S.T.A.R.S. and Stripes: Jill V. and Cap vs. Nemesis

Somewhere in Kijuju, Africa, Jill Valentine sleeps in a stasis pod while Albert Wesker monitors her body's production of antibodies. The incredible antibodies to the Progenitor virus and its descendants have proven most useful to Wesker's research into creating the ultimate virus. Jill knows not that she is being used to help bring a nightmare to life, but she sleeps uneasily. Her dreams are haunted by fire and the moans of the hungry dead, and a terrible voice that calls out for...

S.T.A.R.S...
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The city outside her window burned. Even with the window shut, Jill smelled the horrible stench of burning flesh. She could still hear their cries, rising up like a symphony of suffering into the night. They moved through the street, shadows from fire and headlights dancing about them: a sea of pallid, walking corpses, dead things that still hungered. Some ran faster than others and still screamed, trying to escape those who were once their friends, families, co-workers. They fell to exhaustion or accident and the dead ones set upon them in a bloody orgy of cannibalism.

Jill looked out over the chaos and felt her heart sink. This was so familiar, she could feel it. I swear I've been through this before. Raccoon City. Home for so many years. Nothing can save you now.

She grabbed her pistol and hip-pack from the bed. "Well, apartment, I guess this is the last time I'll see you, 'cause I can't take you with me." She felt a bit silly, and that made her smile. There wouldn't be many of those until she got out of Raccoon City and made Umbrella pay. Jill paused to kiss a small framed picture of her family. I'll do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.

With that, she stepped out of her apartment and moved cautiously into the hall, gun raised. She'd heard screams earlier in the lower floors, but there was no telling when some grinning undead freak might jump out at you. The floor was surprisingly quiet. Down the hall, to the stairs. Jill knew better than to trust the elevators. A man in a white-collar shirt lay face down in a pool of blood on the landing. Keeping her pistol trained on his head the whole time, Jill edged past him and to the stairs. He stirred with a harsh croak as she passed him, but they were slow. She jumped the last few stairs, turned and went down the second set, down again, and now she felt the heat.

Fire burned just outside the lobby doors where a car had struck a lamppost and the engine went up. Flaming debris scattered about had kicked up black smears all over the door glass. It'd be hot as hell, but Jill fired two quick shots into it, shattering the glass. She ran and leaped through the fire and ran into the street.

Things are going from bad to worse. A truck careened out of a side street and barreled through the intersection ahead, smashing into a building wall. A group of eight or nine staggering figures followed, but quickly turned their sights on Jill.





"Time to go!" Jill squeezed off a couple shots, put two of them on the ground. With a quick look over her shoulder, Jill ran east, twisting to fire as she moved. Another zombie fell. The rest rushed at her, surprisingly quick despite their jerking gaits. The fresh ones, they were dangerous like that. Jill was quicker, though, and kept one step ahead of them as she moved into the intersection.



The stragglers would catch up if Jill wasn't careful; when you stopped to fight off others, or plan, or take a breather, that's when they liked to sneak up on you. She turned and put the other two down with a couple of expert shots. Zombies were attracted to noise, so others would be on the way soon, but she just needed a moment. That bought her a breather.

A derelict car sat half on the curb to her right, its doors open and lights still on. Something big dropped onto its roof, crushing it in an explosion of glass and metal. The impact knocked Jill on her backside.

The something stood up, impossibly tall, and stepped off the car with a thump. Huge, clad in black, face of putrid flesh, milky-white eye, the other sewn shut by thick staples, flesh missing from its lips giving it a permanent snarl...

It uttered one word, a guttural growl as it fixed that dead eye on her.

"S.T.A.R.S.!"



"You... I know you! I've seen you before!" Jill scrambled to her feet, saw the huge weapon Nemesis carried. It was a rocket launcher, she recognized that, but it was too big for a human to fire.

Nemesis approached with deliberately slow but huge strides and swing its meaty left fist for Jill's head. She dove into a shoulder roll, feeling the wind of his powerful swing as it passed over her. Jill rolled onto her feet and ran. That would have taken my head off. Gonna need a lot more firepower!



Jill ran for her life, arms pumping in a sprinter's stance. She didn't dare look back. That thing would be on her in a second. She vaulted over the hood of a car and landed running. A strange shrieking sound filled the air and on instinct Jill threw herself to the ground. A rocket streaked past her, slamming into a pickup truck that sat in the middle of the street. The explosion rumbled through the street beneath her body as the truck went up in flames. She could feel the heat even from there.

Keep moving. Figure it out after you ditch him for a minute.

Just as soon as Jill started to move again there was another explosion, this time behind her. Searing heat licked at her backside as she was thrown bodily fifteen feet through the air. Jill landed hard and rolled to minimize the impact, but white-hot pain lanced through her left side. She could barely get to her feet. The world spun before her eyes.

No! He's going to kill you!



His heavy footsteps grew louder. The bastard took his time, wanted her to suffer before he did finished her. Jill was determined not to go out like that. Not like that. She turned and leveled her gun on him, but with one huge stride he crossed the last couple yards and seized her in one terribly powerful hand. Lifting her by the neck, he shook her, choked her, and all the sound in Jill's world faded to a dull roar. Her heart beat like a machine gun. The life drained from her limbs and alarm bells rang in her head.



Not... like... this!

Jill thrashed her legs, kicking him in the gut with both feet. His grip loosened just enough for her to jump back, tossing a blue-tinted canister in his face as she fell away. Nemesis roared in surprise just as the flash grenade exploded, completely blinding him. He staggered back, clawing at his one eye. Jill crawled away, got to her feet and turned, training her pistol on him.

The wail of screeching tires startled her. A city bus came flying around the corner, nearly tipping on its side. Jill saw the driver frantically spinning the wheel while trying to fight off a zombie. Nemesis never saw the bus coming. It smashed into the monster and both careened into the side of a beat-up tenement building with a tremendous crash. The wall crumbled and heavy chunks of debris slammed onto the road. Great clouds of hissing steam rolled out of the bus' front end. Crushed through the wall, Nemesis had disappeared into the building's dark interior.

No way he's dead, but maybe that'll slow him down!



Jill sank back against the wall and slowly slid to the ground. The newspaper was one she didn't recall ever belonging to Raccoon City, The Daily Bugle, but the offices were clear. There was one body lying near a cubicle on the far side of the room, a man in a white-collared shirt, but it hadn't moved since she put a bullet in its head. It was only a matter of time before the monster tracked her down, but she needed all the rest she could get. Her hands shook. She took deep, steady breaths. That had been too close. Jill knew she wouldn't have another escape like that.



A hollow boom resounded through the building. Jill looked up sharply. Already? I was hoping he'd be down longer. She got up and raised her gun. Creeping over to the double-doors leading further into the offices, she leaned around the edge of the frame and checked for movement. The room was different from the cubicles, instead full of big, sturdy desks and beyond them several doors with names stenciled on the windows: Jameson, Robertson, Parker. None of those rang a bell. The place was a mess, papers spilled all over the desks and floor, chairs strewn about, bloodstains on the floor and walls. There had been some kind of fight here, that's for sure.

Jill moved as quietly as she could, swinging her pistol around to check beneath each desk carefully before moving by. She didn't want something grabbing her legs and taking a bite.

Glass shattered somewhere behind her, back in the cubicle area. Jill spun on her heels—

—and the door to Jameson's office exploded. Heavy footsteps sounded like a pounding train engine as he burst into the room in a spray of glass and wood splinters. She tried to duck away, but Nemesis was too fast. He lunged forth and grabbed her arm, hurling her backwards through Jameson's office. She sailed out the window he'd broken through and barely had time to brace herself before she landed hard on her back atop a car parked outside. The roof crumpled and she let out a pained cry. Jill rolled off the side of the car and landed prone on the street.

Come on... move... damn it, move! Each breath was like sucking in fire. Her whole body screamed at her to stop moving and just black out for a while, but she wouldn't. Not Jill Valentine. She'd survived everything before, she would survive this. Somehow.



A bloody red hand reached for her. Jill tried to raise her gun but her hand was too shaky, her eyes blurry. She focused and saw that it wasn't a bloody hand, but one in a red glove. And that voice was human. Strong, confident.

"You look like you could use a hand, soldier."

Jill took the proffered hand and climbed to her feet. She found herself looking upon a sight straight out of living legend, an icon known the world over. Clad in red, white and blue, bearing the indestructible shield that stands for his unbreakable conviction in the highest ideals, only one man in the world had such a presence. Jill's jaw fell.

"Captain America!"



"This whole city's going to hell and fast. You've got to get up and keep moving, soldier. I know you've fought hard, but we'll make it through this yet!"

Jill couldn't help but feel safer with the legendary Captain America on her side.

The relative peace didn't last long. Nemesis appeared at the broken window above, roaring into the night. Cap's eyes widened as he saw the monster. "That's your stalker? I've seen uglier." He shook his head. "But not many."



"He's about impossible to kill! We're going to have to find some way of stopping him for good!" Jill pulled the pin out of a nitro grenade and threw it into the window. Nemesis twisted and the grenade flew past him, into the dark office. He leaped out the window just as its exploded, sending white tongues of frost spraying into the air behind him.



"Cap, look out!"

Nemesis sprang upon Captain America, swinging his rocket launcher overhead to bash the smaller man into the ground and following it up with a powerful left hook. Cap lifted his shield and deflected the launcher attack, then swung it around to meet Nemesis' fist. Both blows rang out on the shield but stopped dead, and Captain America gritted his teeth. "You're a strong one, I'll give you that. But I know something about fighting strong monsters."



Cap surveyed the situation: a damaged lamppost nearby, half a dozen cars strewn across the road, piles of debris and wreckage on the sidewalks. He quickly calculated an angle and hurled his shield. It flew past Nemesis on his left, bounced off the dented hood of a car and struck the bent lamppost, ricocheting toward the back of the monster's head.

Nemesis turned at the last moment and knocked the shield away with a swing of his rocket launcher. It clattered to the ground and slid beneath a car.

"He's a tough one!"

"I told you, Cap. We won't be able to kill him like this. What do we do?"

"We do what our people do."

Jill nodded. "We keep fighting."



"We have to find a way to drop a building or something on him." Jill scanned the street, but it didn't look like there was anything weak enough, and they didn't have the explosives charges necessary to bring one down. Gotta be something!

"There! A gas station! Maybe we can blow that up with him in it."

Cap spotted it, several blocks down. "Good idea." He glanced back at Nemesis and cracked his knuckles. "That's a long way away with how fast he is. This isn't going to be easy. You get a head start. I'll keep him distracted. No matter what happens, stick to the plan."

"Right!" Jill hesitated a moment before she ran. He's Captain America, he'll be fine. He has to be.



Ignoring the Captain, Nemesis watched Jill run. He aimed his rocket launcher to follow her, but Captain America sprang into action. He sprinted to the car and grabbed his shield from under it, then turned and hurled it as fast as he could. It struck the rocket launcher with a sibilant clang just as Nemesis fired and the rocket arced into a nearby car. The explosion blasted it apart, raining down flaming chunks of glass and metal on the street. Cap caught the shield as it rebounded back to him.

"Don't go picking another fight until you finish this one, son."



The firelight cast a hot orange glow on Captain America as he stood before the behemoth. His jaw set, he tensed up and prepared to fight to the very last if he had to, in order to buy Jill time. You've got a job to do, Rogers. See it through no matter what.

"You're an ugly one, and you aren't lacking for mean spirit." Cap raised his shield and threw it at the ground at the monster's feet. It bounced up, even as Cap leaped over Nemesis, somersaulting, catching it in midair and bringing it down hard on the rocket launcher. The metal tubing crumpled and smoke issued from it. Nemesis tossed the ruined rocket launcher away and spun to face Captain America.

"But you aren't the real monster! It's the people who make things like you that are monsters."



With a blood-curdling roar, Nemesis surged forth and smashed a fist down on Cap's shield. The Living Legend blocked his attack, but it seemed the monster was craftier than he looked. At the same time, tentacles snaked out of both arms and coiled around Cap's arms and legs, then his torso, lifting him into the air and squeezing so hard his bones creaked. Captain America struggled, but his strength was no match for the inhuman power coiled in those tentacles.

"Damn it, Rogers! You've got to... do... something!"



Good thing she looked back when she did. Even Captain America needed help sometimes. Something had told her to look back, and she saw him in the crushing grip of those tentacles, the monster sure to squeeze the life from him if she didn't do something.

A police car sat derelict nearby, lights flashing, doors hanging open. A cop lay in the street, unmoving, a rifle near his hands. If ever there was a time... Jill ran and snatched up the rifle, then used the hood of the car to help steady it as she looked through the scope. Even if the cop rose as a zombie and attacked her, she had to make the shot. Cap was depending on it.

Hold steady, you bastard. It was hard to get a shot lined up with Nemesis moving, attempting to shake the life out of Captain America. The tentacles emerged from his hands, so if she could just get the shot... there!

Crack!

The .50 rifle round tore through the tentacles in a spray of dark blood, severing one completely. Cap stirred to life just at that moment, straining with all his might and snapping the other one in the moment of weakness. He dropped to the ground and hopped back several times, flashing Jill a thumbs-up. Way to make it count, Valentine.

She waved her arms and shouted. "Hey! Come and get me! S.T.A.R.S., remember? You want me, not him!"





"Cap! We're going to have to slow him up a bit or this will never work! Careful, he's hard to hurt and harder to keep hurt!" There were several cars parked at the gas station where they'd tried to fill up when the chaos started. Jill saw that one of the pumps had been prepaid already. Crossing her fingers that it was never filled, she unhooked the nozzle, set the handle mechanism that kept the trigger pulled and threw the nozzle on the ground. A steady stream poured from it, filling the air with the smell of gasoline. "We're good to go! Just gotta knock him down!"

Captain America turned to meet the charging Nemesis. "Got it! You take care of those zombies!" Nemesis charged him with thundering footsteps and rammed his shoulder into the shield, but Cap braced himself and stopped Nemesis in his tracks, their feet skidding over the asphalt.



They came at her from all directions, staggering into the flickering light with arms outstretched, bloody lips agape in ghastly cries as they reached for her. They tried to swarm her, hem her in, but Jill was too quick. She shoulder her way past one pasty-faced woman and jumped over the hood of a car to escape the others.



Jill turned and fired several quick bursts on the zombies, each shot focused by adrenaline into a perfect killing shot, one bullet to the head. She threw a grenade far enough out that the blast staggered the zombies right into hails of gunfire. Bodies fell like rain around her.

"Good work!" called Captain America, looking back over his shoulder. "Keep it up, soldier!"



She was so close. Nemesis could nearly taste her pale flesh. He reached out for Jill with a guttural growl.

"S.T.A.R.S.—!

"—and stripes!" Captain America leaped high into the air, smashing his shield right into the monster's jaw with enough force to lift Nemesis off the ground. They landed at the same time, Cap in a crouch, ready for battle. Nemesis crashed down hard on his back, his jaw broken for sure.

Felt like that broke my arm. I just hope he felt that near as much as I did.



With a low, gurgling groan, Nemesis stirred. He sat up and quickly rose to his full height, towering over Captain America. "S.T.A.R.S."

Cap was stunned. His arms felt like jelly and the monster looked like it could go another ten rounds. "How is he still standing? That hit would have left Thor reeling!"

Jill trained her pistol on Nemesis. "I told you: he just won't die! We're going to have to let him have everything we've got to slow him down long enough!"

Nemesis held up his hands and tentacles lanced out of his palms. He swung them in wide arcs, high and low, attempting to catch his enemies and trip them up. At the same time he leaped upon Captain America and tried to bowl him over. He dove out of the way, raising his shield to block a tentacle whip that would have lashed his face off. Jill used her incredible dexterity and reflexes to jump between the whipping tentacles.



"Just stand still already!" Jill threw a nitro grenade at him, but Nemesis caught it and crushed it in one mighty fist. An explosion of white vapors hissed from his hand, but he merely roared.



"I don't care how tough you are: the things you represent can never win!" Cap spun and threw the shield almost like a discus, striking Nemesis in the forehead. The shield bounced back to Captain America's hand and he threw it again, hitting the monster square in the chest and knocking him back a step.



Just as Nemesis staggered, Jill unloaded a barrage of shots on him, the rounds tearing into his head and chest. Further he staggered, but though her shots were well-placed, grouped to do serious damage, he still wouldn't go down. "Fall! Fall!" She threw away the pistol and pulled the magnum from her hip holster. It only had a few shots, and she'd been saving them just for this.

"You want 'S.T.A.R.S.'?" she said between roars of the magnum. "I'll give you 'S.T.A.R.S.'!" She walked forward slowly, blasting away with the magnum. Again and again he stumbled back, fifty-caliber rounds ripping into his putrid flesh. One of his knees nearly buckled, and she counted her shots: down to the last one. Jill leveled the pistol, sights settled on his ugly face, and squeezed the trigger.

Boom!

Nemesis toppled at last, dark blood spraying from his ruined face. He let out a gurgling cry as he fell and lay unmoving in a spreading pool of blood.



"Cap! Now! Let's go!" She drew an incendiary from her pack and threw it straight into the pool of gasoline not twenty feet from where Nemesis fell. Then Jill turned and ran, Captain America right beside her, both sprinting for their lives.

Any second now, time to feel the bu—

BA-DOOOOOOM!

The blast was enormous, a wave of heat and pressure lifting the soldiers off their feet and hurling them through the air. Jill somersaulted expertly but fell into a heap upon landing. Captain America rolled as he landed, using the shield to absorb much of the impact, but he ended up on his back, too, chest heaving. They both stayed prone for a moment, sucking in gasps of air tinged with the smell of smoke.

Cap got up first, offered a hand to help Jill up. They looked back to survey their handiwork. A huge fireball rolled into the sky from the explosion that had consumed the gas station. Angry flames reached high into the sky amid great pillars of black smoke. And somewhere in the center of it all was Nemesis, if there was anything left of him.

"Whew. Thanks, Cap. I couldn't have done it without you."

Captain America shook his head. "I don't know about that. You did as well as I or anyone else could have. Jill Valentine, it was an honor to fight beside you." As the beating of helicopter rotors sounded in the distance, Captain America raised his hand in salute to Jill Valentine. Barely able to believe what she was seeing, she saluted him back.
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In her stasis pod, a smile touched the dreaming Jill Valentine's lips for the first time in years.