They were gathered in the briefing room. Wesker placed his coffee on the table beside the podium he now stood at, as the STARS members filtered in.
"Is everyone set?" he asked in plain.
No rebuttal was made in response so he proceeded.
"There have been a number of reports in the Arklay mountains as of last Thursday. Three repeated attempts have been made on the lives of 4 men; lumber workers, to be exact. All 4 men have testified to our investigators that there were at least 3 subjects, unarmed, who assaulted them. They were described as quiet, and savage in behavior. These assailants were dismembered in the struggle. Their remains were brought here, to Raccoon City, where they are now being given autopsies. No identification has yet been found. Chief Irons thinks it's important to tell you all this, for reasons i do not fully comprehend."
half the room snickered.
"Nonetheless, the point should be made: unusual cases should be dealt with cautiously. I'm briefing you in case the press gets their hands on any one of you. We don't want to be caught informing the media before our own personnel. This case will be treated like any other homicide/ self defense case."
"But Captain, ...I heard they tried to take a chunk out of them-"
"What occurred and what rumors are floating around the precinct, are two separate things, Redfield. You would do well in remembering that. As far as the tests and reports are concerned, they are inconclusive. You are to be made aware however, that any suspicious activity within Raccoon City will require a visit from STARS, according to Chief Irons orders."
"But... Why?" Joseph asked with his feet up on the chair in front of him.
"People are becoming more and more unsettled by the incident in the mountains. They claim the RPD isn't giving enough response to public attacks in the area. The truth is, the area is so vast, there's little we can investigate."
"But why stars?" Joseph whined. "I mean, can't they get the cadets to do the rookie work?"
"I don't agree with Iron's take on the situation either, Joseph, but his orders still stand. He wants the best the RPD has, out there to be the ones in front of those cameras. All the media needs to know is that, the case is still under heavy investigation. Are there any other questions?"
"Yeah, where are the 4 victims now?" Enrico asked.
"They refused to come in for questioning within the city. Many of them have a tight payroll up there."
Enrico nodded simply.
Joseph raised his hand. "When are you going to take Iron's job?"
Wesker smirked but gave no comment.
"alright STARS. You're dismissed."
They got up and walked out as Wesker was left with his coffee, packing up his laptop, to bring back into his office.
--
"Man, the Captain seemed pretty upset about the case. He's never acted that way before about details.." Forest said in plain.
"The chief probably has him on a tight leash." Jill said. "and Joseph, stop putting Wesker on the spot like that!"
"What! Everyone knows the Captain's more together than Irons will ever be. All the man does is bark orders and horde all the morning donuts in the lounge!"
"Still. You're going to get him in trouble. A new captain wouldn't let you get away with half the stuff you've been doing."
"Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, the Cap'n and I are best buds, you know. We're like this."
Enrico erupted in laughter. "Pshhh, y-yeah. Alright, Joseph. Tell you what. I'll give you a hundred bucks, if you can get him to grab a drink with you."
"You're on, man!"
"This is going to be GREAT," Jill whispered in Chris's ear.
"What?"
"Nothing." they headed back to push more paperwork that a majority of them had neglected over the past couple of days.
"Man, this is going to take forever. Why did Bravo get patrol today?" Chris muttered.