Episode 16
Episode 16 - Deflationary Policy
The Agents explore the crime scene at the Crosby Street Hotel and are witnesses to a disturbing and unexplained phenomenon.
Based on a scenario by Allan Goodall.
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Transcript
Hello?
Speaker B:What time is it?
Speaker B:Who is it?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker A:Situation?
Speaker A:Dream, Chocolate.
Speaker B:Disease.
Speaker A:Sorry, honey.
Speaker A:I have to take this.
Speaker A:Rachel.
Speaker A:Special Agent Rachel Glenn.
Speaker A:She lets you know that there's a small forensic staging area that has been set up by the FBI on floor 12.
Speaker A:And so when you get into the elevator, you go ahead and make your way to floor 12 to check in with that staging area you do find there.
Speaker A:Respirator masks sealed.
Speaker A:Now, we're not talking the full, you know, rakow biohaz suits that are in the van outside, but there are full body forensic suits that you might see a forensics team wear in a particularly nasty scene.
Speaker A:There's also several testing stations, Prentiss.
Speaker A:You can see it's relatively good quality.
Speaker A:There are many FBI officers here, about half a dozen continuing to set up and what look like prep parts of the station.
Speaker A:They acknowledge you, nod politely, and go about their business.
Speaker C:So I guess it's.
Speaker C:You know, I guess we laid out that equipment showing up.
Speaker B:Well, if we've got suits up here, I don't know if we need the ones from the van, do we?
Speaker C:Well, they're not the full suits, just respirators.
Speaker A:Give these ones respirators in full.
Speaker A:In full forensic body suits.
Speaker C:Now, they're not.
Speaker C:They're not hazmat suits, right?
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker D:Keeps the blood off your pants, that's all.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I'd feel more comfortable with a.
Speaker E:Full on until we know what we're up against.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna be a little impatient.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker B:He'll acquiesce.
Speaker B:But in general, I feel like he's kind of evolved into being a little bit more literally open to.
Speaker B:Yeah, almost kind of.
Speaker B:Yeah, being a little bit, I guess, a Superman complex to a degree, based on his recent physical changes.
Speaker C:Well, if number of teeth means you're a Superman, then yes.
Speaker B:Hey, how many hours of sleep do you need?
Speaker B:He'll, you know, just kind of stand by, going along with the group.
Speaker A:Okay, so he's not gonna get.
Speaker A:Get a Superman complex going.
Speaker A:He's just gonna wait like an untermensch.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker A:I'm just kidding.
Speaker C:I'm not trying to.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:I'm not trying to push you into anything.
Speaker B:I know now.
Speaker A:I'm just kidding.
Speaker A:Okay, y'all wait, and before long, the elevator returns, and there are several agents and a uniformed police officer carrying lots of equipment that was once in the back of your van.
Speaker A:This includes many large biohaz suits.
Speaker A:Looks like three.
Speaker A:As well as what looks like major parts of the mobile lab.
Speaker A:Those Are deposited crudely in front of the elevator as the men and women carrying them return to the elevator to get more.
Speaker A:Unless you stop them.
Speaker C:Oh, no.
Speaker C:They're welcome to get more.
Speaker A:Okay, well, as you wait, almost as they.
Speaker B:As they walk away, I'll just say, hey, looks like we just need one more.
Speaker B:You said there was three, right?
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:The contents of your van are brought up for you and left here for you to examine and set up alongside the FBI forensics headquarters here.
Speaker C:So Prentice says.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So you see, this way, it's not our fault if somebody else goofed up as he's putting.
Speaker C:Putting himself into a hazmat suit.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker C:Paris kind of chuckles, and he begins setting up some of the testing station that was brought up.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Does Prentiss know how to put on a.
Speaker A:One of these high level biohazard suits?
Speaker A:They're not.
Speaker A:They're not intuitive.
Speaker A:Takes a little training.
Speaker A:Is this something princess would have training doing as a plastic surgeon?
Speaker C:I wouldn't think he would, honestly, but.
Speaker A:Well, he.
Speaker A:He is familiar with similar equipment.
Speaker A:So let's.
Speaker A:Let's see how he.
Speaker A:How he does here as he looks it over.
Speaker A:I'll go ahead and roll for him.
Speaker A:One moment.
Speaker B:I hope he does well, because if we're supposed to be.
Speaker A:Yeah, if you guys selling the CDC agents, if y'all.
Speaker A:If y'all look like a bunch of tranguses putting this thing on backwards, it's not going to go well.
Speaker E:Can be a real short op.
Speaker A:So, Prentice, it's similar to some lab work that you, you know, did during your education, part of your residency.
Speaker A:It's pretty complex, but you think you've got the hang of it.
Speaker A:You go ahead and do your best to fit yourself and help the others, who are completely lost, so at least you look a little bit more expert than they do.
Speaker A:But there's a struggle there in the hallway in front of the elevator.
Speaker A:FBI agents look up and one of them furrows her brow, watching you as you attempt to get these large, bulky suits on your frames.
Speaker A:After a good 20 minutes of struggle.
Speaker D:Paris gives her a thumbs up and a big smile.
Speaker A:After about 20 minutes of struggle, you four feel like you're as buttoned up as you can get.
Speaker A:Prentiss turns on portable oxygen to each one of your suits, hear a steady hiss coming through chest cavity and into your ears.
Speaker A:It's got kind of a plastic smell in here, but otherwise you seem to be breathing fine.
Speaker C:Okay, we're geared up and we're set.
Speaker C:We've set up our equipment or Is that still not done?
Speaker A:You don't know anything about this equipment that they brought up?
Speaker A:There's a lot of silver suitcases, a few large kind of crate looking objects.
Speaker A:They all look like they kind of fold out and maybe turn into something.
Speaker C:Okay, well, Prentiss is going to spend some time familiarizing himself with the equipment.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Probably take a few hours.
Speaker A:Is that what Prentice wants to be doing?
Speaker A:What are the others doing?
Speaker C:Never mind.
Speaker A:We'll.
Speaker C:We'll come back to that when we need it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Chris, you had said that Agent Glenn mentioned that they had already taken samples.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:And that they were left at the crime scene.
Speaker B:Okay, so that's on the next floor.
Speaker C:We'll have to hoof it down to here if we want to test those samples.
Speaker B:I understand.
Speaker B:I think that we should head up to the.
Speaker B:Take a look at what we're dealing with.
Speaker C:I agree.
Speaker A:These suits don't have radios in them, so you all sound fairly muffled to one another.
Speaker A:But you can, with, with some difficulty, understand and.
Speaker A:And articulate.
Speaker A:The doors open to floor 14.
Speaker A:Step out into the red carpeted hallway.
Speaker A:There's no activity up here.
Speaker A:It's silent, motionless.
Speaker A:It's tough to move around in these suits.
Speaker A:They are really hampering your range of motion.
Speaker A:Agents, where would you like to go?
Speaker C: to: Speaker C: So: Speaker A: That's: Speaker C:13.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:1409.
Speaker C:But that.
Speaker C:That adds up to 13.
Speaker C:Those numbers.
Speaker A:Little gematria.
Speaker A:You're getting into the.
Speaker C:Yeah, let's get in there.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It's secrets everywhere.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:1409 adds up to 13.
Speaker C:Add those numbers together, my friend.
Speaker E:It's 14.
Speaker A:It's definitely not.
Speaker A:Not 13.
Speaker C:I can't do math.
Speaker C:I think I've made that very clear in the past.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:Add those numbers.
Speaker B:I love the confidence.
Speaker A:Yeah, the confidence was really intense.
Speaker A:Like, I was almost like, am I?
Speaker A:Am I?
Speaker D:And also, we're clear the assholes for forgetting he doesn't do math.
Speaker B:I love amber's condescending.
Speaker B:It's 14, sweetie.
Speaker B:I love.
Speaker B:Can we get that as a snippet?
Speaker A:Yeah, that's gonna go in the trailer for next season.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker C:Just with somehow an audio head pat.
Speaker C:Yeah, there, there, there, there.
Speaker A:You force stagger and shamble down the hallway.
Speaker A:You notice that all of the doors, their electronic locks are blinking green.
Speaker A: And when you get to: Speaker A:The door opens inward with a satisfying click.
Speaker C:And let's just go ahead and roll the sanity here.
Speaker A:What you see is a little entryway.
Speaker A:To your right is a closed closet door.
Speaker A:To your left is an open door into a bathroom.
Speaker A:And right in front of you, two twin beds matching those that you saw the FBI photo shown to you by Porter only a few moments ago.
Speaker B:Spunky Porter.
Speaker A:But shoved in between is an even larger body than the unnatural bloat that you saw in that photo.
Speaker A:Seeing it in person now, it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's impossible.
Speaker A:This cadaver, it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's pinned almost fit to burst between these two twin beds.
Speaker A:It's enormous.
Speaker A:And it's really started to turn a deep, purplish color in places.
Speaker A:Face is unrecognizable, the eyes pushed out of the sockets as the rest of the face bloats like a balloon that's been pushed against a wire mesh.
Speaker A:Each one of you takes a gulp as you file in, looking at this terrible corpse.
Speaker A:It's in a condition that should not be.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll your sanities, please.
Speaker A:This will be for unnatural.
Speaker B:Were you saying that like it's gotten bigger since the pictures were taken or it's just like, in person?
Speaker B:It's just much more.
Speaker A:It appears.
Speaker A:It appears larger than the photograph that you saw on that whiteboard projector.
Speaker B:Okay, I guess Ryan will say that out loud to the group.
Speaker B:Does this thing look like it's gotten bigger than what we saw in that photograph?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:This is fucked up.
Speaker D:What was that you guys said?
Speaker B:Does this thing look bigger than what was in the photograph?
Speaker A:Yeah, it looks fucked up.
Speaker D:Yeah, it looks.
Speaker D:It looks a little bigger.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker D:I said, it looks a little bigger, right?
Speaker C:That's not what I thought he said, right?
Speaker B:What?
Speaker C:What did you think he said?
Speaker C:It's not what I thought he said.
Speaker D:What?
Speaker C:Why do you keep.
Speaker C:Every time we talk, the handler flips a coin.
Speaker B:That's so good.
Speaker D:That tree is far away.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:It's so fucking funny.
Speaker B:Shit.
Speaker D:Can we.
Speaker B:Is that the end of the what bit?
Speaker B:I think we can keep it going.
Speaker C:Hey, take your.
Speaker C:Take your mask off so I can hear you.
Speaker B:It's so good.
Speaker B:Chris, I don't know if you need us to redo any of that.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, please redo that bit again because I just can't wait.
Speaker A:No, please don't.
Speaker A:All of you reel back from the sight of this enormous, distended body again.
Speaker A:It looks like it's about to burst at any moment, barely held together by the almost translucent skin.
Speaker A:Oh, boy.
Speaker A:It is coming up to your shoulder in height, Paris.
Speaker C:It might be a Good idea to throw some tarps over this bad boy before he explodes.
Speaker B:Should we relieve some of the pressure, maybe cut it?
Speaker B:He kind of says that looking over to Prentice.
Speaker C:So I guess I.
Speaker C:I mean, I would.
Speaker C:I would suspect that'd be a terrible idea as.
Speaker C:As a player.
Speaker C:Maybe a doctor has some sort of skill that would tell me a better outcome than I can think of.
Speaker D:I will say Agent Paris does start walking through the apart or the room looking for.
Speaker D:What am I trying to say?
Speaker B:Looking for something to change her clues.
Speaker E:Markings.
Speaker E:Alien animals.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Agent Paris isn't going to look too.
Speaker D:Too closely at the body just because that's Prentiss area of expertise.
Speaker D:Paris starts canvassing the space, I guess is the way to put it.
Speaker A:Sure, sure.
Speaker A:I mean, you notice that there are as you kind of step back, looking back at the body and the two beds and then behind you the dresser and the flat screen television.
Speaker A:You do notice there are two suitcases, one on each of the beds.
Speaker A:They both look like they have security combination locks attached that are opened on the dresser, you do see a cell phone sitting there.
Speaker A:As well as what looks like several samples taken in plastic cap test tubes in Iraq.
Speaker A:There's also some labels on them, but they are blank.
Speaker B:How do we know what the samples were taken of?
Speaker B:From where in the room?
Speaker A:You're not sure, actually.
Speaker A:But there are two of them with clear liquid.
Speaker A:The other three are empty.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna walk towards the bloated fella, gently poke it with his foot like maybe in its leg.
Speaker D:Why?
Speaker D:He's a roadkill.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Hey, hey.
Speaker B:I'm using adverbs over here.
Speaker B:I said gently.
Speaker C:Gently, but like also kick it like it's roadkill.
Speaker B:Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:Yeah, Let me gently to see if it has much give or if it's like really solid.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You use your suited or your suit covered toe or I guess your little booty to kick at the bottom of the thing's poke.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Where you can see little bloated nubs of what were feet and toes sticking out.
Speaker A:Give it a good poke.
Speaker A:The whole thing gives to your nudgings and like a large plate of rotting jello, the thing sloshes back and forth as if filled with great gouts of fluids.
Speaker D:Fucking gross.
Speaker A:It takes a moment for it to settle again.
Speaker C:Prentice says that's really unsettling and nice.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker C:I guess he's going to check the body for signs of wounds or injections of any kind.
Speaker C:Now that's.
Speaker C:I realize that on such a bloated body is going to Be a pretty monumental task.
Speaker C:But I think it's a good start for you.
Speaker A:Start scouring the distended surface of what was ostensibly once a man looking for entry points.
Speaker A:But it's as taut again as a over inflated balloon.
Speaker A:You see nothing of the sort.
Speaker B:I'm wondering, Prentiss, do you think that maybe we get a syringe and take a small, I guess sample from whatever's inside of it?
Speaker C:Yeah, they probably already have that in those samples that they took though.
Speaker B:Is there.
Speaker B:Is there anyone in the hallway?
Speaker B:Is there anyone else?
Speaker B:I guess anyone who's are the folks that did the initial kind of sampling around?
Speaker A:Absolutely not.
Speaker C:In the other rooms were the other agents.
Speaker C:Oh, you know what I forgot?
Speaker C:Something we should probably have done prior to entering is probably cordon it off with some cdc like I'm sure they have like plastic seal Gates.
Speaker A:Prentice muses.
Speaker C:Belated muses.
Speaker B:Well, belatedly really.
Speaker B:What I.
Speaker B:What I'm trying to get to Chris.
Speaker B:Like if there's someone.
Speaker B:Ryan's going to go try to find somebody, ask, you know that the agents.
Speaker A: have been quarantined are in: Speaker A:Or you could go back down to floor 12 to talk to somebody.
Speaker B: Ryan's going to walk down to: Speaker A:You open the door, I assume it's again blinking green.
Speaker A:It appears to not be locked.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And inside you see well, five individuals.
Speaker A:Their eyes are bit scared, tired.
Speaker A:Most of them are wearing suits or have removed their suit jackets.
Speaker A:Two women, three men.
Speaker A:They all kind of look up at you in half recognition, half surprise to see a lilting hazmat covered figure suddenly appear in their doorway.
Speaker B:Everybody, thank you for your work so far.
Speaker B:I'm with the cdc.
Speaker B:We're here to further investigate the scene here.
Speaker B:First of all, please let us know if you start to feel ill or any other abnormal symptoms.
Speaker B:But I also would like to ask who has already prepared or taken the.
Speaker B:The samples that are already in the room.
Speaker B:It'll be.
Speaker B:I didn't see them labeled and it would be helpful to know what we've already taken samples from.
Speaker B:God, I keep just saying samples like a dumbass.
Speaker A:What if the.
Speaker A:One of the.
Speaker A:You know, you sound super pro.
Speaker A:Like that's all CDC talks about.
Speaker A:Sample, sample samples.
Speaker A:You're good man.
Speaker A:You sound just like a CDC guy.
Speaker A:One of the women slowly raises her hand and she answers.
Speaker A:She says, I took the samples before.
Speaker A:Well, before we called the quarantine.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker B:What was the protocol there?
Speaker A:Well, we wanted to test the fluid.
Speaker A:We were noticing that the body Was.
Speaker A:Was.
Speaker A:Was growing at a unprecedented rate.
Speaker A:Some of the other agents look at her, they look as confused as she sounds.
Speaker A:So we.
Speaker A:We went ahead and wanted to see what was inside.
Speaker A:Used a syringe and just drew some of the liquid out.
Speaker A:We were going to test it, but couldn't do it before the quarantine protocol went into place.
Speaker B:So you didn't get the liquid out?
Speaker A:The sample should be in the room.
Speaker B:Oh, you didn't get it to the testing.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:I understand.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:I appreciate that.
Speaker B:When you withdrew the syringe was.
Speaker B:Forgive me for the graphic question.
Speaker B:Did any of the liquid leak out or did the entry seem to, I guess, heal over?
Speaker A:There was a fair amount of.
Speaker A:SHE SWALLOWS leakage.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:She nods.
Speaker B:Like I said, please just remain here.
Speaker B:We'll be in touch with any updates as we have them and.
Speaker A:Hey, hey.
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:Are you going to, like, check us out?
Speaker A:Are we okay?
Speaker A:One of the men says, sir, we.
Speaker B:Absolutely will be checking you out.
Speaker B:We do have a medical examiner on our team.
Speaker B:But right now our priority is to understand if there's any immediately identifiable substance or otherwise indicator of harm in the scene itself.
Speaker B:That's why I also asked if any of you please.
Speaker B:If any of you start to experience abnormal symptoms or feeling sick in any way, immediately inform our team.
Speaker A:I feel fine.
Speaker A:So you think.
Speaker A:You think we're going to be all right?
Speaker A:Yeah, we feel fine.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:That's fantastic news.
Speaker B:We aren't going to release you from the quarantine until we know for.
Speaker B:For certain.
Speaker B:And part of that will be ensuring an understanding of what the cause of this strange phenomenon is.
Speaker B:I do appreciate your.
Speaker B:Your patience.
Speaker A:Here you see them visibly kind of deflate and they are still very worried.
Speaker A:You can feel the anxiety in the room.
Speaker B:I understand that this is not an ideal way to.
Speaker B:To spend the day, and this was unexpected for all of you.
Speaker B:I appreciate your patience and I promise you that we're going to do every effort we can to get you out of here as fast as possible.
Speaker B:Then he is going to leave the room.
Speaker A:While you're doing that, Agent Paris moves to one of the open suitcases in the room.
Speaker A:This is the one closest to the entrance of the room itself.
Speaker A:Again, has an 8 digit push button security combination lock.
Speaker A:It's open.
Speaker A:This allows easy perusal of the container.
Speaker A:Go ahead and open it up.
Speaker A:Despite the difficulty of manipulating the contents.
Speaker A:While you're in this cumbersome suit, you begin to look through men's clothing.
Speaker A:Neatly folded, set it aside, and you do find Tucked into one of the side pockets, it looks like a receipt.
Speaker A:There is a good amount of Chinese on it.
Speaker A:Which you cannot read, Paris.
Speaker A:I don't believe I cannot.
Speaker A:But you also see.
Speaker B:What are you trying to say?
Speaker A:English on it as well.
Speaker A:It says that it's from the Jade auction house in Hong Kong.
Speaker A: Written below that is: Speaker A:And on the line next to it, the word figure.
Speaker A:Not very descriptive.
Speaker B:Well, that adds up to six.
Speaker A:Are you sure?
Speaker E:Really?
Speaker A:Run that past Prentice, and then we'll.
Speaker A:We'll know for sure.
Speaker B:Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker B:It's seven.
Speaker C:Roy's to be here, but he's still.
Speaker D:In the room, right?
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:The only one who's not in the room right now is Ryan.
Speaker D:Agent Paris looks up, says Agent Roizen, you might want to take a look at this.
Speaker D:Can you read any of this?
Speaker E:My languages are all Middle Eastern, but.
Speaker A:The short answer is no.
Speaker A:But the English is.
Speaker A:Is highly, highly readable.
Speaker B:Love that the English is highly readable.
Speaker E:When we get back down to the.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:That's so funny.
Speaker D:I can make out these other letters.
Speaker E:Y'all are on a roll today.
Speaker B:Sorry, Amber.
Speaker C:You're filled with comedy, and it has to be let out.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker D:I assume that means that's everything he's gonna find in the suitcase.
Speaker A:That's all you find in this first suitcase?
Speaker A:That is correct.
Speaker A:That is of any interest.
Speaker D:Then he moves.
Speaker A:Gonna start digging through the other one Roy's in again.
Speaker A:It's very cumbersome, but you begin your search, you open up the container, and it's completely empty.
Speaker E:Oh, that's weird.
Speaker C:Or is it?
Speaker C:Use your real eyes.
Speaker E:And there's nothing in the liner or.
Speaker A:Anything you're feeling around.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's, again, tough to really have some tactility here with these big, thick rubber gloves.
Speaker A:You don't feel anything obvious.
Speaker C:You know, you want to take those gloves off.
Speaker B:Get out of my head.
Speaker C:Give in to the voice.
Speaker A:I'm happy to give you a search.
Speaker A:It's just gonna be at a detriment.
Speaker A:If you want to start searching, just let me know what you search.
Speaker A:If you're searching the liner, no problem.
Speaker A:We're gonna roll for that.
Speaker A:It'll just be at a minus 20.
Speaker E:So I think Roizen's gonna hold off on that.
Speaker E:She's.
Speaker E:She's hesitant to take her gloves off until she's sure that this is actually under their purview and not an actual CDC problem.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker C:I mean, it could.
Speaker A:I'm confused about this.
Speaker A:So okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You think that the body could be okay?
Speaker A:You are 100% certain the body is not a CDC problem?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'll just meta that for you, then raise it.
Speaker A:It is not a natural.
Speaker A:This is not like a normal bloated body.
Speaker A:If I didn't.
Speaker A:My big apologies.
Speaker A:This is not a normal bloated body.
Speaker C:It's basically a whale corpse at this point, Right?
Speaker E:In that case, Roysen's gonna go ahead and take her gloves off and her mask while they're in the room.
Speaker C:Oh, boy.
Speaker C:If you start to do that, Prentice is probably gonna freak out on you.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:You're gonna need to freak out on her because she just started doing that.
Speaker C:So Prentice is like, what?
Speaker C:What are you fucking doing?
Speaker E:My job.
Speaker C:But you don't know if it's a spreadable disease.
Speaker A:The respirator lands softly on the bed next to the empty suitcase as she clicks off the large, cumbersome rubber gloves.
Speaker C:What do you want on your headstone?
Speaker E:I don't think you'd be able to spell it.
Speaker C:It's okay.
Speaker C:I'll memorize it.
Speaker A:The air in the room is humid, musty.
Speaker A:There's kind of a sickly sweet smell as well.
Speaker A:I need you to roll your alertness, please.
Speaker C:That's a success.
Speaker D:That's a good success.
Speaker A:You think you can hear music coming through one of the walls?
Speaker A:Which one?
Speaker A:You're not sure.
Speaker A:Your senses are still kind of readjusting now that you've got that giant, cumbersome sealed hood off.
Speaker A:You look from side to side and then back down at the empty suitcase.
Speaker E:Is anybody else hearing this?
Speaker C:Hearing what?
Speaker E:I'm hearing music.
Speaker C:Can I hear it?
Speaker A:You hear only the steady hiss of your oxygen supply.
Speaker C:Well, I'm not taking off my damned Hazmat suit to hear something you say.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker B:Ryan's still in the other room.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:You're almost out.
Speaker B:It's okay.
Speaker A:You're stumbling and shambling your way back down the hallway as we speak.
Speaker E:Roisin shrugs, looks at the corner as if she is expecting an answer from someone else, and then goes back to feeling around in the suitcase liner now that she actually has tactile feeling in her fingers.
Speaker A:Yeah, roll a search.
Speaker C:Pretty.
Speaker E:Ouch.
Speaker C:Pretty bad.
Speaker A:You may check your search.
Speaker A:You feel around, and the liner doesn't appear to have, well, anything but folds of this vinyl material.
Speaker A:Don't think there's any secret compartments here.
Speaker A:Look at the outside.
Speaker A:It's faux leather.
Speaker A:Feel around.
Speaker A:Doesn't really seem like there's anything to be found.
Speaker A:It's just empty.
Speaker A:Something's missing.
Speaker E:Obviously, whatever he was carrying in here is not here.
Speaker C:So maybe he ate it, says Prentiss.
Speaker A:The door clicks open as Agent Ryan shambles back into the room.
Speaker A:You immediately notice, Ryan, that Roizen's over there with her head and hands exposed.
Speaker B:Oh, sweet.
Speaker B:We can take these off.
Speaker B:Ryan goes to start taking the suit off.
Speaker C:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker C:That was her choice, and that was a foolish choice, and I would not have advised that.
Speaker C:In fact, I advised that she didn't, but she did it anyways.
Speaker C:She keeps licking her fingers pensively, like.
Speaker C:Like there's some kind of secret in her fingertips that if she could just taste the secret, she'd find the answer.
Speaker C:But I think she's just licking up disease.
Speaker E:Tastes like chocolate.
Speaker B:I think she's licking up disease.
Speaker C:What just happened?
Speaker B:Needs to stay in, Chris.
Speaker B:It needs to stay in.
Speaker B:She's licking up disease.
Speaker B:I love the.
Speaker B:Ryan's going to roll his eyes at Pren and say, I just talked to everybody in the other room.
Speaker B:They all report feeling perfectly fine.
Speaker B:They've been around for a while.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker C:You know, diseases have incubation periods.
Speaker C:There's.
Speaker C:There's so much.
Speaker B:I understand that, but I.
Speaker B:Let's.
Speaker B:Let's say this.
Speaker B:I've worked with Royce in here for a lot longer than you have.
Speaker B:Her intuition on the unnatural has rarely been wrong.
Speaker C:Oh, so y'all have seen it all.
Speaker C:Great.
Speaker B:Ryan is going to.
Speaker C:I'm so happy for you.
Speaker B:Continue to take his.
Speaker C:Also, what would you like on your gravestone?
Speaker B:Has a fit, like an embarrassed child.
Speaker B:What would you like on your gravestone?
Speaker B:I don't think that you will be invited.
Speaker B:And then he also informs the group that those vials of liquid, they were taken from our fella here.
Speaker B:Apparently, there was some oozing once the needle was withdrawn.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker C:Why don't you give it a taste test?
Speaker C:Since we're just ignoring all kinds of safety procedures?
Speaker B:I don't think that normal safety procedures apply when we're talking about things that don't, or at least shouldn't actually exist.
Speaker C:My mind is boggling right now with what you choose to believe, when you believe it.
Speaker C:Awesome.
Speaker C:So let's.
Speaker B:What have you found so far, Prentice?
Speaker C:Jack fucking shit.
Speaker C:But that doesn't make you right.
Speaker B:Well, you got me.
Speaker B:Hey, Chris, out of curiosity, does, like, the law of matter or laws of matter apply to unnatural?
Speaker A:It's a very interesting question that I will never answer for you.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Wonderful.
Speaker B:Can Ryan inspect the vials?
Speaker B:I guess.
Speaker B:A thought I'll voice The room is.
Speaker B:I wonder if.
Speaker B:Look, this substance needs to be coming from somewhere, or at least I hope it does.
Speaker B:Let's maybe come from the blood, the vials.
Speaker B:What's filling it up?
Speaker B:I'm wondering if it's replicating.
Speaker B:Let's maybe mark the vials to see if the sample is replicating.
Speaker B:If the so you know that's in there is increasing.
Speaker C:I hear you.
Speaker C:You want to see if there's some kind of cell division or something going on?
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:Okay, I'm on board.
Speaker C:Let's take those samples, like, downstairs, you and me.
Speaker A:There's a writing utensil that.
Speaker A:That'll work for you.
Speaker A:You can even use the label that's already on the vial.
Speaker A:Draw on it.
Speaker A:There's a pin.
Speaker B:Oh, that's perfect.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker B:Just a line of, like, where it's at currently.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that works.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:I don't know if we need to necessarily take it downstairs yet.
Speaker B:You know, let's just.
Speaker B:Let's draw the line here.
Speaker B:But I want to continue investigating to see what else we can find before we haul ass back downstairs.
Speaker C:I'm super afraid of this body exploding.
Speaker C:And I'd like to get at least the body covered in a tarp, but then again, what will that do?
Speaker C:It'll just blast the tarp off.
Speaker C:What am I thinking?
Speaker B:I mean, maybe we should.
Speaker B:Maybe we should drain it.
Speaker C:Oh, God.
Speaker D:Drain it?
Speaker E:I don't think we have enough buckets into the.
Speaker C:Into the toilet.
Speaker B:No, we could drain parts of it.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:Nothing we're doing here is fun.
Speaker B:Fun, but I think, you know, part of what we need to be doing here is making sure that any signs or evidence of unnatural is discarded with.
Speaker B:And I would much rather drain this body in a controlled way rather than letting it seep across this floor.
Speaker D:I'd rather we just bag it, take it out of here and burn it, and then start looking into what may have caused the issue.
Speaker B:I don't know if burning the body is a great way to.
Speaker C:There's a lot to burn there, Paris.
Speaker D:We can't leave it here.
Speaker C:We certainly can't.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:One thing at a time.
Speaker C:Let's knock out the first clue of.
Speaker C:What the fuck happened to this guy?
Speaker D:Well, I found this receipt.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:So he went shopping and now he's.
Speaker C:This way.
Speaker D:Give me a second.
Speaker C:Case closed.
Speaker C:I think we're done here.
Speaker C:We can wrap things up.
Speaker B:So bad.
Speaker B:No, I love it.
Speaker B:I just feel like this episode between me and Eric.
Speaker B:I just feel very bad for the rest of You.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:Here, take a look.
Speaker D:And Paris attempts to hand Apprentice the receipt since we're both still.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And our two big, awkward gloved hands.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Fumble.
Speaker A:Awkward fumbling.
Speaker A:And it gets crumpled a little bit.
Speaker D:Paris walks with Apprentice and just holds it up against the.
Speaker D:His face shield so it's just right in his face there.
Speaker D:Better look.
Speaker C:That's pretty cool.
Speaker C:I don't speak Chinese or read Chinese.
Speaker C:And the English, we're gonna need somebody who does if we want to read that.
Speaker C:$15,000.
Speaker C:That's about all I'm getting here.
Speaker E:Or figure once we're done on this floor, I can translate it.
Speaker B:Translation can be done later.
Speaker B:We don't need to do that right now.
Speaker C:The 150-Google Lens.
Speaker A:The 1:5,000 is preceded.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:I did not mention this, and I apologize.
Speaker A:By HK$sign.
Speaker C:Hong Kong dollars.
Speaker D:Well, this changes everything.
Speaker C:It does.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Did you feel the shift?
Speaker D:Well, I thought it was, like, a lot number or something, so now that makes sense.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Sorry about that.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna go over to the fella.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's not difficult.
Speaker A:You basically hop 2 inches to the right, and you're there.
Speaker D:Kick him again, Give him a little nudge.
Speaker B:First of all, I jump on it.
Speaker B:Want to do whatever you want, man.
Speaker A:This is your game.
Speaker A:Like, you can do whatever you want.
Speaker B:No, like, I want to.
Speaker B:From, like, a.
Speaker B:Just, you know, it's fun to poke jello.
Speaker C:So we just take turns climbing onto a bed and then elbow dropping the blob.
Speaker B:But Ryan's gonna try to lift a leg, and what he's looking or interested in is to see how heavy it is.
Speaker A:You reach under the great girth.
Speaker A:This is weird science of this distended body down to the purplish, bluish layer that is ringed around the lower part of the cadaver.
Speaker A:You can see that large nub that was, again, likely a foot attached to a calf.
Speaker A:Attached to.
Speaker A:More is sticking out from under the engorged belly.
Speaker A:You reach and you try to pick up this sloshing nub, and it's, like, tempting to pick up a beanbag in a lot of ways.
Speaker A:It pours between your fingers, barely holds its shape.
Speaker A:Slimy, slick, a little warm, but you can lift it.
Speaker A:The problem is, most of it's attached to the rest of it, which is incredibly heavy.
Speaker B:I might need a refresh on the description then.
Speaker B:So it's like the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The belly is what is like the mass.
Speaker B:It's like a.
Speaker B:And then it's kind of this is.
Speaker A:This is a very good question.
Speaker B:Over the rest of the body or, like, is the whole body gelatinous and bloated all the way around?
Speaker A:The whole body is gelatinous and bloated all the way around, including the face.
Speaker A:However, the belly is disproportionately distended from the rest of the bloating.
Speaker B:And so if I made a man out of dough, this person is the proved dough.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, that's how dough works.
Speaker E:We're not putting him in an oven.
Speaker B:No, I know, but, like, I'm just saying, like, I don't want to think.
Speaker C:About this guy in food.
Speaker C:My dude.
Speaker D:Give him a nice egg glaze so it's a good crust.
Speaker A:Make sure to make some crisp forms.
Speaker B:Okay, so that's interesting.
Speaker B:Then Ryan's going to put his hand against the belly to see if he feels any vibration or movement from within.
Speaker A:As you let it settle back down.
Speaker A:After moving the leg a few times again, the whole thing kind of sloshes, jiggles, and comes back to rest.
Speaker A:You hold your hand up to the bottom of this veiny, bluish, purplish belly and wait.
Speaker A:You don't feel anything.
Speaker A:The others in the room watching you carefully as you commune with this massive bloat.
Speaker A:But no, there's no movement.
Speaker B:So, anyways, Ryan's gonna stand up and address the team.
Speaker B:So we've clearly got some unnatural thing affecting this person, but.
Speaker C:So we're no off better than we started.
Speaker B:Well, from what our mission is, you know, we're supposed to be clearing the area of unnatural and effectively performing the COVID of the cdc.
Speaker B:So I suggest that we leverage the resources that are here to try to get this cleaned up, moved, whatever it might be.
Speaker B:I'd prefer if we could find a way maybe via a body bag or an extra, extra large body bag to get this back into the truck downstairs so we can transport it to a more discreet place.
Speaker C:I don't think they make body bags this big.
Speaker B:That is the rest of the scene cleared up.
Speaker E:Can we zip two of them together?
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:We're gonna Voltron a body bag for this guy.
Speaker B:Then Ryan's gonna turn to Prentice and say, all right, well, what do you recommend we do?
Speaker C:Well, as the resident doctor, I am well out of my league here.
Speaker C:I mean, I'm good at one thing, and that's doctoring.
Speaker C:And I can tell you this isn't good, but I need a microscope.
Speaker C:I need time with the body to do the things that I do.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker B:How about you go check out the folks in the other room.
Speaker B:Give them a once over to see if there's any symptoms of illness that you can identify.
Speaker C:Yeah, that sounds like.
Speaker C:Sounds like a great idea.
Speaker D:Hey, princess, how.
Speaker D:How much time do you need with the body here to do what you do?
Speaker B:So gross.
Speaker C:Well, first and foremost, I'd like to determine this.
Speaker C:The factor of safety here that is being so cavalierly ignored.
Speaker C:I'd like to make an assessment so that we know if we're safe in this room without all this protective gear.
Speaker B:How do you make that assessment?
Speaker C:Well, I need.
Speaker C:Like I said, time with a microscope is first and foremost.
Speaker C:If I'm going to start looking at the agents in the other room.
Speaker C:I hate to say it, but I'd like to give them a full physical.
Speaker C:Make sure there's no signs of any kind of disease onset.
Speaker C:Check lymph nodes, all that stuff.
Speaker C:We got a really.
Speaker C:We got a lot to do and not enough doctors to do it.
Speaker D:I mean, that sounds like the right move.
Speaker D:This is going to take a little while to canvas the rest of this room.
Speaker D:Maybe you can get started on the.
Speaker D:Those other agents.
Speaker D:See if we can release them while we keep searching here.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker E:You'll want to make.
Speaker C:Prentice is going to do.
Speaker C:He's going to huff off and start checking out the living people.
Speaker A:Yeah, you grumpily introduce yourself and then start pulling each one of the agents aside into the adjoining bathroom to perform a awkward and hampered physical examination from your large biohaz suit.
Speaker A:And yeah, that's.
Speaker A:That's what Prentice, you're gonna be up to.
Speaker A:We'll get back to you.
Speaker A:The other three agents are left in the room with the large distended cadaver.
Speaker A:What's the plan?
Speaker B:Are there any other personal vloggings in the room?
Speaker B:Chris?
Speaker A:Yeah, so we've got those two suitcases.
Speaker A:We have a cell phone on the dresser, and looks like there's some toiletries in the bathroom.
Speaker A:No one's looked at the closet yet.
Speaker A:That was another item.
Speaker A:There's also a window with the drapes closed shut.
Speaker B:Chris, did you mention that there was.
Speaker B:Because this guy was being surveilled.
Speaker B:Was that via like a bug in his phone or something?
Speaker A:That's a good question.
Speaker A:Maybe one of the FBI agents as to the ether.
Speaker E:Okay, well, if they had FBI agents on this floor, most likely the room has bugged too, so.
Speaker E:Crap.
Speaker B:Well, what's interesting to me is if there were some electrical interference and then after which this situation is the result.
Speaker B:Ryan gestures to the body.
Speaker B:Maybe that they're correlated.
Speaker E:Yeah, we should probably Find and smash any bugs before.
Speaker B:Well, why are we worried about bugs?
Speaker E:Because we've said too much.
Speaker C:Whoops.
Speaker D:Agent Paris starts canvassing the room.
Speaker D:Four bucks.
Speaker E:Roisin does as well.
Speaker A:Okay, so you're specifically looking for electronic listening devices, is that correct?
Speaker E:Listening and video.
Speaker C:Nobody can stop a laser mic.
Speaker E:Royzen's already lived two ops longer than I expected, so stop.
Speaker B:It's that plot armor.
Speaker C:Chris Amjay vaporizes plot armor.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker A:And both of y'all just roll your searches.
Speaker A:You're both on missions.
Speaker D:That's a fail.
Speaker E:Well, that's a no.
Speaker A:Yeah, y'all start to look at everything you can.
Speaker A:Now, Parish, you're still pretty fully suited, so that was a minus 20%.
Speaker A:Doesn't matter.
Speaker A:But yeah, you were hampered, of course, in your efforts.
Speaker A:Now starting screwing light bulbs, looking at outlet covers, doing your best to scan every corner and seam of the room behind the furniture.
Speaker A:And yeah, that's what y'all are up to.
Speaker A:For now.
Speaker A:That leaves just Ryan kind of standing on his lonesome in the middle of the room.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna call Agent Glenn.
Speaker A:Yeah, you call down.
Speaker A:This is Special Agent Glenn.
Speaker B:Hi.
Speaker B:Part of our briefing mentioned that there was electrical interference in the surveillance of Mr.
Speaker B:Ng.
Speaker B:Is that correct?
Speaker A:That's my understanding, too.
Speaker B:To what degree was the gentleman being surveilled?
Speaker B:What were the methods of information gathering?
Speaker A:My understanding is that there were parabolic microphones pointed at the.
Speaker A:At the walls of the.
Speaker A:Of the room itself.
Speaker A:We had agents posted on the floor to do so transmit back to the.
Speaker B:Van, and so there was interference with the signal that those agents were within.
Speaker B:The sound that those agents were getting fed back from their microphones.
Speaker A:Simpson and Turner, on.
Speaker A:On.
Speaker A:On your floor will be able to be more specific, but my understanding is the whole van shut down, they couldn't find anything wrong when it finally powered back up.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker B:Did you speak with anybody else who experienced any other kind of electronic disturbance at the time?
Speaker B:Power outages, anything?
Speaker A:There's been nothing that we've come across, but we've been sidetracked by the quarantine.
Speaker B:I understand.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Anything else?
Speaker A:She seems a little confused.
Speaker A:Are my agents okay?
Speaker B:We're having our medical expert look at them right now.
Speaker B:Thus far, they have not reported any symptoms, which we are taking as good news.
Speaker B:We'll be in touch on the results.
Speaker A:Contagion?
Speaker A:Or are we just dealing with particularly bloated corpse?
Speaker B:That is what we are here to try to understand.
Speaker B:Right now it's looking to be.
Speaker B:But let me ask you.
Speaker B:What should I ask for body bags.
Speaker B:I feel like I should.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker A:There's no body bag in the vicinity that's going to work.
Speaker A:You need, like, a literal circus elephant body bag, which I don't even think that exists either.
Speaker B:Okay, it's up.
Speaker B:Okay, then.
Speaker B:Never mind.
Speaker B:Appreciate your patience.
Speaker B:And the crowd control will be in touch as soon as we have more information.
Speaker A:You hang up before she can respond.
Speaker B:I relay the information about.
Speaker B:Let me just say.
Speaker B:Let's say I took that call on speakerphone.
Speaker B:So at least Royson and Paris.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:As they're unscrolling light fixtures, they can hear especially.
Speaker B:Yeah, the parabolic microphone thing.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Well, maybe we should go talk to Simpson and.
Speaker B:Was it Turner?
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker B:Simpson and Turner.
Speaker B:And apprentice is done with their.
Speaker B:Their physicals.
Speaker B:Understand A little bit better.
Speaker A:It's only been like, five, ten minutes, so probably not.
Speaker B:Okay, well, then maybe we'll just talk to him.
Speaker B:Anyway, he says that to Paris and Roizen.
Speaker E:Well, I guess I got a seat back up.
Speaker B:Roizen, you want to come with me?
Speaker E:Yeah, I'll go with.
Speaker E:Let me put this stuff back on.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Ryan's also going to put his suit back on as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, with some difficulty, you both start to try to put this stuff back on.
Speaker A:Paris, what are you up to?
Speaker D:I'll.
Speaker D:I'll stay here and keep an eye on old.
Speaker D:I'm not clever enough for a funny name for this guy.
Speaker B:Bloaty Blimpy.
Speaker D:Yeah, I'll stick around.
Speaker A:And how about Old Faithful?
Speaker A:Because he said guys are about to burst.
Speaker C:That's what I'm worried about.
Speaker D:It's like, I'll stay here, keep an eye on old blimpy here.
Speaker C:Blimpy.
Speaker A:They leave you alone in the room.
Speaker A:Paris, you're staring at this distended flesh.
Speaker A:Seems to get darker and darker as you watch.
Speaker A:Is there anything else you want to do in this room?
Speaker D:Get the cell phone, for one.
Speaker D:Pick up the cell phone and check the closet.
Speaker A:You open the closet door, and so there's a set of empty coat hangers.
Speaker A:But behind that, you can see that somebody has.
Speaker A:Well, scribbled all over the wall.
Speaker A:Someone's used black charcoal or chalk to draw harsh, quick lines.
Speaker A:A picture of a large door, complete with a round handle.
Speaker A:It's there on the interior drywall.
Speaker A:You look closer, and, honestly, the lines seem pretty bold.
Speaker A:Well practiced.
Speaker A:They remind you of maybe calligraphy, the way they're.
Speaker A:They're patterned.
Speaker C:Beetlejuice.
Speaker C:Beetlejuice.
Speaker C:Beetlejuice.
Speaker D:I reach out and poke at the doorknob.
Speaker A:The dark Substance smears a bit under the weight of your large, rubbery finger.
Speaker D:Kind of shake my head.
Speaker D:That's stupid.
Speaker D:And then I go check the bathroom.
Speaker A:You go and find some typical toiletries.
Speaker A:Look in the shower.
Speaker A:You don't see anything.
Speaker A:It doesn't look like it was used.
Speaker A:You start to kind of peruse the drawers as you do so.
Speaker A:Ryan Roysen, you sit down as you're told that Prentiss is in the bathroom performing physical examinations.
Speaker A:You sit down with Simpson and he goes over exactly what happened with you.
Speaker A:Carson Kovacs, the IRS agent, listens in intently.
Speaker A:She seems frustrated, angry as she.
Speaker A:She doesn't chime in, but she listens in and you're told basically what you know.
Speaker A:That they heard something from their target, Francis Ng.
Speaker A:He was speaking to somebody who asked if he had the package.
Speaker A:And then everything just shut down in the van.
Speaker A:Booted back up after only a few minutes, but when it did, they couldn't find anything wrong.
Speaker A:So it's just like they lost power suddenly.
Speaker A:There weren't any other indications that there was a, a problem?
Speaker A:Everything was, was green once the system booted back up.
Speaker A:Any other questions you have for Simpson?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Thank you for that information.
Speaker E:Reason's gonna turn to Kovacs and ask if she's got anything she'd like to add.
Speaker A:She shakes her head no.
Speaker A:It's just, I can't believe this two year long investigation ends up like this.
Speaker A:She looks over most accusatorily at Agent Simpson, who furrows his brow.
Speaker A:He looks a little offended.
Speaker E:That's definitely a raw deal.
Speaker E:The fact that he would die with no warning must be very difficult for you to handle.
Speaker A:I think the fact that he's like three times larger and filled with like, fluid is what I'm having difficulty with handling.
Speaker A:But also two years of my life down the goddamn drain.
Speaker E:Yeah, Roisin's just gonna make agreeing noises and nod.
Speaker A:You can tell that IRS Agent Kovacs is quite peaked.
Speaker A:If you have no other questions, you can stay here or you can return back to check on Paris.
Speaker A:It's up to you.
Speaker B:Ryan's going to return back.
Speaker B:Chris, is the.
Speaker B:Is the body.
Speaker B:Has it kind of like bloated into being, basically stuck between the beds?
Speaker B:Or is it.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker A:That is exactly how I described it.
Speaker A:Pinned between the two twin beds.
Speaker B:Pinned between the two twin beds.
Speaker B:Got it.
Speaker B:So us trying to drag it anywhere, us trying to move it anywhere seems unlikely.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna take a look at the vial and see if the amount of liquid has increased in it.
Speaker A:It has not.
Speaker A:In fact, it seems to have decreased.
Speaker B:By how much?
Speaker A:Less than a millimeter.
Speaker A:Maybe you just drew the line.
Speaker A:Kind of weird.
Speaker A:You're not sure.
Speaker A:So, Paris, you watch as Roysen and Ryan return full suited.
Speaker A:You've kind of finished up in the bathroom.
Speaker A:You threw her together again.
Speaker A:Prentiss is still busy in the other room.
Speaker D:I grabbed his phone, but y'all should take a look in the closet at his artwork.
Speaker B:We take a look.
Speaker B:Can you repeat that description?
Speaker B:Chris?
Speaker B:Apologies for needing to repeat.
Speaker A:No, no apologies necessary.
Speaker A:It looks like somebody's used black charcoal, maybe chalk, to draw a picture of a large door complete with a round handle.
Speaker A:Again, the lines seem bold and well practiced, almost like calligraphy.
Speaker B:It's a picture of a door.
Speaker B:Like, this is silly, but, like, life sized.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:It's about as tall as the door into the hotel room.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker B:And it just looks flushed with the.
Speaker B:Ryan's going to push at the handle kind of sign to himself that he's at this level of skepticism about the world.
Speaker A:Yeah, it.
Speaker A:It smears it a bit more.
Speaker B:Okay, great.
Speaker B:Well, that's pretty weird.
Speaker B:We need to figure out how we're gonna cover up this clearly insane physical situation.
Speaker B:I mean, how does a.
Speaker B:We don't even know how a body gets this big.
Speaker B:But we need to find some kind of way to explain this to everybody else who's seen it.
Speaker B:And I'm a little bit worried if that's going to become impossible if he explodes and paints the room in goo.
Speaker D:Look, honestly, I bet a lot of these people just want to go home and put this behind him.
Speaker D:I mean, we could probably just tell them close to anything and they just buy it just so they could move on.
Speaker D:Thing we got to worry about is just the evidence itself.
Speaker B:I think it's not a bad idea.
Speaker E:Agreed.
Speaker B:So I guess let's wait to see if Prentiss finds anything abnormal, and then if not, we let him go and.
Speaker E:Go back to doing our thing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it sounds like the team.
Speaker A:You're gonna sit tight, wait for Prentice.
Speaker A:Some of you out in the hall, pacing a bit.
Speaker A:Some of you next to the horrific bloated corpse of presumably Francis Ng in hours pass as Prentice performs these long examinations.
Speaker A:Taking him a bit longer than usual.
Speaker A:Again, he's encumbered.
Speaker A:But you all notice something.
Speaker A:Water begins to ooze from the pores of the cadaver, soaking into the carpet as it begins to shrink.
Speaker A:Slow at first.
Speaker A:Your face is screwed up, brows furrowed as you watch.
Speaker A:Then quicker and quicker and before you know it, Ink's cadaver.
Speaker A:It remains rather distended, with skin stretched and loose, but it's no longer a massive distended balloon between these two beds.
Speaker A:It's just a badly bruised and undignified corpse of a man.
Speaker A:Nothing unnatural about it.
Speaker A:Just sad.
Speaker A:There's not nearly enough water in the carpet to account for the size loss.
Speaker A:And you can hardly believe what you're seeing.
Speaker A:In fact, the loose and stretched skin doesn't seem like nearly enough for the sizable bloating that you noted when you first entered the room.
Speaker A:All three of you, go ahead and roll your sanities, please.
Speaker A:Would you like to project any of this potential loss?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Ryan would go ahead and roll a 1D4 for me.
Speaker B:You rolled 1D4?
Speaker A:Nah, I already did.
Speaker B:You already did.
Speaker B:We saw it.
Speaker B:Two and then.
Speaker B:Do you mean to knock two off a bond?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Choose a bond.
Speaker A:Keep it tucked in the back of your noggin for next potential home scene.
Speaker B:Also, I still have Relic and Romeo as Delta Green bonds.
Speaker B:Do I remove those?
Speaker A:They never go away.
Speaker A:You'll always, always have that baggage.
Speaker E:That's not creepy.
Speaker A:But you.
Speaker C:So we're baggage now, huh?
Speaker A:You, definitely, yes.
Speaker A:You're emotional baggage.
Speaker B:Do we need to add Lenny?
Speaker A:You did not ever form a Delta Green bond with him, but you should probably always remember him as a character.
Speaker D:Brief but not impactful.
Speaker C:Roizen.
Speaker A:Would you like to.
Speaker B:And not impactful.
Speaker E:Roizen will not project.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker E:I mean, she's already borderline insane, so.
Speaker A:Roisin, you fur your brow.
Speaker A:Go ahead and roll me another sanity, please.
Speaker E:Uh oh.
Speaker A:And walk away from the room.
Speaker A:You stand out in the hallway.
Speaker A:You close your eyes and begin, not singing, but speaking to yourself rapidly in Hebrew.
Speaker A:It's a story that your father used to tell you when you were a kid to put you to sleep.
Speaker A:And you realize you're just kind of running through.
Speaker A:Through it as fast as you can.
Speaker A:You've never really done anything like that before, but your eyes are tightly screwed shut.
Speaker A:You picture your father next to you, his back away from you as he reads this story that you're now.
Speaker A:Well, muttering under your breath in quick succession.
Speaker A:Ryan.
Speaker A:You fall back a bit after you realize this body, this.
Speaker A:This puddle of flesh is all that's really left of the enormous, unnatural blob that you were just so concerned about.
Speaker A:And your mind is racing to just make sense, but something's.
Speaker A:Something's not clicking.
Speaker A:It's like a gear that's stuck in place that keeps catching, never moving forward.
Speaker A:And you start gripping the side of the.
Speaker A:Of the drywall that you're leaning against, really pressing your fingers into it over and over again until the pain kind of snaps you out of this breaking consciousness.
Speaker A:Stop what you're doing, and you do your best to rub your brow through the hood that you're still wearing.
Speaker B:Sorry, Chris.
Speaker B:That's just like any drywall.
Speaker B:Or Will.
Speaker B:Like the closet door thing.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker A:It's actually not that.
Speaker A:So it's.
Speaker A:It's just one of the.
Speaker A:One of the walls that she kind of leaned up against.
Speaker A:You're still kind of staring in the direction of the.
Speaker A:The crumpled corpse of Francis Ing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Paris, you're not pleased with what you're seeing, but you can.
Speaker A:You can tell that Roizen did not want to be in the same room.
Speaker A:She.
Speaker A:She definitely wasn't doing well with.
Speaker A:With what you're experiencing here.
Speaker A:Ryan is in his own little world right now.
Speaker A:He's not looking good.
Speaker D:Walk out into the hallway to check on Roizen.
Speaker A:You see her in that closed eye, tightly shut, muttering fugue state that I mentioned.
Speaker A:She doesn't seem to notice your approach.
Speaker D:Roizen, you okay?
Speaker A:She pushes you away with her left arm.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:I go into the room where.
Speaker D:The next room over, where Prentiss is located.
Speaker A:So Prentiss is still in the bathroom.
Speaker A:He's now working on.
Speaker A:You're told, Agent Kovacs, the other.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I want to make sure I'm understanding kind of like what.
Speaker B:What we saw, like, what the explanation was.
Speaker B:So, basically, the guy shrunk back down, but, like, proportionally, it's not like he had a bunch of loose skin.
Speaker B:It's like the skin also retracted.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:Yes, some of the skin is still loose and distended, but it just looks like a, you know, somebody who lost a lot of weight very quickly.
Speaker A:Like, that's the level of distended skin that we have here.
Speaker A:It has no correlation to the unnatural bloat that you just witnessed.
Speaker B:Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker B:That's helpful.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:It just doesn't make any sense to you.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And you're.
Speaker A:You're feeling uncomfortable in the room, but you can't bring yourself to leave it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Prentice is still examining one last agent.
Speaker A:And, yeah, the other four FBI agents kind of look up.
Speaker A:They are absolutely haggard and tired.
Speaker A:It's around 5:36 in the morning.
Speaker D:Paris goes up the door, just kind of knocks on it.
Speaker D:Apprentice, when you have a minute, need to see you out in the hallway.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:Just one moment.
Speaker D:Paris walks back out to the hallway and walks Back up to Agent Royson.
Speaker A:And she's.
Speaker A:She's now just kind of breathing.
Speaker A:She's no longer muttering under her breath.
Speaker A:She looks up as you approach.
Speaker A:Her whole demeanor is like.
Speaker A:Not now.
Speaker A:As you walk up to her, I say, hey, Roizen.
Speaker D:Hey, Avi.
Speaker D:You okay?
Speaker E:Not really.
Speaker D:Yeah, I gotcha.
Speaker D:Walk out.
Speaker C:So what'd you need me for?
Speaker D:Yeah, you need to come in and take a look at the body.
Speaker D:It's not quite as big as it was.
Speaker D:It did.
Speaker D:It didn't pop, if that's what you're thinking, but take a look.
Speaker C:Good.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:Well, either way, Chris, out of curiosity, and this is more of just a how does Delta Green work question, like, could John or could Paris, like, tell Prentice, like, what happened ahead of time to, like, prevent a, like, sanity hit?
Speaker C:He just.
Speaker A:He just did.
Speaker A:Now, will that prevent a sanity hit?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:Got it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:No, just.
Speaker A:You walk into the room and what you see is just utterly mind boggling.
Speaker A:The body's in absolutely different state, A physically impossible different state.
Speaker A:There's definitely some water oozed into the carpet underneath it, but not nearly enough, not for what you saw.
Speaker A:The skin has somehow elastically almost snapped back entirely in place.
Speaker A:Now, it is still loose around the arms and legs.
Speaker A:The face a bit sagging, but you don't see any indication of the discoloration, the bluish veins.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:It's like a completely different body.
Speaker A:Roll your sanity.
Speaker C:Thanks, John.
Speaker C:I'll be projecting.
Speaker A:Okay, roll a 1D4, please.
Speaker C:Projecting on Rodrigo again.
Speaker A:That guy.
Speaker C:Anyways, sorry, guys.
Speaker A:Going down.
Speaker A:All right, so four willpower loss.
Speaker A:Four from your bond with Rodrigo.
Speaker C:Sorry, Rodrigo.
Speaker C:Should have been cooler, bro.
Speaker C:It's time to analyze those samples.
Speaker C:This doesn't make any sense.
Speaker C:So I'm gonna grab all the samples that have been taken and take them down to the 12th floor.
Speaker A:The rest of you go with him, I assume, do you release the agents from quarantine?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:After testing the sample in the FBI mobile lab, the forensics lab down there.
Speaker A:It's distilled water.
Speaker C:Oh, boy.
Speaker C:Okay, well, awesome.
Speaker C:Agents, let's go upstairs before I tell you what I found.
Speaker C:So we go up to the 14th floor again.
Speaker C:And apprentice on the elevator right up says it's just water.
Speaker B:Well, that sounds about as on brand as anything else.
Speaker B:Unnatural.
Speaker B:Why would it be?
Speaker B:I don't know, something that we could actually investigate.
Speaker B:Of course it's fucking water, right?
Speaker B:Ryan's very frustrated.
Speaker E:Should have just licked the body.
Speaker E:We would have known this a couple hours ago.
Speaker B:I think we can probably let those agents go now.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:If it's not giving off anything other.
Speaker C:Than tell them it's probably.
Speaker C:Tell them it's not catching.
Speaker C:And we're still going to continue to investigate.
Speaker C:And we need to cordon off the 14th floor, but the agents are free to go.
Speaker C:I'll tell them.
Speaker C:IT apprentice stomps off and relays that to the FBI agents and the IRS agent.
Speaker A:The next few hours are quick.
Speaker A:The FBI police come through and begin to take over the forensics investigation.
Speaker A:Now, I will note that Agent Paris has that cell phone.
Speaker A:We also removed the receipt with the words jade auction house.
Speaker A:HK dollars, 15,000 for a figure.
Speaker A:But otherwise we left everything to be found by the mundanes.
Speaker C:Well, I didn't realize that we were going to be turning over the investigation at that point, so I don't think the moment.
Speaker A:Yeah, the moment you do that.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:Well, when quarantine is over, quarantine's over.
Speaker C:That's on me for.
Speaker C:So, no, we can't release anybody.
Speaker A:Yeah, we have, actually.
Speaker B:That's on me.
Speaker B:I misunderstood.
Speaker A:We can't release anyone.
Speaker A:Ryan, you actually can't roll that back, and you shouldn't, because you can't hold these guys for much longer without a really good reason.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So the really good reason is that it's just poison and you're going to have to.
Speaker A:Are you going to tell Special Agent Glenn that there is a terrible contagion that has infected these agents and that's why you need to keep them longer?
Speaker C:They're filled with rabies.
Speaker A:It's actually.
Speaker A:It's okay.
Speaker A:I didn't.
Speaker A:I didn't mean to scare you off with my verbiage.
Speaker A:It's okay.
Speaker A:You got some good stuff out of this.
Speaker B:Well, my concern is, Chris, is, like, part of the brief is around cleanup.
Speaker C:And we've got cleaning up.
Speaker B:I mean, it's clearly like a pretty fucked up scene we're leaving behind.
Speaker A:How so?
Speaker B:We've got a deflated balloon man, but.
Speaker A:He no longer looks like that.
Speaker A:He just looks like he maybe lost some weight recently.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:Undeflated.
Speaker C:We've got a door to erase that we still have to erase before we hand that back over.
Speaker E:We need to wipe that down.
Speaker B:I mean, I don't know if that matters that much.
Speaker A:I would argue, as your friendly neighborhood gm, that there is literally nothing that would raise eyebrows or anybody would give a shit about that is left behind at this point.
Speaker A:Okay, then, yeah, no one's gonna give a shit about the picture.
Speaker A:A Picture of a door in the hotel room.
Speaker B:Your verbiage was very menacing, Chris.
Speaker A:That's not going to.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:They're gonna go like, oh, somebody fucking drew in here.
Speaker A:Nobody's gonna give a shit, you guys.
Speaker A:However, as Delta green Asians are like, that's weird.
Speaker A:You raise a finger and you think that means something.
Speaker A:But nobody else would think.
Speaker D:I mean, two of us tried to open it.
Speaker A:Correct?
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:The body is no longer in an unnatural state.
Speaker A:Now, it's already been seen in a natural state by many, many law enforcement officers.
Speaker A:So I don't know what else you can really do around that.
Speaker A:But if you want to keep the quarantine going, I'm happy to revisit and rewind there.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:That's going to be an interesting way to go because you're going to have to basically heighten the urgency and say, this is a major biohazard event.
Speaker A:We need to bring in more CDC or something along those lines.
Speaker A:I'm happy to go that route, but that's what would need to happen with the agents.
Speaker B:I think we should not.
Speaker C:Well, okay, here's what I'm thinking.
Speaker C:As an agent, am I satisfied?
Speaker C:So we've verified that it's not some spreading thing.
Speaker C:They don't have anything that looks like they'll get sick.
Speaker C:It's weird.
Speaker C:We got some Chinese.
Speaker C:That doesn't mean anything to me.
Speaker E:Well, I can.
Speaker C:It just feels like.
Speaker C:It feels like we've.
Speaker C:We've verified that there's nothing.
Speaker C:Nothing wildly unnatural about this.
Speaker C:Except for the gut.
Speaker C:The state of the man's body, and that is rapidly declining.
Speaker D:We have the lead.
Speaker D:I mean, there was more than just Chinese on the receipt.
Speaker D:It was also English and something about a package.
Speaker C:The English we can read, and it's not significant, but, you know, they were.
Speaker D:Saying something about a package, and he just picked something up with an empty suitcase.
Speaker D:And, you know, I think it's all connected.
Speaker E:Yeah, it's worth translating.
Speaker E:I mean, a few minutes in Google will give me a rough idea of what it says.
Speaker E:Once we're somewhere more secure.
Speaker E:I do want to get pictures of that closet wall.
Speaker E:And even if civilians aren't gonna know what it is, I'm still gonna wanna clean it down.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:It easy to do.
Speaker A:So you can grab a towel and just wipe it down.
Speaker A:It comes right off.
Speaker B:So Prentiss is the one that's gonna tell the folks that they can go.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Are we gonna retread that?
Speaker A:Is that okay?
Speaker C:Yeah, no, that's.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker A:You stomp off angrily.
Speaker C:An angry stomp off again.
Speaker C:This whole trip has been kind of a waste of time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And gross misuse of his abilities, as usual.
Speaker E:As usual, Fruisin leans over to Paris and she's like, is he always this moody or is it pms?
Speaker D:It's just part of his charm.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Hands on hips.
Speaker C:Pms.
Speaker A:You grumpily let them know that they can leave.
Speaker A:They seem absolutely just relieved.
Speaker A:Before you know it, FBI agents start filtering up to the 14th floor.
Speaker A:They start continuing their investigation of the room.
Speaker A:Special Agent Glenn connects with you.
Speaker A:You basically let her know that no contagion was found, no biohazard issue was.
Speaker A:Was detected.
Speaker A:The body just showed some abnormal bloating and is now.
Speaker A:Whatever gas or liquid, it's now been expelled and the cadaver is quite normal.
Speaker A:And after hours working through this bureaucracy, make your way down, load your vehicle back up, and begin to drive out through the cordon.
Speaker A:In a way, you do see news vans are also packing up at this time.
Speaker A:Apparently some measure of press arrived while you're performing your investigation, but they take little notice of you as you drive away.
Speaker A:And as you consider driving back to Griffiths Air Force Base or getting a hotel, get a phone call only a few minutes after leaving the site from Special Agent Glenn.
Speaker A:Let's see.
Speaker A:I think it was Ryan who called down to her.
Speaker A:So that's the number she's gonna call.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Hello?
Speaker A:Hi, is this one of the CDC special technicians?
Speaker B:Yes, ma'am.
Speaker A:Another hyper hydrated body has been identified.
Speaker A:I need you.
Speaker A:I need you to meet me at the medical examiner's office.
Speaker A:Nope, that's it.
Speaker A:We're done.
Speaker D:Sa.
