Mayday Plays - Ep. 29: Doomed to Repeat - “One-Way Flight”

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

The remaining agents of PERENNIAL work to access Daniel M. Freis's forgotten files, located in Camp Pendleton. The agents split the party and Merit and Warp go after the files while Hyde, Tuck, and Mia retrieve the plane reserved for them by Mallory. The sudden and ominous sight of black helicopters informs the agents that their time has run out. Irreversible decisions are made, hidden truths revealed, and PERENNIAL will never be the same. This is the final episode of arc 3 but we will return in early 2025 with the fourth and final arc of Doomed To Repeat! TRIGGER AND CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, language, and body horror. Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this podcast are © Mayday Roleplay, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property. CAST OF CHARACTERS • Lev (they/them) - Haley Moore, Agent Tuck (she/they) • Amanda (she/her) - Maxine Parker, Agent Boomer (she/her) • Caleb (he/him) - Orson Bradham, Agent Merit (he/him) • Eli (any/all) - Kona Morales, Agent Hyde (she/her) • Zakiya (she/they) - Gaze, Agent Warp (she/they) • Sergio (he/him) - The Handler MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS • Post Sound Supervision: Sergio Crego, Eli Hauschel • Mixed: Eli Hauschel • Original Music: Aaron A. Pabst • Soundstripe (soundstripe.com) • Epidemic Sound (epidemicsound.com/) • Soundly (getsoundly.com/) DELTA GREEN LINKS • Delta Green (http://deltagreen.com/) MAYDAY ROLEPLAY LINKS • Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/maydayrp) • Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/maydayrp) • Mayday website (https://www.maydayroleplay.com/) • Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@Maydayrp)

Doom to Repeat is a Delta Green actual play podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome to episode 29 of Doom to Repeat. I'm Sergio, your handler. I'm Lev and I play Agent Tuck. I'm Amanda Dominic and I'm Agent Boomer. I'm Caleb James Miller and I play Agent Merritt. I'm Eli and I'm playing Agent Hyde.

I'm Zakiya and I play Agent Warp. Arc 3 comes to a close after this episode, but as I've stated in other places, we will be returning for a final Arc 4. We're going to take a short break from the game for the rest of this year, but hope to have the final episodes releasing in late February or March of 2025. While you wait for Arc 4, there's a lot of other content for you to check out. Vegas by Night, our Vampire the Masquerade Chronicle, is a wild ride. Caleb does a masterful job running the complicated politics of Vegas, while we the players have quickly

become known as the craziest coterie this side of the Rocky Mountains. We're currently playing the second chapter, and you can join us as we play, live, every other Saturday on YouTube. If you just need more Delta Green full stop, you can always join our Patreon, where we are hosting Black Project Gaming's playthrough of God's Teeth. It's a truly shocking rendition and Vince and the team are killing it. For just $2 you can listen to the first 5 sessions right now. As of this recording we will be releasing a 6th episode in September and the campaign will continue all the way to completion.

The Dead Drop hosted by Vince and I is another way to get your Delta Green fix. We talk all things unnatural, covering scenarios, offering tips and tricks when running the game. We've interviewed the creators like Shane Ivy and Dennis Detwiller, and we've produced some stellar handouts that are sure to improve your next game. When you join our Patreon at the $5 level, you get access to extended episodes with a lot more information. Finally, consider subscribing to our Patreon. We now regularly release bonus content multiple times a month.

Every campaign moving forward will have behind the screen features including GM Diaries, Group Talks, and Side Sessions like Caleb's one-on-ones for Vegas. We offer extended episodes of the Dead Drop and soon we will be announcing a Patreon exclusive campaign. More info on that coming soon. Not to mention our fabulous Discord where we are regularly running games ran by Mayday and our Patrons. Thanks again to you, our listeners. Mayday has grown by leaps and bounds this year and your constant support and kind words inspire us to keep on.

Thank you to our patrons who have really made our discord a special found family. But especially to our Operator level patrons. AdvancedWarSammy, Mimblewart, Cameron S, Jonathan M, Kirby's Double, Moira, OJPan and Ren. Now let's get back to the show. When I was young before she left my mother would paint in the sunroom at the highest floor of our home. My favorite was in the fall when the trees would establish a kind of synchronized pattern of autumn technicolor outside of the window view and she would spend every day trying

to capture it. The first floor was for guests in our home, and the second belonged to my father, with his office down the hall from my bedroom, where I would hear him toiling away and organizing it every day. But the attic level to the sunroom, I would slip in through the door and hide in the reading nook just to the side of her easel, and I would watch her frenetic brushstrokes. When the world was cruel, when my life felt turbulent, when my father pressed too hard at my neck as to numb the nerve I had her and her painting It made me feel more alive less strange more human

You don't realize how much you need that when you're young and odd On the day she left she painted my portrait there in that nook. We're leaving for Pendleton with a new Prime Directive from our fearless leader, but it hardly feels like we're a team any longer. I never truly felt as though there was considerable government backing to this level of black ops to begin with, but at this point it's laughable to consider that anyone is watching over us, God or department. We've sent Boomer ahead with Ruhi to meet with Mallory and secure for safe passage before we make

considerable moves in the direction of Nancy. They're to rendezvous later after we've secured the files of Pendleton. I don't like being a member down, but this is all beginning to feel like less of an operation and more like war. We march on Berlin with death no longer at our backs, but greeting us at the door. Tuck is fading, stripping away the flesh like chewed down cuticles. Her body's consuming an enormous amount of energy and expelling it just as quickly. The things she's capable of are...worrying. Terrifying under the right light. There was a time that I just wished that she would have had a few more years with Ruhi, a time to see her sister through, to solve the questions we had set out to conclude what

feels like so long ago in that empty room holding free coffee. Now all that's left is this blue residue on the carpet of a public library promising the change is yet to come and not the one we wished. Either way, the news is broke. They'll know what I am. Even more, they'll know what this job made me. They'll know what I did to try and give this world some peace of mind and how wrong I was for doing it, and in the end, all of the versions of myself I wanted to be known for will die on the last breath I took from that boy. In this moment, speaking into this phone,

I am closing my eyes. I am walking up the creaking stairs to that sunroom. I am sitting in the reading nook. And my mother is humming jazz. And I am human. We move for Pendleton. We secure the files, we kill the thing called Nancy, we bargain for Tuck and Mia in exchange for our success. This is the only way.

My next entry will be our success. Perennial. I'm out. It is October 2nd, 7.45pm. You have spent the majority of the day driving south towards Camp Pendleton. As the sun sets, you see it descend over the ocean as the i-5 takes you by it, and you know that in about 10 to 15 minutes, you are going to pull into the southern portion of Camp Pendleton. Do we have clearance to be on Camp Pendleton, or? Yes, you will probably need to go through some kind of clearance. Generally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation

is usually not molested when it comes to pulling up to the base, so you could go with the angle that you are with the Bureau. Then I can take over driving at some point. Gotta figure out a reason we have a six-year-old with us, but you could just call it Take Your Kid to Work Day. Yeah? We should agree on a cover story before we even get there, right?

What purpose do we have? If they ask for a purpose, why are we here? We're picking up the plane, for sure, and the requisition orders. But in addition, we need access to those files. How does she relate to those files? How does she relate to those files? How does she relate to the plane? I don't know.

Call her some government schmucks kid that we're transporting. You do recall that it is still the year 2020, and COVID very much is still a factor. I mean, the need for private transportation for a kid would only increase with the health concerns. Putting their kid on a private plane, it's absolutely worth the dollar.

We could also split some fine hairs and go with partial truth and say that she is a missing child from up north and that we are in charge of her case. We just have to use your COVID cover, not your real name, and just associate ourselves with that investigation. Maybe we're transporting her back east. We can lie about her father being there or something. I mean, that's not a lie our dad is on the East Coast, but...

I also don't know if we can actively, um... use our CDC covers, because we need my FBI clearance to get onto the base. CDC could be a good cover to retrieve those files as well. Maybe we're looking into something. I mean, from what I've heard of Friis and everything that happened here, it was in obscure circumstance. I'm down for CDC. Let's do CDC. That's further from the truth.

And Les points back to Mia and me. Should Hyde come in as their CDC alternative or should we keep them in position essentially? Maybe that would have some additional sway. Just I'm thinking in terms of procuring our requisitions, the plane, the weapons without questions asked. It's not often a CDC group is given AR-15s, you know? We keep hide as private security.

Or escorts on base. If that works for you, hide. Should be fine. Do you need to be a pilot to have access to the plane? I imagine to get a requisition for one, yes. We need to have a pilot. I mean, Mallory already called in. It's just a matter of proving that it's for us.

OK, cool. Agent Tuck, you switch spots with Agent Hyde, jumping into the driver's seat, and you get on your way. By this time, the sun has gone down, and the only light is coming from the town and the area surrounding Camp Pendleton. You get off on the I-5 and the road is a short trip around towards the northern side of the highway where you pass a normal emergency hospital, but this is not where you're heading. And you head to the Naval Hospital on site. As you pull up you can

see a very large four-story building. At night it is lit up beautifully. It is quite an impressive structure. It looks new, modern, with large glass facade along with a kind of modern trim around it. So there is a guard station that you can see the vehicle kind of slows down and you're about two or three cars before you pull up to the guard station. I'm gonna, I wanna reach in my bag and pull out some of the little like animal masks

that I bought for Mia at the airport on the way to California. They have like unicorns and bears and sharks and stuff on them. And I'll just reach behind and give her one and say, okay, you have to put this over your nose and mouth because there's a lot of people who are sick right now. And we're keeping ourselves safe and we're keeping them safe by wearing these masks. She takes the mask and like rests it on her nose the way you might a spoon, and then it just falls off her face.

Yeah. Close, good try. Around your ears, these little loop things that go around your ears, and I'll put the car in park and turn around and help her put it on her face the right way. Who would we say is right next to Mia if Tuck is not?

Would Merid stay in the passenger seat or would Merritt stay in the passenger seat, or would Hyde be in the passenger seat? I think that'd all be good. I think maybe you, because this is like a military base. Yeah, it would usually be in the passenger seat, so I guess it would be a warping end. Merritt. Alright, so Merritt, you're next to Mia,

and Tuck stops the car, turns around, and is attempting to put it on. Tuck, she's being a little difficult. She just doesn't like it and maybe you get it around her ears once, but then she kind of peels it off and, oh, it hurts. I know, kiddo. It's a little uncomfortable, but it's less comfortable than coughing and having a fever and maybe going to the hospital.

I think that Merritt's eyes are just trained on Mia the whole time. Give me a persuade roll. That is a 21. The cars ahead of you begin to move up and you realize you need to move forward and the situation gets a little tense for a moment where she just won't comply,

but eventually as you throw the car into park again after moving forward a little bit, you reiterate the importance and put it on. And she does so reluctantly, but she does so. Yeah, I think I think Tuck, like, lets it sit while they're driving and tries to, like, not be stressed about it. But once the car stops again, tries to come at it from like a, you know all the superheroes wear masks and they can breathe just fine.

You know, Spider-Man, we love Spider-Man. Spider-Man wore a mask all the time. And that is what works. Merit, what is your human intelligence? It's ridiculous, it's an 80%. Maybe it's a little easier for you to see, uh, through, uh, past the rose-tinted glasses that Tuck has, but this child is... been sitting in a car for up to five hours, and little children don't do well with being patient, and she's starting to act out a little

bit. But eventually, the vehicle pulls up to the guard station and there is a man in military fatigues who walks up with a clipboard and says, good evening, ma'am. Hi, and I'll flash my CDC badge. Hello, officer. What's the what's your business? Just a routine check. We're here to pick up some requisitioned materials. pick up some requisitioned materials. We have the daughter of an important East Coast member of the government with us and we're taking her back home, but we need the plane that is stored in your facility.

Okay, that's a lot. Could I see everybody's IDs? Absolutely. Pass around the CDC materials. I'll give him my military badge. He looks them all over, hands them back, kind of quickly moves his flashlight through the car to see everybody's faces, looks at Mia.

Kind of gives her a little bit of a wave. Say hello, Mia. She looks at you married and then looks back at him and gives a wave. You have a contact on site? Above the table. Were we given a contact or just Mallory just saying? Just the requisition from Mallory. So, I mean, we could maybe drop her name if we needed to. Our supervisor sent us just with the information of the requisition.

We weren't given a contact on site. If you could point us to someone, that'd be very helpful. Sure. Just masks need to be worn the entire time while you're at the hospital. Why don't you go ahead, pull right up the parking lot. He points in the direction of it, and the entrance is right at the front there.

Thank you very much. Steps back, seems to give you free rein. The guard rail comes up, and you're free to move. Mia, that was exceptional. You did such a good job there. I know it's been a long drive, huh? It's tough saying hello to people like that after being stuck in this car for so long

Are we in the army? One of us But sure we're on an army base. Remember how dad was in the Navy Mm-hmm. Are we are we gonna go see him now? Um, not right now. No, he's He's so he's pretty far away. We're gonna, I know, I know, I miss dad too. But what we're gonna do is we're gonna get on a private plane. No one else is gonna be on the plane, but you and me and Orson and Gaze and Kona,

all of us together. She smiles and kind of looks at Merit, seems excited. Yeah, and Kona is quite the pilot, just you wait. She'll pull some barrel rolls if we ask nicely. Yeah, maybe she can maybe hide. Maybe you can show Mia the cockpit and let her look at all the stuff in there. Sure, once we get it off the ground, I think that won't be hard to do.

I was thinking, Mia's been in the car a while, and I'm going to give Tuck a look that reads more into the situation than it does out loud. Maybe it's best if she gets a walk around the base, whoever feels like they need to stretch their legs, get some cool breeze on her. Well, I was hoping to review the certain files we came for, but also, Fryce died here, and I'd like to see what the hospital has to say about that. So maybe, she turns to Mia, maybe we can learn about speed reading today. Okay.

Great. But first, Mia, you gotta race me to that tree and Tuck's gonna take off running just to try and get some of the energy out of her and let her like be a kid for a couple minutes. Agent Tuck, you park the car, you leap out. For a second, Mia doesn't know what to do. She's watching you, but somebody like Merritt or Warp opens up the side door

and she is given free rein to jump out, and she follows you. And as the rest of you pile out of the vehicle, Tuck and her play tag and run around. I think there's a level of anxiety that runs over Merit's chest as he realizes that this will never just be a kid playing with their sister. And instead in him, he's like instinctually ready to run in the case that Mia does something that is a little less than human in the excitement of it all. So for a time, he pauses at the front of that door

and just watches patiently hoping to God that this isn't going to turn into something that he has to control. I think I will stand, go up next to Merritt and I'll just lean in and say, you should take a deep breath. It's just, it's all starting to fall down, isn't it? I mean, it's always been hard to manage hide, but it's all coming down around us, right?

A bit, but we're refocusing. As long as we do what they want, maybe this might be happier. But you're ready to do anything, right? You're always prepared. Yeah, always. Yeah, so relax. Or rolls down the window through the car, the parked car. The less people expect of you overall, the more you can get away with.

If you're perceived as a failure by the FBI, I mean, the sky's the limit, right? Thank you for reminding me where I sit in the FBI. I mean, the sky's the limit, right? Thank you for reminding me where I sit in the world. It's always good to be reminded that I am indeed a failure. Perceived. Well, maybe we should split up and part of us go for F.R.I.C.E. and part of us go for the requisitions. Personally, I've been interested in these files since the beginning,

so if I'm calling teams, I would like to have a look in these files since the beginning, so if I'm calling teams I would like to have a look at these files. Sounds good. So, as you stand in the parking lot, it is evening so there is not that many vehicles, but it is a 24-7 care center, so there is still staff on site and there appears to be folks who are in the lobby. Ahead of you is a large glass lobby that is lit up and it appears to be the most logical place for the public to enter from. I'll swing Mia up on my shoulders if she wants to be, if

she doesn't want to walk right now just so she has a higher like she can I don't know just just to let her be kid. She is thoroughly enjoying it this is the most action that she's had in a few hours so this sudden burst of energy is certainly entertaining for her and she's kind of giggling and laughing as you guys make your way to the front. You all enter the front lobby and there are a fair amount of soldiers in this lobby. They are all sitting in the foyer area and ahead of you is a large desk where the staff is positioned to help direct you wherever you need to go. There's currently two women dressed in scrubs, but everyone else in here seems to be military in some way or another. You can see to your right, there is the waiting section, the foyer, where the Marines are.

And it looks like they are being picked one by one to take some COVID tests. One of them gets up and walks into an ancillary room, and you get the impression that they're here for testing or something like that. I mean, desk is as good a place to start as any. I agree. Merritt, do you want to talk or you want me to? Sure, I can talk. I'm sure they can put in a call to whoever's going to handle

the hanger and everything like that. But we'll try and get that going. And he'll step up to the desk. There's a young girl with blonde hair typing on a computer. And she notices the four of you with the child and says, hey, good evening. Good evening. How can I help you?

Hi, I'm Investigator Alan Marks with the CDC and I'm going to show my badge right there. This is my team here. We just got accepted onto base and there's a few things that we need to accomplish while we're on here. I'm hoping that we could get some instruction. We were sent here from the gate. Yeah sure. Well are you looking for someone in particular or? Well first we're going to have to handle some requisitions on base and we were wondering who we should go to directly for that. One of which has to do with the air hanger.

I'm not even sure if you know someone offhand. I know this is the hospital but whatever you can help with I don't think you'd speak to us for to a requisition of vehicle if that's what's going on we What are the requisitions are you looking for though? I? I think you It'd be better to speak with our our escort here So maybe we can handle that after the most pressing point of business. And that is myself and my fellow investigator Stephanie here.

We are looking into some files that you, I believe, might have on on on campus here. Oh, so you're looking for records? Yes, yes. We're looking for records themselves. OK, well, the records department is in the back. Unfortunately, Mrs. Richter, who is in charge of the Records Department, is gone for the day. I don't know, but I don't know if I can let you back there without somebody. Well, do you think that maybe we could put in a call to Mrs. Richter, you said?

I know it's a little late, but this is pressing business. We do have to be out probably in the morning on a plane, and we were hoping to get these files before we could leave. It's a matter of, well, you know the times we're living and how important the CDC has become lately. We're just hoping to do our best job at our best front. And that would help us out tremendously to have these records.

Go ahead and give me a persuasion rule. Okay. If you'd like to roll bureaucracy because that's higher, you also have that option. I've never got to roll bureaucracy and I took it. So I'm gonna do it. Hell yeah. I have a 28 under my 40 bureaucracies.

Excellent. You know the right buttons to push. This woman seems like she is tired. She's probably had a long day of dealing with patients COVID patients dealing with the new protocols that are in place and you are able to sweet talk her into that process using the the bureaucratic code of how to get things done sure enough she calls and she explains the situation to the person on the other line. She finishes the call, hangs up, returns to you and says, Mrs. Richter

did give permission for you to go to the Records Department. I'll have somebody meet you over there. So yeah, you just want to go down the hall and it's to your left. Perfect. I want to thank you so much. You know what? Let me buy you a coffee. And he goes into his wallet there and he'll bring out like a five and set it down on the counter. Oh, you don't have to do that. Hey, you're waking people up in the middle of the night. I know how that goes. And I know sometimes it's not the best conversation on the other hand. But thank you.

Oh, thank you, Mr. Marks. Of course. Yeah, just that way. Perfect. He turns back to the others and says, I guess our team's ready to rock. Hyde, do you have the rest, do you think? I think I can figure out the rest, yeah. To get whatever weapons or the plane.

I can do that. Are we taking Mia? Mia, do you want to go with, you want to go with Kona and me, or do you want to go with the other two? I want to go with them, and she's going to point to Merit and Warp. The other two.

I'll scoop her off my shoulders and plop her down on Merit's. And I'm gonna, because I know that Warp was excited about bringing Mio with us, I'm gonna hand her over to Warp. Warp's got her. If she's on the ground now, Tuckle like crouch down and go,

okay, I know it's been a long day. I know you've been having a hard time, and I'm so proud of how hard you've been working to keep your emotions settled, and I know that's not always easy, but can you listen to our friends like you would listen to mom and dad and me? No.

Okay, very funny. Let's try this again. Can you use your listening ears and your kind words and your sweet, sweet, wonderful soul that'll tickle her tummy a little bit and listen to our friends like you would listen to mommy and daddy and me. Can I get McDonald's after?

I mean I think it's the only place that'll be open kiddo so yeah yeah we can do that we can do that but you gotta you have to be you have to be polite you have to be kind you have to listen and make good decisions, okay? Where are you going? We're gonna go get the plane, remember when I told you about the plane? I want to go to the plane. You want to go to the plane? She looks at warp and Merid and looks at you.

I want to go with the plane. Joke's on you guys, I get the kid and I'll put her on my shoulders and I'll stand up. We'll talk about speed reading on the plane. There will be much to go through. There will be time. I just am going to say this right here and right now that she is going to have less fun on that plane. We're going to find out some insane things in that room.

She's going to regret it someday. She could have been there while we made the discovery of a century. She gets sister time and running around a plane. Y'all are just looking at musty old papers. Sister time and McDonald's. Yeah, yes. Episode title locked.

Sergio, I'm begging you to let that be the episode title. Please. Ba ba ba ba, I'm loving it. Is that how you got her? You bought her out with McDonald's? No, I didn't. I just, I- No, I was there. It was a deal.

She's having the apple slices. No, she's not. She's having french fries. Are you kidding? What do you think? French fries or apple slices? I want an apple pie. Okay.

See? Getting your apples in there, Merit, see? Okay. We'll allow it. And I think Tuck has a moment of not wanting to be separated from the other two because the last time we were all at a place that was supposed to be secure,

people tried to break in and let out a ghoul, and now that ghoul is on the loose, and so I think Tuck has a moment of anxiety. It's odd, isn't it? Watch each other's backs, yeah? Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about Max just now. Yeah, I'm not loving being far away from him. We'll send a text every few minutes.

Apparently Boomer's been up talking to Mallory for a bit, so... They're probably having shitty Chinese food and watching What Not to Wear or something. Boomer and Mallory? I mean, it's an odd couple, but it's not unheard of, right? Well, it's just that every time Boomer calls her, she calls her a new slur. I don't know if it's a, I don't know if... The way Boomer says it, it always sounds like a slur.

It's, it's, yeah, it's like a slur for specifically the job that Mallory has. They're new slurs, but they're there. So with that, the two groups split up with Merit and Warp heading deeper into the hospital. Hide and tuck, you are with Mia, and you get the impression that the Naval Hospital is not where you're going to requisition what you're looking for. So do you stay or do you leave? We'll leave. We'll head out and look for... maybe we just drive until we see a hangar? There's got to be an office where we can talk to somebody. I think that if you were to ask the front desk, they would probably direct you to where to get to the air base.

Yeah. As everyone working on the site has got to have some understanding of Camp Pendleton. Yeah. So you jump back into the vehicle and you start making your way there. Warp and Merit, you walk deeper into the hospital. On this floor it is obvious that there is a pharmacy, there seems to be a radiological

department, dining hall, the galley, looks like there's a physical therapy section, urology, there's a little retail store, and then finally at the end as you make a left you see that there are the medical records. There is an orderly there waiting for you who has a badge. They scan the badge which allows access into the medical records and you step inside. This orderly stays with you as you begin walking around and what you begin to realize quickly is that the medical records are largely digitized. There are computer stations, there are some drawers alongside for the more up-to-date records that are eventually digitized. Deeper into the room there is a another door that seems to also have security clearance or a badge clearance.

Um, excuse me, can I ask you a question? Do you know what's through this door? Do we not have full clearance? Those are the archives. All the modern records are kept in here. And we're allowed in the archives if needed? No, I'm sorry, that's special access only. I see. And if we needed to requisition just in case what we are looking for isn't here in the main room? I think you'd probably have to contact an administrator or something. I'm just an orderly. Yeah, of course. Just making sure. I appreciate it. And he kind of finds himself in the opposite corner, gets on his phone, is, you know, seems distracted as you guys go about your business. I think Warp was, is already very elated to be here, but hearing that there's a section that's blocked off has probably reignited her anxiety, and she's quickly seeing how far the digitized archives go on the computer.

The archives do go back probably about 10 to 15 years. I would say even maybe even a little bit later, maybe into the 60s. What are you searching for as you're on the computer? I want to start with with Fries, but I also want to look up anything with

Black Chamber. You would understand that this is kind of an intranet. It isn't necessarily connected to the wider web, so Black Chamber? You would understand that this is kind of an intranet. It isn't necessarily connected to the wider web. So Black Chamber doesn't pull up anything. When you search Daniel M. Fries, you do find medical records that go back quite far. October 1, 1970, you see the statement of his passing.

Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much else on him, other than that he was housed on site for a number of years. What did you say your name was? And she says to the orally. He kind of looks up from his phone absently and says, Mark. Mark, are you sure there's no way that we can easily get back there?

It's just what we're looking for is almost 50 years ago and I It's We can't really work around the speed of your digitizing team Right now is there just a way maybe something we could quickly do to get back there And miss Richter gave us permission in here to begin with I imagine she probably meant the archives as well I can't imagine that she would want any part of this kept from the CDC. Warp, if you would like, you can attempt a persuasion check or a bureaucracy check to see if you can outmaneuver him in some way.

My bureaucracy is better than my persuasion. Okay. Oh, that is a pass with a 40 under 50. Yes. Excellent. Okay. Excellent. Explain to me what is it that you say using a kind of bureaucratic lingo that either frightens him or puts him in his place and properly gets him to help. If we have to wait here any longer to produce a piece of paper to get past a digitization lab, I think that's going to be very embarrassing for you.

Maybe we should just work for our best interests. It could mean some overtime too, if I'm not mistaken. We may need to stay late. When does your shift end? It's like in ten minutes Mmm. What do you think? This is more than a ten minute problem I think we want to be thorough and we'd like you to be thorough, but I you know, it's it's up to you It's okay. I'll go get the form

If I let you in can we make it under 10 minutes? I mean, what do you think? What do you say, Stephanie? Can we do under 10 minutes? I don't know if we can, personally, but you're the expert. If that's a gamble you're willing to take, if 10 minutes is more important than serving your country, then 10 minutes. I can... I fucking serve my country, whatever. And he stands up and walks over to the machine and almost kind of out of spite, you know, slaps his card against the machine and beep! There's a sound and the door hisses open. This is like a smoke door, so it tends to seal itself when closed. He follows you in and inside is a larger room. This one crammed full of shelving, metal shelving against the wall and in the centers with this kind of oppressive fluorescent lighting. The

entire building is modern but it's clear that this these shelves and a lot of the things that are found on these shelves have been migrated from location to location. Old boxes, cardboard boxes, office supply type boxes, various briefcases and things like that. All of the shelves are marked. Does it seem like it's like an alphabetized system? Yes, it does seem to be somewhat alphabetized, yes. Okay, then she starts immediately going to like, middle of the stack of where all of the like, F boxes are and starts looking for Bryce. I'm gonna stay by her as close as I can.

I'll try and check the B stack in case they filed it under Black Chamber. The two of you split, Mark kind of standing in the middle of the room and he seems to kind of look to each of you every couple of minutes and then down at his phone. Seems like he's on a little bit higher alert in here than he was in the previous room but he does find himself distracted by the phone once in a while. Only a couple minutes pass and warp you are able to find the F shelf, digging through it. You see many names that end in F, but not Frise. And then eventually, kind of in the far corner, in a dusty far corner, there is two large cardboard boxes. And the boxes each read, top secret, CDR Cook.

But then in the subject box, it says Frise, F-R-E-I-S, comma Daniel, or D. Um, and quick reminder for my brain, we have, are we good authority-wise to take these with us? Or now that it says Top Secret, do you think, do you think Warp would think that they're going to run into some trouble? Yeah, I think you've mostly discussed with the staff going to the records. You haven't mentioned anything about taking records out. I think I'm going to move boxes. If there's like a sort of like a common table or some other flat clear surface,

she's gonna move those two boxes to the table and start looking for things that are important. But it's very obvious, like look what what I found without turning to merit to say. I'm gonna come walk over to Warp and sort of put my hand on their back and sort of lean in and say, listen, I'll keep him close and you take what you need. Good, that works. And then I'm gonna go back over

to where I started at the bees. And I'm going to take out like two different folders. They can be whatever it is really. It doesn't really matter. And then he's going to turn to Mark and be like, okay, I think I have everything I need. If you just want to watch over Stephanie, I'm going to take these out of here. Thank you. And then I'm going to start trying to move past Mark. Oh, wait, wait, wait. No, no, you guys can't leave with these. What do you mean?

You need permission to leave with these. Why would we come to the records room just to look? Of course, I need to look at the records. I need to requisition these. These are coming with us. We need to fly back to the East Coast. We're going cross continental. We need to take these back to the CDC Center in New York. Man, nobody said that about it. Hold on, I gotta get my supervisor on the line.

Do you want me to come with you? I don't want you to represent me without my voice. Yeah, yeah, sure, okay. Yeah, and he starts leading his way out of the room. I'll follow with him. Just trying to keep him heated and focused on me while Warp gets to do whatever they need to. He does go into the next room, the digitized records room, and jumps on a phone and begins dialing and talking to the front desk and seems preoccupied. Warp, you pop open the tops of these boxes and you kind of have to take a step back as

the dust, you know, emits into the air. There are four accordion files, two in each box, full of paperwork. As you lift one out, you can feel the packed nature of it. Warp opens them and will quickly like maybe spend 30 seconds seeing if they have a theme for each accordion. And if they don't, they're going to start putting things in their bag. And like, if I'm not in their eyeline, she's going to start replacing mass of paper with wool

because her bag has enough space to carry five pounds of wool, but maybe not files with it. So she is actively replacing the two things to keep the mass the same. Are you putting the wool in the cardboard boxes or in the accordion files? In the accordion files,

but is there, where's the closest camera in this room? You don't see any cameras visible in this room. This seems to be just kind of like a... like they're treating it like a storage room. Okay, beautiful. Then, yes, it's just to replicate the thickness of the accordion files. I don't want it to be visible when I put the the box back on. As you open the accordion files, the... of them the rubber or the elastic band that kind of keeps it closed breaks. It's so old.

The elasticity has completely worn off on it. You open it up and there are tons of pieces of paper. Looks like medical forms, transcripts, personnel files, and there is a running theme of Daniel M. Freiss, Dr. Daniel M. Freiss, being the subject. Okay. There are, as you go through these, probably over 220 pages of medical forms. It's a lot of stuff, and I'm going to say that it is somewhat time consuming

to do what you're trying to do. So I'm gonna say you get about halfway done when Mark, the orderly, gets off the phone and says, yeah, no, I don't think Fletcher approved. You get in the records, man. Sorry. Yeah, I get it. I mean, they haven't met us yet. They don't know what we're in for. We just got here. It's late at night. I understand. But I appreciate you making the call. I'm sorry if I got heated with you. I mean. Oh, yeah, no big deal. Let's just try to stop a pandemic. You know how

it goes. Let's get your partner and you know, you guys? I don't know let's go check on him. He walks over hits the the button on the door opens it up to allow you to go in the two of you enter and you can see that warp is somewhat in the process of moving files from these accordion files to her desk. Suspiciously, probably? Yeah, it's a little obvious. Unless you do something, I'm going to have him make a alertness check to see if he notices what she's up to.

I don't think that Merritt walks with his cane anymore, except when he's having flare-ups. But I do think he's going to do the really embarrassing thing of buckling his knee and like falling into the threshold of the door and like going full pratfall and you know agonizing dramatic oh my god my knee my knee as he goes down to the floor trying to get this guy to focus on him. I think with a minus 20% I'm going gonna ask him to make an alertness roll. Okay.

He rolled a 1%, which I think is also a critical success. Merritt, you tumble to the ground, seeing that a warp needs a couple extra minutes, and he looks at you, but then he looks at warp kind of in reaction, and looks at her as she's in mid stuffing papers into her backpack and says, ma'am, you can't do that. I'm sorry, I needed to clear space on the table.

I'll put this back. She puts that file back and then puts the cap on the box. Hey man, you need to get up off the floor. Are you okay? I'm sorry, yeah, an old gunshot wound. Sometimes it kicks like a mule. Are you gonna help him up? You could try to persuade him.

Otherwise he's gonna head to you. I'm gonna try to persuade him. That is a pass with a 34. Hell yes. The guilt gets the better of him and he kind of rolls his eyes and he goes to start helping you up there. I am going to be like the most feeble, like take the longest trip as he's pulling me. Like whatever I need to to sell as much time, I don't care if this guy hates me by the end of this.

Warp, you have moments and you're also about halfway through digging through all of this. What are you doing? If I have seconds, I'm going to try to fully, just no replacements, just cold steel as much as I can. Only because of the closeness, everyone is within their viewing distance, within the vicinity.

I'm going to ask for a stealth check and you can have plus 20% because merit is being a pain in the butt. Okay. Come on Barbie, let's go party. 26! The under 30 with that extra 20. Unbelievable. The Dice Gods are with you all. I am the FBI.

He is starting to say, man, you're doing this on purpose, man. Get your ass up. As warp is stuffing the final two accordions into her bag. What? You've never seen action before? This shit sticks with you, man. Man, you're doing this on purpose, man. Get up. And he's like really starting to lift you up with all of his strength. I'll let him, you know, squirrel me up once I get the sense that Gave's got what she needed. I love the idea of a CDC agent with a gunshot wound.

Maybe I'm former military. Warp puts the box back and starts putting those boxes, puts the things that were on top of Fryce's box back on them, starts to bury it, hastily starts walking. Are we done here or what? Yes, we're done. Stephanie, he said we can't keep any of this. You put that stuff back, right? It's all back. The whole thing we came for, we have to come back again

and start this whole paperwork process again. I'll see you in 2022, Mark. We're gonna have to call the supervisor and get that paper he was talking about. We'll have to come back another day. I guess the pandemic's gonna last another year. Thanks, dude to these fucks. Mark has had enough of you as he guides you guys out of the Archives area. Let's jump away for a moment and go with Tuck and Mia and Hyde. You guys pull up to what is the on-site airbase. Probably same story as the main gate. We've got government Big Wigs kid trying to get her back to the East Coast. And he would rather have her on a private plane than anywhere else. They seem distracted. This is the evening shift.

And after checking your names, they do find that there is a requisition posted for Kona Morales and they direct you to a particular hangar. You head over there, park, and as you step inside there is a plane. It is not a Challenger 605 but a similar model, but it is not a proper jet. It seems like almost kind of like a last minute requisition. And there is a cabinet against the wall that is listed as a weapons cabinet. I think I will go, yeah, check it out.

As you do, Mia kind of steps in and is like, wow. As she looks at the plane, immediately starts kind of running towards it. I'll let her, as, as she looks at the plane, immediately starts kind of running towards it. I'll let her, as long as there's nothing like dangerous that she could wander into, I'll let her explore. I'll like, I'll stay close, obviously, but I'm giving her space to explore. She kind of puts her hand on the plane and walks around it and seems thoroughly impressed

by it. Hyde, you walk over to the counter or to the locker, flip it open, and there are three AR-15s and several rounds of magazines there for you. S- Spare no expense. Cool. I'll just start taking that and putting it in the plane discreetly, try to not let me in to see me loading guns into the plane.

I think it's, unless you want to make a stealth roll, I think it's pretty hard to do that. She will eventually notice that there are weapons. I think I'll probably try to keep her distracted. If I see Hyde's getting weapons out, I'm gonna like pull her over to like the wheels and be like, whoa, knock on them. They sound like hollow, do you hear them?

And I'll knock and then I'll put my ear up and see if she'll do the same. Give me a persuasion check. Persuade the child, negotiate. Persuade my little sibling. My tiny sister, please be a nerd. Whoops, goodbye dice. 20, which is under my 53.

She does seem like she wants to head in the direction of the shiny weapons, but is distracted enough by you. Say what you will, but we're damn good at gaslighting children. I'm not gaslighting her, I'm just distracting her. There's a difference. I work with small children, I know the difference.

That's what gaslighters say. I love you so much. But to deny that you're gaslighting is sticking to the bit. I'm not telling her that there's not weapons on the plane. I'm just not showing her specifically what they are. Gaslighting? I don't even know what that word means. I hate you. Yeah, as soon as they're distracted though. Gonna...

It's a pity. Hyde, as you're putting the final weapon on the plane, your cell phone begins to ring. Okay. I'll pick up the phone. Yeah, it's a... I would tell you who it is, but it's an unknown number. Hello? Morales? It's Thorville. How are you doing? Fine. Chilling. Okay, I'm glad to hear that. You know how I feel like I kind of owe you doing? Fine. Chilling. Okay, I'm glad to hear that.

You know how I feel like I kind of owe you one? Well, I feel like I do. Maybe that wasn't obvious to you, but I'm calling you to let you know that March knows that you were out in Yosemite. They know that you found something or someone. I'm not in town, so I couldn't participate, but I think you should know that you found something or someone. I'm not in town so I couldn't participate, but I think you should know that they're sending hooks. They're probably on their way now.

Where are they sending hooks? I wasn't privy to that information. I just know that she's on her way to wherever you are. Okay. I think that if you want to keep doing whatever you're doing, you should probably get going. And honestly, I think at this point, the only person who can call off March is probably the director. Okay. Is that it? Is that all? Just thought you deserved a tip. I appreciate that. So I don't feel like you needed to give me that.

No, I didn't need to. But ever since you and Tuck warned me about hooks, I've just been keeping an eye on them. And let's just say I'm noticing their eagerness to move up in the ranks. And I've already warned, I've already told you my eagerness to move up in the ranks. So I'm trying to outmaneuver them. Have you talked to Samaya by chance? No I can't say I have heard

from him. Hooks hangs around with him just wondered curious. He's not with you? Didn't show up. I can ask about him but it might take me a minute. I'll say thanks appreciate it. I think I'm just gonna hang up on Thornville and then leave it at that. So you now know there is a ticking clock you don't know, but it might take me a minute. I'll say thanks, I appreciate it. I think I'm just gonna hang up on Thornville and then leave it at that. So you now know there is a ticking clock. You don't know how long it has on it, but they're coming for you. I'm gonna go back out.

I'm gonna first stash the guns, because I had guns in my hands and then at the top of the conversation, I'm gonna go stash them in a closet, somewhere where I hope Mia's not gonna find. And then I'll go back out to where Tuck is and I'll probably give them like a nod to like step away from Mia so we could talk for a second. Yeah, I'll kind of back away, let her, you know, I'm gonna keep an eye obviously but

let her do her own thing for a minute. You good? Yeah, I am good do her own thing for a minute. You good? Yeah, I am good. That sounded not at all convincing. Did Mallory tell us that Marsh wasn't aware of what happened up in Yosemite? And she was like the first person to know? I think so. I'm going back in my notes and all it says is we're fucked.

Hold on. I mean, I don't even know if she mentioned Marsh. I kind of assumed that Marsh would know though, yeah? They do now. They are aware of the incident. Which incident would that be? You have so many, primarily. So March knows.

They're on the way. I wasn't given a timeline. So we need to fucking go, I guess. Yeah? Yeah. ASAP. Alright. go I guess yeah yeah ASAP all right I'll uh I'll call I'll call I'll call the other two you uh you start getting the plane ready yeah start getting the plane ready I'll go I'll go scoot me

and pull out my phone to call uh probably Merit.. Merritt, as you're being escorted out of the archive room, your cell phone begins to ring. I'm going to reach in and answer it. We gotta move. What do you mean? What's going on? Was there a problem with... Hooks. Hooks?

March knows. We gotta go. Oh, okay. Have you got the plane? Are we ready for exfil? Hyde's getting there. We have the guns. We just need to get on the plane and go. We don't know how close they are. I think we got everything and I'm going to hook the phone in my cradle and look back

over to warp. Do we have everything we need? We got everything. We need to leave right now. Mark's on its way. As you are walking to the front entrance, Mark says, you know what, hold on a second guys, I want to write your names down again, just to confirm with my supervisor. He starts working on grabbing a pen and paper.

Sure. I'm Alan Marks, this is Stephanie Pierce. Do you want us to leave a copy of our badges with you? Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to photocopy them. Great. Yeah, absolutely. Merit, we have to go. Don't fucking play nice with these assholes. Listen, if we leave another trail, they're just gonna follow that one.

And then I'm just gonna give my key off. And if you need a copy of Stephanie's, you can just call for me directly at the office, okay? I work at the CDC Center in New York. Okay? Alright, perfect. Thank you, Mark. It was really, I appreciate it. Before you leave, he saunters over to the copy machine and begins making a copy. Oh my God, Mark.

The seconds turn. Listen, I have an extra. We need to leave now. We just received a call from our supervisor. So please keep that one. It has my information. You can follow back Thank you again, Mark. You don't want your badge and he's like yelling out at you. That's okay and I'm gonna start leaving the two of you step out into the evening air and You realized you don't have a vehicle Okay How far is the other base? Do we know?

If you're still on the phone with Tuck, I'll assume that Tuck gives you the information about how to get there. I mean, I can just come get you. That'll probably be faster. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just stay where you are. We'll order a car or something, but you need to stay at the plane because they're coming for you, not for me. Okay. Listen, if anything gets close to that, I mean, have Hyde ready to take that plane out with us or without us because they're coming for you, Tuck. Okay.

Okay. Wait, I'll give him the address. You run or you get a car now? Yes, I'm going to order an Uber. I may get upcharged because it's a peak hour, but we'll be there soon. I'll reimburse you. I'll hang up. So Merritt, you flip onto your phone

and you use an app to call a car service. Give me a luck roll to determine whether they get there in a fair amount of time or not. Just under 50? Under 50. A 75, they do not have the air time. You see a driver chosen for you, and you breathe a sigh of relief,

and maybe as it's driving towards Camp Pendleton, it disappears and drops, and then another driver is chosen for you, and they start moving towards you. About five minutes have passed. God, I should have never trusted this stupid, stupid service. It's that gas lamp quarter. It's always this time of day, downtown San Diego.

You can't fucking trust it. What was I thinking? I'm an idiot. It's gonna be fine. We can just start walking in the direction and they can find us on the way. Okay, okay. Let's practice some internal breathing and just start moving and...

Fuck. Warp and Merit, the two of you make alertness checks, please. Okay, let's practice some internal breathing and just start moving and... Warp and Merit, the two of you make alertness checks, please. Let's go, baby. Failure. I have a success. As you begin walking, you are walking through the parking lot and you can't help but notice that there are many cars in this parking lot.

And there's even one or two military vehicles, a Humvee or two, with their windows rolled down. We could convince someone to give us a ride, right? I mean, from base to base. You still have your ID, right? We could use that. Absolutely. Okay, so we just turn on the charm, they let us in the Humvee, we drive over, it's that simple.

Charm is turned off. Excuse me, excuse me. And he's just gonna start calling out to anyone who's closest to one of the Humvees. Yeah, I'll say there's probably a pair of soldiers standing by chit chatting. Excuse me, folks. We are in a matter of national importance currently. We're with the CDC. We need transportation to another base as fast as possible because we're handling some very sensitive subjects. We have live material on a plane that we've just noticed has gone bad or at least is turning that way. So we need to transport that organic material before it starts to go the wrong way. Is there any way you guys could give us a drive over to the next base?

Hey man, I'm on my break. Why don't you call a cab? I will pay you. I'll do anything. I called Uber. You know it's the gas lamp quarter. It's downtown San Diego. You know this. This is really heavy. I'm going to have to walk it across and my arm's already starting to shake. Just quick ride, right? Either Warp can try to charm them with a persuasion or a charisma roll, or Merit can try a bureaucracy roll. Do you feel lucky or do I feel lucky?

I feel like our persuasion and bureaucracy is the same. My bureau's a 40. Yes, my persuade is a 40. Go for it Warp, I feel you. God, okay, terrifying. You got good juice today. I don't feel good after that 75. That never happens to me.

Is there dying words? It's a 92. It's a 92. Oh! Fuck. We're walking our asses. Another couple minutes pass as you try to convince these guys but they seem unimpressed with you and they won't budge.

We need to go. We need to go. We'll just walk. We'll get our steps in. They can leave if they need to. What's the worst that happens? We're stuck here? Yeah, we're stuck here. We don't have anything that March wants, right? We don't turn blue and we're not six. So we should be okay, right? Uh, yeah. And unless... yes. Yes, because Mark had ten minutes left on his shift. There's just... I tried to replace the files with something that would Confuse them if they move the box. I wanted them to feel like it wasn't an empty box

Okay, that's what it is. So if they open the box, they are gonna find About four pounds of sheep's wool inside of it. Oh But I buried the box and Mark seems generally uninterested. so... Good. Yeah, he buried the box. And it's wool. It's supposed to be there, right? Am I breathing weird? You know, it's faster. It's faster. Maybe hands up, open the lungs a little? We need to get out of this place!

They have guns here! We're leaving? I think we've got to reach over and try very nonchalantly to take Gaze's hand and then realize that's not gonna help our image and let go and just take deep breaths and try to make for the nearest exit past the same gate we came in through because that guy liked us.

The two of you very anxiously begin walking away from the hospital and in the direction that you know the airbase is. Hide. You prepare the plane as best as you can. It is up. It is running. The door is open and you are effectively ready to go but warp and merit are not there. What are the two of you doing? I think Tuck is trying to like, show Mia all the cool things in the plane and be super normal while looking out every single window and waiting and trying not to call them again. And these, under these seats, there's life vests.

How cool is that? You take them out of there and then you blow in this little tube and they blow up up up up up there's a little light that turns on when it gets wet how cool huh I'm hungry I want McDonald's we will get McDonald's when we get off the base after we're off this airplane base we'll get you promised me McDonald's I did promise you McDonald's we're not done at the base yet though, so... I wanna go play outside.

No. We gotta stay inside. We gotta leave soon. Uh, you wanna show me how fast you can run up and down the aisle though? I can time you. Mmm, no. I wanna play outside. Okay, that's not an option.

Your options are... You can climb on the scene. I want to play outside. She speaks her words and suddenly you feel every muscle in your body tense up and you suddenly can't even speak enough to yell or say anything. And you watch without being able to move your eye as she stands up and walks out of your periphery

and probably out of the plane. Let's cut away from you guys. Merritt and Warp, you are walking down a street in Camp Pendleton when you feel and see some headlights coming up from behind you. A Humvee pulls up with an officer inside and he leans out his window and says, uh, folks, is there a reason why you're walking on the street?

We had a very pressing engagement. We needed to leave base as soon as possible and there were no cars that we could order to take us over to the next camp. Is there any way you could give us a ride? We work with the CDC. Can I see your badges? Stephanie takes out her badge and hands it to the guy. I had mine. It was photocopied at the hospital, I see your badges. Stephanie takes out her badge and hands it to the guy. I had mine, it was photocopied at the hospital,

but I left it with them because this is a very pressing situation. Why didn't you take it with you? We need to leave immediately. The plane that we're supposed to be on is going out to the East Coast as soon as possible because we have sensitive materials and we got a call from our supervisor that warned us

that it was getting more sensitive by the second. All right well once you guys get in here and I'll drive you to the airbase and I'll talk to somebody to clarify all this. Absolutely sure. As you begin making your way around the vehicle and opening the door you hear the sound of a group of helicopters fly overhead, about three or four of them, and they're heading in the direction of the airbase. You jump in, and he pulls off and begins heading in the same direction. Is there a reason for the air call there? Is this some sort of test? He looks up at them and he says, those aren't ours, I don't know, somebody must be flying in.

Immediately I text Toc, somebody must be flying in. Immediately I text Tuck, they're en route in the sky. Am I still frozen? You are. Hyde, I assume you're in the cockpit, plane ready. Trying to get the plane ready, yeah. The plane is just about ready to go when you see Mia at the front of the plane,

kind of walking around and exploring, walking past the outer door. I'll clock that and get up and turn around and walk out. Yeah, as you walk out you can see Tuck in a kind of sitting position aiming towards the, her face aiming towards the back of the plane, completely unmoving. Um, I'll go over to Tuck and crouch down and check on them to see if they're okay. Their face is flush red as if they're, you know, holding their breath or something, but they don't even look at you. They're staring straight ahead. Mmm, where's Mia going? Last you saw her, she was on the nose of the plane walking out of the hangar.

Hang tight. I'm gonna go down and go check on Mia. Tuck would roll her eyes if they could, but they can't. So they just think about rolling their eyes. You step out of the plane and you can see Mia, her back turned towards you, kind of looking at the runway and looking around the outdoor space. Hey there Mia, what are you doing?

This place is big. Yeah. It's even bigger when you can see it from the sky. Can you get me McDonald's? Definitely. Definitely. Yeah? But it's back on the plane.

Yeah. Oh. It's on the plane? Yeah. It's on the plane. I'm gonna ask you to make a persuasion check That's a fail with an 81 She says you guys are tricking me. I don't believe you and she starts walking away from you I do not know how to have no children

Well, we'll cut away from you for a second as you think about what to do Merit and warp you pull up to the station, there is a guard post, and the soldier that is in the vehicle with you flashes his badge and explains that he's heading over to the main office to work on figuring out what you guys are up to. He drives out of it, he drives past it and you can see the hangars where you're supposed to go and you are heading in an opposite direction to what appears to be like a terminal or an office building. Eventually parks, he says why don't the two of you come with me.

Sure, but you understand the time sensitivity right? Like you... Yeah and you understand it. I don't know who the hell you guys are. You're on an air, you're on a base and I need to confirm who you are. I get that. As soon as you see that there was a plane and a weapons cabinet ordered

and given to a team that just arrived on base and they just took the plane, can you let us go? Because it is a- Yeah, sure, sure. Good. Can't you just call somebody from here? I'm about to talk to somebody in the office. Let's go. The two of you walk in and he be- Has T call somebody from here? I'm about to talk to somebody in the office. Let's go.

The two of you walk in and he be- Has Tuck answered my text? I'm sorry. No. I'm gonna text the same thing to hide. You step into the office and he speaks with the person there in the front counter and he says, yeah, just a minute, the requisition's coming. Warp, you can see out the window

these three or four helicopters, slowly, one at a time, landing on the opposite end of the Air Force base. Okay. I think she just starts just getting more and more anxious and moving towards the door like there's going to be a gunshot and they can start running. Hyde, how are you handling the situation? You do receive a text from Agent Merritt. It reads that they're en route, they're in the sky after you. Can I hear or hear, I imagine I hear the helicopters at this point? At this point you can see what look to be three helicopters landing on the opposite end of the base.

Do I want to pick up this child? I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get in front of Mia and I'm gonna crouch down to her. Hey, I know you're hungry and I know you want to eat and I want to give that to you. But if you just do one more thing for us and get on that plane and we get over the sky, I can show you the whole base and then we can get some McDonald's, I promise you. I want to eat, I'm hungry! I know, I have some food but it's just it's just not McDonald's. What is it? I have some M&Ms. I like M&Ms. Yeah they're on the plane though

they're in little baggies little dry dry baggies. Can you show me? Yeah yeah it's a secret stash only pilots know where this stash is. I think Haley's gonna be mad at me Why would Haley be mad at you because I I did something to her. Did you mean to do it? Kind of what does that mean kind of I wanted to do something and she wouldn't let me do it Just because we can do things doesn't mean we get to do what we want. Did you really want to hurt her? No, we don't hurt people to try to do what we want. Did you really want to hurt her? No. We don't hurt people to try to do what we want, right? No. So if we go in there and I show you the secret stash, you're gonna also apologize to your sister, right?

Yes. Okay. And I'm gonna hold out my hand. Come on. She'll put her hand back in your hand and walk with you. All right briskly Lead her back to the plane while fucking played Merit and warp the person on the other end of the counter is able to produce a Requisition that has your information on it and the officer that has led you here says alright looks like it's clear Want me to drive you over there? Yeah.

Well, how far is it? I mean, literally a drive, probably a minute or two. Yeah. Drive us. Sure. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay.

Then he leads you back to his Humvee where you jump in and you begin driving. Hyde, you take Mia back to the plane, back aboard the plane, where Tuck is still frozen in place. Tuck, every muscle in your body is frozen, which means your lungs as well. I'm going to ask you to make a roll to see if you start suffocating. I didn't know that, I'm sorry. Getting the baby was the most important thing, so I'm not mad about it.

If your agents take a deep breath before holding it, he or she can go without breathing for con times five. You did not take a deep breath. After that, your agent's oxygen-starved brain begins to die. Once every turn, make a con times five test. If it fails, your agent suffers a D6 and HP damage. Can you please make a con times five roll? D6, holy shit. Can you please make a con times 5 roll?

D6? Holy shit. I can do that. Fuck. Ha! Nope. Oh, I hit 65. 65 is my con score. Well, it's meat it. So you succeed. You are only going to take one HP damage. Great. I'll take it. And I think at this point you're realizing that... whether she intends to or not, Mia is hurting you. And being unable to even breathe is terrifying. I'm going to ask for a sanity check. That makes sense.

Eight. I succeed. Yeah, explain to me how you're able to maintain your composure in this moment. I think Tuck's, like, Quantico training kind of kicks in. It's been a minute since she's had to use it in this kind of a sense, but I think there was at least some kind of, like, conversation about, okay, like, if you're underwater holding your breath, if you are being deprived of oxygen, freaking out is going to make things 10 times worse. So you just have to think through it and calmly move forward until something changes.

And Tuck doesn't know what's going to change. She doesn't know how thinking through it's really going to help. But she, I think that it's just, rote in her brain at this point to just be like, alright, don't freak out, something bad is happening, keep going. That's all you can do. Hyde, when you step back aboard the plane with Mia, you see Tuck still in the same position and her lips are quickly turning blue. Mia, remember our deal.

You promise she won't be mad at me? I promise she won't be mad at you. Mia reluctantly takes her little hand and puts it on Tuck's cheek, and after touching it for a moment, Tuck, finally you feel the relief of being able to breathe. Ah! Ah!

Ah! And Mia begins to step away from you. She seems to kind of be hiding behind hide. Hey, you can't do stuff like that. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. You can't do stuff like that though. I'm sorry. I know you are, it's okay. It's okay.

I know, it's okay. Before you have time to fully recover, the doors of the hangar open and stepping in are merit and warp. Like, that guy is not hanging around, right? Uh, no, he's dropped you off and he's moved on. Oh, fuck. Come on. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna rush to the plane. I'm hopping in.

Yeah, we got what we needed. We're good. You're out of breath. Don't worry about it. Listen, they're here. We need to roll. They just landed four copters on the other side of the fucking base.

We need to get out of here as fast as possible before they get in here. Hide. Right. Um, yeah, um, come- I'll go and quickly try to find Mia, like, an Arian pack that probably will have candy in it for her, and then I will go to the cockpit. Hide, where are the- the- and he takes one look at Mia. Where are the sticks? The what?

The guns, where the fuck are the guns? They're in the closet. She knows what a gun is, just get one. That's why I said sticks! He goes over to the cabinet. He goes and he tries to like hide his body from the side of the plane that Mia's on. Takes it out, takes it to one of like the private tables

and starts checking, cleaning and preparing the AR and then still using his body to hide that weapon. He's gonna keep himself as close to the outside window of the plane as possible in case for whatever reason, March comes through into this hangar. The door to the plane closes, hide, you begin the plane and begin taxing your way out. You know that you need to communicate to the tower, letting them know that you are planning to leave, giving them your coordinates as to where you planned ahead. As you are taxing out,

Taxing out you see what looks to be a team of individuals walking across the entire Runway in your direction anybody looking out the window long enough can see hooks Dr. Hooks at the front of the group listen hide You need to get them to taxi us as quick as possible because they're gonna call in a cancel order as soon as they can so They can ground us as soon as you get even what sounds slightly like an okay, I need you to take this plane off the fucking ground. Lie to them. Tell them we're going to, tell them we're going east coast. They think we're going east coast, we're going to San Francisco, but just tell them we're going east coast.

The CDC in New York, that aligns with what we've said so far. I will attempt to call that in. I will tell them I'm heading to the East Coast. As you begin, you turn the plane to head in the direction, passing this group who gives their distance away from an active moving plane, but you see hooks, her eyes locked on the plane. As you make the call to the tower, there seems to be some kind of delay. And the operator comes back on the line and says, uh, sorry, we need to ask you

to hold for a second. We're getting reports of needing to ground you. If they ground us, if we're here, if we're stuck, this all leads back to Oaks. This all leads back to them taking Mia. This all leads back to them taking Hayley, this ends if we don't leave this fucking place. Hyde? Hyde, you know what that person is. I told you, she's not a... she's not human. If we get stuck with this thing, we're with Oaks, we're with her. I need you to take this plane off the fucking ground. They get here, they get her. They get what she did to me. You want them to have that? I'm sorry, we're asking you to compromise everything,

but this is the safest way. If we stay here, it's over. They keep making radio calls like they did until every piece of good we've done turns to bad in the eyes of everyone we've ever saved. And all of this was for nothing, Kona. What happened to you in that desert was for nothing, Kona. We need to go. We need this to mean something. Merritt, breathe. You're not going to be helping her if you throw her into a tailspin. She needs to listen and she knows I'm right,

just like I knew you were right earlier. Trust the team. Merritt racks the magazine into his gun. Agent Hyde, what do you look like in this moment as everyone is trying to convince you to go? Everybody's yelling at me, and I think as I'm doing that, my hands are tightening on the wheel. And my hands are starting to just like shake and start to get really...

Because I'm starting to get really stressed about the need to move forward. Why don't you give me a sanity check? That's a fail with a 85. The three of you trying to convince Hyde to move begin to notice that there's this pregnant pause and their hands begin to shake and suddenly their eyes begin to flutter and they release themselves from the steering wheel

and lean back, their head leans back, their eyes continue to flutter in their head, and suddenly there is a calm. And Agent Hyde, what happens next? I think it's just an instinctual, like, push on the plane. And I'm starting to move us forward. Oh, thank God. And starting to get us to take off regardless of. And I'm gonna kinda try to do that shitty thing with radioing in,ing in like I can't hear you did you say take off take off and start

speaking everyone give me a dexterity check beside Tide 47 can I grab Mia too sure you can if that's a success go ahead. Yeah, I got me up. I have a success. Can I move up into the cockpit and take co-pilot? Sure. Fail. No. The plane suddenly lurches forward and everyone is able to grab onto the plane except Warp who tumbles back into the main cabin area, but it begins to move and hide. You can hear over your comms,

the station insisting that you stop, insisting that you pause to clarify the issue with your comms, but it sounds like you just keep going. Yeah. Give me a pilot roll, please. That's a success with a 38. Give me a pilot roll please. That's a success with a 38. Despite the pressure, you are able to do your job and take off. They continue to reach out intermittently,

insisting that you return and insisting that you land again. But I assume you're not going to follow those orders. No. As the plane levels, there is finally this moment where we realize that for now, we are in the clear. What does everyone do to settle down? I think I swing into that seat. I don't even bother looking at the controls first.

I'm gonna stay silent just a few moments so that we can both sort of level out in the cockpit. And then I'm gonna look towards Hyde and... If you say it's you, I'll believe you. I think Hyde just looks at Merritt with a panicked expression because I think the last thing Hyde remembers was being in a forest and now they're in the sky. And they're just looking with them with just a very, very panicked look.

But then eventually just goes back to looking at the monitors and checking out where we're going. Are we actually heading to the East Coast or are we heading somewhere else? We're flying to San Francisco right now, as soon as you can, correct course. How much do you remember? What do you need? Where are you, Hyde? What day is it? I think the question takes him aback. The suspicions that he's had since the conversation at the Airbnb are sort of confirmed, but he

does feed her the correct date and time. He even tells her we're leaving Camp Petalton and tries to catch her up from at least from the conversation we had in the Airbnb. Does all of this, do you remember any of that? No. No. No. Okay. I'm gonna start course correcting us to San Francisco while we're doing this tuck However cranky Mia may have been a few moments ago now she is fascinated and looking out a window I think I'm trying to like point out the ocean on one side and then I'll take her to the other side of the plane and show her that like

we're facing you know east and west uh show her the um the base as we leave it uh trying to make it normal and not like we just had an incredibly stressful exit um and then I think I'll sit her down in one of the chairs and open her food for her and just let her snack and go over to hide, or not hide, sorry, warp. Uh, do you, did you get everything? Did you get it? Yeah, we got everything. I think by now warp has sort of re-displayed the the accordions and is taking the rest of the time to calm down by reading these. See how well that works this time. But do you want to help? It would speed things up. I'm gonna read it

all but if you need something to do. Yeah I'll take a look while Mia's eating. Um, there's... I guess probably I should check what's in here before I let her learn how to speed read it, huh? I think it's going to be less ideal for a child to read. Maybe just the logistics side of things. Yeah. I mean, even a child can read hospital records, and the concept of death might help her understand more.

Yeah, there's a bigger conversation to be had there. I can't do it right now, though. She's... We'll talk about it later. Yeah. At one point, we should probably get her a McDonald's. Yeah, I promise. As soon as we touch down in San Francisco, first stop, I wouldn't say

no to McFlurry. Good. Good. Agent Warp, as you described, you pull out these files and begin looking over them. As I explained, there is a lot of material to go through, and many of these documents are in Manila folders. You find that these documents are all sorted by date, and you obviously find the stack of papers that are the earliest, and begin there. You open a folder that is full of a typed out manuscript. It seems to be a conversation between the supervising psychiatrist, a man named Captain

Robert Feitelberg, and someone named only Subject in all caps. As you open to the page, you look and a single line catches your attention. Subject. Have you been to a farm, doctor? You think the cows know that they're kept? You think they don't feel safe? Something owns us. And that is where we will begin our historical scenario. So you