[RACCOON CITY – R.P.D. S.T.A.R.S. HEADQUARTERS – MID-AFTERNOON]
Sunlight filters through the blinds, striping the room in gold and shadow. The crisis board is blank for once. Radios are quiet. The loudest sound is the printer struggling with its existence.
Stacks of paperwork have replaced rifles on the main desk.
Wesker: standing behind his desk, reviewing reports with surgical precision “These forms are incomplete.”
Chris: leaning back in his chair, arms crossed “They’re incident summaries, not novels.”
Wesker: without looking up “I expect accuracy, not creativity.”
Across the room—
Jill: methodically typing at a computer terminal “If the system crashes again, I’m requisitioning explosives.”
Barry: cleaning his sidearm at the corner table “You joke. I support that plan.”
Rebecca: organizing medical inventory on the supply shelf “We’re short on sterile gauze. Again.”
Richard: spinning slightly in his chair at the comms station “That’s because Alpha treats paperwork like optional reading.”
Chris: deadpan “We were busy not dying.”
Enrico: entering with a clipboard “Bravo reports filed and verified.”
He glances at Chris’ stack.
“…Mostly verified.”
Kenneth: calmly labeling chemical storage containers “Precision prevents disaster.”
Joseph: half under a desk, tightening a loose cable “Precision didn’t design this wiring.”
Forest: carefully disassembling a rifle on a maintenance mat “If you’re done criticizing infrastructure, someone explain why this optic was left uncalibrated.”
Chris: “Because it’s not mine.”
Brad: at the corner terminal, adjusting headset volume “The helicopter’s grounded for routine checks. I repeat: routine. Nothing dramatic.”
He pauses.
“…Unless routine becomes dramatic.”
Edward: leaning near the garage access door “If it does, we’ll hear you screaming from the roof.”
Barry: smirking “Let the man breathe.”
Wesker: finally closing a file folder “If you all have energy for commentary, you have energy to finish documentation.”
A collective, quiet groan.
Jill: without looking away from her screen “Next mission better involve less typing.”
Chris: “I’ll take hostile wildlife over administrative review.”
Enrico: firm but calm “Discipline applies off the field as well.”
Rebecca: softly “At least no one’s bleeding today.”
A small pause.
Everyone silently agrees that’s a win.
The printer jams.
Joseph: “Now that’s a real emergency.”
Even Wesker exhales — just barely.
Outside, Raccoon City carries on peacefully. Inside, S.T.A.R.S. battles its greatest enemy:
Bureaucracy.