The last light of the day was fading when Wesker pulled the van up to the warehouse. Given the situation rapidly unfolding, it was the only really viable place to stage operations from. About half a dozen vehicles already lined the side of the building. Suits and soldiers of varying pedigrees ran between the building and the vans, barking orders, and carrying gear.

He parked at the end of the row, turning off the ignition. They sat quietly for a moment. Finally, Marigold spoke. "To what end?" He glanced over to her, waiting for more.

Finally, she cleared her throat. "It's escalating. If it's in the water system, then it's going to spread fast." She paused. "Is it like the mice?" She asked, voice small.

Wesker sighed. "It is," he confirmed.

Marigold stared straight ahead, not reacting. "In the woods too. They didn't seem that dangerous. Just…sad."

Wesker's brow creased slightly. "I had assumed you had simply avoided them. Did they not come after you at all?"

Marigold seemed to fold into herself without moving. "I wasn't entirely myself. But…no." She thought about it. "They felt…hungry. Everything felt hungry. It's hard to explain, and it felt easier to push the lot away and keep moving." She seemed about to say more, but she glanced at him and stopped short. Then, a look of dawning horror came over her face. "They…bite, don't they. To infect. That's what's happening in the town. Mindless, biting automatons." She looked over at the people running back and forth across the lot, touching her mouth with an unsteady hand. They were carrying gear. Electronics. Storage containers. "What is all this? To what end?"

Wesker seemed to sigh again, more quietly this time. "We still have people in the city. Some of them are embedded in Umbrella itself. With the town crumbling as it is, they have an opportunity. This is the closest facility to the town to coordinate and support those operations." He paused, then in a quieter voice, he said, "I know the infrastructure. The chief of police is likely barricading roads as we speak- Umbrella pays him to do as much. William would have been out by now were he not attacked. Some things need to be seen through."

Marigold had spent years working with academics and researchers who jealously guarded their results. She didn't need to ask more. But…"That's a narrow window. They won't allow this to spread beyond the city."

Wesker nodded. "There's self-destruct mechanisms and paramilitary from Umbrella that will descend on the town and salvage what they can. They won't leave evidence."

"Not that." She shuddered at the thought anyhow. The company itself had turned into a behemoth in her absence. Although more likely, it had just matured and metastasized. "The actual American military. The world might have changed a bit in a few decades, but they've been hand in glove with Umbrella for long enough. They're the market for all of this, yes?" She didn't wait for a response. She was starting to get good at reading the answers in Wesker's silences. "Complicit. If they can, they'll throw Spencer under the bus as hard as they can and bomb the town out of existence. Spencer would have the leverage secured to buy himself some cover…"

Wesker nodded, mildly amused. It was easy to forget that she had once been a senior VP at Umbrella, albeit one focused on outreach. She darted a look at him and grimaced. "I only know that because I brokered the connection…." she trailed off, raising her head as a thought coalesced. Her eyes went wide.

"Just how secure is the phone line here? "

They made their way past the people running through the lot. Some glanced at the newcomers. One or two did a double-take - the young woman trailing the operations commander was barefoot, and looking curiously around like it was her first day on the job. They quickly shrugged it off. There were other things to concern themselves with, and that sort of thing usually came out through the grapevine sooner or later. They'd set up, get what they needed from the site, and break it back down as soon as the crisis passed.

She looked around at the throng, worrying her lip. Eventually, I may want my gloves back.

Wesker shot back, You were hardly worried before.

Your two muppets have a sensible level of self-preservation. What am I going to do? Infect you further? She smirked. You don't put out that sort of red flag anyhow. Marigold paused. Frowned. I don't think I got to Doctor Birkin. I shouldn't have been able to…hear that.

You can still hear him?

Not exactly. It's like a headache composed of cicadas and tinnitus. It's…quieter than it was.

They reached the small, adjoining office where Wesker had been spearheading the operations in Raccoon City. Before he could ask her to explain herself, she looked around and said, "This is where you've been going, these last few weeks. It smells like you." She pinked. "It's odd. Being able to say that sort of thing out loud."

Her eyes fell upon the phone on the desk. "Might I use this?" She asked. If they can trace it back, I might have to go elsewhere.

"Wait," Wesker said, reaching past her to open a desk drawer. A small pile of Nokia phones sat, charged and ready. It was never a bad idea to have a burner available, in his line of work. "These ones are programmed to block the number on the other end."

Gingerly, she reached in and plucked out a little black phone, awkwardly flipping it open. The affected movement was becoming familiar to him- less a mild distaste of the environment, as she had meant it to be perceived, but rather exaggerated care to not break her surroundings. There was a bird-like quality to the way Marigold handled things, especially considering how small and fragile everyday objects must have seemed at this point.

She looked back up at him, clearly waiting for him to excuse himself. He looked back, calm, implacable. Her mouth thinned. Fine. **She stepped around him, carefully, to sit. Carefully avoiding Wesker's gaze, she dialed.

The line rang thrice before clicking open. The voice answering it was both familiar, and not at all. "Hello?"

Marigold laughed in surprise before catching herself. "My goodness, is that little Derek? My word, how time does fly." She smiled a little at the sharp I take of breath on the other end. He might or might not actually remember her. There was a good chance she only existed as a ghost story to this man. "I trust then, that this call was expected?"

Derek C Simmons, scion of the Family, paused for a brief moment at the other end of the line. He sounded much like his father, truth be told. A shuffling sound on the other end broke the silence. "Ah," Derek said. "It may have been. Are you alright?"

"This is hardly a social call, if that's your meaning."

Daniel did something to the phone. The quality of the sound changed very slightly. "My- he just came in. I've put you on speaker."

Marigold smiled. Good boy. "Very good. I am sorry to have taken so long to call. I'm afraid I was rather detained for some time." Daniel's voice could be heard in the background, a sharp bark with a rough edge from age. "Are you aware of the current situation in Raccoon City?"

Wesker shifted uncomfortably behind her. She could feel him at her shoulder. She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. Settle down.

Daniel's voice finally crackled over the line. "Arklay's been settled." He was being careful. That meant he understood she wasn't able to speak completely freely.

"You know that's not what I meant," she said flatly. "Do you expect me to believe that you've heard nothing?"

A long pause. "Your uncle called earlier today. He has leverage that would survive a missile strike. There, in the city. They need time."

Marigold paused. "Leverage."

Daniel sighed. "Contracts. You did your job too well, peach."

She closed her eyes briefly. "So I keep getting reminded." Then- "you can't possibly mean…."

"Lots and lots of construction over the years. Lots of new homes and jobs." A frustrated sound from Derek. "Smug old bastard. Blathers on about the 'wisdom in gifts' they'd shared over the years with the world."

Marigold blinked. "Oh." She made a face. He actually had the gall to hand them the encrypted access key, and they didn't even notice. "Ugh. Of course. Safehouse, then?" She turned to watch Wesker's face when she asked the next question, suddenly glad he had insisted on staying. "In-house, I presume. When would this have been done?"

"Late eighties. They installed a couple of researchers who were starting a family. We have a list, but there's heavy CCTV surveillance all over the city. Not worth the risk in peacetime."

"And too many fires to put out when things are falling apart," Marigold supplied. Her eyes narrowed. Wesker had near turned to stone at this news. She cocked her head very slightly to one side. You know whose house this is? Wesker gave a small nod. **

"You're certain of this," she said out loud into the phone, eyes on Wesker. Daniel made an affirming sound on the other end of the line. Wesker, in his turn, replied, It's the house Birkin was installed in when they moved to the city. Spencer installed them in a new development home as a wedding gift. Annette convinced him to move closer to downtown a few years later, but another researcher was moved right in after.

Marigold looked at him a long moment, mouth tight. Then, "I wonder, Daniel. Perhaps you've considered whether it's time to divest."

Daniel made an approving noise on the other end of the line. "Ah, Rome burns, dear. In the end, we're all just barbarians, are we not, dear Placidia?"

A short conversation (and another, somewhat indignant explanation about why the elder patriarch had called her Placidia, after hanging up) later, Marigold snorted in disgust. "I have a theory."

Wesker waited, and she continued. "The lot of you failed art school, and are taking out your dramatic histrionics upon the world." She threw up her hands. "It's the simplest explanation."

Wesker's jaw twitched in irritation, and she turned her palms forward in apology. "I keep thinking that the cloak and dagger nonsense is over, and then realize that everyone I grew up around subscribes to it wholeheartedly. Riddles in plain sight. I wouldn't need brute force to access what they're asking for."

"What you offered." He finally said.

Marigold leaned back and looked at him with a faint scowl. "What you absolutely let me offer while standing proctor over me the entire time. Anyone left in the city is going to have their hands full, will they not? This wasn't even on their radar." Her frown deepened. "What am I missing, then?"

Wesker finally spoke, choosing his words carefully. "It's more than the people. If the NEST was compromised, the city may be infested. Experiments were run across multiple species. Insect, avian, crossbreeds. Do you really expect me to believe you're prepared to deal with hordes of civilians? You said yourself you have little combat experience."

The comment was a baited hook; he had seen the intelligence on the old Ashford estate; seen the abandoned ranges. The cold smile that drifted across her face still forced him to suppress a shudder. "I said, I try not to touch people. Taking them apart is detrimental to discretion, you see." The smile faded, though not completely. "Have you ever been sent to Romania, in all your work? Near Brasov, a little place in the mountains?" Wesker stilled and she sensed the affirmation. "I told you, Arklay wasn't the first little trap I've been sent into." Just this first one I didn't walk back out from, she finished, in his head. "Spencer was always going to model his life's work after that. Why else would I have come armed to the lab? I normally carried more than that, to be clear. Besides, they gave us a timeline for how long it would take for Congress to set an exclusion zone. The real deadline is likely much tighter."

"You want to see it, don't you. Why?" It made sense. Besides, there was a set of gear in storage in this very building that had been ordered with her in mind. He hadn't imagined her to be so eager for it. Ready to jump into the fray...

No. Not quite eager, that was the wrong word, but…close. He had himself been planting the seeds for this, with a different target in mind. She had that look in her eye again - the same one she got whenever he prodded her about Alexia.

Did he want her cooperation? Yes. Would she be capable of forwarding his goals in Raccoon City before the collapse came down? Given the headstart she had given the team, it was probable.

Marigold Ashford was still a slippery creature. She'd gone out of her way just now to remind him that her network was still intact, still ready to be called upon. If she were this determined to go in, the motivation was almost certainly personal.

As if sensing this thought (surely not), Marigold practically growled in frustration. "I would have thought you wanted half a reason for a good field test. I need to see. If it's just one little house in the suburbs, I could slip in and out with very few problems. So what am I missing?"

Albert Wesker closed his eyes a moment. There was one complication to the plan that she hadn't considered. "The security system would be wired into the Umbrella Security Service. The security system is normally on low level- it would have to be, for a residential area like that - but this isn't a normal circumstance. The system is alarmed to go straight to Chief Irons, on whose discretion, the security forces Umbrella has on hand can be deployed immediately."

"Oh," Marigold said after a moment. "That could be a complication. Still. Good thing you're not the one volunteering." She smiled, slowly. "Besides, I doubt anyone would really try to stop me from spitting in that man's eye at this point, from my understanding of the situation. I don't think this will be terribly complicated."

"That may be so," Wesker allowed. "But if you're to have support on this, you would have to go in with a plan. There will have to be some level of oversight - you're still technically a civilian. And," he continued, one hand coming up to cup her jaw, "We'll need to come to terms on a few things."