<strong>Who</strong>:<strong>Mask-R-ADE-1</strong>and<strong>Bat-R-REE-1</strong>. Also not together. (also<strong>Myst-R-OUS-1</strong>for a little bit at the end)<br/><strong>Where</strong>: Various locations about Alpha Complex<br/><strong>Why</strong>: To thicken the plot<br/><br/><br/><strong>Mask-R-ADE-1</strong><br/><br/>Gray returns your handshake swiftly and efficiently. You can tell that despite his gruff demeanor and professional comportment there's some other emotion going on here. As you give him the details of your mission it comes to you -- Gray is impressed by you. More than impressed. For someone placed higher up in the organization, it's almost unseemly.<br/><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/12/PaulGiamatti233.jpg)</div>"Very good, very good indeed. The Archons are quite pleased with you. Quite pleased with your actions. Your actions against the Computer."<br/><br/>He looks around dramatically, but there are no other Citizens in the hallway.<br/><br/>"You have been entrusted with this." There is a scraping sound, and as you look down you see he is nudging a gray metal box about the size of a toaster over toward you with his foot. "Entrusted, and charged. Charged to use it in service to us. In service to our goals. Our goals, which you share. If you are caught with it.... Well, you know. You know what to do."<br/><br/>He looks around dramatically again, but it seems this meeting spot was well-chosen. There are no visible eavesdroppers.<br/><br/>"In Sector XTC there is something the Computer fears a great deal. Something it wishes destroyed. It is sending your team to destroy this thing. One of you is carrying a nuclear device, set to trigger remotely. Remotely, when the Computer feels that success is certain. It will destroy the thing. It will destroy your team. It will destroy you, and all records of your activities. We wish this thing preserved. Brought to us, if possible, though we do not know what this thing is. And we wish the nuclear device. By any means. By any means necessary. You know what that means."<br/><br/>He offers his hand again for the closing handshake, and if there is no other business keeping him here, he will vanish into the crowd. Well, he'll go around the corner and then vanish into the crowd. No crowd here. Feel free to engage in conversation before he leaves, though.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Box</div><div class="spoiler_body">You might not examine it until later, but we'll put this here for now. The box is a very cleverly constructed Gauss Gun. So cleverly constructed that the thing is essentially a puzzle box. You're pretty sure that given a couple of minutes you could figure out how all of the various bits slide around, push in and out, release hidden catches, etc. to transform the nondescript box into a fully functioning weapon. You could probably even manage to fold it back up again into its box, though that seems more difficult.<br/>Gauss Guns, as you're well aware, are rifles which fire a blast of energy uniquely suited for shorting out electronics and otherwise disabling bots, computers, security systems, etc. The blast is harmless to organics. This gun, as you will find out later, has a capacity of six shots before it needs to be recharged.<br/></div></div><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Bat-R-REE-1</strong><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">Oh, the mops definitely count. For sure.<br/></div></div><br/>You're riding down the corridor in style, your trusty bicycle beneath you and a fresh protein flavo-bar in your hand. You've mastered the art of eating while cycling, of course, as your normal duties do not permit breaks for bodily functions such as eating or, well, anything else. Flavo-bars come in randomized flavors that almost never match the flavor printed on the wrapper. You've been told that this is a feature and not a problem, as it offers an additional layer of enjoyment and surprise in their consumption. Your current flavo-bar, for instance, purports on the wrapper to be "Redberry", which you know to be a sweet and tangy flavor. The bar, though, does not taste sweet or tangy. It tastes bland, and extremely chewy. Very, very, very chewy. And tough, so tough that you can't bite through it.<br/><br/>You pause in chewing to remove the offending bite from your mouth, and find that it's not a bite of flavo-bar at all! Someone exceedingly clever must have known you were going to choose that selection from the machine and pre-loaded it with a special message just for you. Or there was someone stationed inside the machine, waiting potentially all day for you to come by and push a button. You've heard of that happening before too.<br/><br/>The offending non-Berry item is a square plastic envelope about two inches by two inches, and about a quarter inch thick. You're easily able to examine it while continuing to cycle, if you like.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Envelope</div><div class="spoiler_body">On the back of the envelope is a message, addressed to you. There's not much room for too many words, so it looks like someone has abbreviated things. It reads:<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><em>Bat4uMssnFndHow2UzThisNRpt!</em></span><br/><br/>The plastic envelope is opaque, but you can tell by feel that it contains some kind of flattened ring-like object that feels sort of squishy.<br/></div></div><br/><br/>And in almost no time at all, you're at the Tube station. Congratulations! And happy day, your friend and fellow Troubleshooter Myst-R-OUS-1 is there too!<br/>