Mister Gunn shook Marcus' hand vigorously, like a car salesman who just sold a Mercedes:"Always a please, agent Drake. Give my regards to agent Smith if you chance to speak to him again, tell him I hope we get to play chess again some day".

He let everyone out of his office and resumed the crunching of numbers with his mighty calculator.

Ai had worked on a biological serum combining her own harvested endometrial cells with progesterone to stimulate the regenerative qualities of Alpha's harvested stemcells. The process was a lot more complicated than this oversimplified explanation but for the time being Ai was partly running on her sudden of leap of genius and a theory hastely put together. If this worked she'd work out the kinks and do all the hard work filling in the blanks, write research papers for peer review, repeating the process enough times, to satisfy the sound scientific parameters the Technocracy demanded to avoid persecution for reality deviance.

At first nothing happened. Ai's confidence wavered for a moment but then her will excerted itself. This had to work! And then it did. She felt the serum inside Jacki's bloodstream, as if it was part of herself, felt the serum coursing through Jacki's veins. And then her mind directed the serum with a mental nudge, pushing it to target damaged cells. The serum flooded Jacki's burned skin, regenerating damaged cells, breaking down scar tissue, stimulating the growth of a new epidermal layer. It would take more of the serum to heal her completely but this was a very promising start.

Jacki was healing from third degree burns in minutes.

Erin looked at Sandra:"He said doctor Mengele .. freed them .. ?". She glanced at Richard.

Matthew looks at the door thats closed before him and then looks around and decides a little wandering is not that bad as he does he finally ends up in the medical facility where there are people not occupied with interrogating their own people like they are the enemy. He looks around the room and addresses no one in particular.

"I been told to familiarize myself with the facility. I am a little unsure about the intent though. I understood you needed a pick up. I delivered your agent so why should i remain? Is a more extended cooperation intended?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:10, Fri 30 Sept 2016.

The scene in the Medical Bay was certainly an odd one. Part of the room had been section off into a cage, from which the large bipedal creature known as Alpha, or "Al" resided.

 The moment the new individual stepped in, the creature's gaze focused upon the intruder, an intelligence behind its eyes that seemed to suggest it was sizing him up.

 Near one medical table was the petite medic girl with a patient, who seemed to be rapidly healing from burns, the girl didn't seem to be aware of Matthew at first, watching the progress.

"I DID IT! IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" She cheered, jumping with the unbridled enthusiasm that only a young teen could possess. "AL! IT WORKED! I FIGURED IT OUT! I-!"

 She stopped, as if suddenly realizing she actually wasn't alone in the room (and that Vadim was sleeping, or trying to, poor guy.) With a bit of a nervous laugh, she stood and gave a sort of fearful wave towards the much more imposing incomer.

"H-hi! Sorry for um.. that.. just.. very excited about.. things. I'm Dr. Fujiwara, and this is where I um.. work and sleep. I don't really know about your situation, but, um, welcome!"

Richard shared that look with Erin -- curious, the name familiar to him as a student of history, but -- he turned his attention back to Sandra.  "Two quick questions.  Do you remember about their body language?" he said, hands folded together in front of him as he remained in that crouched position.  "Superheroes tend to strike big poses in the movies and comic books.  In person, though, it takes ego, or a good acting coach, to be able to do that and get away with it.

"Second," he continued as she finished with the first, "about the brain in the jar.  Did you see any equipment attached to the jar?  Machines, blinking lights... I'd even call weird rune shapes scribbed on the glass 'equipment', given the subject matter."

He waited for both questions, taking mental notes, then prompted her: "Now.  This is the point where the two officers stepped in, and he threatened their lives.  What happened next?"

No-one who had ever watched a Frankenstein movie would be especially thrilled about being in a Progenitor lab when they suddenly started cheering about results in their work. Opening an eye to make sure nothing was lurching free of restraints before rampaging down to the village James looked between Ai and the new entry to the medical bay before shifting in his own seat to find a slightly better position as his knees complained once more.

"Good news then doc?" Nodding to Matthew as he entered James straightened slightly and shrugged at the question, "Hey I'm not HR. If they suggested you do a walk and meet and greet then maybe they want you here long term. Might just be a way of keeping you out of their hair but around in case they need help on another job sometime soon."

Matthew looks at the childish outburst and cant help but shake his head. If this was the level of professionalism these people had it was no wonder they got their ass handed to them. And with neither of them able to shed any light on his situation he shrugs it off.

"Right guess i'll just have to wait for your top tier to finish of torturing your own people then. You guys look like you have taken a heavy hit. Made the wrong kind of enemy?"

"Comes with the job. Hang on, mind repeating that torture thing?" Eyeing the guy with interest given the casual note as he threw that into the conversation James wondered briefly if this was some sort of surprise test. Anyone throwing around that sort of claim either had to be certain of what they were saying or indifferent to the fallout that would come from trying to spread that sort of rumour. Or checking agent reactions to it.

She gave a smile and nodded to James. "Yes, I, um.. I've been working for months, ever since I was told I was going to be placed in the damage control division, trying to figure out the best way to tend to other operatives in the field, and.. I made a breakthrough. It may take a few more treatments, but.. a lot of the worst of Jackie's injuries seem to be healing already." She stated rather proudly.

 Of curse, with that settled, she looked toward the large imposing, older newcomer, and seemed a bit hesitant. She could tell from his tone, and his stance that he had likely already made his decision about her, and it likely wasn't a good one. Still, she tried to smile.

"Actually, we got the rogue HITmark unit. James, Vadim and Al handled it. Oh, um.. I'm sure Control is keeping it somewhere."

Matthew made a casual thumb gesture at the interrogation room Sandra was spirited away in.

"Thats not a setup for casual talking you got there. And I am not sure i would consider people questioning me in a chair with restraints friendly. We save that for the enemy as its bad for morale."

AS Mr. White continued speaking about torture, Ai seemed visibly bothered, maybe a little tense. "I-it's not.. they wouldn't torture an agent.. I.. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. Mr. Light.. he wouldn't allow them to just torture somebody." She said softly, clearly rather nervous about it all.

"There have to be other circumstances... Control wouldn't.."

"Yes. The only Dr. Mengele I've ever heard of was the infamous nazi doctor. He didn't elaborate..." Sandra responded to Erin. "It seemed impossible to me when he said it."

"The bald man rarely moved. He was stiff backed and square shouldered, like he was consciously trying to hide any emotions, but his tone ranged from neutral to menacing. The woman in the black leather and red cape was laid back and slouched. The other woman in the blue and white lycra outfit was as you said - dramatic posing, as if she practiced in a mirror. The man in the dark blue cloak... it was hard to read him.

"The jar with the brain had some kind of apparatus connected to the top and bottom and there were air bubbles inside the jar. I'm guessing it had to do with keeping it preserved at the very least.

"As for the cops. Well..." Sandra paused, and cast wary eyes at Erin and Richard. Her shoulders hunched a little and she averted her gaze. "Seeing them controlled by the deviants convinced me there was no option but to comply. They could over power me in any number of ways if I tried to resist...

"I started weakening the Gauntlet using my devices. Since it was so thick, I had time to think of an another option. After bombarding it with high charged particles, I built an unstable Einstein-Rosen bridge and concealed it with an eleven dimensional 'membrane'. I managed to slip through the breach back to where I Jumped at the law firm."

After a moment of tense silence, Sandra asked in a shaky voice "C-can you please take these off now?" she asked, indicating the restraints with her eyes.

Eyeing the increasingly nervous Ai as the newcomer continued talking James rolled upright and fished his communicator out as he strolled over to the doctor's side,. Glancing down at the newly healed Jackie he was briefly impressed by the recovery from the latest treatment. Seemed the Progenitor was onto something with her work, "Not bad doc. I think I'll still try to avoid injuries rather than trust you'll be able to patch me up but that's a hell of a job."

Turning back to Matthew as he brought up restraints James paused in the middle of reaching to send an enquiry about his story. The information had changed from torture to restraints, a hell of a difference. Sounded like this was just an attempt to stir up trouble, "You said you'd retrieved an agent right, Agent Reyes I'm guessing? Was there some suggestion she might have been compromised, I'm guessing that would be the main reason they're debriefing her somewhere secure."

Erin shrugged as she typed, adding notes to her findings:"Mengele may mean nothing. If we are dealing with Marauders then 'Mengele' can be anything from their personal physician to a pretty butterfly. My first impression is that the 'doctor' may be responsible for the Brain-in-a-Jar's condition. But we'll deal with the 'doctor' when we get to it. The description does match previous sightings of some of the Challengers", she responded, more to Richard than Sandra.

She focused on Sandra again as the Void Engineer continued:"You weakened the barrier? I see .. ". She made another note. " .. about the lawfirm building .. exactly what happened there? We had an EDE on the loose and a Void Engineer on site. Yet your team had to blow up a building to stop it and Lauren was pulled into a gate?".

A cough alerted everyone in the medical facility to Jacki's awakening:"Djoe have some more o dat stuff you've pumped in ma veins, doc ... ?", Jacki's voice was barely a whisper and she sounded groggy as she struggled to get up and failed:"Did we at least .. " *she whinced:" .. get the bad guys?".
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:44, Tue 04 Oct 2016.

Matthew nods.

"Thats the agent. And yeah it was pretty secure."

The tone of his voice made it clear what he thought about that sort of security for friendlies but then someone else wakes up. People waking up was a good thing in a med bay right? He leans back against the wall to see the interaction between patient and whomever the doctor is a hunch going out to the happy lady.

Watching Sandra speak, distracted, gave Richard a chance to observe her beyond the face she was presenting -- reasonably distressed by circumstances, and recalling a traumatic incident on top of that -- to deeper disturbances and distresses.

His gaze strayed to Erin as she made her observations; a nod, and his attention was back on Sandra, as Erin asked a question Richard -- who had not been there when the event occurred -- was himself curious about.  While the 'conversation' continued, he began picking apart the little tells -- and, more importantly, irregularities -- in expression, voice, eye movements, looking for more deeply-buried influences... or the trails of same.

Richard will be using Tracks Left Behind at Mind 2, stretching back with Time 2 to see if he can find any evidence of psychic manipulation within the past several hours.  He's got enough time, peace, and quiet to use his more academic knowledge as leverage; applying Int+Academics to reduce the difficulty.

19:11, Today: Richard Jackson rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed, Specialised system with a target of 6, rerolling 10s.  int+academics(psych).  Reduces the difficulty from a presumed 5 (coincidental Sphere 2) to 3.

19:11, Today: Richard Jackson rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 5 with rolls of 6,8.  arete.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:07, Thu 06 Oct 2016.

Sandra shrank back in the chair at the implications Erin was leveling at her. But suddenly her expression changed to indignation. "I did what I could! My instruments were returning fuzzy readings and inconclusive results from the moment I began scanning. I detected the extradimensional anomaly but I couldn't lock in to the source, much less determine a cause or course of action!

"Then that... thing broke through," she continued, becoming increasingly agitated. A tear escaped her eye as the emotions she had been containing since that encounter threatened to break through her self control. "We were losing team members within seconds. Of course I ran and hid. I don't know how to fight..."

A stifled sob escaped. Sandra realized that her fists were clenched. She stopped for almost a minute as she recomposed herself, slowing her breathing and releasing the tension in her body. "I still did my job, even after the building started coming down on top of us.

"I finished the scans, relayed the info to the rest of the team. The deviant responsible for the EDE could not just breach the Gauntlet, but could also manipulate space-time. Those kinds of dangerous abilities meant that the threat could easily grow beyond the immediate area.

"But escaping the building had to come first. I couldn't seal the breach if I was dead... Once I was out, I fortified the Gauntlet"

Without a reply on whether or not Sandra had been compromised James was still left as in the dark by what was going on. He'd have headed to find out but Jacki's waking caught his attention and he shifted his attention to her, answering the question with a grin, "'course we got 'em Jacks. Well some of them, namely the one you picked a fight with. If you'd been that eager to get some bed rest you could have just taken a holiday you know?"

Erin smiled gently at Sandra as she removed the restraints/monitoring equipment:"While there is some evidence of recent mental intrusion it is minimal and I find no signs of coersion or posthypnotic suggestions. I hope you understand this was necesarry for everyone's safety". She typed in a few final notes before sending out her report and switching off the equipment:"Mister Light handles individual performance reports but try not to worry too much. Field work gets messy sometimes".

Erin opened the door out of the White Room:"You are a valueble asset,Sandra. I want you to understand your work is vital to the success of our mission and the safety of our team. Not to mention 4 million citizens unaware of the dangers we deal with".

She stopped Richard from leaving with Sandra:"Richard, we'll have a briefing in about 15 minutes after mister Light has processed the new data. Ask mister White to stay for now. We may need his services again. Without our temps VIGIL is still pretty light on personell given our current crisis".

Jacki broke a smile, her parched lips cracking as she did:"Workaholics don't take no breaks". She glanced at the burn marks on her arms, now partially healed due to Ai's new serum:"Well .. maybe I'll make an exception .. some time off might not be a bad thing ..". She looked at Ai:"What's the prognosis doc?".

Sandra slowly raised herself from the chair, eyeing both Erin and Richard warily. When it looked like she was free to go, she left the room with a slightly quickened pace.

The door closed behind her. She never gave a response to Erin.

Richard nodded to Erin.  "I'll keep everyone appraised," he replied.  "I should be checking on the prognosis for the injured agents as it is."

As he makes his exit, it's a simple matter to locate Agent White, and Richard's path leads him to the medbay -- and, tangentially, most of the rest of his fellows.  "Mr. White?" he says, offering a hand.  "I don't think we've been formally introduced -- Richard Jackson, NWO.  It's come down to me that we may be in need of your assistance in the immediate future -- do you have any pressing business, or can you afford to stay with us for a time while the folks upstairs crunch numbers?"

As Richard approaches Matthew pushes himself of the wall and extends his hand. He was the one that went with Sandra into the torture chamber so he expected he was one of the people that knew more on why he was to stay. Taking the hand he gives Richard a strong handshake.

"Its a pleasure Mr Jackson. Matthew White, Syndicate Enforcement. I am available till I get orders that say otherwise and as long as i can maintain my revenue making business.

So I got to arrange something for my prolonged absence if you want me to hole up in here or i can arrange that i can be here within 20 minutes when called."