Café de Nuit

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Salt Lake City, UT, July 26, 2011)
The OSA has given me and Kyra and assignment but not one in the States. It's over in Japan, a request from a government-backed organization called the Phantom Hunters Society. There has been some trouble with an abandoned shrine near an isolated mountain town and the PHS can't figure out what's going on. They have a miko on their team but she's not terribly experienced yet. Their primary folklorist only knows it's a shrine to a fox-god and there was some sort of taboo in the town about approaching the shrine after dark. Not much to go on given how rich and diverse Japan's mythology is. Especially with countless regional stories and, I fear, real incidents in the past.

As I write this we're waiting in the lounge for our flight. There isn't much we can do to plan anything out given what information we have and that's visibly eating at Kyra. I guess it goes with being an archivist since information is their bread and butter. As much as I like to know more about what I'll face, I've gotten used to encounters in the field being my first and only way to find out so it doesn't bother me. But I concede it's a bad idea if we're really facing something caused by or linked to a fox spirit. They're one of the most powerful types of spirit beings and it's very easy to offend them even if you observe all the proper rituals and protocols of etiquette. They won't hesitate to attack even other spirits, including me and Kyra, if they judge us easy prey.

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Nohoro, Japan, July 28, 2011)
We were met by Kobayashi Nagisa and Kisaragi Mitsuki at the airport, the folklorist and miko respectively. The rest of the team had already gone ahead to the town while they waited to escort us there. After a sixteen-hour flight we had to decompress on a three-hour train ride and then another two by truck on a poorly maintained road to the town. On the way there they both explained what little they could and even showed us a document in the Spirit Language they couldn't translate. It was a warning not to unseal "the wretched souls of the dead who refuse to move on to the afterlife and are kept secure behind the portal [gate] of the inner shrine." So we weren't going to necessarily face a fox spirit but angry ghosts. The vellum it was written on wasn't all that old, either. Maybe two centuries at most. References to "bloody-minded warriors who refuse to believe their time is over" make me think it was written after Commodore Perry "opened" Japan to Western trade and the country was rapidly industrializing. It was a time of major changes and the samurai, especially, didn't take them well. If these ghosts dated back to that time, they would be absolutely furious with both the living and their likely violent and ignoble deaths.

But why write using a language only the most dedicated kannushi (male Shinto priests) and miko could even read? And who had written it? And who had trapped the ghosts in the shrine? Kobayashi-san confirmed the last caretakers of the shrine were killed in a battle with rebel samurai and there were no records of anyone coming to imprison the angry souls. The people of the town had records of praying fervently to the god of the shrine to end their terror and then nothing. It was like the events just ended without any visible intervention. Maybe there really is a fox spirit involved?

The town itself won't prove to be any sort of help. When we got there, the place was abandoned. Not like the people living there had fled but as though they had vanished. Businesses were still open and unlocked, food was still sitting on tables, even TVs were still on and tuned to various channels. The others of the Phantom Hunters' Society had scoured the town looking for anyone and come up empty. People's shoes were still in the entryways of houses, too. But I did find trails indicating the people had left under their own power, all of them leading into the surrounding forest. By then it was getting dark and the PHS members weren't eager to go into the wilderness at night.

Instead I followed the trails alone, all of them converging onto one clearly treaded path that led higher into the mountain and ended at the foot of a small stone shrine. Immediately I was hit by the odor of rotting flesh and spilled blood but no sight of such. It wasn't hard to find the source, bodies that looked like they'd been dead for weeks and contorted into expressions of abject terror. All spread across the forest floor like the victims had tried to run but were chased down. But were they the bodies of the town's citizens? These had clearly been dead for weeks while everything in town pointed to a mass exodus just a day earlier at most.

Speaking to one, I confirmed they were, indeed, the townsfolk. She told me that they had all heard a strange song coming from the forest after sunset and were unable to stop following it to the shrine. Once there, the song ended and "glowing men dressed like samurai in the movies, covered in blood and deep wounds, appeared and began to attack them all." Some ran but most were paralyzed by overwhelming fear. As each was cut down, their flesh began to visibly decay. The woman I was talking to was one of the last to die, running straight into the blade of a naginata (Japanese polearm) held by a ghost whose head was cleaved in two. She could actually see her flesh rotting the second before death came.

I ran back to the others still in town and led them to what I'd found. It's too dangerous to call in the authorities until we're certain the ghosts won't attack or we've put them to rest. This is all so gruesome and lends an extra edge to what we're doing. We're not just dealing with angry ghosts, we're dealing with powerful angry ghosts. Ones who can slaughter an entire town and corrupt the bodies of the dead. Yet something the dead woman told me feels important. They were lured out after sunset. Are these spirits weakened by sunlight? Or is it something else?

We've stumbled onto something none of us were prepared for. It's going to be a long night.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Nohoro, Japan, July 29, 2011)
I took first watch so Kyra could rest and regain her spells. The town's streetlights still came on automatically and gave the place an almost peaceful look at night. But the knowledge of what had happened just kept creeping back into my mind and gave everything a foreboding cast. Likewise, the Near Ethereal was oddly quiet and subdued. My attentions were focused so much on looking for any sign the ghosts were coming I almost missed a small form moving about and spying on me and the trailers the other were sleeping inside. Out of the periphery I could make out that it was a fox but with more than one tail. From that angle I couldn't get an accurate count but on a whim I spoke to it in the Spirit Language. It cocked its head and I took another risk by deactivating my hat of alteration so my true form was visible.

That caught its full attention and it approached, turning into a young girl but with nine fox tails. I immediately broke out into a cold sweat as I realized what I was in the presence of. It--she--just walked up to me and looked me over while I stood perfectly still before finally asking what a dream spirit was doing there. When I mentioned the ghosts she just scoffed and told me it was "the dumb humans' fault for breaking the seal." She then explained she'd seen men in uniforms and wearing hardhats at the shrine one night, one of whom touched a badly decaying sacred rope and caused it to finally snap. "It took every ounce of energy I had to seal those ghosts up the first time. Then the people stopped coming to worship and forgot about me so I don't have the power to do it again."

When I asked her if restoring the sacred rope would seal them away again, she laughed. They would have to be forced back into their prison for that to work. As for what was binding them to this world, the villagers had stolen their swords and kept them as trophies. I couldn't help but wince at that; a samurai's sword is considered an extension of their soul. Anyone else touching it without permission would have been killed immediately and taking it from a fallen warrior could spawn a vengeful ghost if their death was traumatic enough. I understand that the samurai were not seen as the good guys in the real world during the Meiji Restoration, and many abandoned the tenets of bushido to preserve their way of life, but no wonder these ghosts were so vengeful.

So we know why they remain in the living world. But the powers they've displayed are ones I've only ever seen possessed by the truly evil dead and they can't be imprisoned again without the help of Anaki, the fox spirit. If we knew where their graves were, it would be a simple matter to return their swords to them and have them pass on. If they don't have graves, their swords might be the only weapons that can permanently destroy them. And even that's just a theory.

When Kyra woke up and took over the watch, I told her what had happened. She understood exactly what I was getting at and recommended we search the town's records after dawn. The others weren't as credulous about the fact I'd talked to the resident "guardian" but did agree that finding out who had those swords and where the ghosts' remains were would be the most effective course of action. Unfortunately our search through the records proved largely useless. The people who had taken the blades didn't have surnames as was the culture of the time so we couldn't match which families might have them. Nor was there any mention of what happened to them after they were taken or where the bodies of the dead samurai ended up. We will have to search each and every building looking for them. To make matters worse, the town has a large number of katanas dating back to the Second World War given the number of commanders Nohoro contributed to the military. Kyra, Mitsuki, and I can determine which ones carry the spiritual taint but just touching them will undoubtedly draw the ire of the ghosts to the one that does so. Thus we need to be sure that as few people actually do as necessary.

The ghost won't attack anyone who doesn't "defile" their swords, so we feel confident in calling in the authorities to collect the bodies. I spent the last hours of the day asking each who they were in life and placing tags with their names on them so they can be identified and any family notified. They should be here tomorrow while we locate the swords in question. Anaki, who kept hanging around me and Kyra all day, indicated there are eight ghosts so we're looking for eight specific blades. She also mentioned the ghosts were devout followers of Amaterasu-o-mi-kami in life and avoided sunlight "out of shame at what they've become." As for where the bodies are, she doesn't know. Kyra and I will have to capture one and interrogate them once we've found one of the missing swords. If any or all of them were cremated, their blades will have to be destroyed. Not just broken but disintegrated to sever their connection to this world.

As for who those men that broke the seal were, we did find something. The town's mayor was in talks with a company to build a resort and bring tourist money in. Likely the men were surveyors and have no idea what they did and no way of knowing what they caused. I don't plan on trying to inform them, either. They'd either think I was crazy or do something drastic out of guilt if they believed me. All that really matters is putting the ghosts to rest or destroying them if necessary. And for that, we've still got a lot of work ahead of us.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Nohoro, Japan, July 31, 2011)
It's been two days since I last wrote and we've been busy searching every building in the town, as well as shutting down anything left on and otherwise cleaning things up out of respect for the dead. The authorities came in and quickly claimed the bodies, which after just three days were pitted bone and blackened flesh. While talking with them they remarked how unnatural the decay was acting since they could actually see the remains rot in real time. They're treating it like some sort of infection or chemical contamination but we know they'll find nothing of the sort.

Our work did turn up seven of the eight swords we need, though the last one is proving elusive. I took one last night and waited for the ghost that owned it to appear while Kyra stood ready and trapped it in bindings of pure magical force. Getting through the madness and obsession of death was almost impossible until sunup, when suddenly the spirit seemed to calm down and regain his composure. The following is a transcription of the brief exchange we had.

Alex: Can you speak?
Unknown Ghost (never identified): Yes, I am calm. The touch of Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto drives us crazy. But the touch of Amaterasu-o-mi-Kami calms us. It is shameful for a warrior to behave like that.
Alex: I wish to return your sword to you. But I must know where your body lies.
UG: We were all buried under the shrine. Behind the ropes.
Alex: Will you be at rest if your sword is returned to you?
UG: Yes! We just want the dishonor to end. Look at the tsuba. They match the insignias we all bear.
Alex: I will hold you to that on pain of destruction.

Kyra let the ghost go and he fled in the direction of the shrine. I followed and watched him sink into the soil, breaking out the old trench spade to quickly excavate the ground. Seven of the bodies were nothing more than bone, with an eighth looking mummified. True to his word, the guard matched a design on an amulet one was wearing. As soon as I laid the blade with it I sensed something "leave" the area, a presence. Even the body no longer registered to stygian discernment, though the others did and quite strongly at that. Each time I laid another sword to the proper body, I felt another presence leave and the aura of undeath grew weaker. The only one left was the mummified one. My instincts were screaming at me that this aberration was more than it seemed but I couldn't figure out what.

By then it was late afternoon and I was filthy and tired from digging and running back and forth between the town and the shrine seven times. I did take the time to cover the ones we'd laid to rest before returning and enjoying a hot shower. The others spent the rest of the day looking for that last sword but came up empty. The aura around it is not easily missed so it had to be deliberately hidden somewhere, maybe even shielded by thick materials or a sheet of lead. Then there was the condition of that final body that kept bugging me. In Japan's climate, there's no way for a body to be mummified by simple burial in soil. In volcanic rock or ash, yes. But the geology here was all wrong for that to be the case. Something had acted on it deliberately.

Kyra was just as confused as I was but it was Mitsuki who came to the answer. That wasn't the anchor of a ghost; it was a gaki, a ghoul-like creature I've encountered before on other worlds. I practically ran from the table we were all eating at to return to the grave and found it empty. That's when I heard Nagisa scream and ran back to the trailers, only to find the creature had grabbed her and was threatening to slit her throat with long claws. Thankfully I'd stopped far enough away it didn't know I was there so I sat and listened as it ranted about "ruining its plans" and "setting its minions free." The creature was also surrounded by an aura of abjuration magic, an armor spell. It was a sorcerer of some sort. What Anaki saw wasn't a ghost but an ethereal projection. It had enslaved the restless ghosts of the murdered samurai. The bodies of the townsfolk weren't "decayed," they were butchered! This thing had worked out how to hide its presence in ingenious ways that fooled all of us.

With the element of surprise, I was able to throw my mind blade into its back. Not deep enough to risk hurting Nagisa but enough to cause the creature to release her at the sudden pain of positive energy flowing into its unliving body. Kyra then struck with a bolt of glory, practically turning it into ash in one strike. Nagisa was understandably shocked and horrified, but the threat was over. There was still something I had to take care of, though.

Anaki was understandably hesitant to face me. She was the guardian spirit of the shrine and had missed an intruder desecrating it, even mistaking it for one of the spirits she was supposed to guard. I don't know the specifics, but in spirit culture across the multiverse it's a major crime to fail at a task like that. My people failed to stop the true Nightmare Court from gaining access to the Web of Dreams and we've been atoning for it for millennia. A spirit of higher "rank" must pass judgement on the offender and determine a suitable punishment. That meant I had to give her a task to perform to make up for this laxity. Really, I could think of only one that fit: tutoring Mitsuki in the ways of magic and the spirits until she was able to drive away her new teacher with her powers. At that point the young miko would no longer need guidance and could stand on her own.

The fox-spirit took on humanoid form for the first time since we'd met and I was a bit shocked. She was an albino, white hair and almost-translucent skin with red eyes, not merely a fox with a white coat. Though she did retain all nine tails in humanoid form as the legends say. She immediately introduced herself to her new student, albeit invisible and inaudible to the others, and I had to hold back a laugh. They were going to make an interesting pair for Nagisa and the others to work with.

So the mystery of Nohoro is solved and Kyra and I can return home. I'm mildly interested in what will happen to the town but after everything we've seen and done it may be better that it remains abandoned. There are too many old and new sins buried here. Tomorrow after we've rested, Kyra and I will teleport home and see what else the Office wants us to take care of. Hopefully something less intense than this.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Aug. 2, 2011)
I'm almost embarrassed at how both Kyra and I handled what happened in Nohoro. We've clearly lost our touch when it comes to using all the resources at our disposal. The necromantic miasma wasn't so thick that spells and powers to detect the undead would have failed completely and that means there's no real excuse for our failure to recognize that gaki when we first saw it. Nor should we have failed to detect the aura it was projecting that could rot flesh and bone in real time. In the past I learned not to rely on my psionic powers so much as my abilities as a soulknife but even then I still used them when necessary. Hiding our abilities in this world has become so reflexive we sometimes forget that we have them. It's needless self-handicapping that could have led to far worse results than we got. Worse, we have the ability to hide them. My cloak-cum-coat covers me in a constant mind blank and I can easily hide any signs of my powers while Kyra's magic lacks most of the visual and auditory cues they would have in other worlds so it's just as easy for her to hide them with a little sleight of hand and she casts the same spell my cloak uses on herself daily.

Those are lessons we'll need to learn in the field because we've already gotten another assignment from the Office. What's odd is we're going in blind on what exactly we're supposed to investigate; the Office has "psychics" who predict when and where something is going to happen and they send out agents based on those predictions. Half the time it's a minor manifestation not worth the effort while another twenty-five percent of the time it's nothing at all. Those times it is something serious, however, the Office has been able to stop or greatly mitigate major supernatural disasters. Our destination?

Miskatonic. Oh, that's just great! Are we going to once again investigate Dr. West and his mansion? Have some of his creations gotten loose? At least it's not Silent Hill. That's one place we both absolutely refuse to ever visit again.

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Miskatonic, MA, Aug. 5, 2011)
We've only just arrived but already found the town buzzing about the "anniversary of Dr. West's disappearance." At the same time that happened, his mansion collapsed for no discernible reason. No one, and I mean no one, in town has dared investigate or even ask for outside help. Like they're afraid of disturbing a grave. They're actually celebrating by having a rock concert to mirror one that happened the year before during a solar eclipse. All death metal bands like Mastodon, Cavalera Conspiracy, and Lamb of God among others. Not something either of us are interested in but acting like we're there for it is good cover. Some of the students we talked to mentioned how two others disappeared last year, Rick Taylor and Jennifer Willis, at the same time everything else happened. Both of us immediately guessed there's a connection but that's impossible to verify.

Just visiting the outskirts of the former West Mansion showed us it would be impossible to thoroughly investigate without her magic or my powers. The place seems to have imploded and the debris is so thick it would be impossible to clear by hand. There must have been some sort of structure underground because the pile is clearly filling in a depression. There's also no more connection to the Abyss left, just a lingering Sinkhole of Evil that still reflects the horrific, living flesh of the place and even that feels weaker than it did seven years ago. Whatever happened, it seems to have cut off the place completely from whatever Dr. West was channeling. The only other remnant is an aura of undeath and necromantic magic that made us both collapse when we detected it.

We returned to our hotel and immediately took showers from how unclean the place made us feel. Whatever happened there was something beyond even our ken and likely our capabilities of explaining even if we did know. We also don't know if it has anything to do with why we were sent there. We're just supposed to stay vigilant for the next couple of days and see if anything happens.
(End Transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Miskatonic, MA, Aug. 7, 2011)
I have to give the "psychics" at the Office some credit. They were right that something was going to happen involving the supernatural. Just wrong that it would intrude into the physical plane. This morning the Near Ethereal was hit by a temporal storm flashing images of things that both did and didn't happen a year ago. The exact metaphysics are too complex to write down but what happened at West Manor was so powerful it tore apart space-time and created an alternate timeline. One that has no connections to this world anymore except in the Near Ethereal and then only during rare conjunctions.

Not for the first time I cursed my ability to see into the Near Ethereal because I couldn't block out the images being flashed. I spent most of the day in agonizing pain and nearly paralyzed by what I was seeing. What happened to Rick Taylor and Jennifer Willis when they visited West Manor a year ago. We knew West was drawing on the power of the Abyss but now it became clear which layer: Thanatos. Only it wasn't Orcus that answered but beings far more alien, likely obyriths or even antediluvian gods simply called the Corrupted. Along with a "servant" of theirs locked inside a bone mask that aided Rick in defeating Dr. West and his profane creations but also enabled the Corrupted to enter the world and thus possess Jennifer, even if their final form was destroyed, by supplying "ten-thousand sacrifices."

Kyra, bless her, never left my side as I convulsed on the floor and relayed what I was seeing between attempts to tolerate the pain through grit teeth and even holding my breath to focus on blocking it out mentally. What felt like an eternity lasted only a few hours before the storm abated and the images stopped. I was soaked in sweat and bleeding from my ears and nose both but it was over and what really happened is now known.

This world is lucky that those events were severed from it. But I can't say the same for Rick, Jennifer, and Dr. West. They're stuck in a never-ending loop of those events, doomed to relive them over and over again. Worse still is there's no way to save them from a fate worse than death now that the conjunction is over. Nor do we even know of a way to do so if it happens again.

What we felt at the site of West Manor has almost no connection left to those events; the severing was that complete. Instead it's the accumulated corruption of almost three centuries of madness, necromantic experimentation, and worship of beings too alien to exist in this reality. Worse, what I saw were crypts powered by remains and relics from countless cultures under the site. Without Dr. West there to maintain it, the power is already waning but the potential for someone or something to spark it anew remains. A true cleansing will require the debris to be removed and entire teams of mystics capable of casting hallow to cover every square inch. The latter is beyond even the Office's capabilities and any attempt to do so would no doubt attract attention to the place from those who would exploit the evil there. It's frustrating and demoralizing to know there's nothing that can be done about any of this except keeping it quiet and guarding the site.

We'll be heading home tomorrow. There's nothing left for us to do here and nothing we can do.
(end transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Aug. 12, 2011)
Business with the Office has kept me so preoccupied I almost forgot about the Nipaya temple where the flowers grow. Using my crystal ball I checked the site and security has easily doubled since my last aborted visit. There are even motion sensors in place and sentry guns on swivels now. Neo-Umbrella isn't taking any chances with the place. Defeating the security measures isn't hard with control sound and my rod of stalking but the ball also detected the aura of a dimensional lock spell over the entire area and even the surroundings. I can't teleport directly to the site and would need to sneak in through a gauntlet of physical and mystical security measures I couldn't even fully determine before the sensor was dispelled and the area blocked off from scrying. The only good news I found is a report that mentioned the flowers weren't producing the Progenitor Virus, so tainting the irrigation system did have some effect.

Sneaking in right now isn't worth the risks, not if the Progenitor isn't being produced. I'll have to do something about it eventually but that's going to take a lot more planning and surveillance than I have time for right now. The BSAA has been sending Gamma Squad to scout out parts of eastern Europe after reports of suspected bio-weapons started filtering in. Not all of us, mainly Banks and Awe because they specialize in stealth. What they've been able to verify is that there are definitely agents from Neo-Umbrella involved with a rebel group. Anything about bio-weapons almost all come second- or thirdhand but the reports are disturbingly similar: frilled lizard-like creatures the size of a man and that shoot spines dubbed strelacs ("shooters" in Serbo-Croatian), an unnamed mute giant that seems to feel no pain and shrugs off even a hailstorm of bullets before literally tearing apart everyone that attacked him, and eyewitness accounts of Chinese men wearing porcelain masks that completely hide their faces. What I've been able to pull from known Neo-Umbrella computers is that their combat agents are infected with strains of the C-Virus, resulting in things like we fought in Antarctica last year.

Memos from those same computers report that Carla Radames herself has taken an interest in the rebels and sent some "samples" along with her "loyal boy" to try and convince them to take her up on her offer of weapons and "combat enhancement drugs" which I'm certain will be pure samples of the C-Virus. I've also found mentions of a "Jake Mueller," the son of Albert Wesker, being seen working with the rebels. That threw me for a loop because I had no clue Wesker had a child; it's likely he didn't even know because the dossier on Jake indicates he grew up with his single mother and only ever heard stories about his father. Beyond demonstrating a genius-level IQ and being kicked out of military service for "insubordination," details are sparse. Carla has a theory that, given his parentage, he would possess antibodies to the C-Virus that could then be used to enhance it further. If she's right, he's the key to making an already-apocalyptic disease reach terrifying new levels. But he's also the key to a vaccine that could neutralize it.

It also seems that Simmons had the same ideas because he's activated federal resources to search for Jake. Including Agent Sherry Birkin. That can't be a coincidence. It's like the dominos are falling into place all over again for another major B.O.W. incident within the next year or so.

Finally, there's Chris and his continuing mental deterioration. As I outrank him I have the authority to order him, under force if necessary, to submit to a psychological evaluation. But I don't want to do that unless it becomes absolutely necessary and it's becoming increasingly apparent I will have to do just that. He refuses to listen a friend's advice and is showing an obsession with protecting those agents under his command in the field. A concern for your men is commendable; putting yourself at risk to protect them and taking actions to avenge any harm to them that endanger the mission is not. I'm certain he's headed for a psychotic break if he suffers deaths of his men in the field. Unfortunately that's a very real possibility given what we do.

Writing it down here has convinced me to force the issue with him. If he's as unstable as I suspect, he needs to be removed from active duty.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Sep. 5, 2011)
I just got word that Chris has been exempted from having to submit to a psych eval by the bureaucrats. And I mean bureaucrats. The purge we did five years ago to remove useless suits with no military experience or training from command has been completely undone by the UN Security Council. Worse, they're enacting "cost cutting" measures just like the ones that were abolished at the same time and even trying to enforce what I can only describe as "corporate measures." Things like "sensitivity training," mandatory meetings with them every other month, and even an HR department. Those things don't work in a military outfit and only cause more problems than they solve. Worse, they're putting lives at risk by overriding officers' orders meant to prevent disasters before they happen.

I've already made too many powerful enemies with my tirades against this sort of thing. This time it's come down to old-fashioned malicious compliance to enact change. Beginning with the boring-but-necessary comparisons that already show how having non-military in charge is completely destroying our budget and getting people injured and even killed in the line of duty. Were I the only one complaining, it would be far too easy for the bureaucrats to just ignore it. So I've got everybody I can writing reports to the new HR department and even the UN detailing how things are not working. It could take months before the latter even try to correct their mistakes, so we've all agreed to disregard anything the suits tell us to do and deliberately gum up their efforts. A demonstration that isn't going to end any time soon

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Oct. 1, 2011)
Things are already having an effect. Out of the ten empty suits that were put in charge of our branch, three have already resigned in frustration with our insubordination and refusal to simply play along. HR is completely swamped with reports they're spending more money to investigate in less than a month than the entire branch did in half a year of normal operation. As for that "sensitivity training," it didn't last a single session. Grunts can be quite blunt and foulmouthed and the team they hired just couldn't handle that. I actually feel bad for them because they didn't know what they were getting into and were just doing their job, and some of the comments made crossed the line even for military standards, prompting military punishments. We might not be the most PC bunch, but even we have standards of basic respect towards others.

On a personal level, that malware I found in my work computer has been quietly removed and traced back to a system used by...the UN Security Council! It wasn't something the branch commanders did but something someone much, much higher did. Digital histories show it also came from a highly encrypted flash drive with no metatags. Whoever uploaded it didn't want anyone tracing it back to them because even the surveillance camera footage of the time was digitally shredded. That's not something even UN reps have the power to do. In fact, no one has the power to do that outside of the Chief of Security. A quick check on his computer revealed messages from untraceable systems ordering him to let whomever uploaded the file into the room with the computer and to destroy any surveillance that caught them on pain of having his medical insurance revoked and his son removed from a treatment plan for his bad heart.

I'm paranoid enough to say it reeks of the Family.

The amount of paperwork I've been assigned has also evaporated and I'm once again free to join Gamma Squad in the field. But even the field cases they gave us for the last few months have now dried up. Not that it's any great loss; most were false alarms or minor incidents local authorities could handle. Plus each deployment cost tens of thousands of dollars and the people that kept ordering them all have claw-back clauses in their contracts. Reportedly several ranking members of the Security Council will be getting half pay for the next year and will have liens put on everything of value they own if they quit. Petty, but it still put a smile on my face.

Of more concern to me are the things Leon has been telling me about Pres. Benford. He plans to run on a platform of telling the world the truths about the Viruses and the outbreak in Raccoon City if he's reelected. There's no way Congress or the Family will take that sitting down; it would completely destroy America's position as a world superpower and upend the status quo they so dearly love. The Cold War was their golden age and they've never gotten over the collapse of the Soviet Union. Not even the attacks by al-Qaeda were enough for them to reclaim everything they lost and the culpability of the US government in the development of the T- and G-Viruses becoming known would destroy everything they've done.

I doubt either can succeed in rigging the election; Benford is one of the most popular Presidents in history and is practically immune to smear campaigns while him losing next year is nearly unthinkable. I fully expect them to try both all the same, though. If he does win, that just leaves assassinating him before he can expose what really happened. I can think of a few ways they could do it without incriminating both groups but the most likely and effective would be a supposed terrorist attack. The man most capable of pulling off such a scam? Derek Simmons, especially since he's friends with the President and could convince him to be in the perfect place at the perfect time for such an attack.

For now I've done what I can to correct the damage they've caused. The UN building's Chief of Security received an "anonymous" donation of half a million dollars to pay for his son's treatment along with a note telling him not to be afraid of the people blackmailing him or to ask for more help if needed to a digital drop box. Key members of the Family have also suffered "setbacks" in the form of crimes being exposed, deals they were working on falling through, and dangerously bad intel on how to advance their group's agenda. Then there even were those Cayman Island bank accounts suddenly "disappearing" and the same amount of money or goods worth the same being distributed to actual charitable groups across the world. Just like what happened last time.

Not even the last part does much damage to the group by itself. But it does stoke the flames of paranoia and distrust among members even as it distracts them from paying attention to other areas. Namely a quick hack of records and blueprints pertaining to any and all sites owned and used by them within the US. I've identified several likely spots Simmons could pull off a staged attack to kill Benford but two stand out. One is a business park in Delaware wholly owned by the Family, practically a city unto itself. The other is a university town in western Kansas called Tall Oaks where an underground lab once headed by Radames is located. The business park would be easier to control but Tall Oaks would have the most psychological impact for the country and it would make sense that the POTUS would speak to university students.

I pray I'm wrong about the location but my gut is telling me it's where things will happen. If they happen.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Oct. 6, 2011)
I only just learned Barry had gone to Sein Island a couple of months ago and found Moira, along with a little girl named Natalia. The California branch of the BSAA is notoriously uncommunicative with the rest of us and this time was no different. He came to visit and I got a chance to meet the girl. Only I saw something very disturbing when I introduced myself, a brief change from the pure heart of a child to the chilling darkness of the most psychopathic evil and then back again. Sadly this isn't the first time I've encountered this sort of thing before. People with genuine multiple personalities display the same to my crystal eye. The doctors have all cleared her of any sort of mental trauma but they wouldn't expect a child to possess the cunning to simply say what they need to hear as opposed to what they want to hear. I took a loose strand of her hair and used it last night to enter her dreams. There was a blonde little girl in a black dress also called Natalia there, goading her on. Worse, this other girl seemed to notice me and became quite wroth at my presence. Not like a psychosis but like a genuine second person that also resided in Natalia's mind, using a vocabulary far too complex for a ten-year-old and making references to events that Natalia would know nothing about.

When I looked through the files Barry brought back with him, along with everything Claire had told the BSAA when she was rescued, I couldn't find any kind of explanation other than Natalia having a six month gap in her memory. Even Alex Wesker's notes about "cheating death" don't seem related but I get the feeling they are. Visiting the island is a no-go since the place is scheduled to be "sterilized" to make sure this T-Phobos Virus or the Uroboros don't escape it, along with the mutants both created. I tried to broach the subject with Barry but he insists everything's fine and won't even consider the idea that Natalia might have lingering trauma and could use professional therapy to make sure. I'm certain Natalia's mind has Alex Wesker inside of it, or at least a copy of her, and she will one day try and take over the girl. But Barry is her legal guardian now and I can't force the subject without risking a friendship. I can't even destroy the second presence because the shock could kill Natalia at worst, leave her permanently damaged at best. In fact I can't even seal it away because it's too deeply ingrained into her core psyche. What did Alex do to her?

Of equal concern are the same research files Barry brought back, including new data on Uroboros. The Virus, like the C-Virus, is adaptive and thus can raise the dead. Unlike the latter, these creatures are animated by a core "cyst" of the Virus that remakes their flesh instead of raising the body wholly. Metaphysically they're aberrations instead of undead, which fits with the nature of the Progenitor Virus and Uroboros being free of whatever alterations Sir Spencer had done to the Progenitor to create the T- and G-Viruses. The T-Phobos is a different animal altogether, being a highly modified form of the T-Virus with a lowered lethality rate. The "Infected" seem to be living aberrations as well, with those that starve to death returning as the "Rotten." Since Sein Island was so isolated and every member of Alex's research team either committed suicide or was killed by her after they'd finished her little projects, I doubt we'll ever hear of the T-Phobos again.

Just to be absolutely sure, I've committed myself to finding and sealing away the chunk of Ragnorra's flesh under the Ndipaya temple regardless of the risks. I have a box of Dead Sea salt all ready to hopefully destroy it in time. The only other solution would be to release it into the Negative Energy Plane and that's impossible on this world.

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Oct. 10, 2011)
Sneaking into the temple proved easier than I'd thought. My PDA made short work of the rather crude computer systems once I patched in and disabled most of the technological security. Not all of it, though. The surveillance cameras and sentry guns were also hooked up to offline backup systems that kicked in the instant the main network went down. Those multi-eyed freaks were quick to begin trying to repair the latter, leaving the place with a rather minimal presence of actual security guards. The two times I had to kill some of them they immediately burned to cinders from the inside out, just like some of them did in Antarctica. I guess the living victims burn while the undead melt?

At the main site there was signs of the old stonework around the flowerbed being torn up and bare earth dug away to reveal unworked stone. It looked like they were trying to dig and follow the roots but those extended well past the bedrock. They must not have access to magic or even that wouldn't be an issue. Thankfully I did, in the form of a scroll of xorn movement, that let me burrow without leaving a trail or tunnel behind. I'm not sure how far down I was but I was traveling far longer than the spell would have lasted if it didn't end only after I'd emerged into a space with air. I just followed the familiar sick feeling as it got stronger and stronger until I found the flesh chunk and seized it, hauling it back up. Since I was still invisible I wasn't seen taking away the real prize, even if its presence did seem to attract their gaze like a sunflower following the sun. That they didn't attack or even follow me tells me they didn't realize what they were looking at and I was able to escape before they got everything back online.

Upon teleporting back I immediately shoved a four-foot square piece of pulsating flesh into the prepared box. Immediately I heard the faint hiss of deflation and dissolving tissue as I was closing and locking it. That's when I suddenly realized, I have no idea if this will stop the flowers from producing the Progenitor Virus. I was so convinced that this piece of flesh was the real source I never stopped to think if the surrounding soil wasn't also so saturated with corrupted positive energy it could still give rise. Their inability to produce it after the same salt was introduced into the irrigation system isn't actually proof of anything.

If nothing else, I've at least removed the thing that first gave rise to it and could be used to do so again. The only real way to be absolutely sure would be to collapse the ruins completely and bury everything. Yet I don't know if that's even possible without several large-yield nukes given their sheer size. The Ndipaya people would also be furious to lose such a significant part of their heritage, no matter that their ancestors deliberately sealed things off to prevent it from being used again. Even truly destroying the piece of flesh will take centuries, if not millennia, of being left in salt taken from a body of water so saline normal life can't survive in it.

For now this a "wait and see" situation.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Oct. 28, 2011)
With whatever was going on over, Gamma Squad is getting real cases again. Especially the strange ones that cross the line from potential bioterror into "what the (censored) is going on" territory that other agents won't touch. We got just such a case three days ago. A crew working on tearing down a decommissioned asylum had reported seeing the graves in an adjoining cemetery dug up from the inside out, including one who swore up and down he'd seen the body claw its way up out of the dirt. So either a prank or some adept or mystic using necromancy to raise the dead, I thought. Not worth sending the entire squad. But the officials insisted and we were shipped off to the middle of nowhere in Ohio to make sure this wasn't a Viral outbreak.

From the outside the place didn't look too bad. The brickwork on all the buildings was still solid and the interiors were not suffering overmuch from a lack of maintenance in thirty years. It was designed in that grandiose style from the Twenties and the fixtures alone were clearly valuable antiques. It wouldn't be the worst place to stay overnight if necessary but I hoped we wouldn't have to. This was supposed to be a simple sweep and clear that would take a few hours at most. What didn't look right was the cemetery and not just because the reports about graves dug up from the inside weren't exaggerated. The graves were shallow, maybe two feet max, and I'd bet held more coffins deeper down. Worse still was that it wasn't just adjoining, it was part of the property. These were the burial plots of patients that died and had no family to claim them. It was an all too common practice for administrators to cut costs by burying multiple coffins in the same plot with no thought for the dead.

The Dawn Scanners didn't pick up anything but my crystal eye did, the lingering trace of negative energy as well as tracks that clearly led through a broken section of the stone wall and into the surrounding forest. This wasn't viral, it was necromantic. Silvia was clearly disturbed by the revelation and wanted to push onwards. I couldn't disagree but the woodlands were too overgrown for all of us to go in and stay together. I ordered everyone else to start searching the perimeter while I led her in, following the plodding tracks.

We were maybe a mile in when we came to an old wood cabin. Someone had clearly been there recently as there were tire tracks visible in the soil, all from the same set of tires. Inside was a lone zombie, completely still and not showing any reaction to our presence. This had to have been the one the worker had seen crawl out of its grave. The popularity of embalming on this world meant it was strangely pristine, a fact that unnerved me more than any rotten flesh would. As much as Silvia wanted to just destroy it right then and there, I stopped her and told her to hide with me inside another room. If whomever had animated this thing was coming back to get it, we could surprise them and hopefully get some answers. She clearly didn't like the idea but agreed if it meant we'd stop this desecration of the dead.

We didn't have to wait long as a truck pulled up outside within ten minutes. It was just after four in the afternoon so there was still plenty of light to see a young woman enter. I just drew my Magnum and cocked the hammer, making sure she heard it. She immediately froze and I began to question her. Seems she was the one animating the bodies, testing out a formula her grandmother had left her. I could see her soul wasn't marred by evil but more of a callous moral indifference. Her interest in the undead was purely academic, trying to understand how the incantation she'd been left was working. "Incantation." She wasn't an adept or mystic but someone who had access to a ritual that could work for anyone.

Upon further questioning she admitted she destroyed the bodies after she was done dissecting (vivisecting?) them and trying to understand how the dead could get up and walk around. I lowered my gun and she turned around to face me, revealing eyes that were clearly becoming cataracted and skin that was too pale to be healthy. She was clearly suffering the effects of the Red Death's attentions for her actions, turning into an undead creature herself. I would bet a zombie lord. She was still alive, for now, but her actions would damn her if she continued and hearing that seemed to rattle her enough to change her mind about continuing. Even Silvia's attitude softened noticeably after I said that.

This was a dilemma. We could have her arrested, charged with graverobbing and desecration of the dead, but with what evidence? The only piece we had was still up and around. She would also never get the chance to cleanse her soul of her sins by herself and return to normal. Thankfully the OSA has a place for people like her and would certainly give her ample opportunities to redeem herself. I gave her the contact info and warned her I would be the first one to hunt her down and execute her if I found out she was using that incantation again. With that done, Silvia destroyed the zombie with a dust to dust spell and we returned to the rest of the team. When we explained what happened they just worried about what we'd put in our official report. The BSAA would never believe the reality and we'd all be put on psychiatric leave if we told them. Instead we agreed to say we couldn't determine what happened beyond saying there were no signs of one of the Viruses being used and some graves being dug up.

It felt unsatisfactory to do that. Viruses that can turn living people into monsters and zombies is believable but the idea that magic is real and so are supernatural beings isn't. I doubt even one agent who's seen action hasn't encountered something that science alone can't explain, including our own leaders. But we live in a "rational world" that needs "scientific explanations" lest we be considered insane.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Nov. 10, 2011)
Command is perfectly happy with my After Action report that we found no traces of any viral agent but the bureaucrats at the Security Council wouldn't let it go. I tricked them with wordplay into revealing they knew the dead were coming back to life and wanted me to say as much so they could take me and my team off the roster, so they sent in new people. I did the same thing to them, and another group after that. Since these meetings are recorded they can't twist them into anything except what they are and "someone" leaked the videos to our internal network so every agent knows what they tried. We've all been having issues with the UN trying to throw its weight around with us but this was just straight up attempted sabotage on their part.

Things have become strained between the BSAA and the UN since then all over the world. Several African branches are outright ignoring the Security Council and begun taking the initiative against former-Global Pharmaceutical Consortium members and even governments exploiting the people or engaged in suspicious activities. I only support their actions because they've exposed some very real, and dangerous, illegal research into biological weapons and even bio-weapons going on under the noses of the UN. So far they've kept it out of the media but that won't last forever. Elements within certain member states, especially the US and China, are furious about it and are demanding we all be reprimanded for it. That won't happen but it is a sign that relations with us and the UN, and the UN and its member states, are deteriorating faster than expected.

In preparation for what I know is coming, I've begun preparing for my eventual departure. Beginning with the Dawn Scanners themselves. The BSAA paid for the components to build them but I've secretly repaid those costs. Likewise, they don't own or control the patents or even the devices themselves; I do. I know they've spent tens of millions of dollars trying to recreate them and they have access to the schematics, but they lack the capacity to create the lenses for the cores. The atomic structure needs to be perfectly straight in nature and the only element I know of that works like that is carbon. Industrial diamonds come close but they still contain flaws that muck up the proper flow of the gamma radiation into synchrotron. What they get is something with a range of about two meters and little to no information about the scanned subject. The old Genesis Scanners work better but no one wants to touch those.

My squad mates share my reservations and suspicions that we'll be either replaced or co-opted by the Security Council if things continue like they are. We don't want to quit, we like our jobs and feeling like we're making a real difference in the world. But increasingly it feels like we're not doing that anymore. The goose chasing aside, what impact we do have seems to be rapidly undone by politicians and corporations blinded by greed and power lust. Or even by leaders within our own organization who are exactly the same. I doubt things will become truly untenable for another decade or two but I also know we can't stop this from happening. The purge we engaged in years ago to clean out the GPC's deadwood and get the BSAA back on track won't work this time. The source of this rot is the UN itself and unfortunately we need the support of its member states to function. We lose that, we're just a PMC with a mandate. I'm not making that mistake again. It took just one person to destroy the Regional Biohazard Countermeasures Unit.

For now, all we can do is wait and watch. Meanwhile I've been drawing up schematics for a new version of the Dawn Scanners, smaller and capable of more detailed information. The problem is it won't work with traditional electrical circuits due to power consumption and limits on processing power. This world doesn't have optical circuits and I can't remember how to create them; I did so as part of a kit when I was a child but that was centuries ago. All I do remember is it requires dream crystal being treated in a reagent bath to change its properties so it changes colors based on the electrical current running through it. Even then I would need to write a program that can translate it and I really don't remember that part. So I'm going to have to shelve those plans unless this world develops the technology needed or I somehow regain the knowledge I need from my people. Neither seems likely.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Jan. 9, 2012)
I grossly overestimated the amount of time it would take for things to deteriorate too badly between the BSAA and the UN. Both the US and China reps insisted on new, stricter controls over us last week and they tried to bully the other member states into agreeing with them. The US rep, at least, was immediately recalled and replaced by Pres. Benford himself. This was not cleared by him or Congress, nor was it even mentioned to them. The rep overstepped his authority and is already under house arrest pending a full investigation into his activities. As for the Chinese rep, he just disappeared this morning. What is known is he had already booked a one-way flight to Chile before this move and reportedly took it. I'm certain the CCP did not support this move and he knew he had to flee both them and whomever pressured him into it.

Right now the Security Council is running damage control while other branches of the BSAA are reading them the riot act for even supporting such insanity. The one constant across all times and cultures is that bureaucracy kills and fails miserably at solving anything even after it does get going during an emergency. FEMA demonstrated that during Hurricane Katrina, the UN proves it during every "humanitarian crisis" where they can't keep food and supplies meant for victims from being seized by warlords, it's only because the BSAA went over everyone's head during the Kijuju Incident that the worst outbreak in history didn't spread. Forcing us to wait for government approval from all branches of a given nation's government during an obvious B.O.W. outbreak would only lead to even more widespread death and destruction.

Worse than the Security Council supporting such measures is what some of those in charge suggested: expanding the BSAA's power during times of emergency. We ride a fine line between honoring national sovereignty and having the authority to act when absolutely necessary. We go too far in either direction, we lose our ability to respond in time or we become no better than the would-be dictators who always use BOWs. Right now we've managed to achieve a balance between the two that serves everyone's interests best. National leaders or councils can call on us to act during emergencies while we have to maintain a great degree of internal purity if we want to stay in their good graces. It's obvious that outside influences will shatter that center in time but I will not let it happen from inside ones while I'm still around.

I'm getting off topic. The real concern is who got to the US and Chinese reps? If the two of them had been allowed to persist it's very likely they would have succeeded in convincing others to support it. Unfortunately there's nothing on them. Literally. Any records pertaining to their time with the UN were burnt digitally and physically. That's not something even China would have done because their own records are gone, too. That just screams that the two of them were coopted by someone or something else with a frightening degree of influence over two of the most powerful nations in the world. It's becoming cliché but the Family is the only group I know of that has such. They've been embedded in the US for at least half a century and the number of favors key politicians in the CCP owe them is staggering. Plus muzzling the BSAA is something Derek Simmons would benefit from given his goals.

Now that I think about it, the man can't be that popular with others in his organization. He holds tremendous influence over the US government but his actions have cost them financially and politically and not just because of me. How many of their resources has he squandered in his quixotic pursuit to clone Ada Wong? How many sites of theirs has he used up trying to keep things secret? For that matter, how much of their political capital has be spent? The Family might be a dangerous, sinister secret society but right now it's Simmons that's that greater threat and he has to be nearing their breaking point. When that happens they'll no doubt cut him loose if they don't kill him themselves.

Edit: My bot came back with something. Surveillance footage of Simmons meeting with the US rep at a D.C. restaurant the week after Christmas. But that's fairly moot right now because the rep was killed in his home, shot execution style in the back of the head. Another bot was watching the rep over his computer's video camera when it happened and managed to record everything. Who did it I don't know because they were careful to hide their face and not speak. What I can say is it wasn't Simmons; the build was that of a woman and the camera caught a flash of red hair before the feed cut off. A quick search of my own brought up a file on Natalia Romanenko, a Russian assassin with natural red hair spotted in the nation's capitol a couple of days ago. She's a consummate professional and never speaks of her clients so bribing or intimidating her into revealing who hired her won't work. But Interpol will still be interested in what she's been up to.

Hopefully the man's killer will be brought to justice. I may not have liked what he did but he still deserves some justice.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Jan. 23, 2012)
My people have a saying. "When 'law' and 'justice' stop being synonymous, the latter must take priority." I'm done trying to do things "by the book" to please bureaucrats, lawmakers, and others who mistake conciliation and complacency for peace. I'm doing what needs to be done regardless of legal niceties or diplomatic considerations.

Prime example, President Graham has signaled his "intent" to put restraints on the activities of the BSAA with American branches needing to fill out paperwork just to order more coffee for the break rooms as part of the new rules. Congress shot down the very idea and Graham didn't seem to like it himself. Calling his performance halfhearted would be a gross understatement. The only one who even tried to defend it was National Security Director Derek Simmons and he was clearly trying to hide how upset he was with Graham's poor presentation and obvious sabotage of what was originally written.

Even if he could run for a third term, Graham is compromised and he knows it. When Los Illuminados kidnapped his daughter, it traumatized him and left him weak against threats. That's not good for a world leader with terrorists and insurrectionists inside their own government--inside their own cabinet. So I've been putting the money I've pooled from decades of playing the markets and siphoning dirty accounts to better use by setting up all new identities for him, Ashley, and others close to him, ready to be activated at a moment's notice or when he exits the Oval Office, whichever comes first. Unlike Witness Relocation, the FBI was not involved and nobody outside of those involved even know it's been done. There's no way for Simmons or the Family to find them when it's done.

As for dealing with Simmons himself, I've hit a brick wall. His mind is completely sealed from outside influence and trying to watch him with magic or psionics fails outright. His personal electronics are open books but he's too canny to trust them completely and relies on written missives and personal couriers to deliver anything he doesn't want others to see. The only crack in his otherwise perfect routine is his sick need to recreate Ada Wong and how he communicates with Carla Radames using said electronics. He's becoming increasingly frustrated with the repeated failures and is in contact with others who could help him find a perfect match.

Here's where things get truly disgusting: Carla Radames herself is a perfect genetic match for what he wants, according to them. They've also mentioned how he can implant Ada's "personality" into Carla during her literal chrysalis but that's not something genetic engineering can do as far as I know. Personality and memories are outside the scope of cloning despite science fiction saying otherwise. Neural mapping would work and I can only guess it's possible given how little I know about the techniques they're using. But it wouldn't erase Carla's existing mind, merely overwrite it and create a very real risk of a psychotic break as a side effect. That's why my people banned any sort of research into either field; the practical risks alone are staggering, never mind the ethical and moral ones.

I have a horrible feeling I know what's going to happen next. I pray that I'm wrong.
(End transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, Feb. 20, 2012)
It's thankfully been quiet for the past few weeks and I've had some time to really consider things. I wish I knew what I was going to do when this is all over, but the reality is I'm completely lost. I'm quietly laying down the foundation of my eventual resignation, but Maxine has said she won't give up on the BSAA. She's young, relatively. She'll learn that sometimes you just have to walk away from a fight. But in a way she reminds me of Arnold Rimmer from Red Dwarf in the eighth season, where his inexperience and ignorance lets him see options the rest of the crew doesn't when dealing with Cassandra, that computer that can see the future. She might find a way of saving things that I can't see.

HQ is putting immense pressure on me to accept a promotion to Brigadier General, but that would put me behind a desk instead of out in the field permanently. They say it's because they value my tactical acumen, but the reality is they know it will make me retire and that's what they want because I'm not under their control. It's not even like I disagree with retiring at this point. But until we've finished whatever's happening with Simmons, Radames, and Neo-Umbrella, I can't retire. I need to finish at least that much before I can just walk away from this chapter of my life. Once things have been resolved, one way or another, then I'll retire.

That's where I lose sight of what I'm going to do. Where do I go from here? What do I do with my life? Kyra has suggested we just move to a small town and look for jobs like ordinary humans, live as normal people for a while. That actually sounds rather appealing after everything that's happened since I came to this world. I can't say I was at peace during my time living in Raccoon City, simply because I was waiting for Umbrella's experiments to go horribly wrong, but it's still a time I look back on with some nostalgia. She did forget to ask Brianna what she wants, though. When I did, she said she wants to stay in the city and continue working with the OSA. That's actually fine with me and it will be a good chance for her to learn some independence. I don't think she's ever had a time in her life when she was living for herself.

But what do Kyra and I do as "normal people?" That's what we can't figure out. I've spent my life learning the art of trading and it's how I earn almost all of money even now. But it's so boring when all I have to do is make sure my investments are where they'll make the most money via computer. We both need jobs that will keep us busy and active and neither of us are terribly interested in anything too high profile. Nor do we really have skills that would let us live as "normal people" in this day and age. No, I take that back; she's an excellent baker and loves doing it while I...have law enforcement experience, I guess? Other than my first six years here, I've been involved in it in some form since I arrived. Even what the BSAA does is as much about enforcing international law and protecting the innocent as it is about military service.

Most people don't even think that much about where they'll be in one year, much less five or ten. Even if they do, they don't plan things out too meticulously. I don't have that luxury. When you've seen as much history as I have, it's not hard to predict what's going to happen next. That's why I'm so certain my time with the BSAA is rapidly coming to an end. Likely not forever, but long enough that sitting around and waiting is not an option.

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, March 4, 2012)
The BSAA ordered an "All Hands on Deck" meeting with a Baltic backwater known as Edonia. Eastern Europe has been a mess since the Soviet Union collapsed and it's hard even for me to care what happens anymore. The Republic of Edonia has been undergoing a civil war for two years now and reports are spreading that they Edonian Liberation Army is using bioweapons. But when we read those reports, it was clearly just propaganda and lies by the Edonian government to try and get the West involved on their side. Even their photos were clearly doctored and everybody could tell.

The Edonian representative present was not happy at our rejection of his story and swore we would regret it. I'm certain we will but not for the reasons he claimed. The ELA is clearly skilled and their use of foreign mercenaries has helped bolster their numbers while the government is collapsing because of domestic issues they've not resolved in years. The people support the former and the latter is losing both territory and the hearts of their citizens. What I'm worried about is how outside actors, like Neo-Umbrella, will use the conflict for "testing" of their research. The idea the ELA is using bioweapons now has been disproven but that will change.

My bots have come back with disturbing reports on the Family. My timeline was completely off; Simmons already turned Carla Radames into a clone of Ada Wong and actually did so almost three years ago. Right now she's "on site" at a religious academy in Asia called the Marhawa School. The place is completely isolated by trackless forest, making it the perfect site for another incident. Right now the BSAA's own Dr. Doug Wright is headed there at the request of the headmistress because of some sort of outbreak and I fear I know exactly what kind. Other than that I can't find out any more about it because the place caters to the most elite families of Asia and they don't want anyone knowing more about it than they absolutely need to.

I'm running out patience. With the world's governments and with myself. The former because they seem intent on hindering the BSAA at every turn and myself for not realizing when or what is happening until it's too late. I realize I'm limited by the information available but the technology I use should be able to slice through even the most advanced computer defenses with ease. Or it would if I'd been half as good at creating and programming my PDA as I'd thought. Last night I received a dream message: my beacon in the Region of Dreams was discovered. My family was relieved to learn I was still alive and they sent me the information I'd asked for. Almost seven centuries was way too long; what I got right is miniscule compared to what I screwed up. It'll take me weeks to rebuild and reprogram things but I don't have a choice. This is a fight where ignorance can be just as fatal as a bullet.
(end transmission)

(Excerpt from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Draper, UT, June 1, 2012)
Between auto-writing what I needed to to have a physical copy of the information I received in my dreams to tearing down and rebuilding my PDA from scratch to just writing an auto-programmer to help with the myriad of programs I'll need to create from scratch, I grossly underestimated just how much time and effort I would sink into this project. There hasn't been a single day when I wasn't working on it in some fashion, from using my powers to reform the circuits and hardware to writing in a language that not even the most erudite hacker could decipher. But it's been worth it because now I have the tools to find out anything I need to.

What I've found out is horrifying. The Marhawa School has been destroyed, wiped out by the C-Virus, and the whole thing is being covered up by the Kudankhan government and the UN. Even the parents of students have been forced to sign agreements not to discuss what they know. The media is trying to put all the blame on Mother Gracia Delenikas, who greatly hindered efforts to report what was happening but isn't who caused this. The Family wants this covered up and their reach is far greater than I had realized. It's actually frightening, but there are signs things are starting to fall apart. Simmons isn't merely a member; he's the leader. But his obsessions and efforts to stop President Benford from going public with the ugly facts about the American government's involvement in viral weaponry research have exposed the existence of the fraternity to intelligence agencies. The growing internal dissent over his leadership means he'll be "removed" if things get any worse.

The C-Virus itself is unique in that victims can't infect others with it. That's small relief given how it can survive in the air for a short time and how fast the rate of infection is. There are also numerous different strains that cause different mutations; Radames really went all out on developing as many variations as she should. It's regenerative capabilities are how it can bring even the long dead back to life, which I just couldn't figure out how it did so. Given its ability to survive in an aerosol, that means a cemetery exposed to it is perfect for raising an uncontrollable mob. That alone makes it more dangerous than any other Virus to date. Coupled with the fact that Direct Mutations retain their intellect even as they gain heightened physical abilities as well as aggression and impulsiveness, this is nearly the perfect viral weapon.

I shudder to think what Radames could do with Jake Mueller's blood. If he truly is immune to it, the antibodies his body creates could be used to take it to terrifying new levels. She's even created a unique B.O.W. to hunt him down, a giant dubbed the Ustanak (Serbian for "revolution"). The creature lacks any regeneration given it lost an arm that had to be replaced with a prosthetic, but retains its full mental capabilities. It's also strongly emotionally bonded to Radames and follows her orders explicitly. The perfect minion.

Things are rapidly coming to a head with Neo-Umbrella. But what bothers me most is what I found when searching through the systems of the BSAA. Gamma Squad as a whole is on a short list of "problematic groups" created by the top bureaucrats. As is Chris's Alpha Squad. We get results and we're good at what we do, so they can't just abolish either without risking a revolt from the other agents. Instead Alpha is being given missions that border on the suicidal even as Chris is being actively protected from efforts to get him to submit to a psychological evaluation, all in an attempt to break them up. Gamma Squad they don't know how to handle, but they're aiming to break us up by having me step down or else be removed by force. For a time they were trying to force the issue by sending the rest out on known frivolous missions while keeping me behind a desk filling out useless paperwork while restricting my access to required information to do so. It obviously didn't work, so they're shifting strategies by trying to remove me as the lynchpin. That incident with the amateur necromancer? I was right; they did know what was really going on and tried to get me to say it so they could have me removed for "psychiatric instabilities."

I've been stabbed in the back before. I know how to turn what they're doing back on them. But I'm trying to figure out if it's even worth it. It would cause serious damage to the leadership and hinder any efforts to respond to new bioterror incidents if I exposed what they're doing. If I have to be the sacrificial lamb, then so be it. They'll get what they're asking for after whatever happens with Neo-Umbrella is resolved. They'd just better hope it's what they really want because while I won't exact retribution, I can't say the same for the others in Gamma Squad. We're fiercely loyal to each other and even I can't say what my stepping down will drive them to. At best, the Squad will go on without me. At worst, they're going to find that the problems they had with me multiply nine times over.
(end transmission)