Dark*Matter: Discovery, The Delphi Paradox

[Falkus]

A week into January

Life as an agent of the Hoffmann Institute goes on. Chicago never becomes aware of how close it came to destruction. Quinn becomes an agent, assigned to Team Gamma. Reports indicate she'll go far, and Mr. Smith sends an e-mail around congratulation you on finding a new recruit for Department 7.

The hunt for Cliff Kenzinton continues, but without any leads, it gets nowhere fast. He seemingly left no trail as he moved through society. The heavy crackdown on the Secret Masters of Thoth by the Institute and the UN failed to turn up any evidence. The cultists who were taken prisoner had met him so long ago so as not to have any praticularly useful information about him.

Throughout the month, you continue to receive more assignments. Higher profile ones, now that you've shown yourself to be able to repeatedly take care of business under pressure, but nothing praticularly dangerous. Often informative as to the nature of the universe and the layers of deceit that smother common human knowledge, but not dangerous.

Yesterday, you all received Priority Five B mission request on your cell phones. That meant important mission, possibly long term, but not urgent. Clear up your current affairs, and be at the briefing room tomorrow morning.

As the day dawns, you find yourselves in the briefing room, ready for yet another exciting and potentially hazardous assignment. One thing you can say about life working for the Institute, it's not dull.

 

[Friadoc]

Oddly enough, over the months of working for the Hoffmann Institute Cade has lessened his normal affairs. Although he will work a security contract from time to time, the young technician has been spending more and more of his time within the field office's labs.

In fact, Cade slept on a cot in his lab last night, so as to make sure he had his current projects finished and dispersed to Team Libra, specifically the PDAs and RFID locators, when the arrived today. Upon the back of each PDA you will find the symbol for Team Libra, laser etched into the case, which is the zodiac symbol that consists of an omega over a bar.

However, Cade did make it home earlier in the previous evening, so as to make sure his cat was provided for, he also contacted 'Z' to see if she was okay checking in on the feline while the team was gone.

Going out of his way to arrive early, Cade will wait for the rest of the team to arrive, so that he can give them each their PDA. But, he'll hold off on the RFID until he can explain it later, although the higher ups in Hoffmann would know about them by now.

Once the PDAs are handed out, Cade will take a seat in the briefing room.

 

[iwatt]

Life as a Hoffman agent agreed with Larry. The job was entertaining, and he could always fall back on the grift on the slower days. It was useful to keep the edge going. This last call for a long assignment was different, though. No telling how long before he would be able to enjoy the Chi-town nightlife. So it was one more all-night bender before reporting.

So it was that a bleary-eyed, and still somewhat hung over agent Higgins showed up right after Cade. "Hey, Joker. How's it hanging? You look like you could use some sunshine. What, are you living in your lab now?"

 

[Friadoc]

"Call it a sleep over," says Cade with a grin as he hands Larry a PDA. "I'm sure I'll get enough sunshine, soon enough."

 

[iwatt]

"Cool, a new toy. Hopefully this will keep me from walking up to more doors with armed cultists behind them. Thanks, Cade." Taking his seat he adds, "maybe you've heard something of were they're sending us. The grapevine has been deathly quiet on this one."

 

[industrygothica]

Nick enters the room quietly and extends his hand to the others. His leather jacket is beginning to show signs of wear with nicks and small cuts here and there--almost as if he'd been in a few gunfights. He takes his seat at the table and eyes Cade's new toys. "What're those?"

 

[Friadoc]

Nick enters the room quietly and extends his hand to the others. His leather jacket is beginning to show signs of wear with nicks and small cuts here and there--almost as if he'd been in a few gunfights. He takes his seat at the table and eyes Cade's new toys. "What're those?"

Asnick arrives, Cade says to Larry, "Nope, I'm waiting for the intel on the mission, too."


After shaking hands with Nick, Cade fills them both in on the PDAs and RFIDs, it's obvious that not only has he put some work into these, but that he won't mind telling people more than once.

"PDAs like my prototype from last month," says Cade hands Nick his own. "Normal PDA functionality, as well as location and motion sensor suites."

"Plus," says Cade as he holds up a small, smooth disk about the size of a dime. "With these, we can tell the friendlies." When he pinches the one he is holding between the thung and index finger of his right hand you hear a click and see a small green LED light up on it's rim, "On" He clicks it again and the LED goes out, "Off".

"They're RFIDs," says Cade with a smile. "They're on a short range, tight bandwidth frequency so there is little chance of them being used illicitly."

 

[kinem]

Diego wanders in, sporting a new black leather jacket.

"Hey guys. What's up? What are these gadgets?"

 

[Friadoc]

Diego wanders in, sporting a new black leather jacket.

"Hey guys. What's up? What are these gadgets?"

Yeap, Cade must really be proud of his latest creation, as he explains it to Diego as he hands them to the young man.

 

[Shayuri]

A woman shows up at the briefing room, but it takes a moment; a blink and doubletake, to recognize her as Meredith.

Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, showing off her face to good effect. It seems...stronger somehow. Cheeks a bit more pronounced and sharper. Less round. The same can be said of the rest of her body; an unprecedented amount of which is on display. She wears a black tank top that's been cut to expose her midriff down just past her navel. A rugged pair of blue jeans and a windbreaker round out things out, but it's the narrow pair of sunglasses that really makes her hard to identify. She's never worn those before; not with her glasses.

Meri takes the shades off, along with her windbreaker, as she takes her seat. The cut in her arm and shoulder is healed with barely a scar, but the mark the sword left on her is still there, a livid mark that looks like some kind of weird tattoo gone wrong. It's not the only revealed change though. Although Meredith was never fat, nor even overweight, it had always been clear that her muscles were soft and...padded, as it were. That is no longer the case. While she's no bigger than before, it looks as if all the fat has melted away from her arms and belly, leaving only muscles behind. Last but not least, even her eyes seem somehow intensified...greener than the muddled hazel they were before.

Across her back is Galahad's sword. She seems perfectly comfortable with it's weight and heft.

She nods at the others in the room as she takes her seat.