved it off and rolled her eyes as if it wasn't a big deal. Then she studied Jake's facial expressions – the furrowed eyebrows, the slight frown, the severe staring and then she plainly blinked at him when it finally hit her.
"…Are you… threatened by him?" Although it was dark, Sherry spotted the distressed twinkle in his eye, and the nervous grumble he made. She made a catty and impish smile.
"Are you fucking kidding me? No. No, no, you got it all wrong!" He tried to save himself even though she got it all right. "I'm just surprised how you could replace me with that Redfield wannabe."
"You are threatened. You like me." She shook her head and laughed, covering her sweet smile. Jake furiously denied over and over again as Sherry continued to urge him to admit it. He grew tired of the mocking and just mentally acknowledged it in his mind. But, that doesn't mean he couldn't mock Sherry enough to figure out if she felt the same. He wanted to play his cards right to turn the game in his odds.
"Alright, fine. Lets say I am." And Sherry stopped laughing when he heard the seriousness in his voice. The tone turned quieter and lower almost as if he craved to keep her in his grasp. "Lets say… I'm also interested in a piece of Sherry Birkin. All of Sherry Birkin to be exact." He turned to her and cornered her against the tree.
"Uhm- W-What are you doing?" She gulped and noticed Jake's face coming closer and closer to hers to the point where she can she her reflection in those crystal blue eyes of his.
"Relax Sherry, you know I don't bite." He didn't even blink. She knew he can command a woman's attention with that voice, especially complemented by his masculine face, and that daring scar. She knew Jake Muller was a very attractive man. So her heart rate sky rocketed and the knees went immobile when his attraction level peaked. "Just listen."
Jake moved in closer while cornering her to the tree and he enjoyed every second that passed since he wasn't sharing her company with the 'lapdog'.
"Now, I got some growing up to do in order to be the man I want to be, hence I haven't crossed the line with you, just yet. And I'm sorry I chose to wait." He stated truthfully. "But, I'd like to know where you stand with me as I am, since the competition is getting fierce."
Her eyes widened at the sudden confession but she was speechless to find him brutally honest. He definitely grew up in the past year, but he managed to stay the same potty-mouthed hothead she had met a year ago. His lips ranged in centimeters from hers.
"Your move." He quietly stated and breathed out keeping gentle loving eyes locked onto her.
"I-I…Piers really is just a friend" She nervously tucked the loose hairs behind her ear and turned away from his gaze
"…Then what am I?" His hoarse voice lingered in her ears and she looked into his eyes with innocence.
Sherry went with her gut. And it shocked both of them immediately when they simultaneously moved closer to each other. Jake grabbed her petite body to press against his and Sherry tugged his suspenders down towards her.
And she softly broke their kiss. "What do you think you are?" She pecked him again, lingering a nibble on his bottom lip just to toy with him more.
Jake coolly smirked, nodding in approval. He stepped back, wiping his bottom lip with pleasure. "Yeah, that about sums up everything." Despite everything that happened, he was satisfied with the day.
"…Can we get back to the mission now?" She coughed and dusted off the dirt on her pants and took the lead again, leaving Jake still awestruck in his dreamland.
He grinned and caught up with her to grab her hand freely. She gripped back, but continued to walk fast. "Yeah, let's get outta here. So, will I be staying with you?"
"As if. You're going to live alone."
"That's no fun." He lightheartedly snorted and kept up the pace. "How far are we to the rendezvous point? I wanna leave this shithole already."
"Not far. But why so eager?"
"Someone's gotta give the lapdog bad news."