Convergence

[HoneyDog]

Nik listens, eyes wide in amazement.

"Holy shit!' he mutters eventually. "Do you have any other reports with any similarities to this case? Have other people gone missing around his town?"

[Anatomist]

failed Psychotherapy 30%,[dice]0[/dice]

José stands at a secure distance to the chained man "Hey buddy. Can you tell us what happened to you? dgo you remember anything useful so we can catch who or whom altered your body?"

jose will try to talk and use his Psychotherapy skills to maybe put him in trance and make him reveal what happened to him.

[jp1885]

“What kind of people perform advanced surgery on someone, turn them into the Terminator and then let the guy loose to wreak havoc?”

Griff wonders as he examines the suspect.

“This is some high level shit... Hey Billy, can you hear me?”

[Mr. Handy]

"What route did you take after you left your girlfriend's place?" Vanessa asks Spivey. "Do you remember anything that happened along the way?"

[Silver Priest]

"That's what we are trying to determine," Derringer replies to Griff." Seems safe to say this was intentional on someone's part, and we're trying to determine how far this goes.As for the town, not that we've heard of, though it's a bit difficult to say-- Groversville has had some strange occurrences lately." The name of the town rings a bell for a few of the agents, though none of them can readily recall why at this moment.

José tries his best to ascertain Billy Ray's mental state and get through to him, but the teen is suffering from too much trauma. It's clear he's in a lot of pain, and the drugs and restraints are likely not helping. 'Don't know..." he says, his voice slurred. " Was drivin' home... God, it hurts! It hurts!" He thrashes about a bit, and the three armed men tighten their grips on their weapons.

"Normal route..." he says, responding to Vanessa. "Short drive... Noticed the truck started actin' up, and a bright light... then pain... God, it hurts! Then Pa tried ta hold me down and then... Then..." he wails and thrashes about more. Despite the heavy amount of chains on him, he seems to be breaking free. Derringer curses and speaks into a walkie talkie; a few seconds later two men in scrubs rush in, though they look more like bouncers than nurses. Running up to Billy Ray they inject two large syringes in him with not a hint of gentleness as he continues to wail in heart wrenching agony, and within a few minutes he begins to calm down. His eyes flutter closed and he largely stops struggling, but he still makes noises that indicate some level of distress.

Derringer shakes his head. "You can see why we've been unable to get much out of him. Any attempts to get him to remember anything about what happened to him gets him agitated; he's damn worthless to us as a witness. In any event, he'll be out for awhile, so I think it would be best for us to go conclude our briefing." He moves towards the door, clearly expecting the agents to follow.

ooc,Everyone can follow Derringer if they like. Also,roll for San, Helplessness this time. Billy Ray is clearly suffering here and is more of a prisoner than a patient. 0/1d3 loss. Same rules as Violence apply; if you are hardened to Helplessness you auto succeed and lose no San. If not and you fail the check, make a note. If you fail three Helplessness rolls without going insane or hitting a breaking point you may become hardened to Helplessness as well, and this sort of thing won't bother you at all. ;)

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa would have cried for Billy Ray Spivey, but she has no more tears left. She follows Derringer, speaking once they are out of the room and Billy Ray can no longer hear them. "What he describes sounds to me like a standard account of alien abduction," she says. "The vehicle going crazy, the bright lights, the missing time, all the elements are there."

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 69) for [b]Billy Ray[/b]'s plight: [dice]0[/dice] Sanity loss: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Vanessa[/b] becomes adapted to Helplessness. POW loss: [dice]2[/dice]

[HoneyDog]

SAN,SAN 67, [url=http://orokos.com/roll/759126]SAN[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]25[/b]

Spivey’s condition fills Nik with loathing for whoever did this to him. It will be a pleasure to take them down. He also follows Derringer out.

“Either he was the primary focus for this, or he was a target of opportunity. If it’s the latter, he’s the first and only, the first of others to follow, or there are already others like him, so we need to determine this. What did you mean about strange occurrences in Groversville? Has there been reported alien sightings?”

[Anatomist]

success SAN 65%,[dice]0[/dice]

José follows Derringer

[jp1885]

SAN 65%,[dice]0[/dice]

Saddened by the boy's condition, Griff shakes his head, but he knows there's nothing he can do for him that hasn't already been tried.

"Alien abductions now, huh? Well don't that put the icing on the damn cake..."

He wracks his brains - does Groversville ring a bell?

Can I try an INT (50%) test?,[dice]1[/dice]

Nope, he doesn't recall the name.

[Silver Priest]

Vanessa feels a similar sense of loss as to what she had experienced in the mirror world of the house. Seeing a man like that-- a boy, really-- who had been normal a few weeks ago and was now the sort of monster her group was tasked with fighting broke something in her. She feels very tired all of a sudden, and her will shrivels a little more.

Griff tries to recall a bit more about Groversville. He's sure it's on the tip of his memory, but it was proving frustratingly elusive. Thankfully Derringer filled them in, nodding to the other agents question.

"It does sound like a textbook alien encounter. And even in our line of work that's a bit strange to admit. What's even odder is that Groversville has been in the news recently for precisely this reason, but the town was not on our radar before now. I'll show you why."

He leads the group back into the conference room and puts on another tape. A man appears on the screen. All three agents recognize him as a certain late night talk show host. He has a prominent chin.


"...So now, this is interesting. You folks hear about this? The town of Groversville,Tennessee claims it's been beset by UFO's these past few months. Isn't that interesting? Townsfolk claim to have seen bright lights in the sky, and some even claim that their livestock were abducted. During a recent radio interview, a local resident had this to say."

A man with a very pronounced accent begins speaking, text appears on screen to translate.

"It sure 'wer surprising, I tell you what. I saw Betsy taken up by that there flying saucer! She was mooing her little heart out as she went up in the light. Our cows are in danger! The alien spacemen want to steal them all from us for perverted purposes. Those are American cows, dang it!"

The scene shifts back to the comedian as the audience roars in laughter. "Wow, that was uh, something. Huh. But these aliens are apparently interested in sleeping with cows? Hey uh, has anyone seen the President?" The crowd ohs and laughs, the host smiling sheepishly. "We uh, actually have a purported video from one of the Groversville abductions, now we didn't make this up folks. Put it up on screen."

A craft appears over a field. Strings holding it in the air are clearly visible. The audience laughs uproariously at the obvious fake, which moves unrealistically through the air as bystanders express astonishment at it. Then the screen switches back to the host, who is struggling not to laugh.

"Hey, maybe the aliens are taking the cattle up because they're looking for intelligent life," He wisecracks. "After the break, The Baha Men will be here performing their hit song, Who Let the Dogs Out!"


Derringer switches off the tv at this point, sparing the group from at least one horror. He looks somber as he addresses the group. "For the past few months Groversville Tennessee has been beset with claims of UFO sightings and alien abductions. They all sound more or less like what you've just heard. Very little of it sounds credible, and the media has picked up on it only as a running joke. To be honest, even I did not put much credence into the stories, but Mr. Spivey being from the town is too much of a coincidence for me. Something seems to be going on there, and we need you to find out what it is and what they're hiding."

[Mr. Handy]

"There are real aliens," says Vanessa, "but they generally don't behave the way they're depicted in popular culture. My hunch is that whoever is behind this is using it as a cover, pretending to be aliens to throw off suspicion and keep people from taking it seriously."

[HoneyDog]

“Maybe” says Nik. “Maybe not. There were lights in the sky reported before all that business back in Arizona.”

“We’d better get out there” he says to Derringer. “Do you have a cover story for us?”

[Anatomist]

José seems absent minded as he tries to absorb all the information "must say... this is freaky..." he turns to Deringer "Mr. Derringer you should get a hypnotizer to work on the kid, you know extract what he got in his subconscient" José picks up his backpack "lets go"

[jp1885]

”I hate that song,” mutters Griff as he follows the others.

[Silver Priest]

"That could be," Derringer admits. "The media coverage of Groversville is pretty much all on this. The stories coming out of that town are outrageous; Elvis is frequently mentioned. But the fact that Mr. Spivey was from there at a time when this is all being reported... it's too big a coincidence. Something is going on there, and we need to get to the bottom of it."

"Your cover story is that you're all FBI agents investigating a violent drug cartel Mr. Spivey is rumored to be involved with, so your team is investigating the town for any signs of drug smuggling operations. We don't believe there's any real drug crime to speak of in Groversville, but it will be your in when dealing with local officials and townsfolk. We've pulled some strings to get our two senior agents," He nods to Nik and Vanessa," officially assigned to this, but obviously that's not an option for you other two. You will be presented with FBI identification and have to attempt to pass as agents, but I would advise letting the two legitimate FBI agents take the lead when dealing with law enforcement or suspicious citizenry; We can't afford a deep investigation into either of you, and the ID's won't hold up to that kind of scrutiny anyway.

Then he turns to José. "I don't believe hypnosis will do any good here, though I'll pass your idea up the chain and see if anyone else things otherwise. Mr. Spivey is largely useless to us at present; we're focused now on running a few final tests on him and determining everything we can as to his unusual predicament. On a similar matter, we have one final asset for you. We're examining the odd muscle tissue replacement found within Mr. Spivey and believe we will be able to develop a way to unobtrusively test for it within the coming days. This will allow you to determine who if anyone else in Groversville has been modified in similar ways as Spivey. I'll send a man in to meet with you once the identification has been perfected. It should help you test anyone you suspect may have suffered the same effects."

"You can sign out one of the cars in the parking lot, and I'll provide you with a map to Groversville. Once there, we have two leads you may want to pursue, though not necessarily today. The first is speaking with the sheriff,a Dan Oakley. He's been in office since the late 70's, so we're reasonably certain he's not involved in this. Unless he's been compromised, of course. He'll be expecting your arrival and you may want to touch base with him. The second is Spivey's mother, Angel. She may be able to fill in more details as to what happened or perhaps point you to someone who knows her son and if he got involved in anything that may have caused this.

"I won't lie agents; this will be a tough one. Be very careful, and keep in touch ."

OOC:   If you've any final questions feel free to ask them.

[Mr. Handy]

"We may want to contact the girlfriend too," says Vanessa. "If Spivey was specifically targeted, her place may have been under surveillance. What's her name, address, and contact information?"

[HoneyDog]

OOC,No questions from me.

[jp1885]

“Have there been any other missing persons reports in the vicinity recently?” asks Griff, not sure he likes the idea of trying to pose as an agent.

”And this may sound dumb, but has anyone plotted the reports of livestock abductions? If someone’s been using them for practice, it might be worth following up.”

[Silver Priest]

"That's a good idea.I don't have the girlfriend's name, but Groversville is a small town, home to just over 5000 people. Chances are asking around about the girlfriend will lead you to her. And excellent idea about the livestock, agent. The media's reported on livestock and alien abductions, though like you've just seen the reports are unreliable at best. It's worth doing some digging and talking to the townsfolk to ascertain what's really going on in Groversville."

OOC:   Derringer is letting you borrow a vechilie from the FBI, though if you like you guys can check out two. Decide for yourself which option is better for your group; though keep in mind if you're trying to be subtle two unfamiliar vehicles in a small town are more likely to draw attention than one.

***
Groversville is about an hour's drive south of Knoxville, and is located directly off Highway 137. By the time the agents arrive it's evening, just after 6:30 at night. The first thing that becomes apparent is that Groversville is out in the sticks. Save for the highway, there's not much else around that signifies major ties to civilization. Most of the town's surroundings seem to be farmland, and it's dwarfed by hills that surround it on three sides, dotted with windmills and the town reservoir. If nothing else it has some breathtaking views, though.

It's the sign that welcomes them to Groversville first. It's freshly painted and looks well maintained.

Welcome to Groversville, Tennessee!

Pop. 5015

A nice town and friendly place.

Birthplace of Anita Cronkite, 1956's Ms. Tennessee.

Going further in, the first building agents spy is a convenience store and gas station. One of the windows of the convenience store has been boarded over. A sign apologizes for the mess.

What did the team want to do first? It was late, so most places were probably not going to be open, though the store still had lights on within it. Alternatively they could go further into the town, in search of a place to stay for the night, the sheriff's office, or something else of interest.

[jp1885]

Griff takes in the bright lights of Groversville, thumbs jammed in his pockets as he rocks on his heels.

"The great metropolis huh? You guys are more used to this stuff than me; what's on the agenda? Introduce ourselves to the local sheriff and then find ourselves some rooms?"

OOC:   I guess one car would be less conspicuous, but perhaps we could rustle up an old truck, if we need to drive somewhere unnoticed?