(no subject)
Oct. 27th, 2007 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
korafoxAnd last week's report..
Though it happened a few days before the mission, I feel I must make note of an incident that took place at my apartment, so that it is at least on file somewhere.
My cell phone rang. I thought it would be either Administration or Seth making one of his uncomfortable "just checking in" calls. But it was Sam...he said it was an emergency, he needed a place to hide out because Draco Company was looking for him. As irksome as Sam can be and as much as I didn't want him in my apartment, I couldn't let him get caught by those people.
Well, when the knock came at my door it wasn't just Sam, but Carter and Seth waiting out there in the cold. Sam and Carter had wild tales about a something they couldn't talk about but which had gotten them into a heap of trouble. They said it was serious enough that I phoned Admin, who arrived with a promptness I appreciate.
The trouble was about a book, a book which the two thought they had found but which had apparently gone missing again. If it turns up again we are to phone in immediately. And the two of them can't be trusted that their actions are their own, anymore. In the meantime, it looks like I'll be stuck with Sam. Haven't had a roommate since med school.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The call came late in the evening, after nearly a month of silence. I have to hope we're getting Christmas bonuses, at least, if we're going to be dragged out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter.
Tonight we had a bigger hunting party than usual...one new guy, too. Mori Takanawa...he seems more reliable than most of the regulars, actually. Despite the undoubtedly recent rearrangement of his reality, he held himself together extremely well. I admire that.
The mission was to investigate a series of murders which had taken place at the 1st National Bank of Chicago, and see if there was anything paranormal about the perpetrator. Draco Company had already started an investigation at the bank, so I was in the team who went to the slain CEO's house. We were impersonating CIA tonight...it's amazing the sort of fake ID we can get on such short notice. The wife was in a bad state, which was understandable--her husband had, at some mystery man's request, lopped off the top of his head with an electric meat cleaver. We got into his office, and the combination of consulting with Dex and an extremely stupid password system gave us access to the files on his computer. We found files which indicated the bank had been in a working relationship with a Draco-owned R&D facility. This facility was rumored to be working on everything from brainwashing chips to cybernetics. Recently this bank branch had been investigating the R&D facility out of suspicion that they were involved in some embezzlement of funds. This was, perhaps, the motive behind the murders. But at this point we had only one lead--Ben Johnson, the Draco Company liason to the bank. He had a home in a suburb named Spring Grove.
This time out, we had gotten Seth to tell everyone his premonitions before we left. This town of Spring Grove seemed to match his description of a Pleasantville, so I was well on the watch for any of the other nasties he had told us about.
At Johnson's house we put together one piece of the puzzle--two FBI agents who had been to the bank were tied up in the basement. There was definitely something going on here, but before we could make a thorough search of the house there was a loud crash from outside.
Running upstairs, we saw a very bizarre sight. Outside we saw one of our cars with the top smashed down into it, and the rest of our group fighting for their lives against a massive hulk of a man. His head had wires leading out of it, he was pounding the hell out of anyone close to him, and bullets were ricocheting off his chest. The man was a maniac--singing as he punched Dex so violently she flew through the air and landed ten feet away on the cold, hard ground. It was only through sheer luck that we managed to injure him enough to drive him off. Even then, a normal man should have been dead. He took a bullet to the face and half his jaw was hanging off, as he sprinted down the street.
The local authorities came zooming up, hell-bent on detaining us. We didn't have time to explain the shootout to the local police, so Sam crammed most of us into the remaining car and drove off, leaving Seth to work things out with them. (Later, we would see how this was a mistake--breaking Rule #1 of paranormal investigation: never be alone.) The rest of us drove off after the murderer--Mysteries had identified him as Sixteen Tons, a Draco Company assassin. The chase took us into the nearby woods, where we briefly caught up with him. Carter got out of the car to get a shot at him, but at that point we were assailed by Draco officers and had to retreat. We never found out for certain what Draco was doing in Spring Grove with that much force, unless they were running damage control on the nastier, underlying situation.
We drove back into town, where Seth seemed to have smoothed over the events at Johnson's house nicely. The authorities offered the use of their vehicles since we were running short. In retrospect, this should have been setting off alarm bells...but it had been a rough night already and our cover identities could have accounted for the sudden friendliness of the police.
We decided to continue our search for Johnson. There was a gas station in town that he frequented, and there was always his place of work, West Side R&D. One car went to the gas station--Darren, Dex, Seth, and myself--and we would meet the others at the R&D facility if nothing turned up.
Seth and I walked into the gas station, and something turned up.
Now knowing everything (or at least, almost everything) that was going on in that town, I don't blame Seth for what he did. But at that moment--as my body went slack and crumpled to the ground, as Seth stood over me chanting strage words and holding a wriggling spider-thing best left undescribed--at that moment, I was pretty well pissed. My body might have been paralyzed, but that didn't stop me from being able to roast the spider with flame as Seth set it on my prone form. Even then, I would most likely not have made it out with my mind intact had Seth not been distracted by a Draco officer. I was struggling to break free of his mental control when he was distracted; this gave me just the opportunity I needed to snap out of it. Knowing I had only this one chance, I saw on Seth's neck another of those spiders. I lashed out with fire, and the thing burned off of his skin.
Now Seth was as shaken up as I felt...he thanked me for freeing him from the creature and said we needed to get out of the town, now. He quickly stammered out an explanation of the situation--there was some sort of hive mind located in the town chapel, and it was taking over everyone's minds via the spider-things. But that was all we had time for, because we turned and saw through the window Darren and Dex.
The look in their eyes...not a dead look, because that somehow would have been less frightening; no, they were still there, just changed. They were taken over, and they were coming for us. We escaped out the back into the cold December night, running for our lives from our own teammates.
Seth phoned in to Admin to apprise them of the situation as we fled, and I phoned Sam to do the same. We knew he and Mori were still on our side, but the FBI agents had likely turned Carter by this point. Thanks to the Draco officer, who had followed us, we got away from Darren. Can't believe I'm indebted to a Draco man, but there it is. (he didn't make it through the night, in any case.) As we ran to meet up with Sam (who had our only vehicle, at this point), townspeople came pouring from their houses to give chase. We managed to lose them in the woods, but found someone else.
Sixteen Tons was wandering among the trees. But this was not entirely the same man we had encountered before...he seemed lost and confused, and asked us for orders. Sam drove up, and we all decided to retreat back to Chicago for the time being. Sam sent Sixteen Tons to meet us at the Gorgon's Eye, and we started driving out of town. As we exited the woods, a car cut suddenly in front of us--it was Carter. He looked hurt, said the agents had shot him. But he wouldn't back down and get on the ground when we told him to. As much as I hated to leave him behind, Seth was right that we couldn't trust him. He looked like he would survive the night, so he can live with his hurt feelings. We disabled his vehicle and drove off.
Unfortunately for our escape plans, our people had responded to the threat with admirable speed, and there was a quarantine field in place around the city. We were unable to leave.
So that's where we were: trapped in suburbia with a horde of spider-mind-controlled townspeople, more than half our team turned against us and heavily armed.
The odds were against us.
At this point, there was only one option open to us. We had to make it to the chapel in the center of town and destroy both the hive mind and the preacher who was at the middle of this whole mess. Our first plan was to pick up some tinfoil on the outskirts of town, since Mysteries suggested it could help protect against the mind-control displayed by the hive-people. I don't know why, but that was just the icing on the cake of all the weird events this mission. I mean, tinfoil? I thought it was just crazy people who believed in that kind of stuff. Well, call me crazy.
In any case, we couldn't get close enough to any houses to raid their kitchen cabinets. And with the town alerted to our presence and location, there was no choice but to make a desperate charge for the chapel. New plan: burn it to the ground.
They were ready for us. With barricades, guns, and fire. The others cleared what paths they could, and Sam put the pedal to the floor. I have to compliment him--except for that last bit where we flipped and went skidding upside-down through the front wall of the chapel, that was some of the most skillful driving I've ever seen.
I had been preparing myself for this--not only in the car on the way in, but since our last mission. I guess it's something I have to come to terms with, this power...seems like I'm going to need it, no matter how much pain it's brought me in the past.
The preacher waited at the back of the chapel. The spiders were everywhere, covering him, covering the walls.
I shouted for everyone to hit the ground--gods know I didn't want to hurt anyone, though in the end I did--and let the fire well up from inside me. It came easier this time, but it was controlling the flames that was the challenge.
We got lucky...one slip and the whole building would have gone up in smoke, then come crashing down around us. I had to keep control while the preacher battered at my mind; quite frankly, I did not know I had such force of will to resist him and hold myself together at the same time. I saw him flung backward in the midst of the flames that obscured my vision--rage at him burned in my heart, rage at the horrible things he had done to the town, rage borne from the fear and adrenaline that had been coursing through me for hours.
I saw him strike the far wall, saw the cross that hung there topple and fall, crushing the life from him. I was glad.
But there was one thing yet to do. It was starting to get away from me--I could feel it slipping outward, and at the same time blocking out everything else inside me--but I held on and crossed the room, to the doors that led down into the basement.
I saw the thing that was the hive mind.
I let the fire go screaming from me, down into the darkness.
It burned.
Miraculously, I didn't black out this time. We all crawled, or were dragged, from the burning building. The control was broken; everyone had returned to their right minds. I held up long enough to patch up those with the worst injuries, then crawled into a corner to collapse from exhaustion until Admin showed up.
So many people dead, and not a scratch on me. Gods, I hate this "gift". Hate the feelings it brings out in me.
There's some loose ends that never got tied up. What, exactly, West Side R&D is up to, the actual motives behind the murders at the bank, and the current whereabouts of Sixteen Tons. And I need to start working some things out.
Though it happened a few days before the mission, I feel I must make note of an incident that took place at my apartment, so that it is at least on file somewhere.
My cell phone rang. I thought it would be either Administration or Seth making one of his uncomfortable "just checking in" calls. But it was Sam...he said it was an emergency, he needed a place to hide out because Draco Company was looking for him. As irksome as Sam can be and as much as I didn't want him in my apartment, I couldn't let him get caught by those people.
Well, when the knock came at my door it wasn't just Sam, but Carter and Seth waiting out there in the cold. Sam and Carter had wild tales about a something they couldn't talk about but which had gotten them into a heap of trouble. They said it was serious enough that I phoned Admin, who arrived with a promptness I appreciate.
The trouble was about a book, a book which the two thought they had found but which had apparently gone missing again. If it turns up again we are to phone in immediately. And the two of them can't be trusted that their actions are their own, anymore. In the meantime, it looks like I'll be stuck with Sam. Haven't had a roommate since med school.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The call came late in the evening, after nearly a month of silence. I have to hope we're getting Christmas bonuses, at least, if we're going to be dragged out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter.
Tonight we had a bigger hunting party than usual...one new guy, too. Mori Takanawa...he seems more reliable than most of the regulars, actually. Despite the undoubtedly recent rearrangement of his reality, he held himself together extremely well. I admire that.
The mission was to investigate a series of murders which had taken place at the 1st National Bank of Chicago, and see if there was anything paranormal about the perpetrator. Draco Company had already started an investigation at the bank, so I was in the team who went to the slain CEO's house. We were impersonating CIA tonight...it's amazing the sort of fake ID we can get on such short notice. The wife was in a bad state, which was understandable--her husband had, at some mystery man's request, lopped off the top of his head with an electric meat cleaver. We got into his office, and the combination of consulting with Dex and an extremely stupid password system gave us access to the files on his computer. We found files which indicated the bank had been in a working relationship with a Draco-owned R&D facility. This facility was rumored to be working on everything from brainwashing chips to cybernetics. Recently this bank branch had been investigating the R&D facility out of suspicion that they were involved in some embezzlement of funds. This was, perhaps, the motive behind the murders. But at this point we had only one lead--Ben Johnson, the Draco Company liason to the bank. He had a home in a suburb named Spring Grove.
This time out, we had gotten Seth to tell everyone his premonitions before we left. This town of Spring Grove seemed to match his description of a Pleasantville, so I was well on the watch for any of the other nasties he had told us about.
At Johnson's house we put together one piece of the puzzle--two FBI agents who had been to the bank were tied up in the basement. There was definitely something going on here, but before we could make a thorough search of the house there was a loud crash from outside.
Running upstairs, we saw a very bizarre sight. Outside we saw one of our cars with the top smashed down into it, and the rest of our group fighting for their lives against a massive hulk of a man. His head had wires leading out of it, he was pounding the hell out of anyone close to him, and bullets were ricocheting off his chest. The man was a maniac--singing as he punched Dex so violently she flew through the air and landed ten feet away on the cold, hard ground. It was only through sheer luck that we managed to injure him enough to drive him off. Even then, a normal man should have been dead. He took a bullet to the face and half his jaw was hanging off, as he sprinted down the street.
The local authorities came zooming up, hell-bent on detaining us. We didn't have time to explain the shootout to the local police, so Sam crammed most of us into the remaining car and drove off, leaving Seth to work things out with them. (Later, we would see how this was a mistake--breaking Rule #1 of paranormal investigation: never be alone.) The rest of us drove off after the murderer--Mysteries had identified him as Sixteen Tons, a Draco Company assassin. The chase took us into the nearby woods, where we briefly caught up with him. Carter got out of the car to get a shot at him, but at that point we were assailed by Draco officers and had to retreat. We never found out for certain what Draco was doing in Spring Grove with that much force, unless they were running damage control on the nastier, underlying situation.
We drove back into town, where Seth seemed to have smoothed over the events at Johnson's house nicely. The authorities offered the use of their vehicles since we were running short. In retrospect, this should have been setting off alarm bells...but it had been a rough night already and our cover identities could have accounted for the sudden friendliness of the police.
We decided to continue our search for Johnson. There was a gas station in town that he frequented, and there was always his place of work, West Side R&D. One car went to the gas station--Darren, Dex, Seth, and myself--and we would meet the others at the R&D facility if nothing turned up.
Seth and I walked into the gas station, and something turned up.
Now knowing everything (or at least, almost everything) that was going on in that town, I don't blame Seth for what he did. But at that moment--as my body went slack and crumpled to the ground, as Seth stood over me chanting strage words and holding a wriggling spider-thing best left undescribed--at that moment, I was pretty well pissed. My body might have been paralyzed, but that didn't stop me from being able to roast the spider with flame as Seth set it on my prone form. Even then, I would most likely not have made it out with my mind intact had Seth not been distracted by a Draco officer. I was struggling to break free of his mental control when he was distracted; this gave me just the opportunity I needed to snap out of it. Knowing I had only this one chance, I saw on Seth's neck another of those spiders. I lashed out with fire, and the thing burned off of his skin.
Now Seth was as shaken up as I felt...he thanked me for freeing him from the creature and said we needed to get out of the town, now. He quickly stammered out an explanation of the situation--there was some sort of hive mind located in the town chapel, and it was taking over everyone's minds via the spider-things. But that was all we had time for, because we turned and saw through the window Darren and Dex.
The look in their eyes...not a dead look, because that somehow would have been less frightening; no, they were still there, just changed. They were taken over, and they were coming for us. We escaped out the back into the cold December night, running for our lives from our own teammates.
Seth phoned in to Admin to apprise them of the situation as we fled, and I phoned Sam to do the same. We knew he and Mori were still on our side, but the FBI agents had likely turned Carter by this point. Thanks to the Draco officer, who had followed us, we got away from Darren. Can't believe I'm indebted to a Draco man, but there it is. (he didn't make it through the night, in any case.) As we ran to meet up with Sam (who had our only vehicle, at this point), townspeople came pouring from their houses to give chase. We managed to lose them in the woods, but found someone else.
Sixteen Tons was wandering among the trees. But this was not entirely the same man we had encountered before...he seemed lost and confused, and asked us for orders. Sam drove up, and we all decided to retreat back to Chicago for the time being. Sam sent Sixteen Tons to meet us at the Gorgon's Eye, and we started driving out of town. As we exited the woods, a car cut suddenly in front of us--it was Carter. He looked hurt, said the agents had shot him. But he wouldn't back down and get on the ground when we told him to. As much as I hated to leave him behind, Seth was right that we couldn't trust him. He looked like he would survive the night, so he can live with his hurt feelings. We disabled his vehicle and drove off.
Unfortunately for our escape plans, our people had responded to the threat with admirable speed, and there was a quarantine field in place around the city. We were unable to leave.
So that's where we were: trapped in suburbia with a horde of spider-mind-controlled townspeople, more than half our team turned against us and heavily armed.
The odds were against us.
At this point, there was only one option open to us. We had to make it to the chapel in the center of town and destroy both the hive mind and the preacher who was at the middle of this whole mess. Our first plan was to pick up some tinfoil on the outskirts of town, since Mysteries suggested it could help protect against the mind-control displayed by the hive-people. I don't know why, but that was just the icing on the cake of all the weird events this mission. I mean, tinfoil? I thought it was just crazy people who believed in that kind of stuff. Well, call me crazy.
In any case, we couldn't get close enough to any houses to raid their kitchen cabinets. And with the town alerted to our presence and location, there was no choice but to make a desperate charge for the chapel. New plan: burn it to the ground.
They were ready for us. With barricades, guns, and fire. The others cleared what paths they could, and Sam put the pedal to the floor. I have to compliment him--except for that last bit where we flipped and went skidding upside-down through the front wall of the chapel, that was some of the most skillful driving I've ever seen.
I had been preparing myself for this--not only in the car on the way in, but since our last mission. I guess it's something I have to come to terms with, this power...seems like I'm going to need it, no matter how much pain it's brought me in the past.
The preacher waited at the back of the chapel. The spiders were everywhere, covering him, covering the walls.
I shouted for everyone to hit the ground--gods know I didn't want to hurt anyone, though in the end I did--and let the fire well up from inside me. It came easier this time, but it was controlling the flames that was the challenge.
We got lucky...one slip and the whole building would have gone up in smoke, then come crashing down around us. I had to keep control while the preacher battered at my mind; quite frankly, I did not know I had such force of will to resist him and hold myself together at the same time. I saw him flung backward in the midst of the flames that obscured my vision--rage at him burned in my heart, rage at the horrible things he had done to the town, rage borne from the fear and adrenaline that had been coursing through me for hours.
I saw him strike the far wall, saw the cross that hung there topple and fall, crushing the life from him. I was glad.
But there was one thing yet to do. It was starting to get away from me--I could feel it slipping outward, and at the same time blocking out everything else inside me--but I held on and crossed the room, to the doors that led down into the basement.
I saw the thing that was the hive mind.
I let the fire go screaming from me, down into the darkness.
It burned.
Miraculously, I didn't black out this time. We all crawled, or were dragged, from the burning building. The control was broken; everyone had returned to their right minds. I held up long enough to patch up those with the worst injuries, then crawled into a corner to collapse from exhaustion until Admin showed up.
So many people dead, and not a scratch on me. Gods, I hate this "gift". Hate the feelings it brings out in me.
There's some loose ends that never got tied up. What, exactly, West Side R&D is up to, the actual motives behind the murders at the bank, and the current whereabouts of Sixteen Tons. And I need to start working some things out.
