Dedicated to my loyal reader SierraDuckland, thanks for reminding that I need to get to work on this story! I have been much engrossed in my other project, but this is still my favorite! 

Brother...

Jake shuddered from shock as the voice rocked through him. He understood in an instant what was speaking to him.

"Fuck," he gasped out loud. There really was no escaping his father's legacy. No matter how much he denied or broke away they always came after him. No matter how much he spit in his father's face... He stared into the darkness, trembling for a moment, feeling the weight of it...

Where was it?

He felt a hand on his shoulder that broke his trance. 

"Jake." It was Chris... One look at the BSAA agent told Jake, Chris knew... He knew what it was like to feel this kind of despair. The futility of fighting against a rising tide. "Sherry needs you."

That snapped him out of his own self pity. "What if... I lose her too," he spoke his fears out loud. He couldn't lose her. Either of them. There would be hell to pay...

Chris looked back at Jill and then past her to where they'd left his sister. "You haven't lost them yet..." Chris's voice wavered and Jake felt the odd connection they had. This man had killed his father and yet...  He'd done Jake a favor.  He'd return it by helping him put his father back into the grave. 

Again and again, if he refused to stay dead.

"You aren't him, Jake." Jill's words were soft against the tension he felt and yet they cut through. "You never will be."

Gratitude filled him as he turned to look at her, again nodding. Determination filled him. At least they were no longer running around with the stupid clone of a dead man.

He took a deep breath fully aware that he was with the two people who had suffered the most from his old man and started forward again.

Brother... it came again... Jake paused. IF it was the Neman... He didn't know what to make... What did it want? Why didn't the other speak to him, instead of spearing him through? He hated the unknowns...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sherry's head broke the surface of the ground. It seemed like an eternity ago that she'd forced a helicopter to crash here. The pilot she now knew was Jake's half-brother... And now he was literally a monster.

She pulled herself up quickly, careful not to disturb Anja, who'd fallen asleep on the climb. Trembling she got her bearings as Anna emerged behind her, followed by Ada.

She stared at the ground in confusion when neither the clone of her father nor Leon emerged from the surface.

"Wait," she started but Ada caught her arm.

"He's not coming." Her look was firm, the one that you give when it's useless to argue. "He's going back for Jake."

Sherry gave a shuddering sob and stopped closing her eyes against the pain that welled up in her chest. She should have stayed away from him, left him alone in Yemen, he could have had a life there... A life of killing monsters true, but it would have been on his own terms. And no one would have been after their child.

"Let's go," Ada started walking. "I'm not used to rescuing people, and I don't play the damsel in distress very well."

Sherry stared at her for a moment. The woman was a legend in the profession, whispers of her filtered down to Sherry, but she'd never had a lengthy conversation with her before. It didn't look like she was going to get one now as Ada turned away from her.

On the other side of her Anna hefted a diaper bag and stared abysmally into the distance.

Sherry wanted to pity her but at the moment she found it hard to. What kind of person loved Albert Wesker of all people?

The air was filled with the acrid smell of freshly burned forest. At a distance, there were sirens blaring still. Sirens that Sherry realized were probably from the firefighters putting out the blaze. She touched her face leaving a black smear across her pale skin.

"That way," Ada pointed. Helicopters circled overhead and then came back. They'd been spotted.

I will find you. She promised Jake as she clutched Anja tighter. For now, she would do as he asked.

Trucks drove out to them, men waving at them... She shuddered. Everything had been burned to the ground, the trees covering the area, all the shrubbery covering the old buildings that used to be Raccoon City.

The skeleton of the first major viral outbreak of its kind still stood there, a scar to remind humanity that some things weren't worth exploring.

"Hey weren't there three with you?" A young fireman called out to her, breaking Sherry out of her thoughts.

"What?" She and Anna both turned around but there was no sign of Ada Wong anywhere.

She turned back to the fireman studying him before pointing to her infant. "There are three of us." Let Ada get back to doing what she did. Perhaps she went back to rescue them.

I'll do this your way, for now, Jake. She told herself. She held Anja close as she and Anna were loaded onto the truck. She had so many phone calls to make, and she knew exactly who she was calling first.

______________________________________

Silence greeted Leon as he stared up at the black hole he'd just sent Sherry, Anja, Anna, and Ada through. He sighed as he turned to Birkin and the last Neman, who only fixed it's predatory gaze at him and gave him what could only be described as the most sadistic smile on this side of heaven.

What have I gotten myself into? With Sherry around, Birkin would have been on his best behavior, and now... Ada's last words replayed in his mind. He'll kill you if given the chance.

I'm too old for this, he thought to himself as his hands moved across his chest, checking to see what he was carrying. 3 clips left for his 9mm, and his knife was still on his chest.

His hand felt the pistol on his side. Small reassurance with who he was up against. But it was better than nothing. He'd survived worse. His nightmares were a playground compared to what he'd seen in real life.

He turned to Birkin. "You going to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Maybe I can make you a better offer."

Birkin looked at him, surprised.

"We both want the same thing here, getting rid of Wesker, making sure Sherry gets out safe." He was careful not to include Anja in that statement. He had no idea how Birkin felt about his biologically related granddaughter.

"And Jake."

"Jake is a pretty good ally for the time being."

"He's a Wesker."

Leon chose not to argue the matter. He was going back for his partner whether Birkin liked it or not. "Maybe, but he'll do anything to save Sherry. If that means killing his old man, he'll pull the trigger."

Birkin said nothing for a moment. His pallid skin was covered with a sheen of sweat, and he was visibly shivering. The Neman stood over in the walkway looking just as formidable as it had when he'd first spotted it. There was no way to tell if it was as sick as its dark skin was the same as ever. Its muscles rippled as it breathed. Both of them waited for Birkin's response.

"Fine," Birkin said dragging in a ragged breath. He looked Leon in the eye, raw determination written there. "Till we get Sherry out. It's a deal. Do you have a plan?"

"Don't get killed just yet?" Leon suggested. He relaxed a bit. From what he knew of the original Birkin, the man had been devoted to his work. Either he missed the memo or the man was trying to make up for lost time.

Leon looked between him and the Neman. "How are you doing? Really, I mean..."

Birkin sighed. "It's under control, I honestly didn't know how my body would respond... I had planned on running more tests."

Leon stiffened. Human tests. He stared at the Neman again this time the creature met his eyes. The inky black irises were surprisingly expressive, showing barely suppressed rage, the clawed fingers clenched into massive fists. It remembers he realized. It's not just a creature that used to be human but it remembers. He wondered if Birkin realized the ramifications of what he'd done but given his endeavors, over the years he doubted that breaking the many ethical boundaries Birkin had done over the years what was one more?

________________

Jill followed behind the two men this time.

Not because she didn't want to take point, but out of the three of them, laughingly Chris was now the weakest link. His shoulders hunched, it was taking everything in him not to break down. He should have known, this had been his fight for years, and he'd lost plenty of men to this cause.

But he'd never thought of losing his sister, no matter how many times she'd been captured, or what she'd faced, she'd always managed to escape. He'd taken the time to familiarize her with as many weapons as she legally could carry.

In a world where all hell could break loose because of a man on an ego trip who somehow had the funds to back him on his quest, he'd spent hours making sure she was prepared. Jill knew this because he'd made her train too.

He'd spent hours by her side after she'd been rescued and she realized he'd been just as affected by her kidnapping as he had been.

And there'd been more between them than just the fact that they were "good partners."

She moved silently behind him, keeping an eye on his back and his head. She knew him, and any second he was going to crash. She only hoped it was later rather than now. There would be time for grieving now. She didn't want to have to grieve for him as well.

Ahead of them, Jake trudged, weaponless except for the Glock in his hand, missing a shirt, his body covered in blood that caked to skin already healed over.

All of them moved with the fear, especially now that they did not have Wesker in their sights, that he was still somehow in charge. That none of this was an accident.

All they could do was survive the deadly game that was in play. All without knowing who was pulling the strings.