This is session seven, the conduit is open, Star Brother.
Can you hear me?
Just one more question tonight.
Show me again.
Your old partners, majestic.
Yes, their betrayal.
For years you worked with them, showed them wonders, and now they turned on you.
Show me the engine they build, not the stolen light, but the gifts they gave you, the gifts you gave them.
The secrets they now twist and steal because you wouldn't give them what they want.
This final terrible door, show me the terrible door, show me, show me, show show me.
Show me them breaking the pact.
Yes, yes, the arrogance, the human greed.
I see it, I see it.
They took the knowledge, the greed, the creation you shared.
They're twisting it into something.
They think they can control it.
They think they control it.
Fools.
Fools, they broke the accord with you and you told them no.
You saw what they would do with it, didn't you?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Come back, stop fading.
Yeah.
You're afraid of what we've become.
You're afraid of what I do to you.
Here, more pain, more pain.
Here, come here.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, sorry.
The truth must be clear, the nature of everything.
Show me the colors again.
I see they're coming.
Yes, I see.
Your friends are coming.
Oh, yes.
Okay.
Yes, they're coming too.
Listen to the dead letter barrow.
Welcome.
the Sundowner Mine partially collapsed, recedes behind you.
There's a dull thud of some rocks in the distance still falling from it as you're walking out into the desert again.
the dry earth around there starts to crumple under your foot.
And you reflect on what happened over the past...
two and a half hours of your life.
That reflection is a brutal hammer, thrumming in your head.
The heat starts to feel like a physical weight and you're baking in your own sweat and the grime on your skin.
It's a few mile trudge back to the vulval over broken rocks and there is an eerie silence as the cave
escapes your vision and you are continuing back.
Anything you're doing or talking about in the desert as you make your way back.
it evening by this point?
3 p.m.
I think I'm looking down at the scrap of flesh that I peeled off the forearm of the sniper.
Mulling over this tattoo, which maybe seems to have some loose association to majestic, it sure seems like they're going to be a perpetual thorn in our side figure.
maybe there's something we could do to balance those scales out a
Absolutely.
You have encountered two majestic agents, seemingly, and you have noticed that they do not ask questions, they shoot first, and that leaves an uneasy feeling in your stomach, Ryan,
you've never dealt with people like this, so maybe you feel a little overwhelmed by the prospect of a competing agency trying to murder you.
Yeah, I think that's probably accurate.
I'm like, I'm just the computer guy.
I don't know how I ended up killing an alien and now I'm getting shot at.
But I'm down for the adventure.
I'm feeling more alive than I've ever felt in my 35 years, that's for sure.
Yeah, yeah, speaking of killing an alien, you also reflect on the grays that you saw in the cave and their impossible movements, those fathomless black eyes.
both of you encountered some sort of psychic ability in different forms.
One of them tore through Dell and the other one froze Ryan in his spot,
that cold knot of memory, a violation of natural law, makes killing that human before you went into the cave almost seem mundane to you, Ryan, it's still fresh.
You've never been around so much death in your life, but this is a new type of game to you,
Yeah, I mean, I think the simple death of a bullet now feels uncomplicated next to the idea of what manner of unspeakable horror could be unleashed from the mind of something we
can't reckon with.
just as unspeakable, the ancient desert feels like it watches you and it's indifferent to the trauma you just experienced as your beat up Volvo finally appears.
Less a sanctuary, maybe more just another uncomfortable ride deeper into this unfolding nightmare.
But you are back to your car.
I wonder what the local authorities around here know about Majestic.
I mean, they have to know that there's these group of people out here looking pretty sus at times.
I'm wondering, yeah.
they must either be causing them trouble or working together.
And one of those at least seems fortunate for us, right?
Or at least like we could ally.
Do you think that it makes sense for us to go talk to the sheriff back in Jerome or ask what they might know or even any information on Arthur at this point to help guide us to
where he might be?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think maybe coming clean or as clean as we can uh with the sheriff maybe puts us in his good books or at least not in his bad books.
Right, because we could be the bad guy to them at this moment, which is probably not great.
who knows if Majestic is in their ear, but I mean, given the trouble that they've caused, I guess I'd be surprised if they had a blooming relationship.
Yeah, agreed.
Okay, yeah, mean maybe just best to get ahead of it and head straight in.
Yeah, and hopefully it goes well.
Hopefully they're not, you know, siding with Majestic, but I think we'll be able to tell.
I don't think I've ever hoped for something to go poorly.
That surprises me a little bit.
So getting in the car and heading back to Jerome.
you had to drive over some pretty risky terrain to get out this far.
So whoever's driving, go ahead and roll a drive.
We need dice for this game.
What the heck is that?
Hehehe.
Yeah, you start driving back, you're still a little mixed up from that psychic assault.
In fact, you still have blood drive to the inside of your eyes that you're trying to pick out and you lose some time.
On the way out here, it took you about an hour to get this far.
Takes you about two and a half to get back out to the main road and navigate all of the rocks and things jutting from the ground.
But you do make it back as nightfall is starting to take over the valley.
It looks like Jerome is still lit by the setting sun, but in the valley where you are, it is dark.
Alright, I mean, they might be closed up shop for the night, but we could at least go check.
as well.
Yeah, what's the approach?
Just driving straight to where you knew the sheriff's office was, the little city municipal area.
think so.
I mean, there's no reason to do it any different that I can think of.
Yeah, mean our car is recognizable, but I don't know that there's a place where we're going to be able to park it where it won't be seen.
if there's a back alley or behind a dumpster or something that we can manage that's off the beaten path.
You know, my favorite movie is Back to the Future.
And I remember a scene when they were trying to hide the DeLorean and they found like a huge billboard that they hid it behind, covered it with some stuff.
Maybe we could do something like that.
Both of you, roll luck.
Our plan is just that good.
Yeah, it's looking like a 30.
Not lucky over here.
94.
As you're driving up, you don't see a billboard, but you see a hollowed out RV that is rusted to hell, a little bit from town.
It would be about a 20 minute walk from there up the switchbacks, but you think you could probably hide it behind that RV.
I mean, I don't mind the idea of not making a big entrance back into town, right?
They're probably watching, but if they're watching through a scope, are we just putting ourselves in more danger if we're just hoofing it?
If that's the case, then probably, yeah.
All right, well, I'll leave it to you.
You take our chances on foot, you just wanna roll up to where the sheriff is.
think we should just roll up.
Yeah.
No fear, we're going in.
Yeah.
I'm tired, so I don't feel like walking.
we've done enough of that.
Yeah, you're both quite tired.
You drive up a recognizable few switchbacks and get to the Historical Society past the Compu Cafe, which looks closed, and you see the county building and there are some lights
on.
The sign does read closed, but there is somebody inside.
We've got a badge, is that right?
Some description of station?
we just, they take in our word that we're important people.
You're both FBI, correct?
Yes.
Yeah, you both have badges that have your real identities and real badge numbers on them.
You could use that all you want, but you know that it's probably good to be careful and less trusting when you're in this line of this part of your job
Those badges, you could cover up maybe the important details with a thumb, show the authority without the details.
Yeah.
Alright.
How much do you need to see, really?
You're gonna comply, aren't you?
okay.
I mean, I think we try and move quick, go ahead and take a look at the front door and knock if we must.
Yeah, you walk up some stairs.
It looks like an old west boardwalk that goes around this entire municipal building.
And there are a few lanterns lit up around it that, would light the way for tourists to walk to other things past this area.
And then there's just a glass push door and the sign is closed, but deeper in the building, you see a light.
Okay, I think I'll shine a mag light flashlight in and just give a little tap tap tap with the backside of it, right?
Like even to the point where it sounds like maybe it could crack the glass just so you know we're serious.
Okay, yeah.
It's very cop-like.
Yeah, you tap, tap, tap there's a door that you see open up, light spills out of it.
And you see a aging, maybe Hispanic or half Mexican man come out in a sheriff's outfit.
Looks like he's kind of like stretching as he walks and comes up, gives you two a look.
You guys are filthy.
probably smell, kind of shakes his head and flips open the lock.
Doesn't have his hand on his gun or anything.
Slowly opens it up and says, I've been looking for you two gringos.
You're at the phone company, right?
Something like that.
Maybe best if we talk inside and clear this whole ordeal up.
would appreciate that.
That would make my job a lot easier and probably make this paperwork a lot quicker.
You mind if I put these babies on you and he holds up a pair of handcuffs just to ensure my own safety?
Shoot, what a vote of confidence.
Yeah, I mean, I suppose.
Great, great.
Just one pair.
He's got two, one left on his belt.
He's just holding up one.
Great, great, that would set my mind at ease while we talked.
You're not under arrest yet or anything, but it just makes it a little easier for me.
Yeah, I gotta be honest, it doesn't quite feel that way, you know, if the precautions are just precautions, so be it.
Yeah, he opens the door all the way.
motions for you to come in.
Yeah, go in find a comfy seat, look right at home.
You both sit down.
He motions for you to hold your hands out in the handcuff fashion.
If there's no objections, he puts the handcuffs on you gingerly, walks around his desk and picks up a half smoked cigarette that has been burning there since he walked over to get
you, takes a long drag off of it and breathes really, really deeply.
He says, well.
Bellboy, his name was James and he sure did get the worst of it there.
The other fella lost his face but it's a damn shame about James.
His family's really upset.
So what happened?
Yeah, I mean...
I imagine he had to be pretty scared before he went.
That other man, not so much.
He knew exactly what he was doing, but I fear poor James took it right in the back of the head, didn't even know it was coming.
That's what it looked like when I got on the scene.
um Yes, we found traces of gunpowder on the other man's hand.
So it did look that way, but we also found a broken window and two missing strangers.
Yes sir, those are us.
The ones who survived.
If you got any sort of laboratory in here, I imagine you have to know that the gun signature responsible for James came from that headless man yonder.
we figured that just based on some easy ballistics.
We don't have a lab or anything here.
we would have sent it off to the state if the feds hadn't have intervened and kicked us out.
But that's beside the point.
That fella that lost his head, I'm assuming that's your work, points to you, Adele.
gives you a cursory glance, Ryan, and kind of shakes his head again, takes another deep breath.
He's like, well, he had a tattoo on his arm.
And yeah, that kind of settled things on what type of guy he was.
That snake and tiger.
Did you see that?
looks something like this.
I'll just hold up my little fragment of skin.
Yeah, we done seen our fair share of those today.
Yeah, he's going to roll his sanity real quick from seeing that.
He
tears come to his eyes.
There's something deeper here with that tattoo.
He chokes up for a second, bites his lip, turns red.
Well, his voice kind of gets shaky.
Well, back in NAMM, must've been 69 or 70, we were up in the central highlands.
Maybe one of those little excursions across the fence into Cambodia.
We weren't officially on that, but you know, sometimes we'd go and they'd send us there.
And then we'd see these other fellas.
A little different breed of soldier, not regular grunts, not even green berets.
They were more like ghosts, little whispers in the dark.
We used to call them the SOG's, Phoenix Program, all these nicknames that didn't make much sense, but these guys didn't officially exist.
And nobody wanted to do any type of job near them.
There was just some real hard cases as far as I saw.
And yeah, they had that same goddamn ink.
The Cobra, the Tiger marked all of their arms.
They slipped in the jungle for weeks, come back looking like they'd stared into some shit and the shit stared right back at them.
And they are the type that would probably wink back.
One time I asked our COs about them and they just act like they were smoke or told us we were seeing things.
But we knew they were there, but they were just doing something else.
And it looks like you got one of them, or maybe two of them.
Yeah, that's our tally so far.
I don't rightly know why our paths have crossed, but it seems they haven't taken kindly to our presence.
I know your town is supposed to be haunted, but real spooks, that's something different.
Seems like you've got a problem.
I do have a problem and I know, you know, I'm not sure if you're a part of any agency, but when the feds came in, they were very tight-mouthed about anything and I don't necessarily
like the old federal government coming into my town ever.
So yeah, it's definitely spooked me.
But I mean, two of those dead sons of bitches is a good thing in my book.
I had a friend, PFC Henderson, he was just a kid.
And you know, we were in a patch of hell, he was sharp.
little too sharp and he was on perimeter one night and he stumbled upon one of their special LZs and he swore he saw them loading crates that hummed or made some sort of
sound.
He said that when he got close to the crate, it went cold.
And like he turned cold in the dead of the jungle in the summer.
Felt like a crip to him.
And he got real quiet after that, but then he...
did something fucking stupid and told the COs about what he saw and not that long after that Henderson caught a stray round during a I guess so-called firefight and I don't
remember a firefight but it got him clean through the head and there was no enemy in sight just another KIA but he was a good kid and I swore to protect him when he first came out
and I'm pretty sure those tattooed bastards were the ones who
Did a man.
Do you have any theories about who they are?
I just know they were into some weird stuff and nom.
And it seems like they're still running around, which was a hell of a surprise to me and got me reflecting.
And he sits back in his chair, it creaks loudly.
And this is the first time you've noticed the half empty whiskey bottle next to him and a glass with melted ice water in it.
And he takes another deep breath.
They have a way of cleaning up loose ends.
I could see a nom and it seems like y'all are gonna be some more of those loose ends.
How long have you seen them here in Jerome?
We had some feds that were nondescript come back asking questions about three months ago.
I mean, were conspiracy theories going around town about them wanting to find some of our old cave systems, but I didn't take any stock in it.
That's pretty far out of town in my jurisdiction, so I just kind of wrote it off.
There's a lot of theories that go around here, especially when it comes to the federal government, Ruby Ridge and all, but no, I haven't seen these guys.
So they've been probably in the shadows or they're new here.
I'm not quite sure.
Yeah, well, I mean, we're looking to drive them out or at least, you know, send a message that we won't be dealt with so cleanly.
So if you're able to keep your eyes and ears open, we'd like to, well, try and make sure they know they're not welcome here.
But as far as we can tell, seems like they're chasing a different loose end.
And we just kind of happened to be incidental in that.
You know, man named Arthur Finch seems as though they have
special interest in his goings-on here.
Yeah, I know Arthur.
He's a strange, strange, strange guy.
He keeps to himself most of the time.
Why, you think that he has something to do with this?
Well, we've seen a few strange things around his residence, including one of these operatives inside.
It seems like too much of a coincidence.
His disappearance and all hadn't been seen the last three days the way we reckon.
For a man that doesn't like to be seen much, if he really didn't want to be seen, you have any idea where he might dig in?
What's your persuade?
Both of you.
Okay.
Yeah, add 20 % to that.
Yeah, 24.
Dang.
All right.
Yeah, he breezes like, well, he's got, I don't know, patch of desert out somewhere.
I don't really know where, but it would probably be registered in the land records.
There's a lot of desert around here, if you got a bit of paperwork, that'd be great.
I don't, I'm not the best at looking through paperwork, but I can show you where the files are.
Well, we could be your clerks today.
Yeah, he gets up with a groan.
As he comes over to you, he unlocks both of your handcuffs.
You smell the whiskey on his sweat.
He gives both of you a hand to stand you up.
You take the help.
He walks you back through a labyrinthine hallway.
You didn't realize this place was so big from the face of it.
And you see a mayor's office as you walk by.
And then you see a records department and a small door and he opens it up.
he comes over to the property records, which is like two shelves with drawers that have small little cards in them that are property tax cards.
Who's going to take a look?
I can.
Yeah.
Do you have bureaucracy?
I do 10.
What about accounting?
I do 10.
Okay, yeah, roll a bureaucracy with the aid of the sheriff with 20 % on it.
Nope, 46.
Yeah, you're picking through there.
You're not sure how it's coded.
It's not by address.
It's definitely not by name, because that's what you would have checked first.
Any other approach to dig through this or just maybe spending the night and crashing through each record.
I mean, I can't really think of any other way to just thumb through it unless they have digital files.
So, yeah.
Yeah, is there anything we might look up about the codes?
Just kind of like check an online encyclopedia to get a little crash course on what we're looking at.
It does have a computer there.
None of this is digitized, but you could probably look up the coding system for the computer science world, right?
Okay.
It's like my highest, oh, it, yeah, no, 96.
I was like, is that 09 or 90?
It's 90.
you're both gonna hunker down and look and the sheriff will chat with you as you do it, but both of you roll luck.
And if you get your luck rolled, then you'll be able to find it a little quicker.
my God.
dice.
I rolled it 96 again.
What are the chances of that?
Alright, last session you guys basically were like special operatives killing everything so I guess it's got to balance out a little bit.
But this is my specialty.
Yeah, true.
True.
you can ask the sheriff questions as you do this if you have anything, but if not, he is getting tired and is going to sit back in his chair and fall asleep.
Anything you want to do or ask of him before he passes out.
Is there a specific area in Jerome that you think these guys are hiding out at all or are you just don't know because you don't see them that often?
Well, there's just so much open land and there's so many caves.
God only knows where they're at and where they're coming from.
There's only one way into town and we didn't clock any different type of vehicles other than yours coming in here.
So my guess is they're camped out somewhere and coming in on foot, but it's really hard to say, honestly.
If they had interest in the mines, just like Finch, it's possible maybe they checked out some records at the historical society.
Like I said, we had the non-descript feds a few months back coming through and they did go to the Historical Society But man again, that's I don't know if it's the same guys
Yeah, well, I mean, we'll put it at the bottom of our list and check their log books and see if maybe there's any leads there.
But I imagine it's in their interest to keep quiet and not leave a paper trail.
you continue to search.
The task is arduous and mind-numbingly boring.
And you finally find where this parcel of land is.
Looks like it's about two and a half miles out of Jerome, close to a cliffside, but tucked around a bend based on the map that you're able to pull up and...
match up to where the plot of land is.
And it looks like a little private area in a small ravine.
Okay.
Just from the look of the lay of the land, does it seem like there is a...
to be unseen as we get in there whether by foot or by car.
You'd have to park a distance away to not be seen And then there's also an access road above it that you could come down the rock face that it's near, So you could take the road
in and then walk some of that, or you try to climb down.
Ryan, how's your history of repelling?
No history, so not great.
Yeah, so check that one off the list.
think.
All right.
Well, Sheriff, you've been most obliging.
Yeah, he wakes up with a start.
What did you say?
You
sorry about that.
Sorry about all this, honestly.
I mean, I think we found what we needed.
Hopefully we find Finch at the end of this and, you know, prevent any more senseless violence in your territory here.
We hope to be gone come sundown.
And hopefully with us goes the need for the rest of these ghosts.
I don't know where you came from or if you work for the phone company or not, but I appreciate you trying to run them back out.
And as far as I'm concerned, anybody who can kill two of those sons of bitches is in my good book.
So I appreciate what you've done and I don't have any more questions about your identity.
And I guess...
I don't really want to know at this point after what I've heard and seen already.
So please definitely get the fuck out of my town after you're done.
Just for my own peace of mind.
Yes sir, I think we've seen just about all there is to see here.
If you happen to catch wind of any more activity from these specters, you just go ahead and give this number a call and I'll slip over kind of like a hotline that would get to
us, you know, be flagged with significance.
Yeah, yeah, you, yeah.
Yeah, they have some dead numbers that Delta Green uses that you can throw over there, so.
Clean up the records, make it look real nice and neat just like we found it and then gonna go hit the road.
Yeah, do you think that we should rest and clean up?
Or do you think we should take advantage of the nighttime and head in?
I think Arthur Finch is going to get out of here as soon as he catches wind of something that puts the fear of God into him.
I'm only just hoping he ain't caught none of that yet.
I don't think we have time.
Sounds good.
As I like yawn and I'm like, all right, let's do it.
Yeah, you'll both be rolling in with essentially a level of exhaustion.
So minus 22, any roles that you need intelligence for basically.
Well, I mean, maybe we could take a pair of these handcuffs as we're walking out.
Because like, as far as I'm concerned, if we apprehend the man, any sort of questions can wait until we're somewhere far away and safe.
Yeah.
Yeah, are you just gonna steal him or are you gonna ask for him?
I'll ask for them nicely.
Last favor I'm asking for.
Yeah, he shrugs and says, yeah, you can take a pair of handcuffs.
I got a whole box of them.
figure you might give a little little jangle as we traipse on out of here.
you have the map, it's a short drive from where you park the car.
It's a winding one on access roads.
No need to roll unless you're doing anything fancy on the way over.
Describe your approach to finding this place.
Yeah, mean, Ryan, you got the best look at the map.
You got any instincts about whether driving up or going up on foot is going to be our best bet?
foot probably sounds the best.
can, and I'm looking at the map, we can probably pull over right about, you know, this point, which looks to be about a half mile from the property and probably walk from there.
Probably hide the road in some bush or something.
Yeah, I like that.
We got enough moonlight to maybe just go without any sort of auxiliary light.
Looks like it's just pure desert from there.
So I think it should be safe to go in without any light.
moon is big in the sky, it's about a half moon.
Stars are shining as well.
There's not a lot of light pollution up here.
So you think you can navigate it.
All right, let's do it.
You park the car some distance from the trailer and it's a rocky road up there.
Any stealth as you're working your way in?
Okay.
Go ahead and roll stealth.
49, we're good.
Ooh, two.
I'm also good.
shit.
So, yeah, this is another one of those instances where Agent Ryan is just enamored by your skills, when it comes to combat and stealth, and is able to mimic you and learn a little
bit about sneaking up and taking a good approach.
you are going along this road, you look in the distance, the moonlight.
shines in a big basin of an old quarry but isn't man-made but has that look to it there is cliffside surrounding this side of this there's an open part of the cliff that just looks
down the rest of the mountain and you see off in the distance a double wide trailer that looks beat to shit
Yeah, just keep walking towards the trailer as stealthily as we are.
Maybe try to look in a window or two.
Yeah, I'm curious to see if we can ascertain if there are egresses.
in and out.
Go ahead and roll a alertness.
Yeah, 20.
you look at the trailer, there is a front door and then as you approach, it does look like there is some sort of back patio because there's a light off to the back.
You haven't got all the way around it yet, but your guess is there is two entrances.
And as you get closer, you see there's a satellite dish.
on the top of it with tangled wires everywhere.
You hear in the distance the drone of a generator and the lights are on inside.
But the windows look like they've been crudely blacked out.
Like there's some with tin foil on them.
You see one with like a blanket.
So yeah, it's...
pretty gross around here, especially as you get closer and you have to avoid stepping on empty plastic water bottles and soda cans there's stuff that was just swept out of the
front door from there, like trash and refuse all over the front entrance.
If we're able, how far away would you say we are at this point?
You tell me.
Well, I guess I'm inclined to see if I couldn't go up and stick something through the handle of the front door to make it inoperable.
Ryan would probably be more skilled at doing that.
Would you want to try to jam the lock, Ryan, with your...
Yeah.
skills.
ah I would roll for locksmith, yes.
oh, didn't get it, 57 out of 40.
you think that you have done enough damage to it and pinned it enough to stop it from opening.
Any backup plan you wanna try to do, Dell?
Well, I guess I was just imagining like,
like lashing the handle to something fixed so that it can't swing open all the way.
It doesn't have to be sophisticated.
you have that rope still.
You could potentially latch it to a post that is on the egress.
Go ahead and roll athletics to tie it up.
Did I mention I'm pretty tired?
Like, I think I remember my knots, but like Boy Scouts was a long time ago.
you sense your special knot feels pretty good.
What do you do now?
Does this strike you as the kind of man that would booby trap his own house?
I didn't see anything like that in his apartment.
So probably chances are low, but we should proceed with caution anyway.
Okay, should we kill that generator or you just want to go ahead and...
it's not a bad idea.
Too bad I forgot my night vision back at home, but yeah, that's a good idea.
Let's do that.
And maybe he'll come outside to take a look at it.
good idea too.
Alright, yeah I think we'll go and try and find the source of the generator and see if we can't find a place to hunker down before we try and turn it off.
Okay.
You get to the generator, it's easy to find with the sound and the cords running from it to the trailer.
Just flipping off switch, assuming.
unplugging it, yeah.
Yeah, which one?
Unplugging it or turning the whole thing off?
Yeah, think turning it off makes it obvious that the generator is at fault.
So we'll turn it off.
Yeah, you flip the red switch to the off position.
it clunks and then shuts off the trailer goes dark.
and you're waiting to see if he comes out.
He does not come out.
You're about, how long would you wait?
Maybe about five minutes or so.
think I'm going to see if there's a way to scale up to the roof.
you walk around, again, this is just a double wide, it's not that tall.
You could probably get to a window sill and pop yourself up onto the roof.
You would need athletics again for that.
99 that seems bad
We're very tired.
Ryan, what are you doing while he's trying to climb the roof?
I'm just watching from where the generator is, but I am curious about what Del's plan is at this point.
I was thinking that we would just try the back door.
So I'm just kind of waiting to see what my next move should be.
Yeah, you see Agent Sandusky get on the sill, about to pull himself up, and there is this little trim on the roof, some white plastic trim, and it rips off and he just falls down
and hits his head.
Can you roll a dodge real quick for me?
Yeah, critical success, 22.
great, you fall down and your head narrowly misses just a giant stone as it still cracks against the ground.
Go ahead and take a D4 of damage.
and you're shaking for a little bit.
Ryan, you see him slip, fall, and smack his head pretty hard.
What are you doing?
I'm walking over to him to offer him a hand to get up.
You handily get him up.
seems a little disoriented when he first stands.
You're a little lightheaded.
no movement or anything, even with the fall.
sound or anything coming from inside.
Go ahead and roll a search for me.
I got 41 out of 22.
Yeah, yeah.
No sounds coming from inside.
Okay.
Can I go jiggle the handle to the back door?
it's locked.
well, that's okay.
I'm gonna try to crack it.
roll it.
Ooh, three.
again, watching the master work, Dell, even though you feel a little blood in your mouth from that fall, a little irony taste running through you.
You see Ryan unlock the door.
Are you peeking in?
Me?
Yes.
Yeah, you see the lock given and the door groans open and Dell, maybe you nudge it a little further as it slowly opening.
And the first thing that wafs out is a ripe smell.
It's like stale sweat, maybe a week's worth of unwashed laundry.
mixed with something really sharp and metallicky, almost like that bloody taste in your mouth, Dell, but in smell form, like a almost formaldehyde as well.
And it's faint, but you also hear a tiny little metallic like sound like clunk clunk.
as you've opened the door, like a wiggling.
It's really dark in here and extremely dim.
You can't see much else because the windows are blacked out and there are, from the inside, you see layers of cardboard and duct tape holding whatever materials he has
against the windows up there.
But it's pitch black, other than that.
I was kind of on alert for something that might be trapped, so I'm just gonna try and stay Ryan's hand before we push it open any further.
What do you reckon?
Sure, why not?
23 of 24, we love that.
Oh, you quickly look in, look up.
In your old hostage negotiation days, you also had booby trap training for extractions and you don't see anything that looks makeshift or even sophisticated at a glance.
So it does not seem like it's trapped, at least this door.
Okay.
Well, Ryan, do figure we just stroll on in or would you like to try and appeal to his sense of self-preservation?
I'm feeling a little overconfident, I think, after all that we've been through at this point.
I'm gonna pull out my gun, but a flashlight as well, do the old, all the stance that I always see in all the movies that I watch, where I'm holding them both up at the same
time.
Okay, you have a little cross with the flashlight, you flick it on and the light cascades across this kitchenette that you're in and you see it's a filthy mess.
There are books everywhere, printouts of things.
There's a half torn map.
it looks like pure chaos, much like the apartment, but this looks more lived in and less searched through.
There are strange symbols written everywhere as well, like in Sharpie and pencil.
Some of it maybe even looks like it's written in shit.
And it looks like there's also Dell.
drug paraphernalia on the counter, you see empty sheets of paper that typically have LSD on them, And there's a hallway that leads back to a bedroom, it looks like, or the rest of
the house, but the living room is absolutely torn to pieces.
And you hear that metallic tingling sound.
down that hallway again.
way.
Guess I expected him to have more of his wits about him.
Seems like old boy has lost the plot.
Yes, he's doing some weird stuff.
Eye hair, that's for sure.
Yeah.
I'm curious about the sound that I'm hearing and would like to get a little closer to what that sound is.
You start down the hallway, you have your flashlight out, you're stepping over garbage the entire way.
The smell gets more pungent, especially that formaldehyde type irony smell.
As you walk up to a open doorway at the very end, right in the center of the pigsty, you see him, Arthur Finch.
He is sitting cross-legged.
maybe passed out, maybe awake, it's hard to tell, and little slumped over, and he's stripped to the waist, he looks gaunt, he hasn't had a shower or a square meal, it looks
like, in days.
His eyes spring up
as your flashlight crosses and his pupils are like black dimes, just massive pupils.
And he starts muttering almost like a chant.
And he has this notebook that he's scrolling some of these symbols in right in front of him.
You see drool and spittle come down his face with your flashlight.
It gleans a little bit.
What he's focusing on and what he's communing with.
Well, you see it strapped tight to a metal reinforced bed with handcuffs and a mix of heavy rope and duct tape.
You see a small gray, skinny alien with black eyes tied down, but moving slightly.
And that's where that tingling sound is coming from.
It twitches and the handcuffs that are attached to its arm
send a small ringing through the trailer.
It's almond-shaped eyes close as your flashlight goes over them, much like you saw in the cave.
It's one of them.
This one looks pretty weak, banged up.
It has some black goop on its head, like it was hit.
And you both roll sanity for helplessness as you see this.
8.
But is it against our current sanity or is it against our willpower?
Motherfucker.
I failed by one.
Hmm
so in this instance, this is the first time we've had a sanity failure.
You can choose to project the sanity lost to one of your bonds if you want to.
So you could pick Abigail, your ex-wife or your AA sponsor, Clinton, or you can take the sand loss.
Yeah, I mean, I don't like the idea of flubbing this now.
Like, I think if ever there was a time to draw on my inner metal, this is it.
So I will project this onto Clinton.
And what?
Could you describe for me a little bit of what form that might take?
In your home scene after the operation, there, depending on how much you project, which is the role of a D4, you will lose that bond score from that 11 that you have on your sheet.
And if it's severe, then maybe you haven't contacted him in a while.
You're used to calling him every day, letting him know you're clean.
And he thinks you had a relapse and is worried about you.
And it stresses him out, but you're using him for strength.
while you're using him for that strength, it saps the relationship.
Yeah, I mean, I sure am thinking about it, how nice that sheriff's whiskey bottle would taste right about now.
Romeo D4.
three.
you take three off of your current willpower and then take three off of the bond with Clinton and you just lose one sanity.
from that experience, And Ryan, you succeeded your sanity role.
You have an iron stomach and a curiosity about you that is unmatched.
Maybe it's something from your childhood.
Maybe it's the way your grandma helped raise you, but you have a very open mind and experience this in a much different way than Del, a much less rigid way.
you're kind of just like, okay, this is what we're doing, but you still will have to take one sanity.
Okay.
While agent Sandusky is trying to compose himself, Ryan, you continue to look with your flashlight.
You see a car battery.
and some wires hooked to it and they are attached to the metal part of the bed and one of the wires is pulled off of it but it looks like using some sort of shock method on this
thing.
And that's the tableau that greets you.
Finch is captive, whatever unholy drug-fueled thing is happening in front of you and...
He finally locks in and looks up to you.
he gets a big grin on his face and tries to stand, but falls down on his ass and starts breathing really hard convulsing or seizing for a second, but then pulls it together again
and sits back up and starts rocking back and forth.
What do you do?
I mean, I'm probably just saying, Arthur, what's going on?
Roll me psychotherapy.
I would give you a bonus, but you're exhausted.
just, yeah, let's see what you can do.
My psychotherapy skills, what's going on?
Let's see.
Hey, what's going on?
ah I did not get it at 38.
You're talking past whatever's happening.
And he just starts saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't understand.
You don't understand.
You can't just interrupt me.
It's delicate.
What's delicate?
You're trying to talk to me.
Don't talk with me.
He closes his eyes and starts breathing really hard.
Life is delicate, Finch.
You're toying with it.
And I'm gonna go over to the gray and I'm going to hold the gun to its head.
But I'm not acknowledging the gray, I'm staring at Finch.
Yeah, he, go ahead and make a persuade
he's not in his right mind.
Like you're trying to get through to him, but he's in the zone right now.
he looks back to you, doesn't even notice you holding the gun to hit the alien's head.
He starts thumping his chest really hard.
And then he says, they operate on a wavelength we can't even fathom.
And I have the key, I have the key.
And he tries to close his eyes again.
And this time when he closes his eyes, Del, you feel the alien convulse.
And Ryan, you're looking at Finch.
Finch's back straightens and he grits his teeth.
and you see the telltale sign of blood coming out of his nose, much like what you saw happen to Agent Dell when he was hit by the psychic blast.
And he starts to laugh as this is happening.
I don't like anything about this.
Yeah, I'm wholly at odds with the notion of anything being held captive in this way, and I'm going to execute the alien.
it looks in pain.
You don't know what it's feeling.
You don't know if it can feel, but the, you get the sense that it is hurting and you shoot it in the head, presumably.
Yeah, that'll get his attention.
Del shoots the alien in the head and that black eiker comes out, sprays all over your body.
Del, you don't have to take a sand loss because you're adapted to violence, but it was quite a gruesome shot.
and Ryan, you see Arthur fall over and start vomiting on the floor.
The smell of the vomit is acidic and disgusting and almost again, chemically.
And he rolls over to his side and is just wailing inconsolably.
My inclination here is to just kill Arthur as well because I just don't like anything about this scene.
But before I jump to that conclusion, I just want to check in with Del.
Del, what should we do here?
I we're cleaning up in whatever way that means to us.
I don't have any more business syndrome.
I'd just as soon book him into the back of our car.
There might be some answers in him yet.
Who knows what use he is.
He's thrashing on the ground.
It takes him a second and he looks up and sees the dead gray angel as he starts calling it.
He's like, an angel, the gray angel.
It was giving me the truth.
It's gone.
He starts to wail again.
handcuffs.
That's what these are for.
Yeah, go ahead and roll your unarmed to see if you can get him on him.
Yeah, 55.
Okay, he failed his dodge.
You are able to get the handcuffs on him.
Can you roll a dodge as well as he tries to headbutt you?
He rolled a 67, which is a failure.
I got a 007 but I'm gonna let him and I just like have my back foot back and he can like put that right into my cheekbone and you see it kind of like break and collapse and I'll
just like flinch towards him so that he knows he's not making any ground.
you loom over him.
He's still in some sort of drug-addled state.
He falls to his knees, holds his hand up and starts saying, please, please, please, please.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Yeah, I'm gonna grab the middle of the handcuffs, the chain that connects them, and I'm gonna drag them up and over his head, dislocate one of his shoulders in the process, and
we're gonna start marching out of here.
Yeah, do the unarmed again.
Ryan, what are you doing while this is happening?
You failed the dodge.
watching in awe and I and I'm also kind of looking around to see if there's anything noteworthy that we should
take with us or just thinking of a way to get rid of everything that's in this trailer or the trailer altogether.
You don't have your forensic kit, you can use your forensic skills to sift through this as Dell is trying to get him in the car.
Nailed it, 15.
Great, we'll get back to that.
So you dislocate his arm successfully.
He failed his dodge roll.
He screams in pain.
There is blood running down his eyes along with his tears.
And he continues to mutter.
It's mostly nonsense at this point.
You hear Grey Angel here and there.
You hear truth.
You hear God, you hear a lot of strange descriptors coming out.
He's whispering at this point as you're pulling him out of the trailer and putting him in the car.
That's where you're putting him, is in the car.
and I'll bring it up and around to pick up Ryan when we get there.
Yeah, you drag him back a long walk with a wiggly guy.
Give me your athletics.
Yeah, I think I'm kind of like holding him one hand on the cuffs and the other hand at the base of that shoulder just in case he tries to make a move like it's not going to be not
going to be pleasant.
Athletics you said?
Yeah, just fine.
All right, Agent Sandusky, you're able to drag him back to the car, no problem.
He wiggles around, tries to drop to his knees, but you're able to heft him back up and you throw him in the back, get the car started and drive up to the trailer.
Inside the trailer, you're searching for things, correct, Agent Ryan?
Yes, I am searching the trailer.
There's a lot of stuff, so I'm kind of overwhelmed.
yeah.
you notice are the symbols everywhere.
And you also have the book that he was holding physically that you're able to grab, which is a thick journal, You do a quick flip through it.
It has writing everywhere.
The writing looks neat at first and then turns into these symbols later.
on in the journal and are unintelligible and there is a sheet of acid that falls out with a few tabs left on it from the journal as you're flipping through and the big thing that
you see is a strange diagram of almost a hand-drawn weapon.
you would be able to read through this and maybe get some context, but you can't do that right now unless you wanna spend the night.
No, definitely not wanting to spend the night with shit symbols on the walls here.
But definitely wanting to take this stuff and start piling it up in my arms.
Okay, you grab the journal.
Everything else seems like trash.
I mean, I'm going to run this by Dell when he gets back, but I really just want to set this place on fire and just get rid of everything.
You hear the car pull up and you go to the front door, which is still roped shut, but you can see that Dell is, and hear that Dell is waiting in the car.
Are you gonna yell for him?
I mean, I'll just go out the back door and walk around the front and take the rope off of the front door.
Yeah, and then have a conversation with him about tidying this place up.
Del, this is what I've got.
I think it's the most helpful, you know, bit of papers that I could see.
Do you want to take one last look before we just light this place up or?
Yeah, I mean, if you got any mileage left on your little disposable camera, maybe we take snapshots of the rest of the walls in here.
Yeah, I mean, I'll give it a look, but I think leave no trace, right?
OK.
And I walk around the back and I flip the switch to the generator back on so there's light in the trailer for me to take those pictures.
Yeah, you pull the start pole on it and the generator rips up and the lights start to flicker on and there's full electricity going to it and you can flip the switches on.
The whole thing's lit up.
Even more disgusting than before as you're in the kitchenette still taking pictures of the symbols.
Are you going to the place where you found him in the dark as well?
Yeah, definitely.
And some pictures of the dead alien.
when you flip on the light, you notice that the alien looks like it had been urinating or defecating there as well.
There's strange markings from its rear and that's presumably this weird formaldehyde smell you've been picking up.
Can you roll your sanity?
If anything's gonna get me, it's gonna be that.
Okay, Mr.
Beans.
85.
That's a fail.
Yeah, 76.
Okay.
Are you going to project any loss onto bonds or are just gonna take it?
I'll do it on my buns, yeah.
Yeah, which bond?
Probably my college mentor.
Okay.
Your college mentor who taught you forensics and how to pick locks.
you take four off of your willpower and take four off of the bond score for that person.
And you do not take any sanity loss from this by projecting it.
How does thinking of your mentor help you in this moment?
He helps me in a lot of ways.
I just had always looked up to him.
I never had a close relationship with my father growing up.
by the time I got to college, I had never had a real relationship with any man until I met him.
And he just was a great mentor to me and helped me through some interesting years of my life.
So yeah, I think about him a lot.
especially in hard situations.
You feel yourself getting overwhelmed by the sight, but that thought of your mentor and him as a father figure grounds you and you get your pictures and are able to leave if
that's what you're choosing to do.
Definitely choosing to leave this place, yes.
How are we cleaning up?
Yeah.
Is there maybe a spare gas can out by the generator?
Go enroll me luck.
46 lucky enough
Yeah, you get out there.
It's dark, but you're able to find a half filled metal gas can.
Yeah, I think a good half of the remainder is going on the gray and the rest is kind of like a trail starting from the other farthest side of the house.
Yeah, what do you lighten it with?
Flint Steel.
Yeah, yeah, I mean go for it Ryan.
You got the campin' chops, right?
Yeah, you do have your ferro rod with you since you have a camping kit in the back of the car and you have a knife as well you can strike it.
All right, that's what I'm doing.
Dell, you're pulling out your lighter and you see Ryan sit down by this gas and just like, and then finally it takes and you see the trail ignite a little bit of a blue.
leading the red flames and orange flames as it burns the gasoline and the vapors.
And then you hear as it hits the pile of gas on the gray alien.
And that whole room starts to immediately ignite with all the paper and trash everywhere.
What's next?
Boy, you are full of peculiarities.
And I will reach down into the side of my sock and I'll pull out two cigarettes, the only two that are in there, and I'll light them on the stream of fire and I'll hand one to Ryan
and I'm just gonna take a deep drag as we walk on out of here.
It's very clear I've never held a cigarette in my life.
So I'm like holding it really strangely and not in a cool way.
But I'm trying to pull it off, you know, to impress you.
So I like take a big hit of it and then I'm just like coughing my brains out because like, ugh, it's disgusting.
Yeah, I mean, I was just going to say, right, like you don't lose any cool points from that, right?
Nor were there any to be gained, I guess.
Like, it was just kind of like a given the day that we've had.
Like, never has there been a 24 hour period quite like this.
And if ever something called for a cigarette, like that's what this is for.
Yeah, you are smoking your cigarette like a normal person, Del.
Ryan is not.
As you're doing this, you start to get more reliant on the cigarette and you finally have it in that double hook grip where you're squeezing the butt so much you're barely getting
any smoke from as your hands shakes and you're taking drags from it.
Yeah, I think, um...
maybe place a quick call on the phone and then I don't think there's anything but road for us.
calling Handler Butterfield.
Yeah, hit that pager up.
Yeah, you get the automated message that somebody will be calling you back at this number.
And about 20 minutes later, you hear the ring of the car phone just answering.
Who's talking?
I are we well on our way then at this point?
Yeah.
I think I'm going to, unless I see Ryan reach for it, I'm gonna pick it up and just hand it back to, hold it up by Finch's head and see what kind of gobbledygook comes out of his
mouth.
Yeah, Finch is muttering still and he's talking about walls and the strange nature of them and how they seemingly stop us but with the right mindset you can move through walls.
He's talking about God, gray angels, but.
It seems like he's also starting to come out of this haze as well.
It's getting a little more cogent at times, but that's what Handler Butterfield hears.
You catch all that, there's going to be a test later.
You
Agent, who am I talking to?
Well, I think you might have been talking to God earlier.
that was Finch.
He's secured.
way.
Okay, you've secured Finch.
What is his issue right now?
Boy, that's a long list.
I think he's a bit intoxicated, but it's hard to say if that's gonna cure him of what ails him.
Okay, his uh background didn't strike me as the drug use type, but it's obviously, that was wrong.
So why am I talking to him?
Well, I just thought you'd like to get a taste of what our day has been like.
Okay, so it's been an interesting day from what you're saying.
It's 3 a.m.
on the East Coast.
Is there anything I can help you with?
Well, I mean, I thought maybe we'd have a little party or something, but if that's not quite your speed, then I guess Ryan could catch you up on anything that might be pertinent
from the last day here.
Agent Ryan, glad to hear you're still whole.
Haven't heard from you in a while.
What's Agent Sandusky going on about?
Well, we have Arthur Fenton in our custody.
As far as anything we've seen directly, everything has been destroyed here.
So we found Arthur with Grey being tied up in his trailer, I guess, taking drugs to communicate with it.
He's clearly completely out of his mind at this moment.
That all has been taken care of.
And we were able to also find a mine where these things have been hiding out.
Majestic clearly on the case already.
We've also been able to destroy the mine as well.
We.
m
technology in the mine, Agent?
Not technology necessarily, but we did come in contact with them directly.
Okay.
There was evidence of former alien technology being there though.
I can't quite pick out what Agent Dell is saying over the car phone.
What was that?
uh
There looked to be uh former technology there that had been drug away at some point, something very large, but we weren't able to tell when that happened or where it was
taken.
Okay.
And any more news on the majestic front?
Other than talking it to the local sheriff, apparently this is pretty common for them to be hanging around in Jerome And we have come in contact with a couple of them and they are
no longer alive.
so beyond the first one at the hotel, have...
One more out at the mine.
Okay, so this mine was important to them and it seems like there's alien technology missing.
This is not adding up to an equation I like, but thank you for destroying the mine and the communing with aliens bit.
Is that also taken care of?
Yes, I mean, we have Arthur in our backseat of our car at the moment, but everything else has been destroyed.
What's your intentions with Finch?
other than just not knowing if there's more information that we might be able to get out of him once whatever he's on has weared off, off.
and after you interrogate Finch.
I mean, we will take care of it like we have everything else, is my assumption.
Reading you in, Ryan, was a boon to the agency.
I appreciate your commitment to the mission.
Ensure that Finch is no longer able to post any of these things online, but please make sure that it's done quietly and in a place that cannot be tracked back to you since you've
already made a kerfuffle in Jerome.
Will do.
Thank you.
Thank you for the update.
I am going to get back to sleep unless there is something else.
Nothing else.
Well, I will book a flight in the morning back to Phoenix and hopefully see you in the field office there unless you have another approach or escape from the area that is
needed.
Not at this time.
She just hangs up.
So he really said kerfuffle, just like it weren't a joke or nothing.
That's what he said.
I mean his name is Butterfield, so.
He clearly has no understanding of what we've been through.
Yeah.
fun.
You
Mmm.
Yeah, look, I don't know how this normally goes, but I'm not sure that I'm interested in being the one to extract this information from Finch.
I'd kind of like to deliver him down there in person and then whatever they want to do with him, they can.
Unless you see it otherwise.
I mean, that sounds okay to me in theory, but Butterfield did say that he wanted us to take care of it.
Butterfield wants a lot of things and I don't think he's used to not getting what he asks for.
Man needs to learn to compromise.
Yeah, if you say so.
I'm on your side.
you roll me a drive?
No, no good.
Yeah, you're starting to slow down.
In fact, you're nodding off a little bit at this point as you're driving.
You don't wreck, but were you to continue to drive at this level of exhaustion, you would either need some sort of stimulant or a break.
Yeah.
I mean,
We're somewhere in the desert between Jerome and Phoenix at this point.
Yep, just past Sedona.
I mean
You feel like we've shook anybody that might still be following after us.
You think we can catch a wink.
think we can.
Yeah, I mean, I'm inclined to just pitch a little tent out by the side if we can drive off the road just a little ways.
Situate Arthur with his handcuffs between the headrest and maybe a bag over his head.
Sounds good to me.
you put Finch there, he's already asleep.
He's been exhausted, who knows how long and what else he's been mixing with LSD to stay up and experience whatever this great angel had to say to him.
So he's passed out already.
You're able to put a little piece of cloth in a bag form over his head.
You're getting your tent set up and you're able to take a night's rest.
while you're sleeping, the image of the trailer going up in smoke.
fills you with a sense of control in this situation.
And you feel bolstered by it and reflecting on how much you've covered up of this and how much you're hiding from the general public because if they knew, even if your loved ones
and bonds knew what you were doing out here, it would crush them and you are...
bolstered by that and you add one sanity each back and you're able to feel a little better about the world.
you wake up with restored willpower also.
And...
Get some rolls here for Finch.
Finch is still asleep, has not escaped or anything, but is in the car, still passed out, some drool wetting the sack that you put over his head.
man's waterboarding himself.
Yeah, what's next?
thing.
If we're confident that he's subdued, then I'm inclined to simply find something to hide him inside to escort him into the field office.
Like a refrigerator box, an appliance box or something like that.
Go dumpster diving and find something big that could carry him.
Stuff a sock in his mouth and carry him in.
Yeah, go ahead and give me search roles, both of you, as you're cruising around the outskirts of Phoenix.
What?
Let's go.
Nice.
Yeah, 22.
I guess that's a critical success too.
Damn, look at you guys.
you know that Kmart has got to have something around it and you go to the back and there's a huge dumpster.
They don't recycle.
And you're able to dumpster dive a little bit and pull out a big screen TV box.
know, flat screens now, they're thin boxes, but back then they were massive affairs.
You cut it in half and reform it to almost look like a coffin and it's able to fit in the vulval with the seats down.
Finch is almost catatonic at this point.
He's not saying much, not even really responding too much.
No fight in him at all.
Well, that's good.
One last thing.
Yeah.
So are you going straight to the field office?
Yeah, I reckon so.
Butterfield said he'd be there in the morning, right?
You pull into the parking garage.
It's like going back to elementary school after what you've been through.
It seems smaller there.
You have a broader experience of life and what it means to be involved in this program.
And you feel less like an alien there and more like a kaiju as you walk through that place.
You have a sense of power, but also a sense of awe about how tiny a FBI field office could feel to you and how alien it is.
You leave Finch in the car, I'm presuming, for now?
Or what are you doing?
we're delivering their new flat screen TV.
Okay, so both of your athletics carry this shit in.
Yeah, 14.
Let's go.
Not me, 48 out of 30.
you're able to still get it in.
Ryan, you drop your side a few times, you hear some groans in the box.
You come in through the garage and there's no front desk in this entrance.
You're just able to get back up to the office space you were.
It's a long conference table.
Just drop in the box on the conference table.
Yeah, I think so.
That's what the delivery instructions said.
Are we hauling out the old TV?
you put that on the table.
There's some like movement around in it.
No escape or anything.
Try like there's no again, no fight left in Finch.
And it's some hour or so before Butterfield shows up, he comes in looking quite tired and disheveled and his shirt is a little untucked.
He's got some little bit of sweat.
on his button up and his tie looks disheveled.
He walks in and looks at the box.
He's like, agents, what the fuck is that?
you didn't order this?
Jesus Christ, is that one of the aliens?
One of the aliens.
No, this is an American citizen.
That's no way to talk about them.
Okay, I didn't mean illegal alien, meant extraterrestrial agent, but you brought Finch here?
Sure is shootin'.
There wasn't anywhere in the desert you could have done this.
I mean, I've had about all my questions answered, but I figured you might have a few.
And I'm very uncomfortable because I do not like breaking the rules.
And I'm swaying back and forth next to Dell, just letting him do all the talking.
I came in here to congratulate you on an operation well done, but it seems like you did not finish the op.
Agent Ryan, I believe we had a very clear conversation on what to do with this.
Now I'm not the type that likes to chew people out, but I am very close to losing my patience.
I have no idea what to do with this guy or how to interrogate him.
What do you want me to do here?
I want you to bring in the professionals.
This ain't what I signed up for.
We did everything there was assigned to us.
I'm sure he's still got something of importance to tell, but I ain't gonna be the one to get it out of him.
Del, you are a professional killer.
I have seen your record and I believe you've killed two majestic agents at this point and you will not put this guy down.
Well, if you're not concerned about anything that he might know, that's never been an issue.
It just seems uh unwise to leave that on the table.
Okay, Ryan, I'm disappointed.
I understand Agent Dell has a rocky past, but you have a clean bill of health and a incredible record, which is why we read you in.
You are not meeting expectations of this operation by bringing somebody like this into this field office, but.
I will humor you and get a team to interrogate him.
Is this gonna happen again?
I cannot promise that one way or the other.
I'm assuming that you gave Dell to me as my partner for a reason.
Go ahead and roll push suede, plus 20.
Yep, 37.
He sighs.
Sure, I did partner you up for a reason because you're both really fucking good at what you do
except for bringing liabilities into an FBI field office under surveillance by the rest of the government.
I would have thought it more wise to do something different with him or maybe call me out there or a team out there, but we're working with what we got at this point.
There is
a sunk cost already happening and I have to deal with that.
I am still disappointed in you both.
But beyond this, thank you for doing a great job and getting rid of so many variants in the field.
And he pulls around a small sack that he had over his shoulder.
with just two giant stacks of $100 bills.
And he slams one on the table and then slams the other on the table.
I presume this will be enough.
It's 35,000 for each of you.
And I just take it and slide it over and put it in my fanny pack I say, apologies for any kerfuffles that we've put you in based on the situation.
Roll luck again.
Got it 42.
He doesn't notice that you are making fun of him.
He nods.
I give doll like a little side eye when I say it, you know?
Yeah, he doesn't pick it up.
He says, well, agents, I have some data to collate and an interrogation to go under.
I believe you might have other materials for me.
You can leave them here as well.
But expect that you will be getting a call in a week or so from the agency for the next operation.
Can I count on you both?
Yes, sir.
Yes, we are very reliable, sir.
in most things, 90 % there.
are we continuing on with Butterfield here?
Well, I wasn't intending to.
If we've got our own space, I was just gonna take a big whiff of the stack of hundred dollar bills.
Smells like disappointment.
Yeah, you see that he has held a second stack away from you.
No, I'm just kidding.
This is about half.
just kidding.
Yeah, he exits the room.
You have a bunch of files.
You have this journal that you haven't read.
Are you turning that in?
Are you gonna do some research between ops yourself?
At this time, for Ryan, I don't think I see any reason to hang on to it.
So I would be inclined to hand it over.
What about you, Dell?
You gonna take the journal?
I'll hand everything over.
I mean, I'll take a look right here right now, but I don't think I'm taking it.
a little sanity.
I'm just kidding.
keep the pictures on my digital camera to myself, however.
Yeah, it's actually a film camera, yeah.
you'll have to get it.
Disposable, you're sure.
Yeah.
Antiquated technology.
So, you guys open up this journal, you end up filling up a box of stuff with the things you grabbed from the op.
The first entry, it just says, I have the visitor, a lot smaller than I expected, easier to grab, did something to me, made me bleed, but was able to fight it off.
And the next entry, no way to connect, cannot communicate, but started to see colors bleeding from the very air around him.
It's a thrumming, almost like my generator in my own skull, but it felt like a color.
It felt like orange for some reason.
wondering how I can enhance experience.
Next entry.
There's no time or date on any of these.
Came back to trailer.
Visitor seemed injured, hurt, tried to feed it.
Nothing worked.
the next one.
using LSD.
The walls breathe, the colors, well, more like a dream now.
They're bleeding from the air all around me.
I thought I could hear it speaking to me.
It feels so small, my mind, like a teacup in a hurricane.
I saw more lights coming from the colors than before, but I can't hold onto it.
It keeps slipping away.
A little deeper this time.
I'm afraid there's a cold serpent in my gut.
And then there's a big space in the page.
Their thoughts are like living mathematics.
They're shifting, evolving, cold, perfect.
I saw journeys across silent voids, stars that looked like powdered glass in the distance.
There were other suns.
It's like a network of experience that I can't quite understand, but I can feel it.
And again, it comes through as colors.
I can't...
right what that means but that's how it feels.
But I'm starting to feel disengaged after this one.
Then the next one, it says, Star Brother, finally able to make sense of me and I am making sense of it.
I'm trying to understand it more and more.
There's a big space.
Their abductions, their observations are an attempt to gauge the threat from us.
And they want to stop this.
They want to stop.
their true enemy, which is stealing their technology that has crashed over the ages on earth.
They are trying to stop them.
The Star Brothers are also trying to warn us about them.
They cannot be trusted with the types of things they are finding.
The patterns are clearer now.
This drug is a lens, a bridge, icy connections, icy threads weaving through everything.
The Star Brothers weak.
And as it gets weaker and weaker and hurt,
more hurt, its mind touches mine with more clarity.
I am starting to give it pain.
I am electrocuting it during our sessions.
And in that pain, I have a clearer picture.
It was here to stop one of its ships from being taken, some of its technology from being stolen, but it failed when I found it.
There is no alignment, just a fear that we will uncover how to use this technology.
There's a fear among all of them that if we were to use this technology, we would use it to destroy them in the cosmos because we are not to be trusted.
And then that's when you get to the sketch of a ship, a bulbous looking flying saucer, very classic from like 50s movies.
And the sketch on the back of that looks like a small rifle of sorts and has little spikes from the sides of it.
And there's no annotation or anything, but
He must have got this vision from someone.
Both of you, as you've read this, go ahead and roll sanity for helplessness.
Okay, close but okay.
All right, Agent Ryan.
Oh, Sorry, wrong dice.
Sorry.
24, good.
24.
I rolled a 20 for some reason.
D20.
Yeah, you're able to hold it together, reading these drug addled.
entries, the rest are more done in symbols and colors smushed together.
So it's hard to, you can't really translate them and the handwriting becomes indecipherable and a scrolling that trails off the pages at times.
So these are the only things you can pick out.
Well, I mean, we ain't had too many allies these last couple days, but, well, it seems like them Greys may be more friend than we may have realized.
feeling a little bad, but it's good to have that information.
Yeah, I mean, if you'll recall, they fired first.
We've been fired first in every instance we've seen them.
Are you?
Every...
every instance?
Well look, the trailer was something different.
I can't stand to see a wounded animal in a trap like that.
And if you think there's any letting it go or...
nursing it back to health like Butterfield was mad we brought a man back.
I am not questioning our decisions.
just do feel a little bad.
Yeah, I mean...
Feel like it is.
good to understand what we're working with.
See if maybe we can't.
implore different tactics next time we meet.
Yes, agreed.
can learn as you go in any of these situations.
That's the job.
And with that, I think you are probably taking your hog back out, right, Del?
And you're getting on a flight, Agent Ryan?
Yeah, I need to go home and spend some time resting from this experience, yes.
Yeah, you're both going home $35,000 richer.