September 29th 01:10AM
LOCATION: West Side (Streets of Raccoon City)
Thankfully they were in an area of Raccoon City Jill knew very well, they weren't far from the RPD now and from there she knew of a shortcut back to the Redstone Substation
"Carlos its Jill do you read me?"
She held her breath for a moment, battling that creature had taken some time- she still wasn't certain that the trusted the U.B.C.S to hold off on departing until they made it back.
"Loud and Clear, are you two alright?" Carlos's voice was a warm welcome,
"Yeah, bastards dead" the words didn't feel true to either of them, but it made Carlos relieved at least
"Good fuck him. What were you two thinking turning yourselves into bait? You both could have been killed!"
Natasha couldn't help but let out a laugh, as if; it took more than an angry monster to kill the Black Widow-
"I'll have you know that I'm well prone to destructive tendencies, I don't know what Jill's excuse is"
As Natasha spoke to Carlos Jill flipped off the red head and sighed,
"Don't either of you start, I did what I had to" it was her that the monster was after, her it was relentlessly chasing and because of her a lot of people 'especially Natasha and Carlos' were in danger- it was her life her risk to take.
"I know and thanks" there were a few silent seconds on the other end of the transmission as Jill and Natasha started to climb over a fire truck that blocked the entire street-
"The subway is ready to go, hurry back" Carlos continued, but Jill spoke up first,
"The Black Widow isn't coming with us, she's staying in Raccoon City, says she has a mission to complete"
Black Widow glared at Jill, that information wasn't intended to get back to the U.B.C.S.
There is a brief flash of static and voices like a conversation was happening in the background,
Carlos's voice suddenly came through on the Widow's Stingers
"Ms Romanoff, Mikhail says that he would like a word with you when you get back to the subway, something about our goals being similar"
Natasha doubted that their goals were exactly the same, but for sake of intel gathering she was willing to discuss her mission with Mikhail.
"Understood Carlos, tell Mikhail we'll talk" she turned to look at Jill who was watching the largest building on the street.
"Is that the RPD?" she already knew it was, but for the sake of being nice Natasha decided that it would upset the S.T.A.R.S officer to see somewhere they cared about in such a mess
"Yeah- a lot of good memories in that building" Jill shook her head she couldn't afford to feel that right now, there would be plenty of time for tears when they escaped.
"Come on lets go, there's an ally we can cut through"
Jill led off as they took care of the few Zombies in the street, but soon Natasha noticed that the entire end of the street was gone, replaced with a 30ft drop straight down into the sewers, it was all cordoned off with barriers.
"Hey Jill- what the hell happened to the road?" she asked as Jill shook on a locked gate
"Oh apparently a large sinkhole appeared in the road and it was big, the city mayoral office were trying to get it repaired when- all this happened" Jill sighed and shook the gate again
"Large sinkholes, interesting" Natasha mumbled to herself
"Shit, Kendo must have locked the gate, hopefully the key will be in the gun shop and I guess we can look for supplies too"
Natasha's head whipped around at the mention of a gun shop and looking for more supplies was certainly a good idea
"Lead the way".
September 29th 01:20AM
Location: Kendo's Gun Shop
Natasha shakes one after another of the ammo boxes on the shelf, empty
"So- do you know the owner of this store?" Natasha asks Jill as yet again she is disappointed by another empty ammo box, it looked like everyone in Racoon City had the same idea,
"Yeah, Kendo he's a good man. He was our weapons supplier at the RPD, I would trust any gun crafted by Kendo".
They head to the rear of the store when a middle-aged man jumped them with a shotgun
"Don't move!" he yelled, however he quickly dropped his weapon at the sight of a familiar face-
"Shit Jill!" he exclaimed, he was so glad to see the S.T.A.R.S officer alive,
"Kendo you're alright" Jill knew that if there was anyone who would be prepared for the Zombie apocalypse it would be Raccoon City's best gunsmith.
"Alright is a stretch" the man was on edge, anyone would be given the circumstances, but there was something odd about him,
Kendo was always the calmest man in the room, but now Jill could tell that he was scared and she knew that there wasn't much that could scare the old man,
"Sorry I- uh got a little jumpy there I- uh didn't quite know what to expect"
He did a double take of the red head that stood deadly still next to Jill-
"Black Widow it's a pleasure to meet you, because of you the Glock 26s has been my best seller- uh can't keep that one in stock" he smiled nervously, this was awkward.
Jill knew something was wrong, but right now she was more interested in getting Kendo to come with them,
"Look we're using the subway to get people out of town, you in?" the Gun Smith's uneasy glance at the back door doesn't go unnoticed by either of them,
"Subway well... that's good thinking"
Jill and Natasha share a silent look, Natasha wondered what the man was hiding back there-
"When we get out there's going to be a lot to do, we could use a man of your skill set" he glanced back at the door as if worried that whatever was back there would charge out,
"What's wrong?" Jill asked and placed a reassuring hand on the tense man's shoulder, he turned back to Jill the worry evident on his face.
Kendo had never been a good liar "Uh- nothing. It's just bad timing is all"
Natasha sensed another presence in the room he seemed keen on neither of them seeing in.
Natasha knew for a fact (thanks to Clint) that there was only ONE thing in this world that warranted that type of worry.
"Look don't either of you worry about me, I'm gonna make other arrangements okay"
Jill and Natasha share another worried glance, that subway train as far as anyone knew would be the last ride out of Raccoon City-
"You better, you're the best gunsmith around. Don't do anything stupid" Jill emphasised each word to her friend who nervously laughed off her attempt to get him to leave with her,
"Uh- ha no that's your job right. Uh- take care Jill" Kendo paused before opening the back door-
"Ms Romanoff, please it was an honour to meet you, please make sure Jill get's outta here, she's a good friend" Kendo's words almost made Jill flinch, why was he talking like this?
"Of course" Natasha responded, Kendo shut the door behind him, but as he did so Natasha's suspicion was confirmed as she heard a weak child's voice say "Daddy?" .
"If you're heading back to the station take that ally out front of the shop ok, the keys hanging on the wall"
Jill grabbed the key off the hook, both of them wanted to get back to the substation, but neither of them could ignore the awkwardness in the air
"Sorry Natasha, he's not usually like that, this fucking shit show has really taken it's toll" Jill was right this whole situation was messed up
"Your friend, does he have any family?" Natasha asked as they unlocked the gate at the front of the shop
"Yeah he has a wife and a daughter- oh" sometimes Natasha considered herself lucky to have no living family (biological anyway, she was nowhere near ready to address the feelings she felt about her 'first' family) she liked to keep the list of people she cared about short.
"-oh shit you think?" Black Widow nodded
"Yeah, maybe we should just leave him be" with his grief, Natasha mentally added.
As they follow the ally they find another of the hardier Zombies with the parasite attached to its head-
"Looks like our friend came this way" Natasha smirked as they too multiple shots to take down the parasite
"Do you really think that thing is really dead?" Jill asks, Black Widow evasively responded with a small shrug-
She'd made a habit of not underestimating her enemies, and until she saw a truly dead body right in front of her, then she wouldn't commit a yes to that answer.
The service ally lead to a large house where another of the parasite infected Zombies was already waiting for them,
A long tentacle protruded from the bulgy parasite, it whipped towards Jill who quickly dodged
"For fucks sake" Jill exclaimed as she shot several shotgun rounds into the parasite
"To be fair we have broken into their home" Natasha smirked, Jill sighed and rolled her eyes when finally the parasite burst dropping the fully dead corpse to the floor.
The cut through they took through the house led them out onto a main road, in the distance Natasha spotted the (previously spider infested) power station.
They weren't too far from the station now, but something told Black Widow that it was too soon to feel any type of relief.
As if reading Natasha's mind a loud bang of something hitting the street from behind them drew their attention.
The creature was still very much alive, it emitted a loud angry roar as it dropped a large weapons crate,
The lid flipped off and the creature picked up a giant rocket launcher (fit with a guided red laser dot sight) the two women shared a frustrated worried glance before taking off in a run.
The laser sight struggled to keep a lock on either of them as both women used every inch of free space to dodge and roll-
Not that it stopped the monster from sending rockets in their direction, caring none for the other Zombies or the heavy damage it caused.
"A rocket launcher, really?" Jill yelled back at their attacker,
Natasha couldn't fathom how the monster had managed to get it's giant hands on a laser guided rocket launcher,
She'd been looking to get her hands on one for the next time the Avengers had to fight a giant monster.
"Line of fire Jill!" she yelled as the laser sight kept hitting the back of the S.T.A.R.S officer,
A loud explosion in front of them sent a wave of fire in their direction.
However they both knew that they couldn't stop, no matter how tired or injured either of them was, stopping meant certain death.
Another explosion sends both of them crashing into the road, immediately followed by another which hit a police car sending the vehicle flying into the air
"Watch out!" Jill yelled, but Natasha quickly dodged the heavy car that almost crushed her.
Jill hears her Walkie-Talkie beeping, she guessed that Carlos had heard the explosions even from the safety of the substation
"Jill, Romanoff are you ok?" he asked as more explosions seemed to shake the ground underneath the two women
"Carlos that monster is on our asses again!"
As if on que their pursuer seemed to jump from out of the sky heavily landing on the roof of the parked cars with a loud smash.
"Are you shitting me!? I thought you said you'd killed it!"
The monsters gaze fixated on the two of them with an angry determination, that as a former assassin- it was a look Black Widow knew all too well.
"Me too" Jill responded, she was getting tired of this bullshit,
Why wouldn't this thing just die already
"Sorry Carlos, but we've got to run" Black Widow quickly pulled Jill up to her feet although the S.T.A.R.S officer felt as if her legs had turned to jelly,
The Avenger practically pulled her along at a pace that was unnatural to her.
They dodge the barrage of seemingly endless rockets until they reached a dead end,
Natasha looked back and saw the rocket coming towards them, next thing either of them knew- their bodies were suddenly weightless as the force from the explosion sent both of them flying through the burning air and painfully landing on the other side of the barricade that had blocked their path.
Black Widow awkwardly but quickly got up to her feet- the impact had put some distance between them and the B.O.W.
Natasha looked over at Jill who was not moving from where she had crashed into the road,
Jill was clearly in pain and borderline exhausted, but Natasha needed her to keep moving-
She gently shook Jill's arm and the S.T.A.R.S officer looked at the Avenger slightly dazed from the explosion.
"Jill come on you need to get up" all that mattered right now was surviving- and Jill refused to let some freak made in an Umbrella lab be the end of her.
"Are you ok?" Natasha asked as Jill lifted herself into an upright position,
She rubbed her head which was currently throbbing as if a million wasps swarmed in her brain-
"I really need a strong drink" Jill exhaled the breath she had been holding as she shakenly regained her footing,
"I'll tell you what Jill, if we both survive this I'll buy you anything you want to drink" Jill smirked, now that would be a promise that she would hold the Avenger to.
September 29th 01:35AM
LOCATION: The Streets of Raccoon City
To get back to the substation they would need to climb through the Scaffolding to get back to the area where they had already spent a lot of time running around,
Natasha looked around frantically for their attacker, but again the creature had disappeared.
Suddenly Jill's Walkie-Talkie starts to ring-
"Jill, Widow you there? I think I know how to slow that fucker down, head back to the substation" Carlos said through the communicator.
Both of them knew they couldn't run the risk of leading the monster back to the survivors it would indiscriminately kill everyone
"No, we can't lead him back to you" Natasha told Carlos through the communicator on her Stingers,
"It's ok, trust me" Jill and Natasha share a apprehensive glance they doubted that if a direct hit from a rocket launcher couldn't keep it down then surly nothing else would
"What do you think?" Jill asked Natasha as they cut over the roof tops of the city houses
"I don't think we have much in way of other options".
They climb back down to the plaza, which was now a blazing inferno, everywhere was on fire. Within a matter of hours this part of the city would be reduced to ashes.
They race up the stone steps back up to the main road when suddenly a rocket soars above them heading directly for the hideous head on top of the Toy Uncle.
"I fucking told you so!" Natasha yelled as the giant head rolled straight after them like a giant boulder in an action movie.
The both of them bolted back down the steps with the giant head quickly rolling after them
"This is insane!" Jill yells as they get out of the heavy object's collision path, the giant head rolled straight into the Moon's Doughnuts which left Jill with a tinge of sadness,
Despite the fact that by now most of Raccoon City was a lost cause, this city belonged to the monsters now.
Again, as if on que the creature seemed to drop out of the sky behind them with a terrifying roar, the red laser sight of the rocket launcher attempted to lock onto them as they ran to the main road.
"Line of fire Jill!" Black Widow yelled again as the red laser locks onto the S.T.A.R.S officer's back,
Jill dodges as the rocket narrowly missed her and hit the nearby Zombies that followed the pair into another ally-
"Widow, Jill this way!" they spot Carlos in the distance, they run as fast as their feet would let them the creature was relentless in its attacks.
Jill felt the air around her explode with fire,
The impact from one of the explosions sent Jill crashing towards the hard floor, the red laser locked directly on to her.
Next thing Jill knew she was being lifted off the ground by the Black Widow who nearly ripped her arm off trying to carry her.
Natasha threw Jill's arm over her shoulder the red laser almost caught her side as she stopped to pick up the S.T.A.R.S Officer, but she wouldn't let anything slow them as they raced out of the alley.
Suddenly the creature giving chase behind them is sent off its path by a heavy explosion, Black Widow had spotted the Claymore mine as she ran past it with Jill whilst Carlos waited with a detonator-
"Are you ok" he asked them as they watched the creature hurtle into the wall,
"Nicely done" Natasha smirks as she lets go of Jill's arm, they looked at the monster although it was stunned from the explosion it was far from finished.
It lifted its head to growl at them- but it refused to give up, Carlos began to fire wildly at the monster with his assault rifle-
"Go! Go!" he shouts and motions for them to get inside, Natasha hits the button to start closing the shutters,
"Come on forget about him!" Jill yelled as the U.B.C.S soldier ducked under the closing shutters when he spotted the gas mains for the petrol station across from them,
Carlos fired at the large pipes resulting in a very impressive explosion that shook the entire building, the steel shutter snapped shut seconds before the heavy blast reached them.