Participants:
| Scene Title | Sandman, Part III |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Following the attempted kidnapping of Jac Childs, SESA springs into action. |
| Date | February 2, 2021 |
Within branches of the Justice Department, an early morning emergency all-hands meeting elicits a spike of adrenaline no matter how long you’ve been in the field.
The executive briefing room at Fort Jay is already starting to fill up a few minutes before the briefing. While the details are still unclear, the rumor mill within Fort Jay is already in high gear, and conventional wisdom says this has something to do with the security incident that happened at Raytech’s campus up in Jackson Heights just last night.
Director Nazan-Gutierrez is seated at the head of the briefing room’s table with the large monitor at her back on and currently showing an inactive windows desktop. Deputy-Director Voss is in the seat to Nazan’s right, his laptop open and finger-motions across the trackpad matching what’s showing up on the screen behind Farah.
Further down the table, Noah Bennet cradles a paper cup of coffee in both hands, sharing hushed words with Agent Bluthner. Standing by the door, Donald Kenner has opted to leave a seat open for people who feel a little bit less like a black sheep than he does. It also gives him a better view of the room, and ensures no one can stand at either side of him. They either have to take the seat to his immediate right, or awkwardly hover in the doorway.
“If we could all get situated, I’d like to start soon.” Director Nazan says as she looks around at the gathering agents, quickly checking her phone. Whatever was going on, it was a big enough deal to involve the entire New York branch.
Executive Briefing Room
Fort Jay, Governor’s Island
February 2nd
7:02 am
Seated to the director’s left is her assistant. Nicole Miller has a pad of paper off to her right with a blue pen resting atop the pale yellow pages, and a laptop in front of her. At her level, the privacy filters over the screen already darken the view so much as for the monitor to appear off unless one has a head-on view of it. Even with that vantage point, Nicole has the brightness dimmed so low that it’s a wonder she can see anything between that and the dark lenses of her designer sunglasses.
To the left of her work machine is a steel bottle that likely contains her morning coffee. When she presses the button that cracks open the lid, steam rises from the top. It’s left to rest for now, the contents still too hot to drink, which means the two pills shaking out of a prescription bottle are swallowed down dry.
Nicole had been sure to greet Don at the door on arrival, but she’s soundly ignoring Bennet at this point. At least behind her glasses it’s nearly impossible to see who she devotes any focus to when she takes a visual headcount, head swiveling to her left, then slowly coming back to center. Her gaze lowers to her screen, where she’s set to start typing out meeting notes.
The next to enter is Robyn Roux, who looks more than a little tired as she holds a rather small, steaming ceramic cup close. One of the nice things about liaisoning off sight is that it gives her a bit more flexibility in her hours, and Robyn's grown accustomed to making sure Matthew makes it to school, and then grabbing another hour of sleep before making her way to Raytech or Fort Jay.
No such luck today. Out the door before Matthew was even fully ready, leaving her to trust him that he actually attended today. And worse, after this she still had to make her way over to Raytech for… probably sleeping under her desk. No one asks questions when they can't find her anymore.
A limp wave is all she offers before she finds her seat, staring down into the green liquid in the cup as if studying it before taking a sip and offering the Director her attention.
Likewise wanting nothing more than to be at the back and out of proverbial sight is Emily Epstein, who finds herself occupying that single seat next to Don. She's unfamiliar with him as a person beyond the occasional brush, aware of his reputation as Director-come-exile-come-terrorist-yet-secret-hero in only the most distant of acknowledgements. She's new blood, summoned to service after his time had ended, her time in the office existing firmly in the gap between his presences.
Likewise, he seems like the least likely to pass a comment to her or ask how she's doing with any of the sympathy paranoia suspects to be pity, given that they're unfamiliar with each other. So Emily is happy to find her seat here.
She's shed the darkened lenses that served for nearly two months as her shield against the light of the office and the people within it. Her attention flits among those in attendance, and on finding Nicole, offers only her the slightest nod before she leans back against the wall her chair is flush against, hands folding in her lap.
After getting some assistance with making space, Thomas Cooper pulls his wheelchair up to the table. He pulls the pink frosted donut from his mouth and sets it on top of the pad of legal paper he’s brought, ignoring the sprinkle or two that bounces to the table itself.
He’s not sitting by anyone in particular, just where he can fit his wheels, which have a variety of stickers where they fit. All tasteful, such as cat memes and emojis of various types. No reason for it to look boring if he was gonna be stuck in it for a while. At least, he’s dressed like a professional still, except for the one converse sneaker on his one remaining foot.
Despite the missing leg and obvious scars that cross his face, it’s still the same Cooper. He flashes a goofy grin at everyone in the room that notices him there, wiggles fingers at Emily and Robyn. Otherwise, he just quietly noms on that donut.
An unfamiliar face to most, but hard to miss, given the man’s height and general bulk, belongs to Hampton Dartwell, not of SESA and “just here to listen in,” as he’s assured those of higher rank since his arrival at Fort Jay this morning. He’s accompanied into the briefing room by the far smaller and slimmer Veronica Sawyer who’s been serving as a tour guide this morning.
Her smile looks a little forced, like she might be gritting her teeth after just one early-morning hour with the man.
He doesn’t seem to notice as he looks around, murmuring questions to her as he looks here or there, most likely what face belongs to what name. Sawyer murmurs a quiet “excuse me,” as she heads to to the director, glancing over at Dartwell, then dipping her head to speak quietly to Nazan-Gutierrez, a questioning look in her eyes before she glances back at the guest.
Meanwhile, Dartwell strides over to find a seat near Emily, offering her a large hand to shake. “Deputy Director of Justice Assistance Hampton Dartwell,” he tells her, voice booming a little louder than is the norm for pre-meeting “situating.” It is his indoor voice.
Head lifting up as soon as she realizes she's being approached, spoken to, Emily shifts the documentation in her lap more to one side so it's balanced under her left hand. She has to angle herself slightly awkwardly, but opts not to stiff the Deputy Director with a mere nod. "Emily," she introduces herself. "Junior Agent here with SESA. Nice to meet you." She pulls her hand back and folds it over the paperwork she'd started looking down through. When she sits back against the chair again, her posture is a straighter than before— not that she'd been sitting at ease to begin with.
Perhaps that was the reason why Dirk was a few minutes late to his desk this morning. He wasn't at his desk when they were looking for tour guides (it's no one's favorite part of the job). He was down in HR, looking into exactly what was and wasn't allowed in the case of Cooper. Office pranks are fun but now that his Tuesday buddy was in a wheelchair, the usual might be frowned upon.
He slides past Sawyer and her charge, looking for a seat along the wall that is closer to the head of the table. Near enough to see and take notes, but in a spot so far from the coffee machine, it would be easier to ask someone else.
Of course, during those few minutes, Lance was replacing the mouse at Dirk’s computer with an old mouse-ball mouse that he’d found buried in the back of a supply closet. Then he moved the box of spare computer mice to behind the printer paper, so it’d be a bit before he could get a proper laser mouse again.
And now he’s sitting at the table looking attentive, legal pad and pen in hand, trying not to smile when he sees Dirk come in.
“Good morning,” Farah begins the meeting as some people are still getting seated. At the same time, Voss pulls up a satellite imagery of the Raytech Industries campus on the screen at the front of the room. One button click later the vertical blinds slide shut, darkening the room.
“At 7:16 pm local time yesterday two foreign SLC-Expressive individuals unlawfully entered the campus of Raytech Industries located in Jackson Heights with the intention of kidnapping one Jacelyn Childs.” As Farah speaks, a photograph of Jac taken from her Registry card appears on the corner of the screen.
“W—” Just the beginning of a breath is audible at the news that Jac was an attempted kidnappee, before Lance spits out in shock and anger, “WHAT THE FUCK.”
Fortunately he encased himself in a bubble from which no sound escapes first. Anyone watching him could guess pretty well what he just said from his expression, however.
From her seat in the back, Emily pales. She doesn't have the luxury of a self-enclosed bubble like Lance does, and manages to keep a stiff upper lip in response to this news.
“As some of you may be aware, Ms. Childs was the target of an abduction on July 6th of last year by as-of-yet unknown parties. Ms. Childs along with fifteen others woke up in the wreckage of a plane crash in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Since that event, Ms. Childs has tested SLC-Negative and shows no signs of either her natural SLC-Expressive ability or the supplemental abilities forcibly grafted onto her in an unlawful experimentation by Praxis Heavy Industries in 2019.” A list of case numbers populate on the screen indicating several of the tangential incidents that Farah is mentioning.
Nicole’s posture visibly stiffens as the director explains the connection she shares with Jacelyn and the others, without citing her. That’s a solace that sees some of the tension in her shoulders easing. And she types along without missing a beat, head turned to look at the front screen rather than her laptop’s.
There is a grimace of disgust at the mention of a child being experimented on like that. For all his goofiness, Cooper was a parent, his imagination quickly places his own daughter in that situation. How could someone do that to a child? It made him sick enough that the donut he’d been consuming is placed on the legal pad/makeshift plate again.
“Jacelyn’s assailants entered the Raytech compound by means of what is presumed to be an unknown Expressive ability.” As Farah says that, Voss queues up video footage of Raytech’s surveillance system, showing a double-image depicting a city street suddenly coexisting inside a second floor hallway long enough for two individuals to walk into the building from somewhere else.
“Intruder A,” Farah designates, and a red box frames the significantly tall, bald man in the security footage, “is Iov Oblonsky, a Russian expatriate living in Hamburg, Germany. Oblonsky is an SLC-Expressive former GRU Spetsnaz officer codenamed Drema or Sandman who went rogue from his homeland of Russia sometime in 2012.”
“Intruder B,” Farah continues, now boxing in a white-haired woman in a dark coat, “is identified by facial recognition as either Kathryn or Cecilia Archer, we can’t be sure which of the two as they are identical twins. Both Cecilia and Kathryn Archer are British citizens living in the UK. Karythn in London and Cecilia in Durham. We are working with our counterparts in the State Department to try and get further information from the UK Government.”
Farah turns to look at the screen behind her, which showcases Iov and Archer moving down the corridor and rapidly closing in on Jac, who collapses to the ground as if somehow rendered unconscious remotely. Iov picks Jac up and the two pause by an apartment door, at which point Farah pauses the video.
That this somehow all ends well makes it no less distressing to watch. Emily has her thumb in the middle of the thick packet on her lap, reading forgotten in light of the footage. When it pauses, her attention snaps back to Farah, the blue of her eyes like ice.
“Oblonsky’s exhibited SLC-Expressive ability appears to be some form of sound-based sleep induction according to eye-witness reports. You’ll find a detailed breakdown of our ability analysis on page 37-C of your information packet.” Farah returns her attention to the room. “Oblonsky and Archer were interrupted by Lieutenant Elisabeth Harrison of NYPD-SCOUT who was on-premises visiting the resident of that apartment.”
The video continues and the door to the apartment blows off of its hinges. An altercation ensues as Elisabeth bursts into the hall and Jac appears to come awake on Iov’s shoulder. There is a struggle, Jac is rendered unconscious again but Elisabeth appears unaffected while Archer flees down the hall. The video pauses again.
“At 7:21 pm, a federal agent representing the Department of the Exterior who was on-site for a meeting with Raytech’s CEO joined the altercation. Footage of this incident has been classified by the Department of the Exterior as has the name of the involved agent.” Farah pauses as she looks around the room. “Special Agents, you will find this classified detail on page 55 through 57 sections D and E of your information packet.”
When the video feed kicks back in Iov is on the floor unconscious and armed Raytech security forces are surrounding him. “Oblonsky suffered significant cranial hemorrhaging during the altercation and has yet to regain consciousness. He is currently in federal custody at the Fournier-Bianco Memorial Hospital. We’ll revisit Oblonsky’s situation shortly. As for Childs, she was returned to her parent after an evaluation and we have posted security on the Childs’ residence. Lieutenant Harrison suffered minor injuries that did not require medical attention. No other individuals were harmed in the incident.”
Carrying on, Farah looks away from the screen as the video is terminated. “Intruder B, Archer, escaped the Raytech campus by means of the same translocation effect seen in the earlier footage. On analyzing the overlaid images on both translocations we’ve narrowed down her point of return to somewhere in the harbor on Thunderer Road in Barking, Dagenham London. Again, the State Department is attempting to get further information from the UK Government, but the contentious political situation is making any information gathering slow-going.”
“Agent Carrington.” Farah calls on a younger, spectacled woman sitting in one of the chairs on the periphery of the room. Agent Dana Carrington doesn’t rise from her seat, but opens her laptop and takes control of the presentation, showing an X-Ray of a muscular male body with unnaturally bright hot spots on the skeleton.
“This is an X-Ray imaging of Oblonsky taken at Fournier-Bianco last night.” Dana explains, then zooms in on the bright white spots. “Oblonsky has undergone extensive cybernetic reconstruction, augmenting his skeletal structure and dermal composition. While we haven’t been able to get a full assessment, we estimate that Oblonsky was augmented with upwards of a billion dollars of cybernetics hardware reinforcing his body for combat operations.”
That bit elicits a soft whistle of amazement from the peanut gallery… or more specifically Cooper.
Dana continues, showing a photograph of Oblonsky’s face in closeup with black scuffs on his forehead. “During the altercation with the Department of the Exterior agent, Oblonsky took two 9mm rounds to the head that were not able to penetrate his skin. A biopsy is still pending, but we believe his dermal tissue has been augmented with a thus-far unknown level of cybernetic sophistication. We don’t know the full extent of Oblonsky’s augmentations, save that several of them were located within his brain and appear to have been damaged during the altercation.”
Dana shakes her head, showing an X-Ray of Iov’s skull that—to Nicole—looks frustratingly unlike her own unique circumstances. Whatever was done to Iov isn’t what was done to her. Dana continues. “Due to the cerebral tissue damage, we believe the odds of Oblonsky regaining consciousness is less than five percent. SESA is going to reach out to Expressive specialists to attempt to gain further intelligence, but due to the legal status of information gained in such a fashion there will still need to be a proper on-foot investigation.”
Turning her attention back to Farah, Dana turns the focus of the meeting back to her. With a resigned sigh, Farah spreads her hands. “At present we know that Oblonsky worked for a German paramilitary company called Landsknechte until 2014 when Oblonsky’s unit was presumed killed in action in Afghanistan fighting Mazdak. Oblonsky doesn’t come back on our radar until this incident at Raytech.”
Motioning to Deputy-Director Voss, Farah hands the floor over to him as he reopens the blinds. “We need a detailed background on Oblonsky and a full technical analysis of his cybernetics.” Voss begins. “Carrington I want you on that. Bluthner, I want a full analysis of Oblonsky’s known associations.”
“In order to get detail on Archer, we may need to work around our current political limitations with the UK. We’ve coordinated with the Director of National Intelligence and will be formulating an alternate plan should the UK try to stonewall us.” Voss explains rather directly. “We’re looking at a public abduction of a SLC-Expressive US Citizen by foreign nationals, potentially involved in an earlier mass abduction case. I don’t think I need to express to you the severity of this situation.”
“The FBI and CIA as well as the Department of Homeland Security are coordinating with us on this incident but this is squarely a SESA responsibility. If the Expressive citizens of our country can’t feel safe in their own homes, we are failing each and every one of them.” Farah interjects with a steely tone of voice.
Nicole lifts her hands from her keyboard, one elbow propping on the conference table, her mouth pressed against her closed fist. Something in the director’s words strikes some discordant note in her suddenly. Her free hand reaches up to brush over her right cheekbone, under her shades and away again just before reaching her temple.
“Let’s open up the room. We’re working with a lot of unknowns, so I want to see ideas. There’s no wrong questions to ask here and no stupid suggestions,” Voss says, though he does manage to give Dirk the slightest of looks when he does. “Let’s see what asymmetrical solutions we can come up with.”
Lance lifts his hand slightly, clearing his throat before asking a question. Nobody can hear it, which he realizes a moment later when he dismisses the silence bubble and asks, “You said that this— that Oblonsky was last on radar when his unit disappeared fighting Mazdak. Is it possible that he’s working for them now? It wouldn’t be the first time that someone was captured by terrorists and brainwashed.”
Or was that a River Styx episode he watched? Shit. Well, he’ll have to hope it wasn’t.
“We can’t rule that out as a possibility,” Voss answers, “but at present we don’t have anything to connect Oblonsky to Mazdak outside of his combat experience several years ago. We’re pursuing international intelligence on Mazdak operatives, but that isn’t information we have currently.”
Having walked in with every intention of keeping quiet, to herself, as unobtrusively as possible at the back of the room, Emily is the first to shove her own plans out the window. This was personal. These people went after Jac, who was going already through so much more than Emily knew.
"Information extraction from Oblonsky might be able to happen even without his being conscious, even without him knowing. During my previous situation, a dream specialist contacted me," she manages to say with a straight face and even voice, not shirking from the mention at all. It could help. "I don't know if dream manipulation rather than creation and stitching is a thing up her alley, but Delia Ryans might be able to get him to dream about the day of the event before he shows up on camera, and give us a stronger clue as to where we find the Archer twins or their employers."
Not to mention, using dreams against the Sandman carried a certain poetic energy to it.
The suggestion of dream interrogation is probably something that Corbin Ayers would have thought of himself, but there’s a reason he doesn’t tend to suggest it in cases, even when he could. “Even with a warrant, the information gained through power-based interrogation will be difficult to use in court. Any court. International or otherwise. And could risk deepening an international incident depending on the situation.” And this was already risking some international incidents as it was.
Even if the other side definitely started it. “More conventional avenues should be explored first.”
The mention of a dreamwalker has Cooper really looking at Emily. Eyes narrow, though Corbin speaking up, gets a look in his direction as well. He starts to say something, but closes his mouth and picks up the donut again. Rather than say something dumb in front of the big boss, he just eats the donut.
At the mention of avoiding using dreams to extract information, Nicole’s head lifts, her attention shifting an instant. “We need something,” Corbin’s counterpart responds tersely. “We haven’t had a lead in months. If Oblonsky’s never going to wake up… What do you expect us to do? Sit on this opportunity?”
Nicole grabs at the air in her frustration with the whole situation. “The information we get from him could save lives. Isn’t that our goal here?” Letting out a deep, shuddering sigh, her head tips back toward the ceiling, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders and brushing down to the middle of her back.
She comes back to center, calmer down than she was seconds ago. “I can talk to Ms Ryans. And I’m willing to assist in the process of gathering that information, if that would be helpful.” Nicole knows she’s too close to this, but she can’t just sit back and see a chance at answers squandered in her perception.
“Just as long as we all are aware we will lose the ability to use anything we gain against those responsible legally,” Corbin responds, voice much calmer, even if it’s obvious he doesn’t like any of this. He would like to take the quick and fast route far too often, but he was trying to do the right thing not the easy thing. “You are right, though, it could help those who need the information now.” Including and not limited to the woman speaking.
After a moment, he’s looking somewhere else, as if trying to seek advice from a fly on the wall on the edge of his vision. “Perhaps using Ryans isn’t the best course of action, though, since she isn’t fully trained by any of our agencies. If she is used, there would need to be multiple Agents on site to make sure nothing went out of hand. I would also like to be present.” Perhaps with a chaperone?
Nicole gestures vaguely with one hand, though not dismissively. “You are the better choice,” she admits without wounded pride.
“Civilian contractors are a possible avenue we’ve considered,” Voss notes, addressing Emily, Corbin, and Nicole together. “However, we have to consider the potential risk to anyone directly interfacing with Oblonsky’s mind. We don’t know the full extent of the hardware he’s been implanted with, but the CIA shared intelligence with us that Mazdak has developed a technopathic trap technology that can snatch a remote technopath out of a network and isolate their consciousness in a digital state.”
Voss wobbles his head from side to side. “That isn’t to say we think they’ve developed something similar versus dream manipulation or telepathy, but it’s a risk we have to keep in the forefront of our mind.”
Nicole straightens up, obviously disturbed by the possibility of danger to someone so close to her. To any civilian, regardless of affiliation.
“The joint operation in 2019 that took out Georgia Mayes remaining DoEA resistance cell uncovered cybernetic experiments that suggested Humanis First was working on developing telepathic intrusion kill switches,” Farah notes. “A machine that detects anomalous brain activity associated with telepathy and detonates a small cranial explosive if the brain activity reaches a certain threshold. As far as we know it wasn’t completed, but we have no reason to suspect other groups were not developing similar technology.”
Voss looks at Farah, then back to Emily. “Effectively, any invasive questioning of Oblonsky is going to need to come after a thorough assessment of his cranial implants.”
“What about Archer?” Kenner pipes up rather loudly, gesturing broadly with his hands. “You mentioned CIA involvement. Are we talking going overseas without local concessions?”
Farah and Voss share a brief look and the director chooses to address Kenner’s question. “Right now we’re exploring all avenues. It’s unlikely that the UK Government will permit us to perform any foreign investigation without their oversight and if National Intelligence’s suspicions of that government’s involvement in this pan out… it’ll get us nowhere.”
“If we go after Archer in the UK there will need to be larger conversations around what that operation will look like and who may or may not be involved,” Voss adds diplomatically. “Right now nothing is certain. We can’t even be sure the Archer twins are twins and not just cover identities for someone who can be in more than one place at a time. There’s too many unknowns.”
“What else do we have?” Farah queries the room. “Does anything in this event line up with cases anyone here is working?” Noah looks up at the screen behind Farah, brows creasing together. He says nothing.
Nicole’s attention falls on Voss, the sharpness of it hidden behind her sunglasses. Who may or may not be involved. She draws in a breath, feeling an ache deep inside of her. There are answers there. Someone knows. It’s all so close. So close.
The question of cases lining up has Nicole looking down as Noah looks up. She doesn’t dare turn to look in his direction. That she bites down her lip hard to keep her emotions in check again helps to obscure the connection between the question and her reaction. Archer twins. It’s entirely unrelated to her, but her mind can’t help but make the connection. Everything in her head is fucking miserable.
And there’s what Noah fucking Bennet made her stumble on compounding all of it.
“Whoever Archer’s working for, we have something they want available to us,” Nicole reminds, speaking directly to her boss now. “If we could lure her out, apprehend her on our soil…” That’s a long shot and she knows it. She’s frustratedly grasping at straws for some sense of agency in this situation. “Or we can try it in the UK.”
She reaches for the coffee on her left and brings it up for a drink. There’s an unmistakable metallic crunching sound that comes as she sets the steel bottle down. Nicole starts to withdraw from it as though she’d been burned, but she course corrects to lay her hand over the body of it in a different placement, seemingly unwilling to let go of it now.
Emily keeps her quiet only so long. The longer that silence reigns, the more compelled she feels to suggest anything. Her head lifts slightly. "What if it weren't an official investigation? Do we have sufficient details about Archer to at least begin tracking her while negotiations proceed with the UK regarding letting us look into this better?"
She stops short of making the recommendation they tell the UK about the type of ability demonstrated in the video. While sure that would pique that government's interests, the thought of taking advantage of their draconian views on ability use for their own gain makes her stomach twist.
Voss looks at Farah, who looks back at him with something like a told you so smile of validation in her eyes. She blinks a look across the table to Emily and with a subtle raise of her brows says, “We can discuss our options later.” That’s almost like when a parent says maybe, but it means yes.
“Alright,” Voss brings the conversation back to center. “I think we have all the options on the table that we’re going to right now.” He closes his laptop decisively.
“Ayers, I want you to make a list of contractors we can reach out to for unconventional information-gathering purposes.” Voss instructs. “Local, preferably, I don’t want to have to wait to fly someone out from the Dead Zone.”
“Miller,” Voss directs his attention to her next, “I want a list of field agents suitable for a joint-operation with the CIA before the end of the day.”
Voss looks across the room to Veronica. “Sawyer,” he motions to her with his chin, “I want to squeeze Oblonsky’s handlers. Figure out a public spin for this that we can go wide with that doesn’t put Childs’ safety at risk. I want whoever is responsible for this to know we have him and see if we can scare them into making a move.”
“Roux,” Voss snaps his attention over to Robyn, “find out if anyone at Raytech is willing to coordinate on a joint analysis of Oblonsky’s cybernetics. Have Carrington work with you on this and coordinate with Cooper.”
And lastly, “Cooper.” Voss is already standing as he calls out the agent’s name. “Reach out to Yamagato Industries and see if they’re interested in playing ball with Raytech on a joint investigation on what Oblonsky has going on.” Voss then turns his attention to Farah.
“You heard him.” Farah says with a clap of her hands.
“Let’s get moving!”