As much as a course of action is long overdue, now's not the time. You are getting off easy with a warning. Call it an act of kindness. Now run along before I change my mind.
They have been warned. It would be wise not to cross me as you yourself may recall from past experience. Which by the way, I hear that you have upcoming matters of your own to attend to, Miss Valentine.
I recall you slowly losing your mind over time. And sinking. [ She nearly spits the words out, like pointed daggers to the throat. Her hate is palpable. ] That's not me. That already happened. I made it out just fine, in case you've forgotten.
Was that before or after you had lost your own? I am quite curious. [Jill's hatred is like a diamond in the rough and he shall bask in it's brilliance.] Twice saved as the stories go. [He goes on as if citing from an actual headline:] One of STARS finest saved by a rogue umbrella employee barely makes it out of the burning city before the bombs drop. Our mutual friend, Barry Burton, swooping in to save the day. [He stops citing going on to add his own commentary at the end:] I'd hardly call you a hero in that story, but I do give you credit for trying.
[ It makes her seethe, though she looks and sound no different externally. It's similar to before, if only to not let him have the satisfaction of it. Jill listens, arms folded, not even ready for a fight. ]
He saved me by getting the antivirus, but I made it out on my own. Barry helped, that much is true, but at least there are people that will ensure my safety. You? You had no one to back you up when you had a rocket launcher aimed at you. Not even in that damned mansion.
[ She ignores the hero part because she never stated she was. ]
Why don't you tell me how you've triumphed, dead man?
Do you mean to tell me that it was there when you were aiding the spread of uroboros, or when you were so fiercely fighting the BSAA, two members in particular come to my own recollection. We did make such a good team. [While Jill may be seething on the inside, it was quite the fond stroll down memory lane for him.]
People are much like chess pieces on a board. They play their roles to protect their King and eventually outlive their usefulness. The pawns will all congregate together-- so quick to rush out onto the frontlines and are the first to fall leaving only the strong. Which is why I've always worked behind the scenes, protected, and having enough strength to save myself of my own merit. That is what separates the Barry Burtons and Chris Redfields of the world from myself, and it is why people like you will always fall and need saving.
My 'triumph' is the creation of a superior breed. There will always be another in my place and my legacy will always live on.
You know it was there. Your taunting won't change anything, I've moved on from you. You aren't the center of our worlds anymore. You haven't had value since you were a different person -- but my former captain died in 1998.
[ She wants to attack, but she knows she won't stand a chance. It's just how things are. Even with anything that might still linger in her blood, it's not comparable to what pulses in his veins. She's so fast it's nearly inhuman, but he practically teleports.
Her jaw twitches, but it's more visible in the way her nostrils slightly flair. Too visible on her otherwise marble face. ]
I don't need to be saved. I'm the Queen on the board and I choose to put myself in danger and potentially sacrifice myself. What I did in the estate was all choice and calculated. I didn't expect to wake up -- and you signed your death warrant, letting me live. Because the Barry Burtons and Chris Redfields will come at you with a force they hadn't had before.
[ This garners genuine laughter from her, smiling though her eyebrows dip in toward the middle. Almost a feeling of empathy, in a way. ]
Superior? What, like you? You're a failure. You can't even function without that serum, you'd mutate and go out of control. The only ones who are superior are people like myself, Sherry Birkin, and Jake Muller. [ The irony that his son can handle things just fine. ] It's been twenty-two years and you've gotten nowhere. BOWs are used to make ends meet, for war, not for evolution. You have no legacy.
[ But she can feel him. That brush of his hand over her shoulder blades or small of her back. She sees shadows in the darkness, ink blots of his body and a flash of obscured red eyes. She tries to ignore it, but it still lingers. ]
You're right. Nothing will change the fact that you understood precisely what you were doing, yet you did it anyway, almost willingly. You can state all you like how you've moved on and speak of a man who died long ago. It matters little to me.
Only a fool would put themselves in a position of power only to risk it all, and for what? An otherwise noble sacrifice for the ones trying to save you? You know in your heart that they will do everything in their power to protect you, to avenge you, yet you stand here with such conviction as if your sacrifice was for some greater good. Perhaps it's to say that your worth isn't as much alive as it is dead.
Precisely 'like me'. The serum was only holding back the true power of uroboros. Ah yes, the daughter of William Birkin and that... unfortunate mistake of mine. Such a pity the boy had been so misguided. Had I known, he could have been something greater than another grunt for hire. Children with so much potential, yet lost to a war that they will surely lose. It is quite curious how you hold yourself in such high regard as if you yourself possess that same potential.
For someone who has been spending a good deal of their life battling BOWs, you're only partially correct in your assumptions about them. We created weapons for your 'wars', the wars that men create and so foolishly think that they can control. Only a god can control them-- direct them where they are needed and redirect them when they are not. Power is all that matters in the end and what all men will fight for and will ultimately die for. I lived a god and I died as one. That's more of a legacy than you or the BSAA will ever have.
You're not going to taunt me like that, it's like you're barely putting in any effort. That doesn't affect me the way you think it does -- though not the same as you claim. You're obsessed with us and have been since the mansion. You're acting like I've no skill but you kept me alive and at your side for nearly four years. How unbecoming of a god.
[ It does dig in a little. The minute shift in the way she holds herself might not be noticeable to others, but he almost certainly can tell. It's always been a talent of his and one she may have once respected in the past. So she lets him talk, impatiently folding her arms over her chest and tapping her foot. ]
Is that it? My goal isn't to sacrifice myself, but I will if I have to -- for the right people. Otherwise I'm tenacious enough that even you've praised me for it. As for that... really? If given time you'd just be a pile of oily tentacles searching for anything to eat that it comes across. You're no better than the failures you created along the way. And you talk of this, but you needed my blood to get where you are now. You're inferior. Not just to me, but humans that are unaffected. You should be strapped to a table somewhere like Lisa Trevor.
[ That's a sick burn, at least. He's not quite as mindless as her, but it's clear they both have lost any vision of what they desire beyond one or two things. There's no logic to them.
Jill shifts slightly, finally in a fighting stance; arms bent at the elbow and legs apart, ready to run or slide or kick the ever-loving shit out of him. ]
And you're still delusional as ever. I'm not looking for a legacy or to be praised, I'm looking to do what I feel is right. The wars are your own, you're not separate from them or manipulating them to sell on the black market. And you've never been a god. You're no different from Spencer. He needed his oxygen tank and you need your injection. In ten years you'll be just as feeble -- but you're so weak you've barely lasted this long. Stroke of luck is all you had, not power or godhood.
You assume that it was a taunt. I was merely stating a fact based on observation. That’s quite the bold accusation that I’m obsessed with you and your kind. You expect me to take you seriously when you have clearly overreacted and thought a simple observation to be a taunt-- And here I thought we knew each other better. Perhaps you too have changed and you are not as clever as you once were.
[Unfortunately for others around him, he’s well aware of his talent for getting under one’s skin. Having formed a habit of presenting himself refined and reserved in most situations, this one clearly called for an exception to the rules. It was too good of an opportunity to resist digging a little deeper and perhaps brush against a nerve or two.]
I suppose you did have your usefulness through those four years-- following orders like such a good little soldier.
[There’s your taunt, Jill.]
Hm. You are quite the tenacious one. So persistent and so quick to rush to your death, for the right people, but for the wrong cause. A vain attempt to stop the inevitable. Humans will always try to destroy themselves and will succeed if no one intervenes. You still fail to realize that I was only trying to save the world from itself. But I can’t truly expect someone who is okay with making such sacrifices to understand what I was trying to accomplish. True, your blood proved to be of use, but it was my research and my own blood that true power resided in.
[He would never dare show it, but it did bother him that she was trying to get to him by bringing up Lisa Trevor. As if he was no better than her being strapped to a table like some science experiment gone terribly wrong. Truth was that he did know what it was like to be tested on. He would put it past someone else, but he’s certain Jill may be sharp enough to pick up a flicker of red in his eyes that shed some light that he was not as collected on the inside as he was on the outside.]
How curious you should bring up the likes of Lisa Trevor. We were both vessels for the various strains of the virus and had evolved from it. The difference is that I broke free of my captors and kept on evolving while she never did-- A mere leftover like some house pet that needed to be put down when they’re no longer able to be controlled. Such a tragedy.
[But things happen as life goes on much like his own did. Her actions only serve to amuse him. Even if she did try anything he was certain he would be able to predict her every move. There was little need to draw back into a fighting stance himself at this time, but he would observe her with amusement nonetheless.]
You sound certain of this. [Are you really?] The old man died in a pool of his own blood with delusions of godhood, his legacy as dead as his decrepit body while all the while I surpassed anything that he could ever dream of and did indeed become a god. In the end, the injections didn’t matter. Uroboros chose me as the missile exploded through my body unleashing true power. At the very least, I left knowing what that felt like. I'd hardly call that a delusion when I reached what no else could.
Of course it was just an observation. A totally unnecessary one. I've become sharper and more honed over the years. You? You've become dull. A plastic knife trying to cut into steel.
[ He's still stronger than her, still faster. But he had one weakness that toppled over all of that nonsense. The injection. She'd repeat it as often as she needed to, like ramming a scalpel into a skull until it cracked. ]
That doesn't bother me. I had no choice in that. Try harder.
[ It bothers her a hell of a lot, actually. It's one of the things that still keep her up at night. What drags, what holds her hostage and nearly paralyzes her in her place. She can see his eyes glinting through the sunglasses in dark corners. ]
Whatever cause I make it is right because it's mine. You're not wrong. It's inevitable that there will be too many people on this planet, that nature will recoil, and even that BOWs won't ever go away. I'm prolonging it and I'll keep doing that. [ She understands his accomplishments and lack there of are bullshit, that's what she understands. ] Your power was useless. All it did was make failures like yourself, even if there was power to it. It was nothing without me.
[ Lisa Trevor, she knew might. To her, he belongs strapped somewhere while they study him -- even if there is the faintest memory of affection she once held for him somewhere inside of her. If anyone deserved it, it was him. ]
Kept evolving? It was devolution. Eventually you'll be the same. You'll get knocked over and restrained, strapped to something, and your blood will be studied until you've run dry. The only difference is you won't escape from our facilities. You'll be no different than Lisa or any low-tier zombie BOW.
[ He moves in a way that's much more slight and precise, but she knows he's readying himself the same as she is. ]
You reached nothing. There have been men that can transform back and forth at will and be of more sound mind than you ever were. You weren't any different than Birkin was -- you would've reached that if given time.
[ She knows the right names to call forth, at the very least. ]
Your true power was barely even a match for a few guns. Lisa could withstand a rocket launcher attack, at least.
As unnecessary as bringing up a dead man who was once the center of your world. Drawing comparisons from the past makes me believe that you haven't quite managed to move on as much as you say, but by all means do keep trying to sound convincing, however much you need for your own sake. We could go on and on mirroring our opinions of one another, but I'm afraid that will be far too much time than I've already so generously allowed.
Do you mean to tell me that it didn't bother you when you infected all of those innocent civilians, or when you sent your former partner crashing to the ground -- on his knees and so desperately calling out to you in vain? Because it wasn't your choice even though your mind was always there.
'Because it's mine' -- how infantile. Surely you can muster better justification than that. [Make him believe you, Jill.] You speak as if prolonging the inevitable is a service to the world -- Like the misguided parent who shelters the child from the evils of the world failing to realize that their protection is in vain. Not all can be a god. It's true that there were failures along the way, but that is the sacrifice to be made to achieve true godhood. Your claim to glory was but a mere accident. The wrong place at the wrong time. Uroboros chose me to be it's vessel. Every move was calculated and precise. I was the one true host who could handle its power.
I highly doubt that even now you could come close to restraining me, let alone transfer me to some facility to study my blood.
Birkin was a desperate man who never reached his full potential. [He was also a name that haunted him and Jill was right to call his name forward.] You sound certain of yourself. Shall we see if your predictions come to light?
[His lips curl into a smirk -- That notorious smug look clearly baiting her to do something. He places a hand behind his back making his stance more clear that he's indeed ready for her.]
Unlike Lisa Trevor, it took more than mere rubble and one man to defeat me. If your aim is to insult me, you're going to have to try harder.
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[ It makes her seethe, though she looks and sound no different externally. It's similar to before, if only to not let him have the satisfaction of it. Jill listens, arms folded, not even ready for a fight. ]
He saved me by getting the antivirus, but I made it out on my own. Barry helped, that much is true, but at least there are people that will ensure my safety. You? You had no one to back you up when you had a rocket launcher aimed at you. Not even in that damned mansion.
[ She ignores the hero part because she never stated she was. ]
Why don't you tell me how you've triumphed, dead man?
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People are much like chess pieces on a board. They play their roles to protect their King and eventually outlive their usefulness. The pawns will all congregate together-- so quick to rush out onto the frontlines and are the first to fall leaving only the strong. Which is why I've always worked behind the scenes, protected, and having enough strength to save myself of my own merit. That is what separates the Barry Burtons and Chris Redfields of the world from myself, and it is why people like you will always fall and need saving.
My 'triumph' is the creation of a superior breed. There will always be another in my place and my legacy will always live on.
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[ She wants to attack, but she knows she won't stand a chance. It's just how things are. Even with anything that might still linger in her blood, it's not comparable to what pulses in his veins. She's so fast it's nearly inhuman, but he practically teleports.
Her jaw twitches, but it's more visible in the way her nostrils slightly flair. Too visible on her otherwise marble face. ]
I don't need to be saved. I'm the Queen on the board and I choose to put myself in danger and potentially sacrifice myself. What I did in the estate was all choice and calculated. I didn't expect to wake up -- and you signed your death warrant, letting me live. Because the Barry Burtons and Chris Redfields will come at you with a force they hadn't had before.
[ This garners genuine laughter from her, smiling though her eyebrows dip in toward the middle. Almost a feeling of empathy, in a way. ]
Superior? What, like you? You're a failure. You can't even function without that serum, you'd mutate and go out of control. The only ones who are superior are people like myself, Sherry Birkin, and Jake Muller. [ The irony that his son can handle things just fine. ] It's been twenty-two years and you've gotten nowhere. BOWs are used to make ends meet, for war, not for evolution. You have no legacy.
[ But she can feel him. That brush of his hand over her shoulder blades or small of her back. She sees shadows in the darkness, ink blots of his body and a flash of obscured red eyes. She tries to ignore it, but it still lingers. ]
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Only a fool would put themselves in a position of power only to risk it all, and for what? An otherwise noble sacrifice for the ones trying to save you? You know in your heart that they will do everything in their power to protect you, to avenge you, yet you stand here with such conviction as if your sacrifice was for some greater good. Perhaps it's to say that your worth isn't as much alive as it is dead.
Precisely 'like me'. The serum was only holding back the true power of uroboros. Ah yes, the daughter of William Birkin and that... unfortunate mistake of mine. Such a pity the boy had been so misguided. Had I known, he could have been something greater than another grunt for hire. Children with so much potential, yet lost to a war that they will surely lose. It is quite curious how you hold yourself in such high regard as if you yourself possess that same potential.
For someone who has been spending a good deal of their life battling BOWs, you're only partially correct in your assumptions about them. We created weapons for your 'wars', the wars that men create and so foolishly think that they can control. Only a god can control them-- direct them where they are needed and redirect them when they are not. Power is all that matters in the end and what all men will fight for and will ultimately die for. I lived a god and I died as one. That's more of a legacy than you or the BSAA will ever have.
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[ It does dig in a little. The minute shift in the way she holds herself might not be noticeable to others, but he almost certainly can tell. It's always been a talent of his and one she may have once respected in the past. So she lets him talk, impatiently folding her arms over her chest and tapping her foot. ]
Is that it? My goal isn't to sacrifice myself, but I will if I have to -- for the right people. Otherwise I'm tenacious enough that even you've praised me for it. As for that... really? If given time you'd just be a pile of oily tentacles searching for anything to eat that it comes across. You're no better than the failures you created along the way. And you talk of this, but you needed my blood to get where you are now. You're inferior. Not just to me, but humans that are unaffected. You should be strapped to a table somewhere like Lisa Trevor.
[ That's a sick burn, at least. He's not quite as mindless as her, but it's clear they both have lost any vision of what they desire beyond one or two things. There's no logic to them.
Jill shifts slightly, finally in a fighting stance; arms bent at the elbow and legs apart, ready to run or slide or kick the ever-loving shit out of him. ]
And you're still delusional as ever. I'm not looking for a legacy or to be praised, I'm looking to do what I feel is right. The wars are your own, you're not separate from them or manipulating them to sell on the black market. And you've never been a god. You're no different from Spencer. He needed his oxygen tank and you need your injection. In ten years you'll be just as feeble -- but you're so weak you've barely lasted this long. Stroke of luck is all you had, not power or godhood.
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[Unfortunately for others around him, he’s well aware of his talent for getting under one’s skin. Having formed a habit of presenting himself refined and reserved in most situations, this one clearly called for an exception to the rules. It was too good of an opportunity to resist digging a little deeper and perhaps brush against a nerve or two.]
I suppose you did have your usefulness through those four years-- following orders like such a good little soldier.
[There’s your taunt, Jill.]
Hm. You are quite the tenacious one. So persistent and so quick to rush to your death, for the right people, but for the wrong cause. A vain attempt to stop the inevitable. Humans will always try to destroy themselves and will succeed if no one intervenes. You still fail to realize that I was only trying to save the world from itself. But I can’t truly expect someone who is okay with making such sacrifices to understand what I was trying to accomplish. True, your blood proved to be of use, but it was my research and my own blood that true power resided in.
[He would never dare show it, but it did bother him that she was trying to get to him by bringing up Lisa Trevor. As if he was no better than her being strapped to a table like some science experiment gone terribly wrong. Truth was that he did know what it was like to be tested on. He would put it past someone else, but he’s certain Jill may be sharp enough to pick up a flicker of red in his eyes that shed some light that he was not as collected on the inside as he was on the outside.]
How curious you should bring up the likes of Lisa Trevor. We were both vessels for the various strains of the virus and had evolved from it. The difference is that I broke free of my captors and kept on evolving while she never did-- A mere leftover like some house pet that needed to be put down when they’re no longer able to be controlled. Such a tragedy.
[But things happen as life goes on much like his own did. Her actions only serve to amuse him. Even if she did try anything he was certain he would be able to predict her every move. There was little need to draw back into a fighting stance himself at this time, but he would observe her with amusement nonetheless.]
You sound certain of this. [Are you really?] The old man died in a pool of his own blood with delusions of godhood, his legacy as dead as his decrepit body while all the while I surpassed anything that he could ever dream of and did indeed become a god. In the end, the injections didn’t matter. Uroboros chose me as the missile exploded through my body unleashing true power. At the very least, I left knowing what that felt like. I'd hardly call that a delusion when I reached what no else could.
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[ He's still stronger than her, still faster. But he had one weakness that toppled over all of that nonsense. The injection. She'd repeat it as often as she needed to, like ramming a scalpel into a skull until it cracked. ]
That doesn't bother me. I had no choice in that. Try harder.
[ It bothers her a hell of a lot, actually. It's one of the things that still keep her up at night. What drags, what holds her hostage and nearly paralyzes her in her place. She can see his eyes glinting through the sunglasses in dark corners. ]
Whatever cause I make it is right because it's mine. You're not wrong. It's inevitable that there will be too many people on this planet, that nature will recoil, and even that BOWs won't ever go away. I'm prolonging it and I'll keep doing that. [ She understands his accomplishments and lack there of are bullshit, that's what she understands. ] Your power was useless. All it did was make failures like yourself, even if there was power to it. It was nothing without me.
[ Lisa Trevor, she knew might. To her, he belongs strapped somewhere while they study him -- even if there is the faintest memory of affection she once held for him somewhere inside of her. If anyone deserved it, it was him. ]
Kept evolving? It was devolution. Eventually you'll be the same. You'll get knocked over and restrained, strapped to something, and your blood will be studied until you've run dry. The only difference is you won't escape from our facilities. You'll be no different than Lisa or any low-tier zombie BOW.
[ He moves in a way that's much more slight and precise, but she knows he's readying himself the same as she is. ]
You reached nothing. There have been men that can transform back and forth at will and be of more sound mind than you ever were. You weren't any different than Birkin was -- you would've reached that if given time.
[ She knows the right names to call forth, at the very least. ]
Your true power was barely even a match for a few guns. Lisa could withstand a rocket launcher attack, at least.
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Do you mean to tell me that it didn't bother you when you infected all of those innocent civilians, or when you sent your former partner crashing to the ground -- on his knees and so desperately calling out to you in vain? Because it wasn't your choice even though your mind was always there.
'Because it's mine' -- how infantile. Surely you can muster better justification than that. [Make him believe you, Jill.] You speak as if prolonging the inevitable is a service to the world -- Like the misguided parent who shelters the child from the evils of the world failing to realize that their protection is in vain. Not all can be a god. It's true that there were failures along the way, but that is the sacrifice to be made to achieve true godhood. Your claim to glory was but a mere accident. The wrong place at the wrong time. Uroboros chose me to be it's vessel. Every move was calculated and precise. I was the one true host who could handle its power.
I highly doubt that even now you could come close to restraining me, let alone transfer me to some facility to study my blood.
Birkin was a desperate man who never reached his full potential. [He was also a name that haunted him and Jill was right to call his name forward.] You sound certain of yourself. Shall we see if your predictions come to light?
[His lips curl into a smirk -- That notorious smug look clearly baiting her to do something. He places a hand behind his back making his stance more clear that he's indeed ready for her.]
Unlike Lisa Trevor, it took more than mere rubble and one man to defeat me. If your aim is to insult me, you're going to have to try harder.
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Unless he is world renowned, I doubt that I have the faintest idea who your dad is, or who you are for that matter.