Meret Estate has its roots in Mackenzie Meret, the heiress of the Meret family who transformed her ancestral home into a refuge for survivors after the Green Poison outbreak. Once a socialite, Mackenzie took on the role of leader and caretaker, creating one of the few functioning settlements near Washington, D.C. The estate grew into a symbol of stability, with defenses, supplies, and a sense of order in a world that had largely collapsed.
That stability made the estate a target. During the events of the "Paradise Lost" incursion, the Cleaners launched a coordinated assault against it, overwhelming much of the community and forcing Division agents to intervene. The fighting was intense, beginning on the outskirts of the property and moving through the grounds, the bar, the courtyard, and even the oil tanker nicknamed "Dragon". At the heart of the assault were figures such as Wright, a Cleaner commander with hidden ties to the Hunter program, and the so-called Lovebirds, a pair of Cleaners outfitted with advanced SHD-derived gear. Their access to such technology revealed that the attack was more than a simple Cleaner raid - it was engineered with outside help.
That outside hand came from Natalya Sokolova, leader of the Black Tusk and an old acquaintance of Mackenzie Meret. Once friends, the two women had taken very different paths in the post-collapse world. Sokolova orchestrated the attack by directing Wright and providing the Lovebirds with access to Rogue SHD gear through intermediaries, all while maintaining deniability. For her, the raid was both a tactical strike and a personal matter, tinged with her complicated history with Mackenzie.
The assault left the estate badly damaged, with many survivors killed or displaced. Mackenzie herself was forced to evacuate along with what remained of her people to Haven, another Division-aligned safe haven.