Convergence

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you, Dr. Shaeffer," says Vanessa. "I'm glad to hear she's all right. We're on our way back." She disconnects the call and fills the others in on what he told her. "Sounds like the same thing happened to her that happened to you. What did happen, exactly? I know you got a phone call right before. Let me guess: long distance from New York? A certain Mr. Alzis? By the way, while you were...indisposed, I had a conversation with Sonja and explained to her the importance of what we do. She's a friendly now."

[HoneyDog]

Nik relaxes a little on hearing the news about Jane.

“I’d hoped the baby would be okay though” he says. “Maybe it was entirely protomatter? It’s just as well I guess. We’d better get over there and deal with the fallout.”

He glances out the window, wondering what time it is.

“You’re right about Alzis” he continues, not looking at Vanessa, not wanting to meet her eyes. “The fucker knew, like he always does. He wanted to keep me alive so I would do him a favour, but I did it on condition of him bringing Jane back too. That’s gonna come back to hurt us, I’m sure. I’ll have to deal with it.”

He looks around at Sonja.

“I was going to suggest the same thing if I had the chance. It can help to keep you alive – you know too much now. But you can be a great help. There are some things more important than a career, if you can put your own ambitions aside.”

He finally looks at Vanessa.

“We should have a similar conversation with Shaeffer”.

[Mr. Handy]

"Agreed," says Vanessa. "His expertise would be very helpful for our efforts."

[Silver Priest]

It's a little after 1 in the afternoon.

As the agents head back through town something seems different about it. There's a little more traffic, and people seen out and about look a little more tense. It occurs to the agents this may be a result of the protomatter dissipating. It had seemed to be keeping most of the citizens of Groversville in a daze; Jane Allen had mentioned she had not seen her Alderman father for some time, and that her mother seemed unconcerned. Presumably the other alderman's families had been similarly affected. And the police had seemed unconcerned by the deaths taking place in their jurisdiction as well. Now that they were no longer infected, maybe the town was beginning to fall prey to the alarm it had largely avoided.

(Sonja bites her lip the entire way back, seemingly deep in thought.)

Back at the motel, the agents find Shaeffer pacing back and forth. He looks relieved to see the agents. They also can see Jane crying. She looks at them with desperation.

"My baby... He's..." She breaks down. Shaeffer sighs and speaks softly to the agents.

"The child just dissolved in her arms. Then Jane started having her fit. I thought she was dying too. Thankfully she seems to have stabilized, but," He shows them the bed, where only traces of the colorless substance could still be found. "That's all that's left of the baby."

"He was all I had left of Billy Ray!" Jane sobs. "I wanted to love him and raise him right. What did I do wrong?" Her state was enough to break the heart of even the most seasoned agent. It's a fair bet that the child had hardly been human, if it had been at all. The aliens manipulations had turned it into something else entirely. But Jane's loss was still very real.

"Could you call my mama again?" She asks Vanessa. "I'd really like to see her."

Shaeffer approaches the other agents, then stops. He and Sonja share a look of surprise and recognition.

"Saucerwatch is part of this too? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"I was going to say similar about you, Ms. Dewey. All these years we laughed at Phenomen-X. Turns out you were closer to the truth then we were willing to admit."

Sonja gave a laugh, or something that could maybe pass for one. "Funny thing is, I can't even deny that."

Thee hypnotherapist turned his intense gaze on the agents. "I do want to thank you for calling me in. to see...well, whatever this is. It makes me glad to know that at least some parts of the government have decided on disclosure. I have many questions. I'm not sure how much even you all understand about what went on here, but I'm willing to collaborate with any of you to get to the bottom of it. I hope you'll let me take some of that odd tissue for my group to further study."

[HoneyDog]

Nik is relieved to see Jane, but this is tempered by her reaction to her loss.

First though, there is Shaeffer to deal with.

“I’m sorry we dragged you into this, Doctor, even if you’re not. You can feel vindicated though. Aliens are here, and they were responsible for what happened in this town. But there’s no disclosure, we operate without official sanction. So everything you’ve seen and heard here, you can’t disclose it. Work with our group, help us keep humanity safe. We could really use your help.”

[Silver Priest]

"Without official sanction?" Shaeffer raised an eyebrow. "Please forgive my bluntness, but who in the hell are you people?'

"You're asking me to keep quiet about all of this. Understand, I am not a man who wishes to spark a panic, or seeks fame," and here his eyes involuntary go towards Sonja. "But Saucerwatch has been investigating reports of alien activity since the 50's. And if anything things are getting worse. I truly believe you all have the best of intentions, and I am more than happy to collaborate with your group in future investigations and offer you any tools I have at my disposal. But people need to know about these things, to be aware of the dangers out there even if their government refuses to do anything about them."

The agents can see that while soft spoken, Shaeffer speaks like a zealot. Nik in particular knows that the government had nearly destroyed his and Saucerwatch's reputation a few years back, and their harassment campaign continues. Persuading him to cover up something of this magnitude might prove even more challenging than it had been to convince Sonja. Yet if they failed to do so, the consequences could be severe.

OOC:   Everyone can roll a persuade roll at a -20 penalty.

[HoneyDog]

Persuade,Persuade 73 -20 53: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/778107]Persuade[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]38[/b]

“We are doing something about it. We stopped what was happening today. And with the help of professionals like you and Sonja, we can get stronger. Trying to tell the world about it won’t work; the forces positioned against you have already tried to destroy you, and they’ll just try again. We fight them better from the darkness, in secrecy. This is the best way, Doctor.”

Nik hopes his honesty will win Shaeffer over.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm sorry about the baby," says Vanessa to Jane. While she looks forward to having children, she doesn't have any yet, nor she understand what it's like to lose one, but she knows it must be extremely painful. "I'll call your mother so we can let her know you're all right, but we'll have to be careful what we say to her over the phone. The elements of the government responsible for what happened will probably be monitoring all calls in Groversville. We'll want to check you out medically before you actually see her in person. I'm pretty sure you're all right, but we need to make sure." She has a feeling that Jane's mother may be among the dead, but she doesn't say anything. The poor girl has enough sorrow for now. She's sure Billy Ray is dead now too. She turns to Shaeffer. "It's worse than the government not doing anything about it. There are parts of the government that are actively collaborating with the aliens. That's why secrecy is so essential." She tries Jane's mother's phone number, this time for real.

[Silver Priest]

Shaeffer nods reluctantly. The agents notices he looks very tired. The years he had spent fighting bogus lawsuits and harassment had clearly taken a toll on him.

"I still think disclosure is necessary; that said, perhaps it should occur at a more measured pace. Releasing information all at once would only cause panic. If all of you ever require Saucerwatch's resources, I am willing to work out an arrangement. We've been studying these incidents for decades, and if you'll forgive my bravado no one does them better than us. Though I do expect any relationship we have to be something of a two way street."

Jane meanwhile listens as Vanessa comforts her. She says nothing, and looks down at the ooze that had been her child.

"I'm not surprised by that," Shaeffer tells Vanessa. "A few years back a huge disinformation campaign was launched against me when I was appearing on television and the media to talk about our research into this phenomena. I had my suspicions, though realized talking about them would only get me looked at as a lunatic."

Vanessa dials the number, and someone picks up almost immediately. "Hello?" The voice is an older female and sounds incredibly stressed.

[HoneyDog]

Nik nods in relief.

“Thank you Doctor. It’s the best thing for all of us”.

Speaking more quietly, he continues.

“Why don’t you take a sample then, in the spirit of cooperation. Please let me know what you find. And please, for everyone’s sake, try not to involve anyone, or at least as few people as possible. This is a very dangerous game, Doctor. But you have allies now.”

[Anatomist]

Many times since Jose's 'incident' he had thought otherworldly activity was very very rare, but as this last days had gone, his mind racing with all the information, his actions towards the aliens, the almost shootout with rivaling humans... José was 100% convinced that DG was where he wanted to be, this was to big, to important.
In a low voice and with an admiring gaze he turns to Nik "Buddy, what now?"

[HoneyDog]

Nik shrugs.

"Let's make sure Jane's okay, then get the hell out of here. I never want to see this place again."

He shudders.

[Mr. Handy]

"Mrs. Allen?" says Vanessa. "This is Vanessa Marchand. I've found your daughter, and she's okay. She'd like to talk to you. Hold on and let me put her on the phone." She puts the phone on hold for a couple of seconds before speaking to Jane. "Be careful what you say. Remember, Big Brother is listening. No talk about you know what." Then she hands Jane the phone.

[Silver Priest]

Jane gives a nod. She takes the phone,and upon hearing her mother's voice breaks down in tears. This seems like as good as time as any for the agents to leave. They had ended the threat, but the town would need to rebuild itself.

Shaeffer is quite happy to take a sample, and promises to inform the agents of what he finds after consulting a few experts he knows. He promises he'll keep precisely how he came into these samples confidential.

Sonja seems distant. She tells Nik to call her later and give her "what he could.". She intends to spend a few days here reacting to the story on the ground, unless she's encouraged otherwise.

With that, the team heads out of Groversville.

***

OOC:   I need to know if the team wants to tell Derringer they recruited two new friendlies.

If they do,[b]Derringer[/b] is furious that the team brought Dewey in despite his specific instructions not to. "[color=#0000FF]She's a damn reporter! She could expose us to all sorts of scrutiny we don't need[/color]!" But provided the agents vouch for her, he eventually relents. [color=#0000FF]"Fine. But we'll be keeping watch on her, in case she tries anything and needs to be dealt with. And in case she does, I'll personally label each and everyone of you a security risk[/color]." He does not explain what this would entail, but it was unlikely to be good. He is also unhappy about [b]Shaeffer's [/b]recruitment, but considerably less so. "Sau[color=#0000FF]cerwatch has given us more than one lead in the past thanks to their activities. Having an inside man would be nice. Hopefully he's less inclined to talk and can be convinced to clam up over national security bullshit. But in the future, you are to go up the line in all matters. Potential Friendlies are heavily vetted for mental stability and their abilities to keep their traps shut. None of you are cleared to make those decisions[/color]." His tone is disapproving, but not extremely so.

The next few days finds Groversville in the news again, but not for its UFO connection.

An apparent outbreak of a heavily violent strain of the flu was reported in the town, and it was only due to the rapid response of the CDC and complete quarantine of Groversville that the illness did not spread. Total deaths were reported at 14, but the general coverage suggested it could have been much worse. If contacted, Sonja reports that the bodies were taken away before local authorities could conduct autopsies. She also reports that among the victims was the entire governing board of Groversville, including Jane's father.

If any of the agents think to ask about Billy Ray Spivey, they learn from Derringer that the young man who started all of this tried to escape and had to be put down.What little coverage the story gets reports that he hung himself in his cell.

[HoneyDog]

OOC:   I would tell Derringer. We went against his orders but they need to know if two new members are recruited. I'll refrain from reading until you guys answer.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,I agree with telling [b]Derringer[/b]. I'll take full responsibility, as I'm the one who recruited her ([b]Nik[/b] was busy being dead at the time).

[Anatomist]

OOC:   Agreeing on telling Derringer

[Silver Priest]

The next few months pass by largely uneventfully for the agents of S-Cell. Jose, shaken by the things he has seen in the field, attempts to strengthen his willpower but makes little improvement. He has more success in learning how to operate heavy machinery,and while he's still by no means an expert at it, he feels he'd have a chance of getting a tractor, bulldozer, or tank to work during a crisis.

Vanessa spends some time with her mother, who is all too excited to help her plan her upcoming wedding. Something so mundane is welcome to Vanessa, especially after the horrors she encountered in Groversville. Despite everything she finds herself looking forward to her wedding to Malcolm-- even if she has nagging doubts that she will actually live to have it.

Nik has the hardest time adjusting. Coming back from the dead is hard enough, but knowing he owes a favor to a crime lord even other Delta Green agents seem terrified of may somehow even be worse. He spends weeks waiting for the other shoe to drop and the favor to be called in, but nothing happens. Alzis apparently seemed content to wait to cash it in. In the meantime, he tries to distract himself by studying heavier weaponry, reasoning that if he hit those aliens or Majestic goons with a machine gun or rocket launcher even they would die. Sadly, he learns very little, but even a little knowledge could perhaps save his life. He also takes up running and finds it greatly improves his stamina.

Unfortunately, Debbie notices the distance, and she grows annoyed that he won't talk about the cause of it. There's more than one fight, and tension bubbles up right underneath the surface. Nik's able to do enough to prevent too much damage, but he can tell she's hurt and annoyed by the distance he's putting between them. It occurs to him that If he does not make an effort soon, their relationship may fall apart.

In positive news, he finds that he goes to the bathroom normally once again. Whatever Alzis had done seems to have restored his organs.


August 4th, 2000

So it is on another ordinary day that all three agents receive something interesting addressed to them in the mail. At first glance it seems like an advertisement, but the name on it attracts their eye.


MAJESTIC Renovations is very interested in hearing your thoughts after the job we just completed on your house.

Please come to O'Malley's Tavern at noon tomorrow, where we can discuss your concerns and our next steps going forward into the future. This offer is only available to special customers in our exclusive GREEN program, and is for a limited time only. To ensure your eligibility please do not bring this to the attention of anyone other than the recipients of this offer, even if they are also in our GREEN program.

Thank you, and we hope to see you there!


The agents would appear to have a dilemma. What would they decide to do?

OOC:   Do note this is not a railroad-- you can ignore the letter, contact your superiors, or attend the meeting as you like. You may wish to get in touch with each other to discuss what to do first, but I leave the specifics to you. This is not yet our next scenario, just the unfinished business of the last one.

[Mr. Handy]

The first thing Vanessa does is call Nik and Jose and suggests that the three of them meet as soon as possible to discuss what came in the mail.

[HoneyDog]

Nik agrees.

"Why don't we meet at this O'Malley's? We should check it out in case we decide to meet them."