Mission:Only Love Can Hurt Like This - Chapter Three: Echoes

Chapter Three: Echoes

Briefing

Character, I'll have a location for those choppers soon. Jelena - she owes me a favor or three - is on the case, but she needs to be... hold on.

Corlett checks her phone, mutters to herself and then checks her tablet.

Okay, we have the data converted to a readable form. Sort of. The data includes 3D rendered CCTV and extrapolated maps, so it's been converted to a raw Architect Entertainment template. Aeon's smart, but he also stole code from Crey to make the Architect Interface engine in the first place, so the data is startlingly compatible between the systems. We'll need to convert it, boot it up, and then go inside. Nearest AE building is...

• Steel Canyon, I'm betting.

Here in Steel Canyon. Neil, by the front desk, will be able to help. Get him to convert it and then plug yourself in to check it out.

As for the other stuff you found in the Bein lab? CR-GEN10-BATCH00003-MR-000 and so on? I have no idea. Put a pin in that for later.

Unnecessary Solicitation

There's a code glitch? Just don't log off in there.

Mission Objective(s)

• Talk to Neil at Architect Entertainment

Neil

Briefing

Neil looks up with vague recognition of your face. He locks the screen on his security laptop, which was in the midst of a wide-sweeping ban of fan-service story arcs featuring Ghost Widow.

Hm. Character, was it? You don't quite look like the ID photo A.C. gave me. But close enough. She said you have a sensitive item you want to try and convert?

• Indeed I do. Discreetly. (Hand him the CCTV data)

Neil takes the blue and orange capeDrive and connects an unfamiliar data wire to a port at the end of the transport chassis, and the other end into his laptop.

Let's see here...

Neil looks you dead in the eyes.

For reasons you and I should find obvious, I have not looked at any of the data within, have no reckoning of its contents, and certainly will disavow all knowledge of this meeting ever taking place.

• I understand.

Neil hands a data chit back to you, along with your orange and blue capeDrive.

No problem, sir / madam. Plug this data chit into the console upstairs and you and your loved ones can celebrate the... birth of your niece... once again!

Neil leans in to whisper.

The data is widely incomplete and corrupt - calling for textures and data structs that can't be resolved quickly. A.C. told me this would have to be a rush, so please don't come back complaining if the simulation isn't perfect.

• Thanks, Neil.

• (Stare back at Neil, dumbstruck)

This selection loops to another branch of this conversation which is already documented.

• I have no idea what you're talking about.

This selection loops to another branch of this conversation which is already documented.

• (Loudly) Oh, yes! Thank you for saving my holiday video, sir!

This selection loops to another branch of this conversation which is already documented.

Unnecessary Solicitation

There's a code glitch? I suppose turning it off and on again should work.

Mission Objective(s)

This is Bein Lab 4, but the data is very corrupt. Hopefully something useful is in here.

• View the CCTV rendering
  • View the first video fragment
    • View the second video fragment
      • View the third video fragment
        • View the fourth video fragment
          • View the last video fragment
        • WARNING - GLITCH DETECTED!

You didn't think in a thousand missions that you'd ever see video footage of the Countess in a state of weakness, showing affection, or admitting to playing a part in her husband's condition.

Enemies

McCannfee Antivirus

Notable NPCs

• Doctor Generic (NPC)
• Countess Crey (NPC)
• Hopkins (NPC)

This AE file needs some debugging

First Video Fragment

Countess Crey: Are you serious? This sounds like negligence.
Doctor Generic: You granted me permission to speak candidly, long ago. Does that apply still?
Countess Crey: Yes, you've earned it.
Doctor Generic: Well then, I did tell you that the agent was a bad idea from the very beginning, that something like this could happen.
Countess Crey: Careful, no amount of gratitude will excuse bullish I-told-you-so's.
Doctor Generic: Understood. Do you want to see him?
Countess Crey: Yes.

Video Fragment 1

The relationship between Countess Crey and this 'Doctor' seems to be one that's endured for a long time. Still, the Countess maintains an upper hand in the discourse, posturing with her authority. Someone's been incapacitated and she's showing more empathetic concern than you've ever seen from her public demeanor.

Second Video Fragment

Countess Crey: Tell me how it happened.
Doctor Generic: We're not sure how he was exposed, but the dose was small. Still, he's practically catatonic.
Countess Crey: A small dose? This reeks of sabotage. That compound was only meant for you-know-who. I need that man. I need answers.
Doctor Generic: You will get answers, if we can bring him around. We only have partial notes on the antidote - since Bein's been gone for over three years now, progress is split understanding his mind and implementing on theory.
Countess Crey: I have faith in your skills. Don't make me regret our deal.
Doctor Generic: Why, my lady... I would never. My loyalty to you is ironclad.
Countess Crey: Good.

Video Fragment 2

The doctor admits that the substance in play is a nerve agent, and that the exposure was accidental. The Countess is somewhat paranoid and suspicious.

Third Video Fragment

Countess Crey: I can sense fear and paranoia, Doctor. Is everything okay?
Doctor Generic: Everyone who works here knows that they are well cared for when they support the company's best interests, ma'am. They also greatly fear the cost of failure.
Countess Crey: The cost of failure? Doctor, everyone who's ever been disciplined or let go has gone on to greater things.
Doctor Generic: I believe that.
Countess Crey: You do, I'm sure. Do they?
Doctor Generic: I lack the ability to say for sure. The results speak for themselves... but out of fear or dedication, I cannot say.
Countess Crey: ...Not the answer I was hoping for.

Video Fragment 3

A discussion springs up while they tour the lab about employee morale. Implications are brought forth about Crey Corporation's treatment of poor-performing or unemployable personnel. The Countess again postures with her position and authority to exert pressure on the doctor.

Fourth Video Fragment

Countess Crey: Doctor, please stop. I can tell that there's a lot being hidden from me today.
Doctor Generic: *sighs* Hardly, ma'am. I just didn't want to risk an argument in front of the employees. It's not good for morale, after all.
Countess Crey: It sounds like hiding information to me. Come on, out with it.
Doctor Generic: We all know you need him. We don't know if he's going to survive in telometric stasis like... the first. And we're all greatly concerned for our futures if he doesn't pull through.
Countess Crey: Why would you wait this long to tell me this?
Doctor Generic: I'm hoping that pity for his situation will stay your hand and calm your heart.
Countess Crey: ...Oh.

Video Fragment 4

The Countess confronts the doctor for his somewhat evasive and dodgy manner about the situation. He reveals that he didn't want to expose the staff to any potential ugliness from either party when the situation is fully explained; such a conversation could prove devastating for an employee to overhear.

Ambush! Messing with the glitched, out-of-place bomb triggers an ambush by five waves of McCannfee AntiVirus.

Gremlin 1: [CODE ERROR #CSF_AD_NT_001]

Gremlin 2: [INVALID CODE IDENTIFIED]

Gremlin 1: [EXECUTE #PURGE]

Gremlin 2: [BEGINNING QUARANTINE]

Last Video Fragment

Countess Crey: How long has he been like this?
Doctor Generic: About 72 hours. He's resisting it much more than your h... than Patient Zero did.
Doctor Generic: He's in complete physical homeostasis. His telomeres are completely degradation-free. It's like an eternal prison within the mind.
Countess Crey: You said he's resisting, is he showing any signs of overcoming it on his own?
Doctor Generic: Quite the opposite. His neural activity is fighting the situation with every neuron and synapse he has, but the result is like he's fighting quicksand.
Doctor Generic: We had notes on a partial treatment from Bein, and we're using it... all we can do now is wait.
Countess Crey: I don't wait. I act. Stand aside, I'll use my gifts to help him.
Doctor Generic: But ma'am, there's so much we don't know! This could kill him!
Countess Crey: I. Said. I. Act. Do not question me.
Countess Crey: You've run out your debt, Doctor.
Countess Crey: Lock down the lab. Mhmm. Everyone but the Doctor goes into reclamation for Project Locke.
Doctor Generic: What? Ma'am, no! I need my staff!
Countess Crey: We'll give you a new staff, one with better morale. And if you ever speak of Alphonse again, I'll dose you next.

Video Fragment 5

The patient is revealed to be Hopkins, placed in a homeostatic coma from exposure to the nerve agent. His situation mimics 'Patient Zero', which you assume to mean Count Crey himself. the Countess intervenes in Hopkins' struggle with some kind of mental boost, the results of which are not shown.

Shadows on the Screen

The AE reconstruction provided what appears to be evidence that Countess Crey treated Hopkins for exposure to the same nerve agent that left her husband in a coma. A nerve agent, and a partial treatment, derived from the work of a former Crey employee, Rudolph Bein. The Countess has always denied any knowledge of the events surrounding Count Crey's condition, so if this reconstruction is accurate it could prove a challenging complication to her notoriously slippery and effective legal evasions.

Debriefing

Corlett is silent for several uncomfortable seconds after hearing your report. She seems to snap out of it abruptly when she's done processing it.

Seriously? That's... I don't know what to say to that. You literally have proof that Countess Crey poisoned her husband. Well, evidence. Actually being able to prove it is another thing entirely.

And while we're at it, we need to investigate this entire lab's staff being 'processed' for Project Locke. From the fallout of Manticore's expedition, that must mean this lab unwillingly contributed their genomes to the Revenant project. This is -bombshell- news if we can apply it correctly. We may finally have the 'smoking gun' we need to show the world what Crey really is! This is way above my paygrade. I need to call Rebecca Foss about this.

Jelena got back to me while you were in sim, and we have a location in Kallisti Wharf for our missing Hero Corps clones, or members. Whatever they might be, even though they fought you, they're still our people and were being experimented on with this nerve agent. No hero left behind.