The Upper Bay, New York City
New York City , in the air over the Upper Bay
Ember Saint & Sphere
Griphon if he joins us


When they resolved, they found themselves on the inside of a militiary style transport helicopter.  The woman in the front seat was dark skinned and wore heavy reflective glasses.  She was black and had a strong jaw with thick black lipstick.  That was about all tehy could tell of her.  The woman leaning in from the cockpit was more familiar to them.  Eva Rosales, one of Aegis' handlers.  Though she was younger, her hair longer, and she didn't have the scar on her chin.

"Um, guys.  we have a problem.   We're en-route to Governor's Island, but there's a situation.  New York just experienced some sort of earthquake."

Even as she spoke, the background behind her pixelated and resolved into the interior passenger compartment of a modified Piasecki H-21 Shawnee, and beyond that, the Ne York City skyline.   They were over the water of the upper bay, a little ways away from the Brooklybn Bridge, heading towards Governor's Island, where the AEGIS headquarters was located.

Eva stepped further inside ther transport chamber, and tapped her earpiece.  She glanced down at the data-pad in her hand and tapped a few keys, made a few curious gestures in the air.

"There was an accident in the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.  A commuter bus rolled over on it's side near the one of the air exchange units.   I'm trying to access the tunnel-cams.   Emergency services are en route, but we're closer and faster... Do you guys feel up for putting on a little display?

"This should be a straight-forward rescue op.  Find the people involved and get them out of there.  Emergency Services are moving to restrict access but the sooner we can clear out the tunnels the better.

The crash took out one--no, wait--two of the air-exchange systems.  Theoretically, that gives us about ten minutes and then there's a risk of asphyxiation.   And if it's an earthquake, there's a risk of associated damage--tsunami, aftershocks.

"Sorry boys.  It looks like the reception is going to have to wait.  You're on the clock now."  Eva said. "I"m giving this a  code ultraviolet and blue. "   (natural disasters / infrastructure)

--
So, your characters know that this is a psychic/digital simulation.   But it's realistic enough that you can't actually tell the difference.  You've had enough assurances that while this is psychic in nature, it's a collaboration between two other metas on-contract with AEGIS. They simply can't go digging in your head.  They can--with the proper equipment hooked up to you--provide a fully immersive VR scenario.

You know that this is the final step before being granted Aegis status.  Some consider it a simple formality, but there are stories of unwinnable situations...  Sebastian Swift, the architect behind Aegis contends that it a final observation to see how you think.