The Trapdoor

[Mr. Handy]

Irene gapes at the smushed worm's remains. "My God, what is that thing?" she asks.

[royya]

Hey! Yankee, if you know something so you better tell us or else!
Doug says to Hewitt
What was that worm that you are so scared of?
Doug goes to the shelf and points at the jars.
What is it!?

[Laraqua]

Hewitt shudders and stares at the worm spatter with a slightly glazed look in his eyes. Anyone who'd spent much time with certain Great War vets who came back not quite right recognise that look. Shell shock. "I - I don't really.... Its probably unrelated and I doubt it'd make any sense to you right now. It hardly makes much sense to me. There was this thing in Chicago...." He shakes his head. "Look, let's not worry about that. If anyone's upstairs they probably heard the shot."

[Mr. Handy]

"Then we'd better get moving before they have time to prepare," says Irene. "Onwards and upwards."

[royya]

What happened in Chicago?!
Doug tries to press the american. Clearly Hewitt is hiding something.

[Laraqua]

Show,Persuade or Fast Talk to get him to spill the beans.

[Mr. Handy]

Irene holds up her hand to Doug. "There's no need for raised voices," she says soothingly. "We're all friends here." She then turns the full force of her charm on the American. "Please, Mr. Hewitt, we need to know what we're up against. If you have any information that might help, it will improve our chances. There are many lives at stake here."

OOC,I got 1/5 of my Persuade skill, a special success.

[royya]

Doug surprised with Irene but decides to flow with her, he shuts up and waits for Hewitt to answer her.

[Laraqua]

"It might not be the same thing but there was correspondance that mentioned a series of killings in London," said Hewitt. "Killings and kidnappings...." He looks somewhat embarressed. "There was a parasitic thing sitting on a dissection table in a laboratory a whole lot more sterile and scientific than this one which, well, it was pinned in place and when my friend unpinned it - assuming it was dead and wanting to take it as a sample - it attacked him. This was at the Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island by the Eugenics Record Office's old headquarters. We'd thought that kinda thing was a thing of the past but it turned out it was still in operation and still receiving funding for its eugenics studies by the Carnegie Instiution and the Rockefeller Foundation."

[Mr. Handy]

Irene shudders in distaste. "That lot sound like they're practically Nazis themselves," she says. "They've got a lot of wealth and influence too from what I hear. I hope you can protect your country from the likes of them. So these worm-things, do they get inside people's heads or something?"

[Laraqua]

"I hope not. I think they're the burrowing kind like you hear about in Africa and India and tropical places like that which try to squirm under the skin and feast on the flesh," he sighs. "Just bigger than the usual. I try to do my best to ferret the Nazis out which is why we started taking a look into the old institutions. I think they were looking into experimental warfare at this stage." He suddenly looks chagrined. "Sorry, ma'am, probably not a good metaphor to use with the worms. I forget myself. The women I work with tend to be made of sterner stuff but sometimes the civvies get a bit mad at me for the way I talk. Don't know how you Brits take stuff like that."

[royya]

So, this place is operated by a Nazi spy?
Doug throws the question to the air
Just under our nose, We must deal with the man that owns this laboratory

[Mr. Handy]

"Oh, I like to think I'm made of stern stuff," says Irene with a smile. "When your city gets bombed to flinders, it tends to toughen you. Those worms don't give me the creeps half as much as the American Nazis do, anyway. They're the real parasites. If they ever take control over there, God help us all - because nobody else will be able to. Well, we'd better get moving."

[Laraqua]

Show,Listen checks.

[royya]

Listen (1d100=14) - Pass

What's that ?! A scream and it's coming from below.
Doug pulls out the butchers knife and hurries down the stairs

[Laraqua]

Doug opens the trapdoor and they can clearly hear: "Keep her, them safe. Not me, I didn't do it. There, there. All safe." John's voice echoing up at them moments before John comes stumbling into view at the bottom of the stairs.

At about the same time, the door at the other end of the room lurches open and a middle-aged man in an old suit wearing wire-framed glasses steps inside, tugging on a chain that switches the light on. Hewitt spins around, gun trained on the man who raises his hands in shock at the sight before him. The man looks down at the broken jar and shudders, "No! Didn't get loose, did it?"

Florence startles. "Who are you?"

"It got crushed," said Hewitt. "So put your hands up and close the door behind you."

He did so. "Best close that trapdoor." He licks his lips. "Please let me explain before you go doing anything rash."

[aine]

John looks up at the trapdoor. The light spilling from it seems very bright and he shades his eyes. He calls."Best not come down here. No." He mutters to himself, too low to hear. He sits down heavily on the bottom step and takes off his shoe to scratch his foot.

[royya]

Doug goes down and helps John to his feet,
Come'on, come with me!!
He will drag John if he needs to.

[Laraqua]

"Yes, come upstairs," says the stranger. "And close that trapdoor behind you."

"Who the hell are you?" demands Hewitt, pointing the gun directly at the man, who keeps his hands raised high.

"Wait, where's Julia?" asks Florence, heading over to the top of the stairs though keeping her eyes also trained on the stranger.

[aine]

John attempts to push Doug away back up the stairs. "Agghh, you're one of THEM! Get off of me! Help!"

ooc,Not sure what to roll for: [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4113995/]1d100=47[/url] and John's strength is 47