[Jill] Or I'll die trying, atoning for numb sins

[zerosuitjill]

Jill had seen, fought, and unwillingly helped to create her share of B.O.W.s, and all had shared two characteristics: they were ridiculously hard to kill, and they stopped at nothing once living flesh was in their sights

Comments

Heh, only a handful of peeps on my F-list do. XD;

[zerosuitjill]

Jill wasn't even aware of another presence -- a deadly mistake in a place like this -- until it was practically on top of her. At the familiar sensatin of being tugged, she almost reacted in instinctive defense, but a second before, she noticed that whoever it was had flung something at the B.O.W., and the fact that the person -- she -- had yelled move, and in English, no less, at least said she wasn't one of the Majini --

Half-stumbling as she tried to keep up, Jill just let herself be pulled along as the last of her strength seemed to finally give way, but an instant later there was an earth-shaking explosion and another shrill scream at their backs. She hit her knees but kept moving, throwing a glance over her shoulder; the B.O.W. had hit the pavement in a splatter of its dark blood beneath it, scrabbling frantically at the ground with its large claws. Wounded, but not yet down for the count.

Driving her heels into the ground to halt the momentum of both herself and the stranger, Jill whirled around. "It's down!" Injuries meant nothing; if it contained any trace of the T-Virus, this thing could easily recover in days, free to attack any neighboring villages or countries. She had to finish it now. She darted to the side, ignoring the sting of her thigh and calf muscles, aimed the barrel of her machine gun for the exposed, singed flesh, and fired into it. The creature roared at her, but it was too crippled to do much more than flail.

At least I'm making an attempt? 8D;

[kunoichi_dragon]

Tenten was not even sure if the other was an ally or an enemy. And to act before figuring out that key factor was taking a BIG risk, especially with her limited knowledge of what was going on around her. But if she was to be stuck in this world, then the kunoichi would need to find someone who seemed to know their way around. That much seemed to be true of this woman. The rest -- her loyalties and their location -- could be determined at a later time when they were not running or fighting for their lives. For now, a temporary alliance would have to do. Especially if the other woman was determined to kill it then and there.

"And how, exactly, do you kill that thing?" A fair question, in Tenten's opinion, and one she was not too proud to ask. But did the other woman really think that the two of them would be able to finish off that thing on their own? Even if it was injured from Tenten's last attack? Here was where knowledge of this place would come in handy. But until then, she would simply have to follow the other's lead.

Upon instinct and intuition, she summoned her multi-arrow crossbow, trusting to its speed and accuracy to help them in this fight. Steel-tipped and razor-sharp, it was the only weapon in her arsenal that would be able to handle the long distance to actually penetrate the charred skin. But one look at the other's weapon and the kunoichi had to question the effectiveness of her own tools. They were made to battle against metal and armor of every kind. But could they pierce the flesh of an unknown beast?

Only one way to find out, she thought. And with that, she let the arrows fly.

And I love you for it! :D

[zerosuitjill]

Jill was glad to see the other join in; whatever she was striking the beast with, it seemed to have as much of an effect as her own bullets did. She took several swift steps back as the B.O.W. began pulling itself towards them, but with obvious difficulty.

As she paused long enough to slap another clip into her gun, she called back, "The stomach's the weak point -- just aim for that!" Because that was all Jill had ever been able to do against these bioweapons: look for the only vulnerability they had and then use it, and hope to hell it worked.

And apparently this was enough: halfway through her fresh clip, the B.O.W. suddenly reared with another ear-piercing cry, spitting blood and saliva from its oversized jaws before collapsing hard. Jill hesitated, but it didn't move again. Exhaling heavily, she let her arm and her gun fall to her side as she turned to regard her unexpected companion -- a girl, it turned out, and a very young one, probably around half her age. And yet she'd dealt enough of a blow to seriously cripple the B.O.W., considering.

"...Thanks," she said after a moment, once most of her breath had returned. It was the most she could manage in one exhale.

Yay, love! ♥

[kunoichi_dragon]

Aim for the stomach. Tenten could do that. Even if the beast were flailing wildly and uncontrollable, she would be able to land her mark. Moving objects were harder to contend with, yes. But she had prepared herself for that obstacle ever since graduating from the Academy. And so, relying all the training Gai-sensei had given them and utilizing her perfected accuracy, the kunoichi only a second to adjust her focus to the new target area before letting the arrows go with a hard thump of force. All arrows hit their mark. The next volley of projectiles carried explosive tags wrapped around their shafts, loaded with a smaller force than the first, but still very much effective. Now that they had been proven to work, Tenten would certainly use them to their advantage.

It was not long before her stores of arrows began to run low. But just when the kunoichi started to consider using kunai as ammunition, the beast finally gave in to its fate and collapsed in a heap. A great relief as she was not sure how much longer either one of them would be able to last if their own resources had run out before the creature was destroyed. Still, she took a cautious step back just in case.

After waiting in silence for a few minutes to make sure that the monster was truly dead for good, Tenten breathed a sigh of relief. And with a simple hand-sign, she called back all of her weapons, restoring them into their respective scrolls. The fight had taken a lot more effort and chakra than she had expected. And the effects of it was already starting to take its toll. But they were alive. And that was all that mattered. Energy and chakra could be restored with time. Regardless of what stock people placed in reanimation jutsus, lives could not. Once all that was done, the kunoichi turned to the woman.

"You're welcome," she finally said. And after taking a moment to wipe off a bead of sweat from her forehead, Tenten continued, "What was that thing?"

[zerosuitjill]

That made Jill hesitate, because the way the girl had asked -- her tone didn't sound like she was simply surprised by this B.O.W. in particular. It was almost as if... but there was no way she could have stumbled into the very middle of one of the bioterrorist hotbeds without meeting any of them before now.

Gripping the fence behind her for support, she regarded the stranger more closely than before. That she had lent a hand said she wasn't controlled by a Plaga; that she had helped Jill to live said she wasn't a member of Tricell. The BSAA had never recruited anyone so young in Jill's days, but the way the girl had fought, the odd weapons she had used -- now nowhere to be seen, Jill realized -- indicated that she wasn't simply a civilian, either.

"...You're not with the BSAA?" she asked after a moment, doubtfully.

[kunoichi_dragon]

Tenten could not really explain it. One moment, she had been in the middle of training, engaged in a fierce and full-on battle out in the wilderness with a Sound-nin that was all too anxious to try out a new technique that he had been greatly encouraged to develop. She remembered it clearly because it had been the first time that Orochimaru allowed the kunoichi to use her scrolls of weapons since being captured. And then, in the next moment, Tenten had appeared here... wherever here was.

At first, she had blamed it on the new jutsu, never knowing what to expect from those who were ever eager to please and impress their master and leader. But the others had been nowhere in sight. And the genjutsu had not dispelled when Tenten tried to break it. Not to mention the woman and the part that she had played in all of this...

"...Who?" And even as Tenten posed her question, she was kneeling and reaching for the scroll that contained the first aid kit. Summoning it with a simple press of her fingers over the seal. Because there was fresh blood staining the other's shirt and if they were not taken care of, the both of them would certainly have more problems on their hands. "Never heard of them..."

...Ahaha. XD Sasuke's gonna be P.O.ed at the sudden absence of his S.I.C.

[zerosuitjill]

Jill honestly wasn't too surprised; the BSAA was a privately funded institution, after all, and had a tendency to lie low as far as the media was concerned. What did surprise her -- or puzzle her, rather -- was the utter strangeness surrounding this girl's appearance. Even more so when she seemed to simply... pull that kit out of nowhere. At that, Jill couldn't help tensing, but it was automatic.

"Then what are you doing out here?" she asked, not rudely, but her suspicion was clear. Slipping her gun back onto her hip, she placed a hand over the circle of pinpoint holes just below her exposed neck, which seemed to have started bleeding even more freely during the battle. "You don't look or sound like a native."

Mehehehe~ I can see him glaring now... "wtf'd u do w/ her Kabuto. 8|"

[kunoichi_dragon]

"No, I guess I'm not," Tenten replied evenly. She did not bother looking up, concentrating more on searching through the first aid kit for the needed materials to tend to the other's wounds. There was no time for pleasantries. No time for a game of twenty questions. "And I haven't the slightest clue how I got here either if you're thinking of asking that next."

The kunoichi could hear the suspicion in the other's voice. Understandable. Tenten did not completely trust her either. And with good reason. She had seen her fair share of fighting and battlefields to know what it looked like. Could recognize it in an instance. No matter where you come from, destruction and war looked the same. This place, wherever it was, was in the middle of one. "I was training and the next thing I know, I was here... helping you."

Which was the pure and honest truth. If it helped to instill some sense of trust from the other, then all the better for it. Tenten needed an ally, temporary or otherwise. And it was clear that the other woman knew a lot more about this place than she did.

"Now let's take a look at those, shall we?" True, Tenten was never extensively trained in the medical arts. -- Team Gai was organized differently; there was no room for a medic -- And after landing in the company of Orochimaru and his band there had been no need for her to even concern herself with such things. Kabuto was an excellent man of his profession. They were all very well taken care of despite the experimental drugs and occasional aftereffects. But every shinobi was taught the basics of medical care to help them while out in the field. It was just a matter of being allowed to put that knowledge into use. "You bleed any more and you're gonna attract more of those things... or at least I'm assuming."

Heh. "I sent her on some errands, is all, Sasuke-kun." "..."

[zerosuitjill]

Her tone was very calm, Jill noted, considering the circumstances she'd apparently stumbled into. Certainly calmer than Jill had probably sounded back in the Arklay facility all those years ago. Still, the girl had a point -- many B.O.W.s were produced with ideal hunting mechanisms in mind -- and seeing as how she'd proven more or less trustworthy so far, Jill let her questions slide for the moment. They could always talk while they moved, and with all the commotion the fight had caused, they could likely count on a group of Majini showing up in the next few minutes.

More than anything, though, she chose not to press because of her experience, which, if nothing else, had taught her that an ally was an ally in cases like these. Having spent nearly a decade literally living by the creed live together, die alone, hooking up with a mysterious stranger wasn't all that strange, considering.

"Yeah. Thanks," she replied, meaning it, as she reached for the supplies. Noticing that the other also looked short of breath upon closer inspection, Jill added, "We're gonna have to move. Think you can manage it?"

Meanwhile Tenten's like "...Where the hell did that crazy medic send me? 8|"

[kunoichi_dragon]

Emotions were like poison to a mission, or so they had been taught at the academy. Showing panic was to add more unnecessary strain on an already stressful situation. Panic impaired judgment. Rationale suffered. There was no point in becoming frantic over something she could not control. It was simply not the role she played, neither when she was a part of Team Gai, nor afterwards when she came to serve under Orochimaru (Or rather, Sasuke. But that was another story). So Tenten bit down any anxiety she felt and turned towards the other.

"Can you?" she asked in response to her question. And even as she supplied the inquiry, the kunoichi was examining the wounds -- held out the roll of gauze for the other to take -- as best as she could from where she knelt.

It was not a challenge. Simply a small show of concern. Granted, the amount of chakra that Tenten had been forced to use in a short amount of time had taken its toll. But still, she was much better off than the other. After all, Tenten was not bleeding. "I'm guessing you know this place better than I do, so you're gonna have to lead the way."

And Sasuke would be like, "....No, really, where were you?" after.

[zerosuitjill]

A fair enough question. Jill could only imagine how she must have looked, bleeding and bruised with a slight tremble in her sore arms that she hoped wasn't as obvious as it felt. "I'm fine," she brushed automatically -- not that she would admit if she weren't -- and began unwinding some of the gauze in her lap as she crouched, unzipping the front of her battle suit a few more inches. Just below her collarbone, the wounds weren't terrible -- they stung like hell, but that was the worst of it. It would be an awkward and time-consuming job to try and wrap a strip properly around her back and under her arms, so she settled for doing what she could, flattening some against the wound and counting on the tight suit to hold it in place.

"...This is a newer area," she said, glancing around, "so I'm not too familiar with the layout. But if I can find the storage hall, that should at least give us access to a radio line." This was said more to herself, of course, so she added, "I might be able to contact someone who can help us." Assuming any of the teams are still alive aside from Chris and Sheva.

Jill zipped the suit closed, up to her neck this time, and felt the gauze staying snug against her skin. That was one problem down. As she stood and offered the roll back, she hesitated. "...Was this your first time seeing a bio-organic weapon? A monster?" she threw in after a second, reminding herself that now wasn't the time to be technical.

And Tenten would be all "I have no freakin' clue... but I was TTLY badass. 8D"

[kunoichi_dragon]

Fine? Right. And all that blood was no cause for concern. Just a flesh wound, really. Then again, Tenten would have said the exact same thing if the roles had been reversed. As would everyone else that she knew. It was an automatic reaction that most shinobi would give, especially during a time-sensitive situation like they were in. There was no telling how long the area would remain clear. Or how long it would take for more to come and block all routes of escape. And neither one of them had the strength to defend themselves in another battle like the one they had just fought. "Just tell me what to look for and we'll take it from there. But we need to get moving now before get more visitors like that guy."

Her gaze fell on the creature they had just defeated, and could only let out a huff of breath at the thought of there being more of them out there. Or worse things. It had taken so much to bring this one down, she could not imagine having to give more to take down another. But when the other had posed her question, Tenten had to pause and think a moment before taking back the roll of gauze and sealing it into the scroll once more.

"A monster? No." Because monsters came in a number of forms and guises. And in her experience, they tended to be human. Or what could pass as human, at least on the surface. Inside, though? Black and terrible as death. "A thing like that, though?" Here, she gave a nod to the creature. "Yeah, it was my first time seeing one."

And he would believe her, naturally. :D

[zerosuitjill]

Jill took up her gun again and turned back the way she had come. That just posed more questions in her mind -- a family member of one of the Tricell personnel? Maybe one of the thousands of captive test subjects? -- but she pushed them aside a second time and motioned for the girl to follow.

"This should be a given, but don't let anything we see wound you. You're as good as dead if they do." She thought over her next words as she picked up her pace. "...I'm not sure how much you know," she said finally, "but the people around here aren't human. When they attack, we have no choice but to kill them. They won't stop otherwise."

It came out colder than she'd meant; maybe all this time of serving Wesker, of helping to transform dozens of those innocent people on top of providing the biological key to Uroboros' spread, had hardened her more than she realized. Still, this stranger was a fighter of some sort, and obviously a well-trained one going by her level head in the heat of battle. Killing -- killing people shouldn't be too unfamiliar an idea to her, surely.

And thus their partnership would continue without fail. ^^

[kunoichi_dragon]

Stay back. Easy enough instructions to follow, she thought with a nod. And one that she was more than accustomed to following. Given that Neji and Lee were mostly close-range fighters, it had fallen on Tenten to cover mid and long range attacks during battle. Because that was how their team had balanced out. That was what they had relied on. The same went for when she had been forced to ally (for lack of a better term) herself with Orochimaru and his brood. There was far less concentration on fighting as a team, but a balance of forces and skills had still been important.

"Believe me, I know next to nothing about this place," she murmured softly. Somewhat bitterly. Mostly to herself, but she assumed the other had the skill to overhear if it was her want. It was one of her greatest fears and and one of her biggest pet peeves, not knowing the situation fully before heading in. Not only because of the disadvantage it placed them in, but because the kunoichi never liked not having some sort of control of a situation. It was easy to make mistakes and miscalculations that way. And she would prefer them to not get more injured than they already were.

Despite that, there was an odd ping, or rather, a moment of pause when the other woman mentioned having to kill without question. Needless to say, Tenten was very capable of following through if need be. Death had been necessary in the shinobi profession, after all. And as she had said many times before, Tenten was meant to take lives, not save them. She understood the need if it would mean their survival. But that never made it any easier to take another's life. "Right..."

Heck yes. \o/

[zerosuitjill]

At that reply, Jill hesitated. As she gripped the handle to the door leading back into the warehouse, she dared a moment's risk of looking back. Whatever the circumstances, perhaps she had pushed a bit hard. "...I'm sorry," she said after that pause. "It's been a while since--" Since I thought for myself. Since I dealt with anyone whom I haven't wanted to kill. She let the sentence die. There was no point to trying to explain herself and no exception for risking their lives by lingering.

"...I'm Jill," she offered with an apologetic smile, her tone gentle in a way that it hadn't been in years. She could at least give this small courtesy. "Jill Valentine."

[kunoichi_dragon]

A... smile, small as it was, was still a smile. It had been a while since she had seen one in the middle of such chaos. Among her former team, it had been Lee and Gai-sensei who... but that was nearly a year ago. And the only time people smiled in Oto was right before the final killing blow -- Although Tenten liked to think she had managed to get a smirk or two from the usually stone-cold Uchiha every now and then -- Unless you were Orochimaru. But that was a different story.

"Tenten." She would have added a polite 'nice to meet you,' but under the circumstances, the young woman thought better of it. And in the silence, it was easy to see that the other -- Jill, she had said -- was trying at least. Which was enough for the kunoichi to return the gesture. If only for giving her that feeling of being with her team once again, no matter how brief the moment lasted. Neither one had asked for this to happen, she was almost certain. And they needed to make the best of the situation. "How much further until we can stop worrying about our lives?"