video; un: fiona

[cachemoney]

[Fiona is a little out of breath, like she just hustled very quickly away from somewhere. Which she did, but that's neither here nor there. The background behind her is some innocuous wood panelling; she's in a house.]

Okay. So. Crunch time. Things are getting nuts out there, if you didn't notice. We are gonna wind up super screwed if we don't hop to figuring out what the hell to do.

[She holds up a vial. It has some alien writing on it, as well as a familiar symbol on the label.]

We found this inside the hospital. A shit-ton of them, actually. So who wants to find out what Zymandis asshole is responsible for this mess and beat an antidote out of them?



[ ooc. PS, maya, hanzo, and mccree might show up in your threads. feel free to threadjack as well! ]

Comments

audio | un: Sasaki

[ex_adept136]

Zymandis again? They really do keep busy.

[Of course, their organization may be far larger, based on the information they've had access to. He puffs out a tense breath]

I question whether it's as simple as applying force, but we should do something.

[cachemoney]

[She makes a sharp, open-palmed gesture, like she's asking him to continue.] If you have any other ideas...

[ex_adept136]

Perhaps we can make use of some of the more unique talents in our squad. Finding out how extensive their presence is here, at least at that hospital, would be a good start.

[That way, they don't risk tipping off a whole squadron when they pursue a suspect]

For instance, Giovanni and I could probably tell you if someone wasn't human by scent alone, but I know others have other means of perception.

[cachemoney]

So, what, are you going to sniff every person at the hospital? No, sorry, that'll take too long. [She makes a buzzer sound.] Like I said: crunch time. Quick and dirty, we need a cure now.

[ex_adept136]

No, that's not what I'm getting at. What I'm saying is that you need to get a feel for the situation. That can be done quickly, and spares us from tipping off a whole group by pursuing only one.

[He understands time is of the essence, but so is avoiding all hell breaking loose in the process]

We have a lead to follow, but we can't be reckless.

[ex_adept136]

[There follows a pause before he thinks to mention one thing]

In case it ever does become of use, I can pick up the difference from several city blocks away. I don't have to go around smelling people. But having said that... I'm pretty sure there are people who can sense these things, and it'd be worth conferring with them.

[cachemoney]

Sense-- what things? If someone is a freakin' alien or whatever?

video; un: steelsamayarai

[feytality]

[it's her sugar mama!!!]

Whaddya mean, keep busy? What else have the xylophone creeps been up to...?

[ex_adept136]

[Never fear, Team Mom is here]

Zymandis was behind the conflict in our last mission, too. Apparently they have a very different approach to the timeline than ALASTAIR does.

[feytality]

[she had a long day, pls feed her]

Like what? What's their deal?

[ex_adept136]

[He's always up for cooking, it can be done]

The short version is that they're extremists. The longer version is that while we try to make corrections and adjustments, Zymandis would sooner destroy perceived problems, regardless of how many lives are sacrificed in he process. We saw their efforts in Perdition's Rest, prior to this.

[feytality]

....That's awful. How can they fix timelines if they're dooming people to die..? Isn't the whole point of this to save people?

[holy shit is Maya being serious]

[pummelling]

They sure do. Thought we beat them back on Q-65 well enough, but I guess they've got more manpower than that...

[hmph.]

There's enough of us to cover a lot of ground, though. We can find him. We've just gotta find him fast.

[ex_adept136]

Considering the method of extraction they used in the end, I'd say their numbers and resources may dwarf our own.

[As much as he wishes that were not the case, it's hard to argue with a squadron of space ships coming in just to pick up a few stragglers]

We should figure out what kind of numbers we're looking at here, too. This is quite different from last time, and that inconsistency is strange.

[pummelling]

It's crazy to think about. Especially when you think back to how many people were a part of ALASTAIR, since everyone was in Oska just a couple of months ago. Gods know how big Zymandis truly is if that's the case. Which I'm sure it is.

[Jin hums, an affirmative noise.]

People've been saying that they're not only targeting ALASTAIR... but specifically Audentes. Could it be because we're a newer branch, d'you think?

[ex_adept136]

I'm not sure we'd constitute that level of focus, personally, but...

[This gets him thinking-]

If we checked in with the support team back in Oska, they may be able to tell us if any other teams are dealing with Zymandis too. That might make it easier to figure out what's going on here.

[pummelling]

Good idea. I've been wanting to figure out what the deal is with the other teams, anyway.

[he's gonna put in a call to lloyd right now...]

audio ; un: man of still

[figureitout]

If your questioning about the use of force has to do with the fact that going after the agent guns blazing would probably mess up this entire mission... yeah, agreed.

[ as much as he'd like to just let Koltira loose, find the guy (Dr. Percy, it seems) and beat him up until he coughs up some answers... it's probably not going to be that easy. all of them still remember how the Zymandis escaped them in Perdition's Rest — if they spook them into full alien invasion that allows them to escape again... it leaves Woodhurst and likely half of their team sick without a cure. ]

Any good ideas for what that "something" could be?

[secondnature]

Well, first off—we need to track the guy. We need to see how long he's been slacking off. We know he's been headed to the sewers. It might help if we know that he has backup.

[Keith doesn't have any extra super awesome powers to help here.

Just determination.

And he is really determined.]

[figureitout]

Yeah, I'm willing to bet most of the stuff we found in the sewers was his. Or there because of him, anyway.

[ it's okay Keith, neither does Stiles — but determination gets you far. he pauses to think for a moment, pulling up a picture of a bag of clothing: neatly folded, a variety of styles, but all in the same size. quietly thanking the powers that be for the magitek, he sends the picture to Keith. ]

See that? I found those in the sewers. All in the same size... that's a strong indication whoever put those clothes there worked alone.

[secondnature]

I found some myself, but I didn't check the size. I gave them to Sonia.

... I'm gonna follow up with her, just to see if she found anything.

[figureitout]

If she's still got them, maybe we could, like, cross-reference. If the size matches... then it's likely one person. If not, it's several. Or possibly several, anyway.

[ that's not a bad idea!! he gave his to Peter but unfortunately, nothing was found on them... whoever put them in the bag must have wanted them to be squeaky clean. ]

[ex_adept136]

Feeling out the extent of Zymandis' presence seems like the first order of business. We don't know about their numbers here, much less the level of organization that's gone into their scheme. Not to mention, it's entirely different from their approach in the last world we were dispatched to.

[And since he gets back to this after Urahara has responded to the discussion, he feels a bit more comfortable voicing his own suspicion. It's more difficult to lend credence to a theory when it's just that.

But now, he sees someone else suspects — and may have long suspected — the same thing]

It's entirely possible there's a reason for that inconsistency, though I hope it's not the case.

[figureitout]

Yeah. Last time they were out in force... this time it looks like it's only a couple of agents who're behind all this.

[ which, if they're looking to avoid damage done to the members of their organization... is a smart plan. and also rather alarming. ]

A reason like "getting back at us instead of just destroying the Timeline", you mean? [ because, yeah. the same thought's crossed his mind. ]

[ex_adept136]

Or this is diverting us from whatever their numbers are really focused on.

[He'd much rather be wrong, but the lack of force here assures not even token resistance, from what they've seen so far. Why would they set up such a flimsy scheme, knowing what they do of ALASTAIR's squads in terms of size and firepower?

It doesn't add up, no matter how he looks at it]

There might well be more of their people here, but we've yet to see much evidence of an organized force.