Play@YSDC

9.30 AM
8 November, 1983
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History



This is the hall dedicated to the dinosaurs. The place is crowded with kids asking their teachers questions.
You just arrived and see your handler “Isaac”; he is a middle-aged men, probably someone from the army; he is tall, muscular with a broken nose, with a very short hair. He is in a quiet corner looking at the fossil of an archaeopteryx, reading the description.

Jalapeno checks his suit, waistcoat, and tie, to make sure everything is straight, neat and tidy. He puts his dark grey straw fedora back on and strides over to Isaac.

As he walks through the hall of the famous museum, he can't help but scan for dodgy individuals, and particularly dealers, targeting the kids. Hopefully, Smithsonian security has already weeded them out but still, habits.

Special Agent Alicia Catera enters the museum, wearing a light gray skirtsuit. She looks around, just as fascinated as the children. She's always thought dinosaurs were awesome. She walks up to Isaac, stands on his other side, and admires the fossil.

EPA Life Scientist Rose Bradshaw slinks into the museum, hunched and inconspicuous in her skirt and cardigan, like a mom on her day off. She browses a few exhibits before hesitantly approaching Isaac, still unfamiliar with all the procedures and rituals of fieldcraft. She slides her oversized spectacles back up her nose with finger, breaking the little prickles of sweat. Noticing Alicia stood beside Isaac she awkwardly moves beside her. 'Uh, um, hello again.'

"Oh, hi!" chirps Alicia, who has come to think of Rise as a second mother. She gives her a quick hug. "I really like the idea of meeting here. I'm like a kid in a candy store! Only, instead of candy, they have dinosaurs! And instead of eating them, they eat you! Or they would, if they were alive. Well, the brontosaurus wouldn't, it eats plants."

He simply nods, but don't even look at you.
"I always loved dinossaurs as a kid. It's good to see something that hasn't change. Speaking about kids, that is your mission. Finding a kid"

Rose beams and hugs Alicia back. 'Well, I don't think we want to be getting eaten by anyone, no matter how interesting they are.' Then she comes over all educational, 'Of course the modern descendants of the dinosaurs are the birds. Most of them wouldn't eat you. Well, not if you're still alive anyway...'

She finds Isaac's tendency to monologue without eye contact quite disconcerting. But at the mention of a child she becomes focused on his words. 'A missing child? Oh my, their parents must be so worried.' It takes her a moment to fully process his words, what he has said and what he hasn't. 'Or, are they missing? Who exactly are we trying to find?'

"I'm good at finding missing kids," says Alicia. "Which kid is missing, and what are the details?"

Jalapeno just fishes a toothpick out of his top pocket and clenches it in the side of his mouth. Then he pulls a small notepad and pen out of his jacket. Until now, he'd been trying to drown out the noise of his colleagues' chatter.

"Details? And I assume there's a reason we're involved, not local PD or even regular FBI?"

"The place is called Hawkins, it is a town in Indianna, The kid vanished 2 days ago; the local police thinks that he simply run away but the mother made such a fuss, that they had pretend they were searching for him; usually it is too early to the FBI get involved. Well, with the pretext that the policy should change and not wait until a body appears, you will be sent to help the local force; everything has beens arranged with your superiors. Now the real reason: it is not the first time that kids vanish there and never appear again. Now, I think that probably some pervert is living there, but cell A has other ideas or they know something I don't, so your task is to investigate what is happening there and if possible find the kid. Since we are doing everything legit, you need to go to the police first. The kid is called Will Byers, lives with a single mother and a brother. Any questions?"

He continues lookig at the dinossaur.

"Either way, we'll find out what happened and find him," says Alicia. "What do you know about his family? Who is or was his father?"

"Do we trust the local PD and do we expect them to cooperate with us?"

"What's his name, and how far away is he from where it happened?" asks Alicia. "Maybe he and his girlfriend took his son."

Jalapeno is jotting down a few notes. "OK, so our legit superiors are happy to release us, we don't need to worry about that. What did you say is the official cover story we're running with for the local PD? FBI early intervention with DEA assist. Something like that?"

"And do we get any special equipment?"

Rose still can't get used to all this talking without looking at each other and she keeps turning to see whoever is speaking. 'I, um, what is my cover story? From the EPA I mean?' she asks Isaac. 'Perhaps I'm here looking into a potential waste leak and I'm worried this boy might have got injured by it?' Coming up with convincing covers is clearly not her forte.

Jalapeno is focused on equipment. "'Obviously, we're going in low profile to start with, but we 'Juliets' have a famously low life expectancy so I'd like to be ready for the worst. Kevlar vests for all three of us. I want a Mossberg pump action and a rifle, something like a Colt AR-15. They'll stay locked in the trunk until needed, of course."

He looks at Rose briefly. "I'd suggest a simple cover is best. We could just bill you as a forensic expert on loan from the EPA to the FBI. Inter-agency cooperation, all that. Like a specialist crime scene investigator, something along those lines?"

"Any other weapons requests, team?"

OOC:   Juliet is NATO phonetic for the letter 'J'. Apologies if that's obvious to everyone.

"Beretta 9mm automatic and an M16 for me," says Alicia, "along with the body armor. I also carry mace. A sniper rifle might be useful for us to have too."

OOC:   Juliet is NATO phonetic for the letter 'J'. Apologies if that's obvious to everyone.

[/quote]

OOC: Not for me, so thank you for the information.




"Just let me make some calls and I'l get you all that stuff. Anything else?"

"Can we get any more in-depth intel on what's going on in this town? There must be a real reason this is being taken more seriously. Our lords and masters might like to share."

"Some background information on the family might help too," says Alicia. "Maybe he was taken for a specific reason, and not at random."

'I'll tell my husband I'm going to visit my parents for a few days, they're up in that part of the...' seeing everyone else's face's Rose shuts up. 'Sorry, operational security. I remember. No personal details.'

"Sounds like a plan." Jalapeno starts heading out.

OOC:   I assume we're confident Isaac will arrange delivery of the weapons and armour promised. And we can each take an agency car or rent something locally?

"Thanks, I'll grab my stuff and we'll get going," says Alicia.

OOC: Yes, you will get everything "off stage" and when you will be in the town, you will have already everything.

With years of practice, Jalapeno heads home, swiftly packs a bag, and is gone.

OOC:   Jalapeno is good to go. Happy to jump to the next scene.

With less experience of this sort of thing, it takes Rose a bit longer to prepare things. Mostly arranging for a friend to look after the kids and give them both a kiss goodbye with promises she'll be back soon. She does take the basic tools of her trade, at the very least she wants to look the part and who knows? Maybe it'll come in handy.

OOC:   Ready to go

I love those distances in the USA. In my country it wouldn't make any sense and I would have to invent something else like a flate tire, since my country is so small!

That's true. We are independent for 880 years and England and France beats us for several centuries!