September 30th 13:48PM
LOCATION: Spencer Memorial Hospital – ER
As Natasha makes her way back to the ER she's surprised to find Carlos gearing up
"You going somewhere?" she asked him, she looked to Tyrell who provided nothing but an exhausted shrug
"You heard what Bard said Natasha, there's more of the vaccine underground" Natasha looked over towards Jill who was still unconscious, but looked much better
"Carlos you do realise that the city's about to be microwaved?" Tyrell asked, but Natasha was adamant that she wasn't going to let that happen-
"No, I just spoke with the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, she's sent me a way to contact someone who may have the authorisation to stop the missiles" she hoped that Ross would see reason and stop the destruction of the city,
After reprimanding the Avengers over how much death and destruction they frequently caused in their path to protect the innocent, Natasha found the whole thing pretty ironic
"Send me their frequency, I'll try and talk to them" Tyrell insisted, Natasha decided that given her history with Secretary Ross she decides that Tyrell may have better luck at persuading the U.S Secretary of State
"Will do. Uh- just so you know Tyrell, Ross isn't the most pleasant of people to talk to" Tyrell laughed
"Friend of yours?" he asked her,
"He doesn't like me very much, so if he's a dick to you- feel free to drop my name along with a vague threat" as she sent the comms frequency over to Tyrell Carlos restocked on his ammunition-
"Are you coming with me?" he asked her.
Logically she knew that time was running out and they needed to get underground and retrieve the vaccine, but another part of her told her something else
"Actually I think I'll stay here, one of us should be here when Jill wakes up"
He would be lying if he didn't admit that he was slightly disappointed, but realised that she was right, one of them should be here with Jill to explain everything,
Natasha grinned at Carlos's expression,
"Aww don't sulk Carlos. We'll catch up with you"
Carlos he looked forward to seeing Jill again, he wanted to tell her that he was sorry, that she had been right about Umbrella-
"До скорого" she said to him as she shook his hand, but she could tell from his puzzled expression that he didn't understand Russian-
"It means 'see you soon' in Russian" she clarified,
"Right- uh- До скорого" his pronunciation was awful,
She'd given it her best shot at teaching Clint Russian, but like Carlos their pronunciation of her native tongue was so bad it was almost offensive.
Carlos departed on his search for the underground lab and the vaccine.
Natasha slumped into one of the empty chairs, she wished that sleep came easy to her nowadays, unfortunately her dreams were nothing but nightmares making remaining awake a luxury she couldn't always afford.
Jill woke with a sharp gasp, where was she? What happened?
Jill looked at her arm where the creature had struck her.
How was she not a Zombie right now?
She remembered being infected with the T-Virus then nothing, she looked around she seemed to be in a hospital, but how did she get here?
As her thoughts tumbled around in her head when suddenly, Natasha burst through the double doors, Jill was surprised to see that the Avenger was smiling
"Jill, oh thank god you're ok" Jill sighed in relief, it was good to see Black Widows face, it reassured her that everything was going to be ok-
"I've got good news, its over now the city's safe" Natasha smiled it was a beautiful sight to see on the red heads traditionally emotionless face.
All of a sudden Natasha doubled over and screamed an agonising yell of pain,
Jill placed her hand on Natasha's shaking shoulder only for the redhead to snarl at her, blood poured out of Natasha's mouth and her beautiful face quickly became dark and distorted.
Jill's legs collapsed from underneath her as she scrambled backwards.
Natasha threw one of her Glocks across the floor to Jill who grabbed it with shaking hands
"Shoot me Jill, it's the only way" Natasha growled few the last remaining seconds of her humanity.
Natasha crawled closer to Jill as she tried to fight the infection, but Jill just couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger, it wasn't Natasha Romanoff anymore, but it was to late as the Avengers figure leapt at her and Jill's entire vision faded to black.
October 1st 00:06AM
LOCATION: Spencer Memorial Hospital -ER
Jill opened her eyes waking up for real this time, she glanced to her right where a very much alive Black Widow sit slumped in a chair,
The redhead quickly noticed that Jill had regained consciousness,
"Hey there" there she smirked, it was a sight that Jill was glad that she was alive to see
"Where am I? What's going on?" she asked the Black Widow, but before she can respond the emergency broadcast system made another dire announcement;
"Attention all citizens the missile strike on the city will occur in just hours. The payload will eradicate all biological material, you will not survive the blast if you remain in the city – Evacuate Now!"
Jill stared at the screen as it replayed the message on loop 'they're seriously going to nuke the whole city?'
"October 1st, no way, how long was I out" she asked Natasha who looked like she hadn't slept for quite some time, Natasha shrugged as she perched on the bed next to Jill
"42 hours give or take" Jill shook her head- she had lost nearly two days, she should be dead or undead right now,
She looked at the makeshift bandage wrap on her arm, it still hurt from where the creature had infected her,
"How?" Jill asked Natasha who she had am idea that the Avenger had something to do with her current aliveness-
"Me and Carlos tracked you down, there was an Umbrella scientist who specialised in vaccine research stationed at this hospital, so naturally we brought you here" she was cured? And where the hell was Carlos?
"Was an Umbrella Scientist?" Black Widow darkly nodded
"Yeah, he's dead, murdered. I suspect it was Nikolai's doing" a sour look shadowed over the Black Widow's face
"But Doctor Bard kept the vaccine sample locked away for me to find, there's more of it stockpiled in an underground lab, Carlos has already gone on ahead to look for it"
Jill was still processing all the information she'd learned in the last few moments the most important being
1. Raccoon City was on a Countdown to be completely destroyed
2. There was a vaccine for the T-Virus
3. It worked, and
4. Carlos had ventured off on his own to find the rest of the vaccine.
"So I assume the plan is to go after Carlos and get that vaccine" Natasha smirked at Jill
"Why of course, he can't do it on his own, so gear up" both of them stood up and Natasha was completely unprepared for what happened next as Jill wrapped her aching stiff body in a big hug
"Thank you for saving my life" she whispered to her hero,
Natasha awkwardly attempted to return the hug, but failed
"Of course it's what friends are for".
They head out into the wrecked reception area where Tyrell sat with his laptop still trying to negotiate the destruction of the city
"Morning Sunshine" he smirked at Jill
"How's is going with Ross?" Natasha asked as she looked over his shoulder to see that he'd been put on hold
"Awful, this Secretary of State is a dick and you were right he really doesn't like you"
Natasha smirked, but Tyrell had been at it for hours now and each time he thought he was getting somewhere the government official denied that he could solely prevent the launch 'which was an obvious lie'
Tyrell noticed that both of them were fully geared up-
"You're going after Carlos?" he asked them, Jill nodded,
"You know he can manage, he's a professional" Jill and Natasha shared a smug look,
"So are we" Jill replied, Tyrell laughed and shook his head-
"Right, I guess I'm not talking either of you out of this, I don't know where the entrance to the underground lab is, but I've lost contact with Carlos so expect trouble" he warned them, luckily neither of them were any strangers to trouble.
"Ok so- underground lab" Jill whispered as she restocked her ammo supply, she wondered how far ahead of them Carlos had managed to get,
Jill could find no indication of which way he may have went-
"Let's try searching the other parts of the Hospital that Carlos and myself didn't have a chance to search" Natasha stated.
They follow the main corridor back towards the reception area outside Doctor Bard's office when all of a sudden, the doors at the end of the hallway are smashed in by a charging Hunter,
"Well hello!" Jill yelled as she fired some explosive rounds into the quick monster-
"Yeah there's a lot of them around the Hospital" Natasha stated as she fired at the B.O.W until it convulsed in it's typical death movement
"Why are there so many of them here?" Jill asked as they entered a thankfully empty reception area
"Well, my guess is that either they escaped from the underground facility- or they were released" an unnerving concept, that some Umbrella employee may have released the monsters intentionally, but with a theory Natasha had in the works it made sense.
"What's through there?" Jill asked as she motioned towards the double doors on the other end of the reception area
"That's Bard's lab where we found the vaccine sample" there was nothing of any more use in there anymore, Natasha had made sure of that when she uploaded the labs entire terminal
"Can I have a look?" Jill asked, Natasha nodded.
Dr Bard's body was still slumped in his chair, thankfully none of the undead had thought to venture inside
"Yeah, this is definitely Nikolai's work" Jill sighed as she noticed the blood stained letters on the desk, because of the dark blood stains they had been over looked, but Jill could slightly still make out some of the words
"Fucker" Jill hissed as she recognised a name mentioned in the letter, although she honestly wasn't surprised.
"What's wrong?" Natasha asked as Jill showed her the letter,
To her it looked like some sexist pigs admitting that they're all shitty people
"The Brian Irons referenced in the letter is the police chief and my former asshole of a boss" Natasha recalled that Jill had recently been suspended from the force after refusing to drop her investigation into Umbrella-
"Well- if it makes you feel better he's probably dead by now" Jill scoffed, he certainly deserved it,
"What do you think Nikolai's deal is?" Jill asked Natasha as they left the lab.
Black Widow had read the files that Hill sent over to her, however the S.H.I.E.L.D records on both Russians were suspiciously short and told her nothing that she didn't already know
"Well I think Umbrella may have a serious corporate espionage problem" the fact that Umbrella seemed to have turned on its own gave her a vague idea of what was happening,
The company were now desperately trying to clean up the mess they created, but at the same time they weren't going to let the opportunities that the outbreak provided pass them by
"What are your thoughts on the company, I mean you must have your own theory"
Jill had already seen the amount of backstabbing going on behind the façade when Albert Wesker betrayed seemingly everyone back in the Umbrella's Arklay Facility
"Firstly you've got what the world perceives Umbrella to be- the Pharmaceutical company developing lifesaving medicine, this foundation of Umbrella is what I would refer to as the 'Red Shirts' or foot soldiers, they are the innocents, the ones that have no clue about the bioweapons"
Jill scowled at Natasha, was she actually referencing Star Trek to explain?
"Then you've got the Lieutenants, these guys are the specialists or heads of certain departments and know about the engineering of the bioweapons, but are ingrained to not ask questions" she suspected this was where Mikhail fit in, at least he had been trying to do the right thing before his death-
"Then you've got the commanders, these would tend to be people in positions of insight, power and influence, like Dr Bard and Irons. However, Umbrella wouldn't be afraid to cut lose these individuals if they really have to"
Jill supposed that someone had to take the fall she didn't doubt that Umbrella already had their fall guys set up to take a share of blame for the Outbreak in Raccoon City, unfortunately most of them were likely already dead.
"Then you've got the Captains, these are few and will be difficult to reach. These guys are Umbrella's enforcers, the puppet masters of the operation and will possibly be the ones that will put up the most of the fight"
Black Widow knew that this was the type of position that Colonel Vladimir took, although he would be difficult to track down she looked forward to the challenge
"Finally you've got the Admiral, we know so far of Oswald E Spencer's position as the founder of Umbrella taking him down would prove costly and yes, would take some time, but taking him down would be the Endgame"
Jill nodded ever since the incident in the mansion all Jill wanted was to bring Spencer to justice, but she had to admit that the only way to do it would be within the confines of the law and Umbrella seemed to have an endless supply of money
"Well- I admire that you used Star Trek to make your point"
Natasha shrugged, she'd been attempting to get Steve to watch it before she came to Raccoon City
"The point is they have a very complex hierarchy, with each level more being more evil and deceitful".
As they continue to explore the hospital the further in, they went the more Zombies and Hunters they encountered.
"And where does Nikolai stand?" Jill asked over the loud noise of gun fire
"I think Nikolai may be doing the dirty work for one of the higher ups in the hierarchy" Natasha wasn't actually too sure; all she was sure of was that he didn't have an issue stabbing everyone else in the back.
Jill pondered that as they continued following the corridor upstairs, they're both able to crawl underneath one of the barricades and unable to follow no further they both climb out of a broken window where they jump down to the courtyard.
Jill spots a weapon case, she had no clue how it had ended up in the hospital courtyard
"Nice" Black Widow whispered as Jill pulled out a Lightning Hawk Magnum-
"Guaranteed to give you a head ache" it was a ridiculously large hand gun,
Natasha herself preferred the smaller firearms like her Glock26's, Heckler & Koch P30, her Walther PPK (classic) and the Soviet made Makarov pm, but of course the Glocks had always been her go to.
Natasha passes Jill a box of .44 ammo that she'd come across-
"Here you go, try to not knock yourself out with it" Jill laughed, she was no stranger to guns with a bit of kick to it.
They make their way back into another part of the ground floor of the hospital and make their way back to search a route they hadn't taken,
"So what you said about Nikolai doing the dirty work of someone higher up, do you know who 'Ms I know Everything" -
Natasha laughed "I don't actually know everything, I just pretend that I do, there a difference" Jill raised her eyebrows at Natasha in a sceptical expression.
She wasn't going to let the redhead get away with not sharing what she knew or at least what she thought.
Natasha sighed as another Hunter leapt into their path, but Jill is able to take the B.O.W down in just two shots thanks to her new .44 Magnum, it did in fact have a very heavy knockback to it.
"There's a man by the name of Colonel Sergie Vladimir who is involved with Umbrella, I suspect Nikolai is working for him" it wasn't a name that Jill had previously come across yet in her thorough investigations into the pharmaceutical company
"Care to share how you came to your conclusion?" Jill asked as they went through a door that Natasha was certain hadn't been unlocked earlier.
The Zombies in the waiting room lifted themselves off the ground as they sensed the presence of the living, Natasha kept talking over her gun fire,
"After the fall of the Soviet Union Colonel Vladimir served a remnant group of the KGB" the 'Red Room' she mentally added, but wasn't sure she wanted to talk about that part of her life yet-
"He eventually became disillusioned with the KGB General of that department, from there he dropped off the grid, but thanks to Mikhail I now know that he was taken in by Umbrella where he eventually went onto found the U.B.C.S department as well as Umbrella's internal Espionage Unit"
Jill nodded, she suspected that the red head was still withholding information, but something told Jill that the matter could be personal to the Avenger.
Jill was contempt to let her keep some secrets,
"Someone's been this was recently" Natasha stated as she spots a dead zombie that she knew neither of them had shot, but at least they were on the right path, Natasha just hoped that they made it to the lab first.
Translations:
До скорого [do skorogo] - see you soon