Author's Note: The previous chapter has been updated with a few additional improvements, thanks to the one and only current reviewer, evolution-500! As for the chapter uploading schedule, this fanfic will be updated every Wednesday and Friday, at least up until chapter 11 is finally uploaded. There will be a temporary hiatus after that so I can have enough time to do the rest of the chapters. I'm not entirely sure how long this is going to be, but I can guarantee you it will be more than 20 chapters long!

Recommended BGM:

1. Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2: - Desperate Times (Police Station Theme)

2. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles - The Front Hall

3. Resident Evil 2 (Original) - The First Floor

With that said, let's continue with the second chapter! Disclaimer will always be applied from the very first chapter unless it's vital to update it in a future chapter.

Chapter 2

Jill wasn't the late-type, though she did end up oversleeping a little due to staying up all night long trying to tie up the vicious murder cases going on around the Arklay Mountains and see any potential suspect, to no avail. She was feeling like the whole world around her was starting to collapse and she was the only one trying to carry the entire weight of the world on her shoulders.

As she finished parking her car in the RPD's garage, she looked at her passenger seat, where all the photocopies of missing persons case files were laid, and all she could think about was the families of those poor victims... Having lost a loved one due to either being eviscerated by a wild animal attack or murdered by some crazy cannibalistic cultists is something that can very well be hard to process, especially for a grieving parent.

She wanted to dig through the files once more and read more about that little boy shown in one of the pictures, but couldn't bring herself to do so again. He was one of many confirmed victims of the murder spree in the Arklay Mountains and possibly not the only child potentially having been brutally attacked the way he did. There have been reports of a few other missing children, but nothing has been confirmed about their cases yet.

She then closed her eyes in sorrow.

"God help us…" she said softly to herself before finally opening her eyes, picking up her case files, and exiting her car.

"Valentine!" A rough voice echoed across the entire parking garage.

At first, she wasn't exactly sure who it was that called for her name, but then she quickly remembered the only person who would refer to her in her last name would be...

"Frank, Alex! Hey!" She said in a loud, but somewhat clear voice, trying not to sound as if she had just been in a mental struggle a minute ago.

"Hey, Jill," Mason followed after, also trying to hide the fact that he was feeling coldly distant not just too long ago.

"Woah," Woods exclaimed as he took a quick glimpse at both Mason and Jill's faces, both looking like they've taken a mental beating from the same thing. "You both look like hammered shit!"

"...Woods?" Said Alex defiantly, not wanting to talk about earlier. "Now's not the time, brother." Jill looked at him with a nod as a sign of appreciation.

"Right…" Woods said cautiously. "My bad on that one."

"So… shall we go to the meeting together?" Jill asked as she quickly moved on inside the station, trying to break the awkwardness between them. With no other choice, Woods and Mason soon followed after her.

From the day Jill first met the pair, she thought that they were both just a bunch of typical drunks. She had first seen them hanging around at J's Bar earlier this month when she was taking a small hydration break whilst on duty with her partner and close friend, Chris Redfield. Both of them overheard the pair talk a whole bunch of nonsense, probably about what men of their generation would usually talk about. This assumption, however, would come out to be the complete opposite. A few days after first seeing them at J's Bar, she'd come to find out that they have recently enlisted in the S.T.A.R.S. unit, each of them being a former agent of the CIA. Of course, they weren't necessarily allowed to express any sort of specific detail about what they've done behind the scenes, but the RPD soon learned that they were the best of the best somehow with a given anonymous tip to the Chief of police, giving a few details on various covert operations that they've done for the CIA. As a result, this quickly made them gain the utmost respect throughout the police department. Eventually, both of them settled into separate teams; Alex Mason to Bravo team and Frank Woods to Alpha team. Chris was the pretty talkative one about asking what they've done before arriving in Raccoon City, though both Woods and Mason tended to avoid most of his questions, mostly because they wanted to keep their true intention of joining the force a secret. Jill hasn't known why to this day, but if it was something personal relating to the disappearances and murder sprees going on around the Arklay Mountains, she wasn't willing to pry any more than she already has at all.

Both Mason and Woods couldn't believe that such architecture could exist for a police station like this. That is until they found out a while later after enlisting in the police force that the building itself used to be a museum of some sort, which was an odd way of starting a police station based upon it. They also came to find out that Raccoon City struggled to maintain great economic change for a good couple of decades until the mid 80's when this "Umbrella" corporation came along to fund most renovations that the city now has at its disposal.

As they ascended the stairs and into the east wing hallway, Jill saw a quick glimpse at Chris and Forest before being quickly stopped by both of them around the corner.

"Yo, my dudes!" He exclaimed in his Alabamian southern accent as he was already equipped with various STARS standard-issue equipment, such as an equipment vest, utility belt, and shoulder pack.

"Hey, guys!" Chris followed after him.

"Hey boys," said Jill, tiredly, with a slight smile on her face.

"'Sup Redfield and Speyer!" Woods replied at them with his usual gruff voice.

"Didn't know we had fans waiting for us around the corner," Mason joked with them, knowing how Forest was delighted to know someone like him and Frank.

"Of course we are!" Said Forest in a lively mood before immediately changing to a more serious tone. "By the way, Wesker gave Marini the greenlight to begin the search across the mountain area. Bravo team's goin' in, soon as every Bravo team member has arrived at the station."

"Wait," Woods frowned in disdain. "When?"

"Just now, apparently," Chris replied in a somewhat frustrated voice, taking notice of each of their reactions. "I don't know either, but it sure as hell doesn't seem right to me."

"But what about the rest of Alpha team?" Jill asked frantically, not liking the news so far.

"As far as I know, you Alphas will most likely be here in the station taking notes while we kick some cannibal ass!" said Forest, trying to lighten the mood a bit in the end.

"What the-!?" Woods exclaimed, looking back at them incredulously with a fierce indignant look on his face. "Shit has already hit the broken fan multiple times and you're telling me only one team will be dispatched for the search investigation? Do you have any idea how much ground all of you have to cover alone!?"

"The hell we are going in!" Mason exclaimed defiantly soon after. "I mean for God's sake, isn't it obvious that going separately is a bad idea, to begin with? Not to mention this is coming out of nowhere from the Captain of the STARS unit without any proper plans on how to deal with the situation first?!" Mason then turned his back around with both his hands through his hair behind his head in defeat, seemingly hurrying towards their locker room in the station. "I can't with this shit…"

Forest didn't know what else to say, other than simply showing a sympathetic expression at both Woods and Jill before they ended up following after Alex. He felt ashamed that he was the one to let them know about the last-minute news on the situation at hand.

"I'll follow you guys to the STARS office as soon as I'm ready," said Chris as he went back to pick up his club soda on one of the visitor's chairs beside them.

Woods felt the same way Mason did, but this entire situation wasn't exactly new to them. The CIA was pretty much with the do this, ask questions later motto, which never quite stuck with them for as long as they remember. Though some good could still come out of this as this was Mason's chance of finding those murders or "things" that have brutally killed the only kid they ever knew in a long while. Woods, on the other hand, would have to wait a bit longer to fully help out with the search investigation, which was killing him from the inside by now, itching to know more information about these supposedly "monster" sightings and any potential connection to his POW days in '86.

As for Jill, it felt like her day couldn't get any better. Not only her lack of a full beauty sleep was killing her mood, but with Forest now having said that Bravo team will be sent in first, she felt even worse. She wanted to tell Wesker if she and the rest of Alpha team could join up with them, but she knew the obvious answer would definitely be a solid no. Maybe she could still work through the victim portfolios and continue where she left off earlier in the day, but the matter of fact was that she still felt utterly useless without doing any search investigation with the Bravo team on their side. "Those poor victims' souls won't fully rest until this is completely solved," she thought to herself. Nonetheless, she knew that orders were orders and she, along with the rest of Alpha team, had to follow them no matter what happens, or they could kiss their job goodbye.

As the trio arrived in the west wing area of the station on the second floor, where the STARS lockers were located, Mason gave his word to Woods and Jill that starting now, he will do anything in his power to search for any answers in the wide expanse of the forest, regarding the whole Arklay Mountains disappearances.

"Good luck out there, man," said Frank as he hugged his best friend. "Don't do anything stupid or I will find you and kill you myself."

"You're too kind," Mason replied to his former CIA partner with a slight grin as they separated, staring back at him. "Don't go around and start treating others like they don't know shit. You remember Bell, right?"

"That kid?" Woods replied as if being nostalgic about it. "He'd get on my fuckin' nerves sometimes, but even through all the shit we've been through, I still believe there was some good in him before-" he then quickly noticed Jill was listening to every word they were saying and decided not to reveal the dark nature of the similar methods the CIA used from the Soviets. "Anyway ...yeah I remember him quite fondly actually."

"I suppose there's some history I'm sensing with this 'Bell' person you guys are talking about?" Said a confused Jill. Though she felt like she was becoming Chris for a moment after realizing what she had just asked about.

"Yeah," said Alex as he quickly sighed, looking at Jill for a moment. "Let's just say he was basically a younger reflection of me; went through shit no one else should have gone through." He then turned his gaze upon Woods. "I'm just glad the CIA is just a thing in the past for us now. We can finally make some difference here without the government being on our backs 24/7."

"Wouldn't count on it," said Woods in slight disbelief. "You of all people should know that they can have eyes and ears, even where you least expect them to."

"...Right," said Mason.

"Damn!" Jill exclaimed as she looked at her watch. "It's already two before the meeting starts. Frank, we should get going."

After they had said their goodbyes to Mason, they immediately continued on their walk to the STARS office, which was just around the corner. For the rest of their walk, it was just silence between them, with the only sound coming from their muted, yet empty echoes of their boot heels hitting the ground through the brightly lit second-floor corridor, still outshined by the evening sky. All both of them could think about was the upcoming events that were about to unfold through this investigation.

However, Woods couldn't keep his thoughts straight after still thinking about those nightmares he's had the previous nights, even though he's never told anything about it to Mason, mostly to make sure he wouldn't put his best friend into more stress than he's already been lately. He had to keep his focus… but he was exhausted, running on fumes, plagued by his nightmares, and his concern about Bravo team, especially about his best friend, wasn't helping his mental state. Not by one bit.

Jill was trying to keep it together herself. She couldn't stop thinking about the missing children; about the families now torn apart by the empty chairs left behind on the dining tables. What if one of her own relatives were among the missing or brutalized victims of these murders? She tried forcing herself to stop thinking about anything at all as they both neared the STARS office, fully determined to have a clear state of mind before entering the meeting. But like many of her teammates, she was feeling exhausted and almost wanted to just collapse on the floor and sleep off this whole living nightmare and wake up until it was all over.

No… I have to do this. Have to keep going for the sake of those victims and their families. That is my job. Our job as STARS.

The door to the STARS office stood wide-open. Multiple voices were heard inside, seeping out into the hallway both Jill and Woods were in. Jill immediately recognized Irons' deep, but greasy voice among them. She never felt secure around him, not because of the typical intimidation you'd usually feel around your boss, but because she knew how self-centered the Chief was. She even heard rumors about Irons having assaulted a few women before in his younger years, but somehow, managed to get away with it with no repercussions. She knew when it came to Brian Irons, a watchful eye wouldn't hurt when being around him.

Woods only knew about Irons' shenanigans when he heard rumors from another fellow RPD officer, Rita Phillips, about Irons having a dirty past. After having heard about it, both Woods and Mason secretly dug up some classified CIA files with the help of Jason Hudson. However, it almost cost Hudson's cover while learning about some of the nasty things Irons had done in his hidden younger past; a perfect opportunity to dig up more information about two different things going on all at once. He then thought that maybe with the Alpha team in the station, it'd be a good idea for him to do some more background checking on Irons. He could potentially be able to uncover whether or not he is connected to the disappearances across the Arklay Mountains somehow, though without his boss ever noticing anything suspicious about him.

With all of their thoughts put aside, they finally entered the STARS office.

As Jill quickly sat in her seat, where her desk was just facing the opposite direction to where one of the rookie's desks was, Woods was staring at Irons in disdain as Irons was talking to Wesker in his own private office before sitting down at his own desk that he shares with Mason. The desk was located beside the whole radio station just across the room from Wesker's office. Behind him was another rookie's desk, Rebecca Chambers', who most likely had already been told to leave with her team for the search investigation.

Chambers joined the STARS team just a week before Woods and Mason did. She was a pretty admirable young woman to Woods. Not only does she also wear a bandana, much like he's had for so many years, but she was one of the most fearless women he's ever known, especially at that young age. Her lack of combat experience in the field didn't stop her from being able to handle her job quite well. During Woods' first on-duty job as a STARS member, which involved an officer getting injured in a gang-related firefight that just so happened to be in the uptown area near J's Bar, Rebecca was one of the first STARS officers to arrive on-site and administer first-aid to the downed cop, while shots were being fired all around them. She kept her cool and even managed to keep the officer as calm as possible, which bought them enough time to keep him stabilized until the paramedics arrived on the scene.

That girl has fuckin' potential

Barry and Joseph came by right behind him, telling him a quick hello, startling Woods for a brief moment. They began looking through some boxes of papers under Rebecca's desk, talking quietly in whispers as they searched for something in particular.

Barry is a very well-built man. Compared to Woods, they were essentially the same height at six feet tall, but Barry seemed to have more muscle than even Woods could've ever made in his last 40 years of military service. He is also a family man of two kids, Moira and Polly, whom he loves very dearly, alongside his wife, Kathy. He would talk quite a lot about his family to both Woods and Mason and how much they mean to them since his job as a STARS member has always been rooted in the safety of his own family.

"Family always comes first," he remembers Barry telling him. "There is nothing you wouldn't do for them."

And he's right.

Alex and David Mason were pretty much the closest things he's ever had as a family. His own family, where he used to live as a child, was pretty neglectful and didn't care much for him, even after he ran away from his home in Philadelphia as a teenager. He personally never cared for his neglectful parents, but deep down, he always knew a part of himself went missing after he ran away from home, but never wanted to come to full terms with it. As he became an adult and later down in the years when taking care of the young David Mason whenever he could, it became clear that your life is never the same, even if you break a seemingly unstable relationship with a family member. That's exactly what happened between Alex and David. Both haven't contacted each other in years and Woods has been the only one in contact with his son, who has moved from Alaska to California in order to pursue a career differently than that of his father. David has always felt like a part of himself went missing after his father promised him a normal life with him, only to have backed out of that promise and become busy with work after retirement. Ever since then, he wanted nothing to do with his father anymore, only feeling more resentment each time Woods ever mentioned his father. Meanwhile, Alex has told Woods how much he regrets not having been there for his son at all times ever since he rescued Woods back in '86. With each passing day since then, he's always been wishing to be with him one more time and see the man he is becoming to be.

Joseph Frost was among one of the group buddies both Woods and Mason have seen with Chris and Forest during their time offs, especially when visiting J's Bar together. The trio would be louder than your typical party of six. They would occasionally even make a couple of the waitresses tell them to calm themselves down before they'd be forced to kick them out, due to the slight disturbances they'd be causing inside the bar. Joseph also typically wears a bandana, though a bigger red one rather than a medium or small-sized greenish or brownish color. It seemed like Irons doesn't particularly like Joseph as well, just like with Forest and Chris. The Chief already had a stern look of attention on both Woods and Mason as well. Not everyone was fooled by Irons' masquerade as a "good" Chief of police around here anyway.

Brad Vickers, the Alpha pilot, was drinking his coffee in front of the main computer frame around the radio station. Woods couldn't exactly tell what he was doing besides that, but he had a feeling that the pilot wasn't too keen on the entire ordeal either as he kept rocking his chair, seemingly in reaction to his rising anxiety. He's never had the chance to speak to Brad directly, but according to what he's heard from Chris, Brad wasn't the type to go head-on in an active crime scene. However, he was actually good at collecting digital evidence via his computing skills, something that kept him intrigued. He could ask for his help in trying to do some background checking on Brian Irons, though with what he was told about Brad's timid nature, Brad may not agree to help him outright. He needed to gain his trust one way or another.

Laughter from Wesker was heard inside his office as Irons then continued with a somewhat louder voice than before.

"I then told the Bertolucci guy, 'either you print what I tell you to, or your stories will never include any quotes from this office!' And then the response I get is-"

"If you'll excuse me," said Wesker coldly as he stared at his watch impatiently, standing up in the process. He had noticed Chris' recent arrival soon after Frank and Jill entered the STARS office before finally dismissing Irons out of his office. "I believe I do have a meeting to attend with my team. We can stop wasting time now."

Irons scowled in the direction Wesker was facing, only to be greeted by Chris' poker face before he finally sat down at his desk, with Jill sitting right behind him. The desk he shares is also Kenneth Sullivan's, but since both teams usually work on different shifts, the size of both the office and the desks themselves don't necessarily matter.

Wesker couldn't give two craps about Irons either, showing a growing amount of disdain towards him, not even caring who else knew about it either. It's almost like the entire department knew what kind of character the Chief really was as a person and if Irons was trying to hide it all along, he was failing miserably. But almost no one in the station wanted to show any defiance against their own Chief as that would mean jobs will be lost and the amount of funding he's done for the station could be immediately cut off if the Chief were to get kicked out of his current position.

Chris then aggressively put his unopened can of soda on the old desktop in front of him as he began staring at Wesker, who was coming out of his office, after Irons.

"So," said Chris bluntly. "I hear you're sending in Bravo, without any backup?"

"Standard procedure, Chris," said Wesker with his arms crossed as he fixed his gaze upon Chris for a moment.

"Standard procedure, my ass," he thought about saying it before someone else behind him beat him to it.

"The fuck you're smokin', Cap'?!" Intervened Frank, almost sounding too defiant than he wanted to let on. "I mean, with what we talked about a few days prior, I thought-"

Irons then cut him off.

"I gave the order, Woods. I know both you and Redfield think there need to be some changes for yourselves, but as far as I'm concerned, I don't see any reason to deviate from policy. Do I make myself clear?"

"Self-righteous asshole…" he thought to himself in disgust. The guy probably acted a lot worse than when he first met Hudson.

Woods spat a quick chuckle before answering back to him with a stern look on his exhausted face, knowing how Irons was full of it but had to play nice for now.

"Yes, sir."

"Of course, sir," Chris followed with a forced smile, knowing that it'd most likely irritate Irons.

Irons glared at him for a moment, pondering whether or not to completely intimidate Chris with a mere gaze from his egg-shaped snapping eyes, but decided to drop it in the end. He then immediately turned back to Wesker.

"I'll expect a report as soon as Bravo team returns. Now if you'll excuse me, Captain."

"Chief," Wesker nodded in response as Irons was leaving the office.

Jill rolled her chair slightly behind her as she got closer to Chris and then proceeded to tell him something quietly.

"Don't worry Chris," she said softly. "If anything happens, we'll have Bravo team's back, no matter what."

Chris nodded back at her, but that's exactly how he didn't want things to go. He didn't want to wait for anything bad to happen and then act in response to it. He wanted to act before anything did happen. But that's clearly been thrown out the window, thanks to Irons himself.

He pondered for a moment on the experience that Bravo team had overall. The only ones who truly have had combat experiences beforehand were Enrico Marini, Forest Speyer, and Alex Mason, the oldest of the bunch. Kenneth Sullivan was a good scout and a bright chemist, but despite his STARS training, he couldn't even shoot a stationary target no further than thirty-five feet away. Richard Aiken was a great communications expert but lacked combat experience in the field.

Rebecca Chambers, although she's been said to be a "medical and chemist expert" that can rival that of even Kenneth, not only has she joined STARS just last month, she was still just an eighteen-year-old kid. Combined with the fact that she's had very little combat training, if any, wouldn't do much good for a comfortable thought that the team will be alright on their own out there. But if Alex Mason is even half as good as they say he is, then he shouldn't worry all too much, right?

"It's not enough…" he told himself. "Even with all the STARS members combined, it may not even come close."

He then finally cracked his soda open and decided to drink most of it in one go, trying not to think of it any further than he already has.

"Okay everyone," Wesker said in his smooth voice as he began moving a portable whiteboard that was covered in a thin layer of white cloth in front of everyone where the armory was located. "Let's get this meeting started," he continued as he pulled the giant white cloth away from the whiteboard.

The board had a small map, showing where each of the murders could've potentially taken place and all of the corresponding areas that the RPD have already done quick sweeps in where small parameters were made. It all covered a small chunk of the Arklay Mountains that was located just north of Raccoon City, surrounding almost the entire town. Wesker quickly reviewed what they knew so far, discussing some things about the potential fly-by's Bravo team will be conducting in their search, before finally asking some volunteers about what kind of working theories they had to share.

"Any volunteers who want to share any leading theories for this investigation so far?"

Jill pondered whether to share her crazy leading theory about the entire Arklay situation. She didn't want her teammates to think she was fully paranoid about it instead of trying to look at the facts themselves. But then again, what better theories would the others even have anyway?

"Based on what I've researched about," Jill began, trying to sound as formal as possible as she looked through the pile of notes she brought with her. "The only obvious pattern we've got is location. Nothing out of the ordinary from what we've received from the coroner's office, except for the fact that the saliva and tissue samples found throughout the first victims located in Sector 6A vary from animal to human. Based on the dismemberment and cannibalistic patterns seen through the bodies of those first victims, particularly the decomposition of the skin on some of their bodies, it's safe to suggest that a cannibalistic group of at least four to a dozen people may be responsible for the disasters happening across the region, most likely with the help of wild canine-like animals, whom which they may carry around parts of their other victims, leading to the faster decomposition of the skin on some of the victims."

Wesker's reaction was nothing more than a straight face, though nodding in approval for a potential working theory. "Excellent work, Jill. I'm impressed." He then turned to the others for any thoughts about Jill's speculation. "Any opposition?"

For a minute, no one had much to add at all, except for a few faces, seemingly thinking about whether or not some things may or may not add up. Jill let out a slight sigh. She wanted to add that this could be a potential cult group, but again, she didn't want to deviate too far off from what it could seemingly be too fiction-like. She then proceeded before giving a final say based on her theory, "It's highly unlikely this said group moves around quite a lot or we would have already seen these types of attacks elsewhere in the region or even within the city itself. There must be some sort of place in the Arklay Mountains from which they may be hiding; a place most likely guarded by these so-called wild canines."

"The animal part seems highly likely, though," said Joseph, who sat right near the door to the only exit out of the STARS office. "Protecting their territory and all that."

"I agree," Wesker replied as he wrote "territorial" on the whiteboard underneath the map shown above. "Anyone else wants to add in something more?"

Jill felt somewhat proud of herself inside. She usually wasn't the type to be giving out crazy theories like this, but it was still probably ten times better than what the RPD itself had to say to the press. At least she was able to contribute something, while Bravo team may already be out there, doing what may be an impossible task on their own.

Meanwhile, as Frank Woods read the word, "territorial", he began experiencing some sort of pain inside his head, trying to keep it to himself as discreetly as possible. Flashes of men in white coats started to appear within his mind. He couldn't even tell if these were real memories or nightmares he's endured over the years.

"Canines-territorial… release only-necessary,"

Within those flashes, he saw himself in some sort of lab, captured. Glimpses of a hanging, but blurry portrait in front of him started to reappear again; something he couldn't make out all too well before, but one thing he could now remember from the big subtitle underneath the portrait alone was…

Spencer

"That name," he thought to himself as he began to recover from the headache he just experienced. "I've seen that name before."

He quickly went through his file of papers he pulled out underneath his desk and finally found an old piece of newspaper about the rumored dark history of the so-called "Spencer Mansion". He had recovered it inside a bin near an old building in downtown Raccoon. According to the old newspaper, Umbrella funded the establishment of the Spencer Mansion as a grounds to house their hired employees that worked within the city, mostly for those that weren't local. But something tragic happened just after its completion in the late 60s as the architect supposedly went insane and killed himself within the grounds, causing an immediate closure and for unknown reasons, abandoning the entire building afterward. He never shared this information with Mason ever since they last ate together at his favorite fast-food restaurant, Burger Town. He didn't want him to worry too much about his recurring visions, but now it's almost like his visions are becoming clearer every time he's one step closer to the whole Arklay investigation.

Now it's all making sense. Fuckin' knew it all along. There had to be some sort of connection between then and now.

"What was that, Frank?"

Woods then turned to Wesker as he then began to realize that everyone around him was now looking at him. He must've been saying these things to himself a bit too loud, even for Wesker to hear right across more than half of the entire room's length.

"Nothin'," he said casually, though trying to think of something else to say quickly in order to avoid blowing his cover for as much as he could. He then saw the old newspaper again about the Spencer Estate and simply decided to see what the others would have to say about the estate outside of the city.

"I've been thinking ...what is the current condition of the old mansion located on the outskirts of the city?"

"The Spencer Estate?" Said Wesker, his features being as expressionless as ever. "It's been abandoned almost ever since its completed establishment in the late 60s. There's currently no priority to search the area thoroughly unless Bravo's scouting reveals anything of importance in particular."

"You don't think the possibility of said 'cannibalistic group' can reside from there, using the estate as their hideout?" Woods continued, perplexed on why Wesker doesn't want to look into the possibility any further. "If we search the estate thoroughly and nothing is to be found, then that would only be one less place to worry about."

"I'm sorry, Frank," said Wesker as he put down his dry-erase marker. "I wish I could tell you we could start there and as much as we all want to get to the bottom of this, we have to work together as a team. The best approach here is to continue searching for the recently missing hikers before immediately jumping to conclusions. Bravo is currently taking care of the operation as we conduct this by the book. Irons has my hands tied behind my back so there isn't much I can do from here as far as I'm concerned. Still, I will put it down as "estate hideout".

Fuck going by the book!

Woods wanted to scream at him for trying to kiss Irons' ass whenever the opportunity asked for it, but again, he had to play nice for now. After all, the only reason he and Mason ever signed up for STARS wasn't that they wanted to continue being out in the field in their overdue retirement, but rather to get to the bottom of the strange similarities that had been happening here and whatever happened back in '86. Mason was convinced that, although Woods was indeed captured by the opposing group of soldiers in the Angolan Civil War, there was more than what met the eye. From what Mason was able to understand in Portuguese, there were strange talks of a secret underground laboratory somewhere in Central Africa. The CIA dismissed any ideas of a potential lab being used within those regions, but both of them were never convinced otherwise. They suspected internal corruption within either the CIA or the US government itself, which is exactly what may also be happening here in Raccoon City and seemingly, its police department.

"Terrorism," said Brad all of a sudden as he turned around to face Wesker from where he was sitting. "Demands could be made soon if enough damage has been caused, right?" He then immediately put on his headset, checking up on Bravo team's status on their mission.

Wesker then picked up his blue dry-erase marker and wrote down "terrorism" just below the previous idea, but wasn't convinced that this could be a potential outcome. Though it was still a small possibility after all.

"Anything else?" Wesker asked his team.

Barry and Joseph passed on theorizing, letting their captain know that they stood with Frank's theory about the estate being a potential hideout of the bizarre murders and disappearances, but never added anything more than what he's already said before. Barry was partly glad that he was no longer the oldest of the team at thirty-five years old, with Frank beating him by almost his entire age, at 68 years old. Woods' old age, however, never stopped him from being the badass he's always been since even thirty years ago.

Chris' theory wasn't exactly far from Jill's, though close enough to Woods' secret suspicion about the organized assault being partly influenced by external or third-party forces, not initially starting as localized killings.

However, Wesker still wanted to know if there was virtually anything new that they may have found as a single working theory on its own, but almost everyone in the room still insisted on Jill and Woods' ideas in some capacity. With no new answer to go to, he finally capped the marker back into its place and then began to emphasize as he stared at the only few ideas he's only ever written on the board.

"It's a start," he said. "I know all of you have taken a look at the forensic and eyewitness reports. And-"

"Vickers here, over." From the back of the room, Brad spoke quietly into his headset, cutting off Wesker's train of thought for a moment. Wesker then continued with a lowered voice, trying to listen to Brad's conversation at the same time.

"And I'm not even entirely sure myself on what we are currently dealing with, but one thing for sure is that since the RPD has been mishandling this for far too long and now that we have this case assigned to us, I'd like to-"

"What?"

At the sound of Brad's raised and frantic voice, Woods, along with everyone else, turned around to see and hear what was going on. Brad anxiously stood up, pressing his left earpiece with one hand on the set as he seemingly started to frantically call out for Bravo team in a slight panic.

"Bravo team, come in! Bravo team!"

"Put it on 'com!" Wesker ordered.

Brad quickly flipped the switch on the console and the entire room was immediately flooded with the sound of an empty crackling static, with no human voices to be heard. For several unforgiving seconds, there was still nothing. Then all of a sudden…

"... copy? ...malfunction! We're going do…!"

If they were still coming through, it was already lost in a quick burst of crackling static. The voice was extremely familiar to Woods. Frank quickly stood up from his chair and dashed directly to the coms station, scaring Brad for a moment as he started blurting out for any answer from the person he knew who it was.

"Mason! Come in! MASON!"

He waited for several seconds, but again, the irritating sound of static was all there was as if the static itself was continuously mocking Woods.

"DAMN IT!" He exclaimed as he threw Brad's empty cup to the ground in complete frustration, clenching his fists as he did so. "I knew we shouldn't have let them go off alone!"

Brad almost had a heart attack at that very moment. He's never seen anyone this mad before in his life and God help whoever gets on his bad side or else they probably wouldn't even be alive by this point.

Lord'll help any person who gets someone like him extremely pissed off like that.

He quickly went back to his seat after Barry went to try calming him down before letting Frank go back to his desk, still feeling like Irons should be held accountable if anything ever happens to anyone from Bravo.

"That fucking idiot better hope nothing happens to Mason or anyone else on Bravo or he'll have another thing coming for him." Woods thought to himself, not being able to help himself from boiling up his mixed feelings about all this.

Author's Note: Well, that went downhill pretty quickly lol. This is just the tip of the iceberg so if you want to read more, don't forget to give it a favorite or a follow (or maybe both) so you don't miss out on newly uploaded chapters! Also, reviews are ALWAYS welcome! Don't be shy to drop a review, whether it's for praise, criticism, or both ;)