Chapter Text
The BSAA was a well known organization that fought the things that went bump in the night.
Vampires, werewolves, were-anything really. Lycanthropy was problematic; more often than Piers ever thought it would be. The BSAA would handle a lot of those cases.
Piers had been working with them for years, serving under Chris Redfield who was one of its founders. Piers looked up to him, even admired him. He would follow him into Hell itself if he had to and he wouldn't even blink.
That's why Piers was starting to wonder how he ended up in his current situation. Separated from his Captain, alone with the mercenary Jake Muller; son of Albert Wesker, a vampire lord that had tried to destroy the world. Wesker had nearly succeeded had it not been for his Captain.
They had come to Edonia chasing after reports of a vampiress in blue creating ghouls and feral vampires in large groups; loosing them upon the masses.
His Captain and Sherry Birkin had gotten separated from them by a falling building, leaving Piers alone with the mercenary that kept pushing his buttons.
"Dammit." Piers swore under his breath as he slammed his foot against a door, kicking it open.
"You getting riled up about this isn't going to get us out of this any faster Puppy. I'm not happy about it either." Piers wanted to punch him, it'd be pointless trying but it would make him feel better.
"I told you to stop calling me that! I'm not a dog!" Piers retorted turning to glare at Jake while adjusting his grip on his rifle.
Jake actually smirked at that and was in Piers' face before Piers could even register the speed he moved at. "Then prove it Puppy, because you act like one." Jake Muller was taller than Piers and the sudden invasion of his space reminded Piers about this, one of Jake's arms pressed against the cracked stone wall beside his head.
Piers' breath caught in his throat as he stared into those blue eyes before his training kicked back in and he averted his gaze; he swung right for Jake's face with his fist.
Of course Jake had dodged the blow with ease, he had the advantage against Piers in more ways than one; but it had gotten Jake to back off, Piers had reclaimed his space and he turned and strode through the door he had kicked earlier.
"Enough messing around, Captain Redfield and Sherry are waiting for us to meet up with them." Piers tried to ignore his racing heart. He wasn't going to fall for a vampire's seduction that easily. At least that's what he told himself.
Piers could convince himself that Jake was just messing with him to get a rise out of him, there wasn't anything more to it. All of it was just the vampire using him for his entertainment. Piers wasn't going to let him be easy amusement. He'll tolerate the behavior until he's back with his squad. Just endure it a little while longer Piers. He thought the motivation to himself while they moved through the dark halls of the underground building.
Everything was going fine until a noise alerted Piers and he aimed with his rifle down one of the dark paths. He stared through the scope, holding his breath to keep his rifle steady. Internally he slowly counted the beats of his heart without taking his eyes off of that hall through the scope when the screech reached his ears as a figure rushed for them aiming right for Jake.
Piers reacted without thinking, "Get down!" He shouted, shoving Jake out of harms way and he took a clawed swipe against his side that made him wince before he whirled and smacked the feral vampire away with his rifle and fired at its head with the silver bullet. At the close proximity he didn't need to look through his scope to hit his target, it would be impossible to miss.
Piers let out a breath, his body shuddering at the pain he was trying to ignore. "What the hell Nivans?! Why did you do that?! Are you stupid!?"
Piers glared at Jake, clenching his teeth. "Sh-Shut up, my body moved without thinking about it. I'm also supposed to make sure you make it back to Sherry alive." He reminded him and Jake's glare darkened forcing Piers to look away. "Protecting people is what I do Muller, don't-don't over think it if it bothers you so much." Piers started walking down the pathway, pressing his hand against his injured side. Damn it stings though, it feels deeper than I thought it was. Captain Redfield should have some first aid tablets. I just have to hold out until then.
The rest of the walk felt eerie in its silence and Piers wasn't certain how long they had even been down there after awhile. Until he lost his footing and he stumbled into a nearby wall, sliding against it to sit down just trying to catch his breath.
"What's wrong Puppy? You don't look too good." Piers frowned and tried to force himself back to his feet but Jake stopped him.
"You're just going to keep losing blood at this rate. Just rest for a bit, don't worry I won't let anyone take a bit out of you." Piers groaned at that which caused Jake to chuckle. Piers refuses to admit he likes the way that chuckle sounded.
Jake stayed close by him, staring into the darkness; Hell, he could likely see into it better than Piers' scope. What was I thinking? Jake can protect himself. The thought crossed Piers' mind for a fleeting moment as his eyes slid closed. Would Muller do the same for me? Probably not. Piers couldn't think of any reason for Jake to do that.
Piers started to drift off, likely from the blood loss. Some part of him was aware of someone speaking to him before a cold pressure made contact with his injured side and the taste of something sweet slid against his tongue causing him to shiver in response. At some point in his light doze, the pain in his side had faded and a hand on his shoulder shook him awake.
"Come on Puppy, if you don't wake up I'm going to eat you up." Piers groaned and scrubbed at his eyes with his gloved hands.
"I can't believe I fell asleep next to a vampire." Piers swatted at the hands that were holding his shoulders, listening to Jake's laugh.
"Could be worse company, at least I'm better looking than those ghouls." Piers bit his tongue, not about to admit Jake was right about that.
He managed to get back to his feet with only the help from the wall. "Thanks, for watching my back and for not taking advantage of my moment of weakness." Jake raised an eyebrow at that before he shrugged.
"You got injured protecting me, don't overthink it. I was just returning the favor. Come on, Supergirl and Redfield are still waiting for us. We should go before they send a search party." Piers nodded, knowing that was a good point.
It took a few more hours, but eventually they emerged into the night covered streets and Piers took in a big breath of the cold air.
"Piers!" A male voice called, heavy boots resounding against stone.
"Jake!" A female voice called as well, lighter steps keeping pace with heavier ones.
"Thank god you're both alright, we were worried." Sherry ran up and practically slammed into Jake as she hugged him.
Chris took up Piers' line of sight, his expression full of concern as he checked him over for injuries; noticing some makeshift bandages wrapped around Piers' side. "You're injured, what happened down there? You didn't drink anything did you?" Piers shook his head, opening his mouth to answer his Captain when a cold grip wrapped tightly around his arm and pulled him back causing him to stumble; catching all of them off guard.
"He's fine, it was just a scratch." Piers was still stunned by Jake's hand gripping his arm so tightly.
"Muller..." Chris looked between them, his expression shifting as he tried to figure out what happened between them when they had gotten separated.
"Jake! What are you doing?" Sherry pulled Jake away from Piers and Chris, freeing the sniper of that grip that caused his heart to race; goosebumps running along his skin.
"Piers, what was that about? Tell me what happened down there." Chris' voice turned serious and Piers snapped to attention.
"There was a feral vampire down there, I got scratched but I took it down. I was injured protecting Muller, that's all that happened. I had to rest for a bit because of my injury, I lost some blood. I think Muller bandaged me while I was unconscious." Chris frowned and tugged out a packet of the first aid tablets and he shoved several into Piers' gloved hands.
"Take them, now. When we get back to base you're going to the medic to make certain you're alright." Piers nodded and he swallowed down the tablets.
"Yes Captain." He wasn't going to argue. Chris nodded and turned to Sherry and Jake.
"The plane arrived while you were in the tunnel, so you guys can head onto your destination. You told the pilot where to go right Sherry?" Sherry paused her conversation with Jake to nod to Chris with a smile.
"Yes, thanks so much Chris. Your help means a lot." Chris smiled at her.
"Just be safe, you both have an important mission of your own. The fate of the world is on your shoulders, so hurry so you don't miss your flight." Sherry gave another nod, Jake frowned at that.
"You're suddenly eager to be rid of us Redfield. What's that about?" Jake's voice was almost annoyed as he crossed his arms radiating cool.
Chris smiled but even Piers could tell it was forced. "You have an important mission and so do we. It's better if you both hurry to keep any more surprise attacks from intervening."
Jake's eyes narrowed at that and if it wasn't for Sherry pulling on his arm, Piers could have sworn a fight would have happened.
Jake's blue eyes finally left Chris' glare and focused on Piers. "See you around, Puppy."
Piers bristled, "I'm not a puppy!" He shouted after them; Chris' hand against his shoulder keeping him in place.
They watched them until they were long out of their line of sight and then they walked back to the rest of their squad. Piers couldn't explain the slight ache in his chest watching Jake leave with such a shitty farewell, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind; we still have a mission to do.