Episode 59
Episode 59 - ALABASTRO
The Agents find out that theirs is not the only organization to perceive the danger of the Unnatural.
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Transcript
Hello?
Speaker B:What time is it?
Speaker A:Who is it? I don't know.
Speaker C:Situation green. Familiar ground.
Speaker A:Sorry, love, I have to take this.
Speaker D:I feel like that beat a good start first. Can we establish some trust? Just quickly. I want to show you this bug that we took from the last op.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:So. With his hands up still, he slowly walks over to. Or I guess Monkey, crawls over to the case.
Speaker A:The woman and the man flanking Snedeger do have their pistols, both of them trained on you.
Speaker D:Yeah. Shield says, I'm going to reach for this powder here and open it up.
As he's unscrewing it, he's moving slowly and very deliberately so as not to frighten them into shooting them. He said this powder is essential to the process of working with these Shan, even after we've captured them.
And he sets down the lid for the powder and gets a little sprinkle of that in his hand and sets down the jar with his other hand and prepares to open up the latches on the box. Says, when I open this, I sprinkle the powder. Okay.
Speaker A:Snediger steps forward a bit, cranes his snack, gets within eyesight of your activity. He doesn't say anything, so Shields goes.
Speaker D:Ahead and opens it. And yeah.
Speaker A:The latches pop open loudly. The heavy orange metal box squeaks open.
Speaker D:Sprinkles that powder on the dead bug.
Speaker A:The thing's more disgusting than you remember. Changed colors. Kind of a sick oil sheen scintillates across its curled and brittle carapace.
Its wings, of which there are looks like five to seven that are visible. One is broken and splayed upward, curved a little bit at the end.
You go ahead and tilt the box towards Snediger and his two compatriots so they can get a better view.
Speaker D:Would you do me a favor and just snap that thing's head off?
Speaker A:Snap its. Its head off?
Speaker D:Yeah. We don't really have the tools necessary for a necropsy right now.
Speaker A:Why don't you go ahead and close the box? I can see that's the bugs don't.
Speaker E:Like it when you make them hurt. Another one.
Speaker D:So this is establishing the trust between us.
Speaker E:You said you wanted the trust Us. We need to trust you.
Speaker A:I see. He turns to the woman next to him. He makes kind of a motion, a tilt of his head. She nods.
Slowly, he walks over to you and kneels down in front of the box. He dips his left hand into his front pocket, pulls out looks like a handkerchief.
He goes ahead and places it on the thing's bristling eye, covered head Knob. And with a sickening crunch, pulls and twists at it. Sounds of sticks being snapped fill the air as he grunts and pulls. Finally comes loose.
He has a grimace on his face when he lets it drop in the box with the soiled handkerchief.
Speaker F:Thank you, Roll Sanity.
Speaker E:He did it.
Speaker F:All right. He did Roll Sanity. So that's what that feels like to say, all right.
Speaker E:It's so empowering.
Speaker F:I know.
Speaker A:Go ahead and close that box. He stands up, he's a little green around the gills.
Speaker D:And shields goes ahead and closes the box and said, okay, I'm gonna put the lid back on this dust. And he moves slowly and does that as well. So one of yous is for sure not a bug.
Speaker A:This is Agent Caracas. He waves his hand towards the male figure. This is Agent Lopez. They're here with Cena here in Mexico. We're working together. Actually.
I'm kind of facilitating the reorganization of CENA on behalf of the program. You can trust both of them just out of character.
Speaker D:What's cena?
Speaker A:You've never heard of that? Out or in of character?
Speaker D:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:So if you want to know more, you'll have to find out in game dope. So I vouch for them both. Okay, here's our next steps. We're gonna leave your equipment up above. We're going to leave you down here.
But I'd ask that you reach out to your fixer, your handler, your leadership, and relay my proposal. I want their blessing in some form or another. Even if you're the go betweens here, I insist. He turns back and emphasizes this clearly.
His demeanor is starting to rebuild. Recover, I should say. I'm going to give you a phone number and a room number at the K Tower Boutique Hotel.
After you've worked things out with your leadership, for better or for worse, give me a call. Let me know how things have fallen and if we have a. An agreement, an alliance. Come meet us. Make this a priority.
And don't keep us waiting all evening. He takes a business card out of his pocket and sets it down on the dirt in front of the ladder.
And he starts walking up the iron rungs, followed closely by his two agents, Caracas and Lopez. The hatch closes once all three of them have exited the crawl space area.
Speaker E:We didn't die.
Speaker A:And gas starts filling.
Speaker E:Damn it.
Speaker F:Oh God.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So how do you guys know this guy? You've referred to him a couple of times as if he should know you as well. What's going on there?
Speaker F:I mean, he was my handler when I was in the program. Simple as that. I mean, he's. He's the one who sent us to meet with f cell back in. Back in Tijuana. Before the flip flop.
Speaker D:Yeah, the freaky Friday.
Speaker B:If we all have some of these memories now, surely he has some, and he's just not sharing that with us.
Speaker D:Well, I don't have any of those memories. I'd like to make that very clear. If I haven't made that clear enough already. Y'all are on your own in this, and I'm not a weirdo.
Speaker F:Hey, hey, that wasn't entirely clear to me. If you could clarify one more time.
Speaker D:You're saying I'm a normal person and y'all are freaks, and that's how it is?
Speaker A:This is a freaky Friday?
Speaker D:Sorry. He would never say, y'all. I'm a normal person, and you are all freaks, and that's how it is now. I sounded like a mafia guy. I'm sorry.
Hey, Paulie, take a pull.
Speaker A:Take a pull from the maple syrup bottle. And, yeah, get it flowing and then try again. All right, team, so you've been left to your own devices here in silence.
You hear the rumble of machinery in the pool shed above you or the equipment shed above you, but otherwise it's just your labor breathing.
Speaker D:I want to know about these other operations, see what Horatio has to say about him. Then I suppose we'll make that proposal. What do you guys think?
Speaker E:Yeah, I mean, we could use all the help we can get.
Speaker B:Sounds like the next appropriate step. I agree.
Speaker D:Okay. Let's get the fuck out of here.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah. You pick up the business card? It's for the concierge desk at the K Tower boutique. There is a room number. 518. And a phone number, just like he said.
Speaker D:Does Shields have cell reception down here from his special phone?
Speaker A:Nah. No bars.
Speaker D:Wouldn't think so.
Speaker E:Okay, well, y'all. I think. I think. I think we could trust them. I mean, Delta, Green Pegasus. Same team, right? We could use the hill, sure, but we.
Speaker D:We have a bit of a deficit of information here, and I think a lot of jets could be cooled if we know a little bit more about previous operations that this cell has been a part of.
Speaker E:All right, I can call Horatio, cuz I also, I'm a little surprised we haven't heard about these agents getting infected after we let him go. I mean, that obviously is not the expectation.
Speaker D:We don't know if. We don't know if this team had anything to do with those.
Speaker E:Well, that sounded like infestation.
Speaker D:Yeah, we need to know more.
Speaker E:All right, I'll. I'll call Horatio.
Speaker D:Let's get the fuck out of here.
Speaker A:Yeah, but before you do that, all four of you file out of the crawl space into the noisy equipment shed, picking up your weapons and belongings, which, good to his word, Snedeker and his people left near the exit of the building on the floor, neatly stacked. And you leave the building to enter the hotel's lobby, the Quartz Hotel, where you're currently located, to make this call.
Speaker E:Actually, I would like to do this call in the car.
Speaker A:Let's see here. Don't have a car.
Speaker E:Oh, we don't have a car. Okay, then. Lobby?
Speaker A:Nah. Cool. Yeah, you go ahead and dial through. Get to a familiar phone tree.
Navigate your way, knowing that at the end of your well traveled path, you will be hopefully connected to a case officer or. Well, your request is for Horatio herself, though she's sometimes not available. But in this case, she is.
Speaker C:Felix, Everything shipshape?
Speaker E:Well, boss, we were pinched. Not by the police, but, well, Delta Green.
Speaker C:Hmm. Interesting. Are you and the others.
Speaker E:Yeah, we're safe. We're fine. They were. They were blaming us for disappearances of their members.
And not like our recruitment, but just plain gone for forever or coming back. And what? It looked like they were coming back with bugs in their hands. Have you. Have you heard this? Have you been tracking these folks after we cut.
Cut them loose?
Speaker C:You're saying that some of their operatives have been kidnapped and returned after lengthy periods of time? That's not our modus operandi.
Speaker E:Oh, exactly. That's what I was telling him. You know, obviously, because there was a gun to my head, but also because he wanted to help.
And to be honest, I don't think we're putting in any sort of dent into this problem. Especially if the people we're trying to recruit after we let them go end up getting bugs in them anyways.
Maybe the bugs are trying to figure out how our systems work, but either way, it's. That can't be good.
Speaker C:No. No. Felix. This is a disaster. What happened? How did you escape?
Speaker E:I mean, the guys. Snediger, I believe his name is. He is an agent. Delta Green. He said that he wants to help. He didn't know anything about these bugs. I mean, obviously.
Seems like nobody does.
Speaker C:So it went from some sort of standoff with weapons drawn to an offer of help.
Speaker E:Felix is going to kind of like walk a little bit away from the group and kind of lower his voice, and it seems like maybe Frankfurt knew him.
Speaker C:I see. This is a Conversation I should probably have with Frankfurt. What do you propose? Do you need an extraction?
Speaker E:No. I mean. Well, one, I wanted to send us up and see if the heads or whoever is making the shots or taking the shots if they want to collaborate.
And two, we obviously got a problem here. If they're tracking us down without us even noticing. They don't even know anything about the bugs, but they sure as hell can track us down.
These missions that he mentioned, these missions where their agents didn't come back from or came back weird. It was one in Ohio, another and I'm gonna like look up to the group and go. What were those missions?
Speaker D:Detroit, New York City.
Speaker E:Detroit, New York City. Folks like Relic and some other folks.
Speaker D:Romeo and A Hargrave.
Speaker E:Romeo and Hargrave? Yeah. Do these names ring a bell to you at all?
Speaker C:Not to me. He's asserting that we had some hand in the disappearances for missions that his people undertook.
Speaker E:Well, Frankfurt seemed to know more. You really should be talking to him. You want me to put it over?
Speaker C:Let's leave my conversation with Frankfurt to the near future for now.
Speaker E:Alright, boss.
Speaker C:I prefer to remain on the phone with you. I'll reach out to Gallowayne and see if those details correspond to anything we have had dealings with. But let's focus on the topic at hand.
You are safe. And the others are safe as well, correct?
Speaker E:Safe. As long as we know.
Speaker C:Number two, this Snedigar has proposed a cooperative effort of some sort.
Speaker E:Yeah, and if we're game to meet at his hotel.
Speaker C:I see.
Speaker E:Could the agency provide us some logistical point of view of who these people are and how they found out about us?
Speaker C:Well, if they are part of the United States government, as you've already recognized, I assume the classification you banded about is something you've heard from their people? Yes.
Speaker E:This Delta Green, I mean, I've. Yes, that's. That's their organization. I'm sure of it. I'm sure of it.
Speaker C:Well, if that's the case, and you believe Snedegar's words have veracity, you have my immediate approval to pursue this joint effort.
If I appear to be acquiescing rather readily, my dear, it's only because I have a lengthy personal history of endeavouring to facilitate such an effort. Years in fact. Felix.
Speaker E:Shit.
Speaker C:I found myself either disregarded, rebuffed or ignored. This change of heart is so significant that I must insist that you take some precautions. With you.
I refuse to see you or the others manipulated or treated like pawns or toys. So yes, inform your snedegar that we are indeed committed to a genuine alliance, provided that his assurances in this bargain hold firm.
Speaker E:You got it, boss.
Speaker C:I do expect him to share intelligence and resources, just as we share you and your expertise.
Speaker E:Yeah, and I'm sure he's trying to look in into us. Well, I'll make sure to get back to you any details that I can find on them.
Speaker C:If the threat has firmly taken root on your side of the Atlantic, and it has eluded our efforts over here, I cannot stress the urgency of investigating and halting their activities at any cost.
Collaborating with the Americans, provided they are not similarly compromised, presents, well, an invaluable opportunity if we are indeed lagging so far behind our enemy. Felix, I want you and the others to maintain your independence, though.
Speaker E:Yes, ma'am.
Speaker C:Be very cooperative and polite for the time being. Do not give them cause to doubt us just yet.
But you will promptly inform me or reach out to any member of Smiley's team with details of your next operational location. I expect to know that before the end of the day.
Assuming you do meet with Snedegar in that time frame, I will work on having a field device prepared and dropshipped to you at this yet to be determined site. Consider it insurance.
And finally, Felix, I don't think it's necessary to say that any sign of infestation warrants my explicit authorization for deployment of this insurance.
Speaker E:Yes, ma'am. One last question. Just want to know, is Tim good?
Speaker C:Well, you, I think, are better equipped to check in on his status. Or is your question about.
Speaker E:I mean, not if he's alive right now, but is he good? Is. Woof. Is there something more that's coming, or. If you. If you can find out anything, I'd appreciate it. And I.
I'd get anything back to you, Anything you want.
Speaker C:You know that he is a very important asset. Not just because of his kinship, too, but of what he can do. And we are going to take good, good care of him.
Speaker E:Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Horatio.
Speaker C:I look forward to hearing from you soon. And, Felix, be careful.
Speaker E:I hear you. Thanks. She hangs UP Felix will gather up the group. And. Well, she said that we're good to go to engage with Sneddeger if we want to.
Sounds like they've been trying to work with these folks for a long time and just never been able to get them to agree, so.
Speaker D:So what about those previous operations?
Speaker E:Well, she. She said that she's gonna look into it and figure out what's going on. We gotta find out what the hell are these talking about?
And, you know, we gotta find out what's happening to these folks that we picking off the streets. I thought we were doing the right thing, and I still do. Damn it.
Speaker D:Shields shoots him a weary look and says, I feel like we're not getting the straight picture from anyone here.
Speaker E:Well, let's keep picking at this scab.
Speaker D:All right, so we have the go ahead.
Speaker E:That's right.
Speaker D:He hands Felix the card.
Speaker A:Yeah, you go ahead and call the number and leave a message that you'll be ready to meet. Is there a timeframe you'd like to give?
Speaker E:So let's do a nine.
Speaker A:Nine o'clock. All right, well, that is about five hours away from present time.
Is there anything that you would like to do to prepare for your next rendezvous with Sneddegar and his henchmen?
Speaker E:Can we get some of the audio eavesdropping tool, like one of those laser gun things that.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah, like laser mics.
Speaker E:I'd love to, like, make sure that, like, they're actually talking, you know, straight or if, you know, if they're in the room going, can't wait to shoot these guys in the head, you know.
Speaker D:Man, the second they walk in, I'm shooting them in the back of the head.
Speaker A:Why didn't we do that down below? I don't know, man.
Speaker D:It was just better.
Speaker A:We're going to get them this time, though, in a public spot where it's very. Yeah, okay.
Speaker E:That's their mo.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's true. They love it. They love it. Sure. Getting a, like laser mic or like an old school parabolic mic.
I think the ladder is pretty hard to get, but a laser mic would be something you could probably pick up today. Let's go ahead and see how easy that would be. Yeah, there are.
As you let your fingers do the walk in, there are a few stores here in Tijuana that look like they sell, you know, basic microphones that can go ahead and do that if they're within line of sight of the target. The best one that you can locate in this short period of time looks like about 200 yards is what it.
Or 200, sorry, 200 meters is what it can perform up to. And it's $1,200 USD, which is 9 billion trillion pesos.
Speaker E:Do I roll something for that?
Speaker A:Again, we're not going to do the requisition rule for that.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker A:You just, you just basically are going to use some of the cash that you all have brought with you for this operation for Emergencies.
Speaker E:Perfect.
Speaker A:If that's something you want to purchase.
Speaker E:Yeah. Is everyone good with that?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:What else?
Speaker D:Well, we're going to want to know the layout of the hotel as best we can get by. Like fire plan or whatever.
Speaker B:Yep. Floor plan, all that. Exits, windows.
Speaker A:There is an emergency fire plan, open source intelligence you can find by checking out the hotel's website.
There's some branching pages where it is for some reason posted there and yeah, you're able to basically understand where the fire exits are and all emergency pathways out of the building.
Speaker D:Yeah. And like out of character. What other options would be present for us? Like as far as learning more about this hotel, how it's situated and whatnot.
Speaker A:Yeah. You can do a drive by. Put eyes on it.
Speaker D:Okay. We'll case the place.
Speaker A:Yeah. Since you don't have your own vehicle, you would most likely get a rideshare taxi to have you case it. Is that something you'd like to do?
Speaker D:Yeah, absolutely. Just tell them to circle the hotel.
Speaker A:Whole team or just you?
Speaker D:I think Shields would want at least one other person with them.
Speaker A:Who's your favorite?
Speaker D:Well, I mean Forest, because he's been working with Forest for the longest happy dance.
Speaker E:And Felix is buying. Otherwise he would definitely have picked Felix. Obviously.
Speaker A:Forest, in faith. Why don't you go ahead and roll your alertness for me.
Speaker B:This had better be a pious success. Come on.
Speaker D:Oh, for fuck's sake. I got an 84 of 80.
Speaker B:Why do I have an 80? Why?
Speaker D:Because you're an alert young lady.
Speaker B:Failure.
Speaker A:You can both check your alertness.
Speaker E:You both failed.
Speaker B:Yeah, and I'm pretty sure I should have succeeded. It's messed up.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:Chris, can you look at the die?
Speaker B:You guys, I didn't blow on it before I rolled it.
Speaker A:Circle the. You guys circle the block a few times. The K Tower Boutique is obviously a very glitzy and touristy hotel.
It's well manicured, very modern looking sleek.
It has a large courtyard that's paved with red flagstones in front and has a good smattering of tropical trees and palm trees stretching up towards the sky. You can see that it looks like the fifth floor. Again, the room was 518 is either the top floor or second to top floor. And otherwise that's about it.
Without going inside. Don't get much else out of it. But now you have a good idea of what the place looks like.
You can put fire escapes, fire doors, emergency routes to an actual building.
Speaker D:Cool. I think Shields is gonna ask to get out and he's actually going to Go into the building and verify that the floors are correctly numbered.
Because I know I don't know correctly. What countries do that? Well, like some countries, they do. Like the first floor is the ground floor.
Speaker F:Some countries, they just don't know how.
Speaker D:To count premier Florida or whatever.
Speaker E:And yeah, ground floor is zero and then one is the second floor for us.
Speaker D:They're indexed floors. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It doesn't take much time for you to basically figure out through. Just like walking around the halls, checking out plaques, riding the elevator maybe.
But you don't go that far to discover that the fifth floor is the second to the top floor. All right, there's a sixth floor.
Speaker D:Perfect. He's gonna go back and get back in the cab.
Speaker A:Great. You guys get back together at some touristy spot a few blocks away.
Felix has got a brand new toy that he's purchased that he's kind of fitting together and reading the manual for. It's a consumer grade device. So it's nothing that requires signals intelligence to operate or anything.
Speaker E:Hell, yeah.
Speaker A:Anything else y'all want to put together? Heavy ordnance explosives?
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker E:Yeah. What did Frankfurt do?
Speaker D:You know, I'll walk up there with grenade vests just in case.
Speaker E:Tell me Frankfurt's not buying just grenade vests after grenade vests right now.
Speaker F:I mean, he's not buying them because he already has them.
Speaker D:They sell them over counter at children's toy stores in Tijuana.
Speaker E:Boom boom vests.
Speaker F:No. Frankfurt is uncharacteristically trusting of the situation. And I think it's. I think it's based on his past experiences with Sneddar.
Not that he vocalizes that, but, you know, I don't know if you all notice that, but he's kind of like.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:So are you just sitting in the hotel or. I guess not hotel, because we don't have a hotel, right?
Speaker A:That's correct.
Speaker E:So, yeah. So what do you like, did you come with me or did you go do something else?
Speaker B:Right, yeah.
Speaker F:So in the previous iteration of this. This experience, he was sitting at the bar having a drink.
Speaker A:Does he go back to the bar?
Speaker F:Let's say yes.
Speaker A:Is it a giant cocktail of the neon variety with many different accoutrements adorning it, or has he changed his tastes?
Speaker F:You fucking know it is.
Speaker D:Our signature drink is the Blue Hole. Some people say it's better than an orgasm.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker F:Flowers.
Speaker E:Better than coming in your pants.
Speaker D:It's better than busting a nut, which.
Speaker A:He also does because it's just that good. Yeah. You go ahead and hang out at the bar and drink upon this sugary concoction filling.
Speaker D:Tell me when I come in this.
Speaker A:Drink filling your body with high level of glucose and causing a massive insulin spike, which begins to.
Speaker F:It's the only thing that makes me feel alive. Alive.
Speaker A:All right. Yeah. You have to use both hands to hold this massive pitcher like glass, because otherwise it would slip through your disgustingly deformed.
Speaker D:Jeez.
Speaker A:Hands and arms.
Speaker F:Yeah. And embarrassingly, they. When they. It was one of those, like, fishbowl drinks that you share with people.
And I was sitting next to some people when I ordered it, so they thought it was to be shared. But then I just handed all the straws back and kept one for myself.
Speaker A:Yeah, you said, I'm not gonna need any of those, signor. And you gave them back. And he nodded appreciatively. But the table next to you did not seem appreciative.
Speaker E:Well, it's the erection that's really making them uncomfortable.
Speaker F:Yeah, I just made solid eye contact. Erection and just middle finger. Right. Right about a few inches from their face. What are you gonna do?
Speaker A:Yeah. One of them just looks down at the ground and begins sobbing to themselves, trying to hold in those.
Speaker D:I'm sobbing right now quietly.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker E:We beat another NPC and Eric. Hell yeah.
Speaker A:That's another 10 XP, y'all.
Speaker F:High fives.
Speaker A:Well done. Cool. Do we want to do a drive by with this microphone or walk by? How do we want to utilize that? Any ideas?
Speaker E:Yeah, I think we use it. Right. Like, we'll get the. When we go there, we'll get the taxi to, like, hang out for a little bit, and we'll try it, and then we'll go in.
And I like to keep it in a black bag, so that way I can at least have the black bag to put it back in.
Speaker A:Yeah. So this time it's the whole team in the taxi, and you're doing your best to line up a good shot with what might be room 518.
With Faith's reconnaissance inside the building, he did determine exactly which courtyard facing sliding glass doors should lead to Sneddegar's suite. And so you have a clear target. Getting in range is a little bit tough just because of how far away it is from the street.
But the taxicab driver does his best to get you to a point where you think you can pick up some sounds.
Speaker E:And I like to point out that I'm using a spy tool and not just running in with a grenade. Completely insane.
Speaker A:That is interesting.
Speaker D:You know, it's just so out of character at this point that I can't even listen to this show anymore as a player.
Speaker A:Roll your luck. And I need Frankfurt Paris to roll his alertness.
Speaker E:I rolled a, uh, oh, critical failure.
Speaker D:Fuck my face.
Speaker F:Frankfurt. Regular failed. Just a regular fail. Not a critical fail.
Speaker A:Just a regular failure. You don't look like a fool, like Tiberius Felix. Okay. Yeah.
So you go ahead and point this up at the window, and what you hear is just this very, very loud recitation of some dramatic dialogue in Spanish. It's after about two or three minutes, you realize that it's telenovela ramblings from a television set.
Speaker E:Sounds like they're just watching tv. I think we're clear.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker B:Right then.
Speaker A:Anything else you want to do to while away the time before 9pm probably.
Speaker D:Get Frankfurt a few waters because he's reeking of a blue.
Speaker A:Syrupy.
Speaker D:Yeah, syrupy drinks.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can see that type 2 diabetes has set in pretty seriously as he continues to mainline this fishbowl that he somehow took with him from the bar and is in the taxi cab with you.
Speaker D:Nobody says a word. Because nobody wants to talk to him.
Speaker A:Yeah, nobody wants to.
Speaker E:His lips are just colored like all sorts of very colors.
Speaker F:Well, I mean, people can just. They just look in his eyes and they just feel sad. Not for him. They just feel sad about their own lives at that point. Just the.
The aura of helplessness.
Speaker E:Like, this is humanity.
Speaker D:This is America.
Speaker E:And that makes me sad.
Speaker F:He's just reflecting it back to them. That's all it is.
Speaker A:Beautiful, beautiful. Everybody roll your sanities. Except for Frankfurt.
Speaker D:Is this helpless from helplessness? I'm good in helplessness. I'm good there.
Speaker A:Okay, you don't have to roll. All right, cool. So, yeah, y'all get. Let's say y'all get a snack and while away at the time at a nice food truck and use the bathroom. Yeah.
Make sure you got empty bladders, empty bowels before you meet with Snedegger, because you never know what it's going to be like up there. And you enter the K Tower boutique as a foursome and head up to the fifth floor.
When you get to the hotel room door, it is a large suite and it actually has a buzzer instead of just a kind of normal, you know, knocker on the door. And so you press the button and you hear a scratchy voice on the other end. Hello.
Speaker E:Heard you looking for an exterminator.
Speaker A:The door clicks loudly from the inside and a green light flashes above a magnetic key card strip.
Speaker E:I open the door and after you.
Speaker A:The rest of you begin to file through as Felix politely opens the door for you.
He closes the door deftly behind the group and you all begin moving through what is a hallway towards what looks like a well lit kind of living area and kitchenette. There is a open doorway to your right as you head in that direction where you do see a large kind of conference room style table.
And it is covered in papers, stacked files, a couple of laptops, and at the head of it is Snediger, facing directly at the entrance to this offshoot, this conference like room in this quite modern and sleek suite. Snedeger is now wearing a visible pistol harness over a white dress shirt and his sleeves are rolled up.
His face is dour, he doesn't smile as you file in. And he immediately closes an open laptop that sits in front of him.
Now, Felix, as you walk down the hallway after the rest of the group and they of course see the scene I just described. You go ahead and roll your sanity.
Speaker E:I did it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker E:And I would like to project.
Speaker A:Yeah. Let's take a look at your character sheet first, see how you're doing over here.
Speaker E:Don't have a lot of friends.
Speaker A:Yeah, you don't. Okay. So you're about to have a psychological break with reality.
Speaker E:Oh, another one. Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, why not? And so I think my question for you, it's not project.
Would you like to rule to try to suppress this episode, this acute episode you're about to suffer from?
Speaker E:Oh, okay, gotcha.
Speaker A:Little bit different of a rule set, but no less important. Important to get correct.
Speaker E:Okay. I would like to try to steady myself.
Speaker A:All right, go ahead and roll a 1D4 and reduce your willpower by that much.
Speaker E:Dang, hotel rooms do have a lot of. Okay, two willpower.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker E:As Felix walks in, kind of like seems to stiffen up and he's kind of looking directly at his feet and kind of walking forward, just being like, I'm Felix. I'm Felix.
Speaker A:Go ahead and take that 2 willpower off of a bond of your choice.
Describe how that bond might help your agent keep it together in this moment as this mirror to your right begins to cause this terrible prickling sensation across your scalp in the back of your neck as you feel your gaze pulled towards it. No matter how fast you try to speed walk down this hallway towards the rest of the team.
Speaker E:I would like to could I think about my friend Blake Gibbons and how unfair that they have a perfect life and my life is in shatters and kind of with animosity Burn this.
Speaker A:Sure, sure. You focus on Blake. And who is Blake to you again?
Speaker E:You know what? I don't remember.
Speaker A:So, yeah, Blake Gibbons, I believe, is your taxidermist.
Speaker E:Yes, that's right. That's right. Okay.
Speaker A:His wonderful life.
Speaker E:So, okay, I'd like to think of Blake Gibbons and the taxidermist and how he still has a passion for birds. And, I mean, I've gotten to a point where I really go there to watch them become something else. Right? Like they're no longer natural birds.
They're a perfect replica that's safe. And. And I resent him for it. I resent that he gets that power to make something forever. And I can't do that in my own life.
Speaker A:Okay, well, depending on the next roll this will. No matter what, this is gonna influence your next thoughts or actions as Tiberius. Felix. Go ahead and roll your sanity. Okay.
You swallow hard, focusing on this. I wouldn't call it revulsion, but this jealousy that kind of crystallizes for you.
And you turn away, tearing your gaze, even your peripheral gaze, from this long mirror that seems to be following you down the hall. Pulling you into what looks like, well, small defects in its otherwise perfect surface. Curling the light. Curling pieces of you into it.
You turn away from it and you try to forget what is, what is an unknown reflection. Someone else. Someone new. Someone you aren't, but have to be. And follow the team into the room.
Speaker E:Cool. If there's a chair, I want to sit down and just look at my feet.
Speaker A:Yeah. There are about 12 empty chairs. They look quite comfortable. They're black leather, luxurious.
Speaker D:So did the mirror spook him out? Is that what happened?
Speaker A:He got a little spooked? He's got a little issue. He's got a trauma he's got to deal with.
Speaker E:I did not think about how every hotel has so many mirrors.
Speaker A:So many. Because they're like, do we get another really shitty still life or do we just throw a mirror up? I don't know, flip a coin.
Speaker E:Flip a boat.
Speaker A:Flip a coin.
Speaker E:Yep.
Speaker A:Okay. Come on in. Have a seat. Plenty of room. Make some room on the table. If you need emotions for you to sit down anywhere you'd like. Conference table.
Speaker D:Shields. Unbuttons his jacket, revealing that he has his holstered weapon there. But he's not, like, making a show of it. Just. It's there.
Speaker B:Bennett. She pulls a chair over by the window and sits down.
Speaker E:Felix takes out a grenade and pulls the pin.
Speaker D:Of course.
Speaker F:Hell yeah.
Speaker D:Wild card, bitches.
Speaker E:Wild Card.
Speaker A:Caracas and Lopez will be joining us shortly. But I think we can. We can get started. I assume, since you're here, your leadership.
Speaker D:Agreed with the provision that you keep up your end of the bargain. Yeah.
Speaker A:Fair.
Well, let's try to go ahead and get this thing started with the understanding that I also expect you to provide the expertise you can for the amount of fieldwork you've put in combating this particular threat. He pauses for a moment, as if expecting a response.
Speaker E:I mean, we're going after the bugs either way, right?
Speaker A:Well, why don't we go ahead and just get right into it then? So here's what we know. We've identified 10 cases over three organizations.
All of them have a similar pattern that we already touched on in our previous meeting.
A veteran operative disappears, sometimes even presumed dead, only to reappear weeks or months later with only a cursory interest in pursuing previous agendas.
These operatives have, well, they often had or have foreign ties, specifically agents who move frequently abroad as part of their more typical duties.
Anomalous behavior has included a marked lack of interest in their own personal lives or professions, maybe a reluctance or refusal to respond to our drops of call signs, repeated habit of atypical travel across the American continents.
Speaker D:Atypical how?
Speaker A:Outside of their normal professional personal lives.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker A:Most certainly outside of anything having to do with our organization. You hear a buzz from what looks like a raised speaker amidst the clutter on the table. He stops for a moment, leans over, presses a button on it.
Hello? It's Lopez. Caracas. You hear a woman's voice. He presses another button, and you hear a familiar click from the front door.
Before long, both of these individuals filter into the same room, nod to the rest of you curtly and take their own seats together, some of the farthest places around the table from Snediger. I'll go ahead and continue. Caracas, Lopez. We're just getting started. So it turns directly to you, Faith.
Other indicators show a broad uptick in sexual promiscuity.
Nearly all of these returned operatives, they formed a frequent, honestly near bankrupting habit of soliciting prostitutes, and some have picked up heavy narcotic habits.
Speaker D:That sounds par for the course.
Speaker A:He turns and nods. I can personally attest, though, that this is completely out of character for at least two of my team.
Now, Sena operatives have been surveilling their reappearing colleagues here in Mexico and farther south. Their observations jive perfectly with those of other assets deployed for intelligence gathering on similar persons of interest in North America.
You'll see a couple names in the materials here, all capped. He Vaguely motions to the cluster of papers and folders strewn about. Kane and Ryan.
Now, they're in New York on assignment, and they're continuing to pursue surveillance objectives. If our field work is successful south of the border, we'll likely have a chance to meet with them at a later date to compare notes.
Now, just one compromised operative is a disaster. 10 is an invasion and existential threat.
If what you say is true, and these are just the ones that we know of, I hope you can understand now why I'm so eager, well, suddenly so eager to work with you. Your expertise with what we might be dealing with is.
Well, it paints a very different picture from what we have been assuming is the culprit or culprits behind these kidnappings. I feel like we've been treading water, and maybe even worse, 10 steps behind.
So, with your skills and experience, I think we can have a shot at tipping the balance. So my first question. Can these things be removed without harming the infested operative?
Speaker D:Well, we recently have learned they can willingly leave a host. That was news to us, I believe. Did anybody else know he looks at Forest Frankfurt and Felix. Anybody else seen that?
Speaker A:Felix Frankfort. You both absolutely know that they can just hop around.
It's actually horrifying when that happens, because the prior host tends to go nuts and scream and utter near delirium, while as the new host begins to also scream in pain and what seems to be utter terror at what is now deftly snugly tucked in their head case.
Speaker E:We won't kill them, if that's what you mean. They're not gonna be 100%, but we won't kill em.
Speaker A:I see.
Speaker D:So they can jump out of a head, but if they're resistant to leaving, we drill a little hole and expose it to sunlight, and they just get right out of there.
Speaker F:Either case, you gotta be ready. Cause they will go after you immediately or try to run. That's where the powder comes into play.
Speaker A:The man Caracas. He interjects Wait, so you're. You're lobotomizing them?
Speaker D:No, not at all. Trepanning. If anything, a little hole. Back of the head covers up nice.
Speaker E:It's just the skull. We don't go in too deep.
Speaker A:Lopez interjects this time I don't believe any of you have medical training. Am I incorrect?
Speaker D:Well, it's hardly a medical procedure. It's more like diy.
Speaker E:I've had enough practice. Okay.
Speaker F:Yeah, it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.
Speaker A:They both look at each other it's not like suspicion or skepticism. They both look horrified. You've seen that expression before. Sneddeger takes over here. It's clear we're out of our depth. So again, I'm.
I'm going to ask you to take the lead in the field. We have a bead on a person of interest and we would like to capture and interrogate. Interrogate him.
It's imperative that we extrapolate what these things long term plan might be. We have to understand what they've been up to, what they are up to, and how deep this corruption runs in our organizations.
You won't be working for free again. We have resources that I can provide. If it's in a law enforcement database, I have wide leeway to amend, to adjust or remove.
If you need access to emergency funds in your personal lives, I can make that happen. And as for this, well, this joint task force we're putting together the operation. I'm hoping that we kick off after we leave this room.
I will move mountains for you if it keeps you alive. Finally gives us an edge against these things. So, field team Self, I'm going to be sending you into, well, the heart of Mexico. What do you need?
Speaker E:We need a vehicle. At least one. We need weapons there so we don't have to fly with them.
Speaker A:Nuts.
Speaker D:Yeah, preferably a panel van with a big sliding door. We'd need a warehouse with plenty of sunlight where any amount of noise won't go. Suspect?
Speaker E:Someone remote. Not a lot of people.
Speaker C:You?
Speaker A:Nods.
Speaker D:And so Shields begins writing up their usual abduction kit requirements.
Speaker A:Yeah, we don't need to go into that. We can pull into that mystery bag later and rule whether or not it's going to be feasible. So, yeah, you kind of go through it.
Zip ties, PVC bags, gags. There you go. Fun stuff.
Speaker D:The only concern I have is if you're trying to get information out of these things, well, that's not easy. They don't typically talk about what they're trying to do.
Now the last time might have been one of the few times where they actually got a bit mouthy with us and told us they've been looking for us. So I'm a little concerned that this may be part of that effort.
Speaker A:That what might be part of that effort? This particular person of interest.
Speaker D:This or any of the other ones you have on your radar at this time.
Speaker A:Okay, yeah.
Speaker F:We just need to be extra cautious.
Speaker A:It sounds like we're going to be working together, so why don't we dive into those details now and you can let me know if anything red flags.
Speaker D:Sure.
Speaker A:He goes ahead and produces from a folder a headshot of a gentleman. What you see in front of you is a man of Hispanic descent who is standing in front of a Mexican flag. And he's wearing a suit tie.
He looks clean cut, well groomed. Looks like a professional kind of government issued headshot that you would see for somebody.
So our person of interest for this working group, which we are going to refer to as Active Exchange, this is UIF agent Dante Sombro. He is activated as Alabastro. Sombra's specialty is, unsurprisingly, forensic accounting and investigating financial crimes.
He held a very high profile position, had a wife and three young children. And his work for us suited him at least from all accounts.
He glances over at Lopez and Caracas when he says, now, Sombra disappeared eight months ago while working for us. Evidence pointed toward kidnapping. Honestly, it was one of the cases we thought you and yourself might have had something to do with.
The location was a bit out of your normal range in this case. And he glances over at Frankfurt. We had surveillance footage showing us otherwise.
Now, two months ago, someone started using Sombra's credit card in Lyon. Our operatives discovered that it was Sombra himself returned from. Well, we're not sure yet. Of course, the agents opted not to approach.
His habits and his physical appearance were wholly uncharacteristic characteristic, following our pattern. Now, we'll avoid the details as they shouldn't be relevant, but suffice to say Sombra had adopted extremely atypical in sordid tastes.
And he showed no interest in his previous vocation or family life. He goes ahead and slides over another photograph. This one is obviously taken from surveillance footage.
Speaker D:Okay, so what we're seeing now is a very disheveled looking man with a T shirt, jeans and backpack, long unkempt hair and a scraggly beard. And he's looking up in perhaps fear or wonder. His hands are blurring as if in motion.
Perhaps he's like in the midst of gesticulating and he's next to a. A street cart as a man seems to be holding up his hand in motion to maybe keep him at distance. It's kind of hard to tell.
Speaker A:So much like Caracas and Lopez have been tracking you. We have been periodically checking in on Sombra. Two weeks ago we lost him out of Oaxaca de Juarez.
He had been holed up in a hotel for a few days, but it's assumed he must have made his tail as he completely Stopped using his phone or credit cards. Now, surveillance was admittedly light with only minimal check ins.
We had decreased dedicated resources because it was starting to seem like Sombra had gone off the deep end with some sort of midlife crisis and abandoned his family to live like a reprobate. But the sudden break in Sombra's habits, as well as what we've discussed today. Well, I need you to see if you can pick his trail back up.
Learn what he might be up to. If he's host to one of these parasites. I trust you'll know how to handle that. Like we discussed, I want him back alive.
We can't afford to lose a potential opportunity to interrogate someone who was inhabited by one of these things. We need a bead on the others who have been kidnapped and returned. And those who have never returned at all.
So you being the extraction experts, we're gonna be relying on you for that again? For everything else, you'll have us.
Speaker D:Okay. Once we do get him, you want to interrogate him or do you want us to?
Speaker A:I'm gonna rely on you to do what's best in the moment, depending on what you discover. But I do want him back alive. And I would like to speak with him as well.
If you deem that it's best to sit him down and find out more about these things, plans. Well, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna countermand that decision if that's the one you make in the field. Okay, so this is the location of his hotel.
It's called the Hotel del Solitario in Oaxaca. And his room number was 4 1, 7. I've arranged a comfortable flight for you. You should have no trouble with checked baggage.
Caracas here and Lopez, they'll. They'll ensure you board without complaint. If there's any additional equipment you deem necessary, you have my number. I am on standby for you.
So please treat me as a open warehouse and piggy bank as necessary.
Speaker D:How do you want to stay in communication during this operation? Do you want us to be linked via radio?
Speaker A:I mean, I'll leave that up to you in the field. We'll be back here in Tijuana.
So you'll be checking in with me at least twice a day via the line there on the back of the business card that I provided you.
Speaker D:Okay, what about backup forces, should we need anything? What if things get hot? What if it is a trap? Do we have some emergency button we can push with your team that can deploy a group to assist us?
Speaker B:Backup?
Speaker A:I'M hoping you can arrange your own team to facilitate anything like that. Okay, so if you need backup, I suggest arranging your team to go ahead and strategically position yourself in that way.
Now, that being said, if such a situation arises, give me a call. We'll see what we can arrange.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker A:Also going to go ahead and provide you with some credentials that I've had whipped up for you.
While waiting for you to come attend this briefing, he goes ahead and he passes out what looks like very convincing documentation that shows each one of you is with the United States dea.
Speaker D:Perfect.
Speaker A:So again, twice a day I'd like you to work in the name of our working group. Active exchange to your verbal reports to signal that you're still. You're still managing yourselves uncompromised. He nods, kind of trails off.
Any questions for me?
Speaker D:So this Alabastro was with the program?
Speaker A:Alabastro, you hear Lopez interject. Alabastro was with us. He worked with us for many years.
Speaker D:And who are you with?
Speaker A:She glances up at Snedegger, who takes over Sina. They're an analog of what you probably do in Canada and what we do in the U.S. okay.
Speaker D:Just wanted to make sure I understood the situation. Appreciate the information, Knots. Okay.
Speaker E:Just want want you to know once again, we've never interrogated one really, so don't get your hopes up.
Speaker D:Yeah, they mostly only tell you what they want you to know. If they say anything at all worthwhile.
Speaker A:Well, if you're able to remove the parasite, you can question Sombra.
Speaker D:I would hope that's my hope as that we can stabilize Sombra and get him good and then interrogate him. But depends on how long he's had this thing in him and how bad off he is mentally. Well, we won't physically do much harm.
It's what these things do inside their heads that really is a problem. Sometimes afterwards there's not a lot left to scrape together as a person, if you get to my drift.
Speaker F:Yeah, imagine. Imagine this guy has been riding shotgun to this thing, this bug, doing all this stuff. He's got no control. He can't stop himself.
Speaker D:If you can get a high end psychotherapist at our beck and call, that might actually help us.
Speaker A:Okay, I can do that.
Speaker B:If I could ask, do you have the means to get us some sort of equipment? You know, like a camera hidden as a button on a blouse or something like that, along with maybe earpieces for communication?
Speaker A:Absolutely. I can make sure you have everything you need to stay in contact in the field. In a clandestine manner.
Speaker B:I just think it would be great too if you see what's going on via a feed. Some sort of video input that's just hidden on our person.
Speaker A:I'm hesitant to. Unless you have the know how glances around the team. I'm hesitant to have anything that's unencrypted streaming directly back here.
But if it can be set up then we can discuss it. Otherwise, hard copies encrypted brought back here once the mission is complete.
Speaker D:Yeah, that might be for the best.
Speaker A:Okay. Well, I've got your laundry list of things that should be waiting for you. I also have your flight. Any other questions?
Speaker B:Is it first class?
Speaker A:You'll be. You'll be very comfortable. He smiles.
Speaker F:All right.
Speaker B:Sleep's hard to come by these days.
Speaker F:Sneddger. It's good to be working with you again.
Speaker A:He froze his brother. That's the second time you've mentioned that. We've never met.
Speaker F:Sure, sure. Paris just kind of looks off like a crazy person.
Speaker E:So. Tasmanian devil face and.
Speaker F:Exactly. And then he weirdly starts spinning around into circles and forms a little tornado.
Speaker E:Hell yeah. New power. Hell yeah.
Speaker D:Can I do a human to see how Snediger is taking this information?
Speaker A:The information about just with the.
Speaker D:With the way. With what Paris Frankfurt is saying to him.
Speaker A:Oh, this particular interaction. Sure. Roll Hument.
Speaker D:And I got a bail.
Speaker A:You guys can. You guys are getting lots of checks tonight. Well done. He seems genuinely confused.
Speaker D:Fair enough.
Speaker A:He also seems like he doubts the capabilities and mental competence of your colleague.
Speaker D:Yeah, I do too. So I think we're all good there.
Speaker F:Yeah, I think everyone should.
Speaker A:He goes ahead and politely dismisses you and Karakas and Lopez stand. Karakas turns. He says, well, shall we make to the airport?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:They go ahead and take you for out of the room and down to the parking garage for the hotel and have you kind of pack into a large sedan. This is pretty. Pretty tight fit.
Speaker E:I'll sit in the back.
Speaker D:Like the backpack where there's not a.
Speaker E:Seat in the trunk.
Speaker A:Yeah. They straight up drive out of the parking garage into Tijuana's night air. It's a glittering busy city, especially in this touristy segment.
And they're not very talkative during the trip. You might be. You just let me know.
Speaker D:But oh, I forgot to ask about where we're staying at our destination. Where you're staying at our destination. Do we.
Speaker A:You'll need to make arrangements.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker A:That you find best for you.
Speaker D:That's fine.
Speaker B:Is it true what they say about.
Speaker A:The water the water.
Speaker B:Don't drink the water.
Speaker A:Oh. Karaka smiles. He looks over at Lopez and she smiles. Barely call the smile, but her mouth does tend to curve a bit. Buy out of plastic.
Plastic bottles while you're there.
Speaker B:Got it. Thank you.
Speaker E:Sorry to hear about your friends.
Speaker A:All right, I need to roll now. Uh oh, on that particular sentence.
Speaker E:We'Ve lost a lot of folks ourselves.
Speaker A:There's silence in the air. It kind of hangs there for a moment. And then Lopez finally speaks. Alabastro. He knew things. Just no one better to have on an op.
No offense for you, Caracas. He shakes his head and raises his eyebrows, kind of smiles. He made it like we were ghosts. No record of travel. Plenty of.
Plenty of washed cash for anything. Taking up every damn detail in a Target down to childhood shoe sizes. She looks down, shifts a bit in her seat. We deal with bad things.
Just like you had something that crawled out of a culvert in the capital that was burning up. People in the took up in basements, boiler rooms. Hard to pin down. Burned kids mostly.
No idea why Alabastro figured out the thing was moving in a spiral pattern. Still don't get how he pieced it together. We thought he was full of shit. But then we actually found the thing. Found its next nest. Anticipated it.
Now nothing we had was slowing it down. And it was angry. He bet everything on a kitchen fire extinguisher and managed to drench it.
Still not sure why or what he had figured out, but it didn't like that at all. And it really fucked it up. We took it apart with hammers after that. Anyway. She straightens up, clears her throat.
She shifts a bit to turn to face you. Anyway, you know how it goes. I. If you can save Alabastro, save him. He's. He's one of us. One of the best of us.
Speaker D:We'll do our best. Look, I had a buddy in you ever heard of a Wendigo? They're real. And he. Well, he figured them out. Got him sorted. He.
He took his own life a few years back. But I never had more respect for a man than watching what he did. It was like magic. So I feel you. We'll do our best.
Speaker A:You hear a Caracas mutter something. Lopez turns okay. To those we have lost and to those we can yet still say for something, he used to say Amen.
Speaker E:So we established that any feet perversion that he has was before he got a bug in him because he was like really into figuring out people's childhood shoes sizes, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, the dude loved feet. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's a normal thing.
Speaker D:Is that a normal thing, or has the Internet made it a normal thing?
Speaker A:That's normal.
Speaker E:It's normal and average, and everyone should talk about it. It's not weird at all.
Speaker A:It's not. If everybody can start talking about that, like, I don't know, just inject it into normal conversation. I really need that to become normal.
So, thank y'all.
Speaker D:We'll do our best.
Speaker A:The two CENA operatives get you to the airport in Tijuana. Airport. They drop you off and get you through security without anybody, you know, checking anything that you're bringing with you.
Speaker D:Nice.
Speaker A:And as you depart, Lopez says, nos famos. And you board the plane, the plane destined to Oaxaca de Juarez.
