October 6th, 2014.

Dying really changed my life, Jill Valentine mused, silently appreciating the irony as she made her way through the hallway, heading toward the DSO director's office which was her office now. She was to be briefed by Ingrid Hunnigan and while Jill couldn't put her finger on why exactly she felt that way, she had to admit, she was somewhat intimidated by Hunnigan.

On a quick glance it made no sense, Jill knew herself to be a skilled operative, she'd been in the business of fighting bioterror for almost half of her life, she was one of the founders of the BSAA, she knew what she was doing...and at the same time, she did not. She was a field operative, what she knew was how to track down and kill monsters. She knew how to connect dots, knew how to dig up information, where and how. Or, she had known.

The latest mission, and her last field mission for the foreseeable future it seemed, had been such a mess it had severely damaged Jill's confidence in her skills. Not to mention it had very nearly ended with Hunnigan's wife getting infected, and finally getting rescued by an unknown sympathetic party; not by Jill, not by the BSAA, but instead a random third party who was the only reason Helena and Nadia were not dead.

That mission was supposed to be Jill's glorious return to action after nearly five God damn years in the BSAA halfway house where she'd been stuck in and nearly forgotten about ever since her return from Kijuju. Instead, it had turned out to be an embarrassment.

Chris Redfield had been the first to tell her not to take it so hard, to assure her no one at the BSAA thought any less of her or her skills, that they were a family, that they supported each other through things like that. While Jill knew he was sincere and while she agreed with him to some extent, she herself couldn't allow herself to just get away with a screw up of that magnitude.

She also didn't have the heart to tell Chris that there were some in the agency who flat out didn't want to work with him because he was notorious for losing all his men. While there were ten men like Piers Nivans who gladly followed Chris to hell with a smile for every one who didn't, Jill didn't want that reputation for herself. She didn't want to become "the black widow" of the BSAA.

In other words, she was intimidated because this was all new territory to her. The DSO was Ingrid Hunnigan's realm, it was intimidating having to meet with someone whose life's work you'd been put in charge of and you had no idea how they felt about it. Jill didn't fully understand why the president had even offered her the job rather than give it to Hunnigan. That said, she could see the benefits of doing this, it made sense that the BSAA and the DSO would share manpower and resources to increase effectiveness. Jill was just hoping she didn't have to be the one in charge of it.

At the same time, she didn't know what else she would do. The only reason she'd taken the position was because she couldn't bring herself to take charge and responsibility on the field anymore, she didn't want any more lives on her hands. After a brief attempt of working under someone else's command she'd noticed her reputation preceding her, and the agent in charge having trouble getting comfortable with the idea of giving orders to the Jill Valentine, or alternatively they ended every briefing by asking her specifically if she agreed with their plans and ideas, making her the de facto agent in charge anyway.

Her other option had been to quit and go do something else. With the money she'd earned and saved up she could've retired and been relatively comfortable, maybe offer piano lessons for some small extra income. Maybe retire, move to an obscure country in the Northern Europe, maybe Iceland or Finland, build a cabin in the woods or by a lake, live out the rest of her life in peace, just reading books and raising dogs (some kind of retrievers, maybe Labrador retrievers, certainly Golden retrievers), no more worrying about corruption, black market arms deals, civil wars, terrorists.

As amazing as it sounded in theory, Jill knew herself better. She didn't know how to quit. She'd enjoy her new life for five minutes before she'd find herself obsessively diving back into the work, looking for clues, digging for evidence, itching to get out there and do something, to make it right. And if she couldn't, she'd get angry at her powerlessness and inability to make a difference. If nothing else, being the director of the DSO offered her opportunity to make changes, gave some sense of accomplishment. Now she just hoped Ingrid Hunnigan wasn't upset about losing the job to her.

Jill finally located her office and stepped in. The room was too big for her liking, the massive wooden desk and the noticeably lower chair opposite to it speaking volumes of the previous director's fragile ego; no one worthy of respect felt the need to be seated higher than the employee speaking to them. A cheap trick Jill had witnessed primarily from insecure men.

First chance I get, the chairs and the desk are getting replaced, she decided as she took a seat and placed her cardboard coffee cup onto the desk, digging out her breakfast sandwich from the paperbag it was in. She glanced at her watch as she unwrapped the food. It was 7:45 a.m. and she sighed a little, wishing she had a bit more time before her 8:00 a.m. meeting but this would have to do.

Jill had barely finished chewing the last bite when there was a knock on the door the moment the clock switched to 8:00 a.m. sharp. Well, now she knew at least one thing about Ingrid Hunnigan; that woman was ridiculously punctual.

"Come in," Jill called out, unsure if she should've gone over and answered the door. Why am I so nervous? she frowned at herself.

Hunnigan entered the office accompanied by a woman Jill didn't recognize.

"Director Valentine, meet Olivia Brooks, she has been instrumental at Field Operations Support and in the founding of the DSO academy, I felt you'd benefit from hearing her input on the details as well," Hunnigan said and Jill reached her hand out.

"Director," Olivia smiled as they shook hands.
"Please," Jill shook her head a little, "it's Jill."

Instead of returning behind the desk, Jill decided to direct them over to the couch on the left side of the room and joined them there. She couldn't contain a wide smile when she saw Hunnigan routinely go to balance her laptop over her thighs only to realize her baby bump was getting in the way of managing that comfortably, and she moved the laptop onto the coffee table.

"How far along are you, if you don't mind me asking?" Jill inquired, only after saying it out loud realizing to hope Hunnigan was pregnant and not just heavy.
"Twenty-two weeks," Hunnigan replied to Jill's relief.

"Only twenty-two weeks? I could swear you've been pregnant for like a year," Olivia commented and Hunnigan rolled her eyes a little, a smile tugging the corner of her mouth.

"Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl? Would one know at this point? I don't know anything about...baby stuff," Jill chuckled.
"Uh, it...it's a girl," Hunnigan replied and cleared her throat, reaching to log in to her computer. Jill figured from the apparent reluctance to carry on the conversation further that it was time to just get to business.

For the majority of the following hours Jill simply listened, aware of it all being a lot to take in but also knowing that most of what was being done here wasn't all that different from how it was at the BSAA, at least not on the large scale of things. When it came to the details, Hunnigan assured her she'd get the hang of it soon enough and that she should ask if she ever needed a hand with anything. She let Jill know she was surrounded by people whose job it was to assist the director with the minor details, a team consisting of lawyers and people handling the administrative little things necessary to keep places like this running, she was in good hands.

It wasn't until they got to discussing the academy that Jill had to ask them to stop for a moment.

"I can't have heard that right. We do what?" she frowned and Olivia glanced at Hunnigan before uncomfortably repeating her statement.
"The budget for next year has allocated funds to acquiring corpses donated to science."

"The military does a similar thing, it's not as uncommon as one might think," Hunnigan chimed in.
"Yes, they use corpses for blast tests which, the last time I checked, is very different from infecting them with the zombie-viruses," Jill scoffed.

"They aren't being infected with viruses, they're being used as hosts for the parasites so we can study in more detail how exactly they work with the human nervous system and brain," Olivia elaborated and Jill sighed.
"How did this ever even get approved?"

"Creative wording and a sympathetic president," Hunnigan said.
"So she doesn't know?"

"She knows, she just doesn't know what exactly is being done with the bodies we acquire, and she specifically requested not to be kept up to date."
"I'm not comfortable with this at all. We're supposed to be stopping zombies and parasites and whatever, not making them," Jill said.

"I can understand that, and I agree it's not ideal but it's helpful because the more we understand, the better equipped we are to respond to situations involving bioweapons like these," Olivia said.
"Know thy enemy, huh?" Jill sighed. "Fine, fine, but just...I want the bodies treated with as much respect as possible. It won't make a difference but it'll help me sleep better at night," she added.

"You have my word," Hunnigan said, and Jill chose to trust her.
"Anything else I should know about?" she asked and she could tell from the look Olivia and Hunnigan exchanged that there was something big the duo had delayed letting her in on.

"We've recently received some intel that suggests there might be an Umbrella cell still active in Raccoon City," Hunnigan said slowly.
"Raccoon City?" Jill blinked in surprise. That place was supposed to be nothing but a radioactive hole in the ground fenced off from the general public and secured by a handful of watchtowers, manned by guards whose job it was to remind the people visiting the memorial wall at the city limit to remain at a safe distance.

"And when I say intel, I mean...someone told me I should look into Raccoon City," Hunnigan disclosed and Jill raised an eyebrow.
"I expect this someone is trustworthy?

"Not in the least but at the same time I don't think they would've brought this to me just to yank my chain. I do think there's reason to at least keep this on our radar."
"Is there anything else that would suggest this intel is on the money?"

"We haven't had a chance to look deeper into it, and we figured we should run it by your first," Olivia said and Jill nodded.
"All right, look into it, if something turns up...let me know and we'll decide what to do then," she said.

With that, Hunnigan concluded that she'd brought Jill up to speed on everything that was currently happening. She left a thick folder of printouts and case files and Jill thanked her.

"And again, if there's anything else you need, just ask."
"Thanks, I'm sure I'll be tugging on your sleeve once I'm done familiarizing myself with this stuff," Jill smiled.

"You know where to find me."

"Hunnigan? One more thing," Jill called out after her and she paused by the door. Olivia took the hint and exited, giving the two of them some privacy.
"Yes?"

"I just wanted to make sure there are no hard feelings?"
"About what?" Hunnigan frowned.

"Me getting the director's job..?" Jill trailed off and Hunnigan chuckled.
"I assure you, no hard feelings whatsoever, had the position been offered to me, I would have turned it down. I just want to do my job, not run the place," she said and Jill quirked an eyebrow.

While she believed Hunnigan was being honest, she also knew the tall intelligence liaison had a tendency to bend the rules and cross certain boundaries, at least based on what Jill knew from the case files former director Kosmin had compiled to make his argument against Hunnigan. Granted, she hadn't been wrong and Jill was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and she did believe in individuals' right to disobey an order they considered bad. She just didn't yet know how different her and Hunnigan's ideas could be.

Or maybe Hunnigan didn't want to officially run the place, that would've made her responsible; it was easier to disobey orders and do what you want in the name of ends justifying the means when you're not the one whose head will roll when things go South. Jill knew Hunnigan was used to being given pretty much free reign over her agents and she sincerely hoped she wouldn't have to go toe to toe with her about the chain of command. She supposed that was something only time would tell.

"Was there anything else?"
"No. Thank you, Ingrid."


Helena felt like she and Lucy were probably the last people on the planet who should've been sent in to interview Kosmin but when Hunnigan had told her Jill had greenlit "Operation Raccoon City" and the interrogation could begin, Helena had no intention of letting anyone else handle the interview. Yes, it was personal and Helena had every intention of making sure Kosmin would regret the day he'd decided to unjustly persecute her wife, and at this point no one could stop her. At least not easily.

Which was why she'd decided to bring in Lucy as her partner. She needed some actual field experience (even if it was just "a boring interview" as far as Lucy was concerned) and Helena was certain that out of all the agents at hand, she was least likely to interrupt Helena if she decided to give Kosmin some extra incentive to come clean about what he knew. Provided he knew anything, could be he had nothing more to offer, surely he'd given everything up by now in hopes of a deal of some kind.

Helena's hopes of crushing Kosmin's balls were dashed when the warden informed her that Kosmin would not be released into the DSO's custody and that she and Lucy would have to perform their interview in the prison's facilities, the interaction supervised and recorded.

"Don't you think it's a bit suspect they wanna keep an eye on us?" Lucy muttered as they waited for Kosmin to be escorted into the room.

"You heard the warden, the DSO doesn't enjoy the justice department's trust these days thanks to people like Kosmin infiltrating the higher ranks, it makes sense they don't want to hand him over to us, he might disappear to a blacksite before they can prosecute him."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but how do you know they're not protecting him for their own reasons? If The Family can plant a dude as the national security advisor, what's to stop them from planting one at the DOJ?"
"Nothing, on the contrary, I'm sure must have plants there to be able to operate the way they do," Helena said.

"Well, if we know that, why aren't we doing anything?" Lucy hissed and Helena chuckled softly.

Lucy was an anomaly. She could be clever and mature, but simultaneously there was a certain naivety about her that was kind of adorable.

"You're right, let's go arrest them and end this once and for all. Lead the way," Helena jested and Lucy rolled her eyes. "We aren't doing anything because we don't know who to investigate, and even once we figure out who to look into, we still have to do things by the book, which means talking to judges, getting warrants, and to get warrants we need evidence, and to get evidence—"

"I get it, I get it, I get it!" Lucy groaned. "God, I thought fighting bioterrorism would be more 'yay, let's shoot zombies!' and less paperwork."
"One day you'll be happy if you have nothing on your plate but boring paperwork," Helena assured.

The metal door to the visiting area clattered open loudly and Kosmin was escorted in. He'd lost a lot of weight and he looked like a rat that had been soaked in a freezing river. Helena didn't think that whatever he'd been through while in custody was anywhere near enough of a punishment for the way he'd gone after Hunnigan, but it was a start.

"You shouldn't be here, you're endangering me," he said the moment he saw he was dealing with DSO agents.
"I don't care, you're going to tell me what I want to know," Helena said and stood up. "Is it true Umbrella never left Raccoon City?"

"I don't know anything, and even if I did, why would I want to tell you?"
"You said it yourself, you're in danger just because you're seen talking to us," Lucy said as Helena circled the desk and paced behind Kosmin, giving her an affirming nod to let her know her timing was good.

"We can protect you," Lucy offered.
"I already have protection," Kosmin scoffed.

"You think The Family will protect you?" Lucy asked.
"Why would they bother? You've been thoroughly burned, you're of no use to them, and you never were more than a mid-level spy at best."

"I've been loyal, I've done great things!" he insisted and Helena snorted.
"Right. I'm sure you're more important to them than Derek C. Simmons was. Remember that guy?" she asked, pausing to stand in front of Kosmin and leaning over the table until her nose was almost touching his.

"The former national security advisor, arguably one of their most influential members, a personal friend of the president's for over three decades, and what did The Family do?" Helena asked, speaking right into his face, pausing to give him a second to think about it. "They abandoned him the moment he became a liability. You think you're worth more than him?" she added in a whisper.

"You're more than a liability, you're a problem. For as long as you're alive, they'll have every reason to think you'll blab to us...especially if we start spending excessive amounts of time just hanging out with you here," Lucy chimed in as Helena stood up straight again, pulled out a chair and took a seat.

"We can protect you. Just tell us something useful and we'll take you in protective custody," Lucy continued.

She had no authority to make such promises, even Helena didn't have that power, but she didn't correct Lucy. If she genuinely believed she could make promises like that, she'd be far more convincing than she would if she knew she was lying. Or then she already knew but lied anyway. Helena didn't care either way right now. She just wanted to know who was the next link in the chain.

"Jenova was nothing but a useful tool for me and The Family to use to gain more influence, as long as they were actively using bio-weapons, we were needed to come clean the mess and consult the authorities. You'd be amazed at how much money there is to be made in that bullshit," he began.

"We know all this already," Helena said impatiently. She didn't care about The Family enabling an eco-terrorist group's actions, she wanted to know what Irma Wesker had meant when she'd ranted about new world order and evolution. She wanted to know if it was all delusion or if it was based on reality, based on a memory, was it already too late to stop whatever it was that was supposed to happen? Whatever that even was.

"Well, did you know that Jenova gained financial independence from The Family by infecting their own members with Umbrella's viruses and selling them the combat data?"
"So, they stopped working for you. What about it?"

"The only thing that influences those types more than money is their ideals. They found someone who shared their belief about the state of the planet, some green-hippie-flower-power-bullshit, only with less peace and love, and more wipe the slate clean and start over."

"So, Jenova and this unknown other party are planning on destroying the world and rebuilding a utopia."
"No, you don't understand. Jenova and Umbrella...what's left of either at this point...they're now the same thing. They have the same goal."

"Artificial evolution," Helena said and Kosmin nodded.
"The Family only wanted to keep things the way they were. We were bringing order to chaos and keeping peace."

"Yeah, sure, except we didn't need peace until you came along to stir shit up to make yourself seem necessary," Lucy scoffed.
"So, where do we find them?"

"I don't know."
"Then tell me who does!" Helena slammed her fist against the table but to his credit, Kosmin didn't even flinch.

"I don't know!" he snapped. "There's a reason individual members are kept in the dark about things."
"Fine. In that case, thank you for your co-operation," Helena said and turned to leave.

"You'll have me transferred to protective custody now, right?" Kosmin called after her.
"Sure thing," Helena said and exited, Lucy following behind her.

"So, how much paperwork will that be?" she asked once they were outside and heading toward the parking lot.
"Oh, no, we don't have the authority to do anything," Helena shook her head, dug out a cigarette and lit it.

"...so we're not gonna do anything?"
"Nope," Helena said in an exhale of smoke.

"Not even after he kept his part of the deal?" Lucy continued questioning and Helena shook her head again as she dragged the cigarette.
"There was no deal, you don't have the power to make the promises you made and even if you did, nothing was signed."

"So, what'll happen to him?"
"He'll be dead before you can say 'shanked in the showers'."