Company Policies

This page documents information that players of Company employees and prospective employees should be familiar with. If there are any questions, comments, suggestions, or other feedback, please bring it to Rose or Len.

Recruitment Protocol

Individuals who are believed to 1) have skills, talents, and/or powers useful to the Company and 2) a mentality compatible with Company ends and means may be approached by a pair of agents and recruited into Company service. By and large, this translates to 'a desire to keep the Evolved population in check', although sufficiently impressionable youths (college-age) are also valid recruit material. Frequently, bag-and-tag targets are given a summary introduction and offered an opportunity to join; those who do not are mindwiped as usual. Recruits who do not actually join may be mindwiped, or they may be left with memories intact provided they do not pose a security risk to the Company.

The approach may be conducted in any fashion the agents believe will succeed.

Notable examples for OOC inspiration include:

• Mohinder was partially mislead and partially mousetrapped into working for the Company
• Hugh and Gwendolyn Wickham were recruited in the wake of a joint SAS/MI-6 operation involving an Evolved target.
• Rami Hollingwood was recruited after he was demoted from field operations in the CIA.
• Gavin Montag was recruited effectively with the promise to teach him control and use of his Evolved ability.
• Hana Gitelman was recruited and trained by Noah Bennet posing as a CIA agent. For the duration of her affiliation, she believed she was working for the CIA. However, this backfired later on.
• Colby Martinez was recruited after killing her wife's Evolved murderer, with all charges for that murder being dropped under the Company's influence.

Employment Opportunities

Support

Support Personnel: the scientists, technicians, doctors, nurses, and everyone else who knows what the Company does and why, but are not agents. They run the machinery, perform the analyses, keep everyone in good condition, and do all the specialized technological tasks an agent can't hope to keep on top of. Support personnel often have a cover job with one of the Company's front organizations.

Examples of support personnel: Bella, Kayla, Mohinder

Specific positions wanted:

Bioscience	Research into the genetics defining Evolved, biochemical markers and interactions, improvement of the Haitian pills and neurotoxin suppressant.
Computers	Software development, maintenance, operations of specialized systems, tech security.
Medical	General care, nursing, surgery, trauma.
Psychology	Crisis counseling, interactions between Evolved abilities and user's personality, psychiatric therapy.
Security	Self-explanatory.

Other roles include custodians and building/equipment maintenance, secretaries, lab technicians, though these are expected to have relatively fewer RP hooks.

Agents

Agents: the workhorses of Company operations. They take on a wide array of duties, from research to observation to tracking to security to kidnapping to just about anything else the Company desires. Agents receive extensive training in martial arts, observation and subterfuge, and other related fields, as befit typical agent operations; they are often recruited either at college age or from military/investigative outfits (e.g. CIA, RAF, SAS, FBI, etc.). All agents have low-level Homeland Security authorization, and the cover of HomeSec employment.

Agents are based out of the Fort Hero facility on Montauk Point, Long Island.

More agents are always welcome.

Supervisors

Supervisors: those who oversee agents, assigning and coordinating their duties. Typically, they were themselves promoted from agent status. Agents report to supervisors, who in turn ultimately report to the facility head (presently Sabra Dalton).

Relationship with Law Enforcement

In February of 2007, following Senator Petrelli's famous announcement, Bob Bishop made the difficult decision to step forward and make the Company known to the U.S. government. In exchange for immunity against Homeland Security, Bishop assured Nathan Petrelli and others that they would receive full cooperation from his people — they, after all, had almost thirty years of research that might help HomeSec in its crusade against dangerous Evolved individuals like Sylar.

The Company is spearheading the development of tests for identifying Evolved. The Company designed the holding facilities Homeland Security has had built. Agents of the Company are the primary recourse for identifying, tracking, and capturing high-powered and/or criminal Evolved. Homeland Security keeps an eye on them, doesn't get in their way as long as they and the Company are working towards the same ends, supplies their own agents for training, and provides the official covers under which field agents work.

Although the Company has been working closely with Homeland Security since May of 2007, it has retained its independence. Additionally, just because the Company and HomeSec work together does not mean the Company ascribes to a full-disclosure policy with respect to HomeSec. In fact, most of the Company's records and investigations have been withheld towards its own ends. Similarly, HomeSec regards the Company with some suspicion — they hid themselves for almost thirty years and have who-knows-what ulterior motives now — but works with them as a necessary evil, HomeSec still being in the position of playing catch-up when it comes to dealing with the Evolved.

All agents of both organizations have access to a list of their "colleagues" in order to avoid potential conflict should they happen to run into one another in the field. The New York Police Department, on the other hand, knows nothing about the Company or its operations — Bob Bishop and the higher-ups at HomeSec would like to keep it this way.

Employee Covers

Biomere Research

Biomere Research, Inc. is a small genetic and biotechnology research firm based out of Morningside Heights. Most of its employees are not aware of and have no part in Company matters, but several of the firm's administrators are, and they deftly steer its research in directions the Company finds intriguing.

Employees in biological and biotech professions may work at Biomere, or have paperwork saying they do.

Homeland Security

At present, most agents no longer have official records with Primatech; instead, Homeland Security provides them with low-level federal authorization. Agents on operations within the US will typically carry a badge and card identifying them as members of Homeland Security, and granting precedence over local authorities. This status is not to be abused to any degree; it does not give Company agents carte blanche to run over local authorities' actions and procedures. However, it can be used to clear obstacles if necessary. Additionally, most Company agents have rankings below normal Homeland Security agents.

As part of this working relationship, Company agents have access to numerous fake identities, legitimate social security cards tailored for specific purposes, international passports and other paperwork that might come in handy during their work out in the field. Most agents working for the Company have at least one registered alias in case they get apprehended by local law enforcement agents and have to sit in a prison cell until they can be bailed out by someone with the appropriate clearance level.

Primatech Paper

The oldest and for a long time the most prevalent front of the Company, the Primatech Paper name was retired after the destruction of the Bronx Facility in June 2009. No one now references this corporation as their place of employment.

Partnership

Agents have partners. They are always paired one Evolved to one non-Evolved, without exception. These partnerships are permanent until and unless circumstances dictate a reassignment. All effort is made to ensure the agents paired up are of compatible and complementary personalities, so they actually work together and not against one another. Agents who are not partners may be assigned to the same task, but that does not make them partners; it is a temporary association. Evolved may work with Evolved, and non-Evolved with non-Evolved, but not permanently.

Security and Clearance Levels

Lv. 1

Level 1 clearance is usually associated with peripheral employees who have sanctioned knowledge of the Company, and may be tapped for specific purposes, but are not involved in its core operations.

An example might be a scientist who assisted in the development of the Evolved test kits at an out-of-state research center; they would report to the Company, but generally pursue their own day-to-day business and are only occasionally impacted by the Company.

Another example would be Nalani Hollingwood, the sister of deceased agent Rami Hollingwood; she was given access to suppressant pills in exchange for using her power at the Company's request and towards its ends.

Lv. 2

Level 2 clearance typically applies to trainee and probationary employees. It may also include general employees who do not need access to anything beyond basic research and investigations.

This level provides access to 'general knowledge' information and summary versions of database files, both of Evolved under study and Company employees.

Lv. 3

Level 3 clearance is the basic agent level. This provides access to most present Company records, albeit often in somewhat sanitized form, and also to a portion of Homeland Security's files and information — including the full data of the Registry.

Support personnel who work extensively with agents are also likely to have level 3 clearance.

Lv. 4

Level 4 clearance is typical for agents and supervisors who do not need to know about the Company's clandestine operations but do need to have access to more details than the average agent. This level gives some access to older archived information as well.

Lv. 5

Level 5 clearance includes nearly all of the Company's archived files and current clandestine operations. This is typically reserved for high administrative personnel.

Level 5 does not automatically provide full access to everything. Some subjects, including Coyote Sands, the Shanti Virus, the Formula, and other such projects, are released only on a need-to-know basis.

Agent Operations

Evolved ID

Part of an agent's everyday role is to identify Evolved individuals, particularly unregistered ones. Any individual suspected of Evolved status is to be monitored however possible, and the nature of their ability ascertained, preferably by non-invasive and non-hazardous means.

Characterization

Anyone identified as Evolved — with the exception of individuals deemed too close to Company operatives (e.g. Nalani Hollingwood, sister to Agent Rami Hollingwood), too close to operations (e.g. Maria Delgado of Biomere Research, Inc., a partial Company front), or Registered and of reduced priority — is to be considered a candidate for Marking. The agent on site may undertake Marking the subject themselves, or submit a request for another team to carry it out as appropriate to the situation.

The nature of a subject's Evolved ability is of considerable interest. It is preferred that abilities are observed and identified 'in the wild' as it were, but if this is not possible or too hazardous, the agents may apprehend the Evolved instead for controlled study.

Apprehension

Evolved may be taken into custody for several reasons:

• Inability to determine the nature of their ability
• Possession of information that is a liability to the Company (includes non-Evolved)
• Risk of their ability posing an unacceptable threat to the community

In the first case, the subject will be sedated and transported to a nearby Homeland Security facility, where they are to be held for no more than three days. The apprehending agents and any Company researchers appropriate to the circumstance will have unrestricted access to the subject for that period. Prior to release, the subject's memory of the event will be erased; overwritten if possible with the memory of being taken in by Homeland Security and Registered. If their memory must be erased, Homeland Security will follow through separately and see to their Registration.

No subject is to be released without a selective memory wipe unless they were successfully recruited during the period of study.

In the second case, the individual in question is a candidate for memory erasure. If the information poses no potential risk to the Company, they may be left alone; otherwise, the liability is to be removed as soon as circumstances dictate.

In the final case, the Evolved individual is to be taken into custody and turned over to Homeland Security for permanent holding.

Only in the most extenuating of circumstance is any subject to be brought to any Company base of operations.

Resources

• Cover identities — Upon request, the Company will arrange for documentation, equipment, clothing, or whatever other materials are necessary for a temporary or long-term cover. This can include shapeshifting and/or memory manipulation in extreme cases.

• Evolved abilities — Agents may submit a request for an Evolved individual with a particular ability to be seconded to whatever their assignment is. This can range from healing to persuasion to telepathy to anything else; success depends upon the availability of someone with that power, of course.

• Evolved ID kits — Agents have unrestricted access to Evolved test kits in the line of duty.

• Firearms — Handguns and tranq guns are typical equipment, as is Kevlar in various forms. More esoteric items require paperwork. Suppressant darts are not 'esoteric' but are more controlled than sedatives, and are utilized somewhat less frequently.

• Haitian pills — A slow-acting, pill-form ability suppressant that lasts a maximum of 24 hours.

• Neurotoxin suppressant — This suppressant takes effect immediately if injected into the bloodstream or after a short delay if injected into muscle (i.e. by fired dart), and prevents an Evolved individual from using their ability for 48 hours.

OOC Protocols

• Communication: If you do anything on Company time, anything at all, note it somewhere appropriate on the Assignments page and/or the Company bulletin board. Preferably on the Assignments wikipage with an 'I updated the assignments page with such-and-such' note on the board. Memos that would go around to most agents/employees should be summarized on the board. If you're not sure what to do with a piece of info, ask Rose. But try and make sure all relevant information makes the rounds.

• Odd Jobs: By all means, if someone says 'I want to be tagged', or if some IC lead comes up, pursue it; you don't need to get supervisor permission to do every little thing. (That said, be prepared to face the consequences if you do something they ICly disapprove of.) However, as a matter of courtesy, if a case has been assigned to particular agents, don't charge after it yourself without at least their OOC approval (or the IC direction of a supervisor).