| Whatever Means Necessary |
[22 Jun 2008|12:27pm] |
Agents Brown, Turner, and McDormand arrived by plane at McCarran International Airport, just three days after the termination of Josiah Markowitz near Gate 14. Their orders were to take control of the Henderson facility and solve the supernatural problem immediately, using whatever means necessary. Each of the Agents was assigned to a particular facet of the operation.
Brown would facilitate the transport of illegal human captives -- such as Oliver Jerzyck -- to an underground bunker in the mountains near Carson City. The quicker they were removed, the less likely they would be discovered by the hysterical public.
Turner would destroy all evidence of the project's existence at the Henderson facility, a feat in itself, and absolve the government of guilt by devising a convincing lie to feed to the press.
McDormand was the wild card. He would work a spell meant to banish all creatures with demon-infected bloodlines to a hellverse, where they undoubtedly belonged.
*****
Agent Brown: Transport the Captives
Though he kept protective spellwork in place, Brown also employed a group of heavily-armed black ops soldiers. They 'escorted' the human sympathizers from their cells into an underground tunnel, which was built beneath the Henderson headquarters. The tube was wide enough for regular vehicles, and allowed the group to literally drive out of the facility, right beneath the unsuspecting feet of the picketers and media hounds outside. At the edge of town, they emerged onto the highway in white, windowless vans and began the journey to the bunker.
Agent Turner: Destroy the Evidence
It took hours to rid the offices of all paper files, medical samples, electronic disks, and assorted evidence pertaining to Project Integration. Simply burning the building wasn't an option, not with the media nosing about. To blow the place up would be a public admission that suspicious activity was going on in the facility. The government already took an enormous risk when they shot Markowitz in plain sight.
Turner was also assigned with covering that up. The key was not denying that the government had taken a man out, but obscuring his identity. Turner made sure that the passenger manifests were altered to delete Markowitz's name and all footage from security cameras seized. She had Markowitz's bank statement changed to remove the airline charge. She permanently dispatched of the former Agent's body. The truth would eventually get out; Markowitz would miss an appointment, or a witness from the airport would speak up. Turner would handle that fall-out when the time came.
As for the physical evidence of the Project, Turner removed it from the facility before burning it. Then she turned her attention to constructing a convincing lie.
Agent McDormand (the Weakest Link): Banish the Demons
It might've all worked. At least, the evidence might've gone down in history as circumstantial, the witnesses not credible. If McDormand hadn't made his fatal miscalculation.
Agent McDormand had studied the intersection of physics and metaphysics for most of his career. He was regularly employed by the government to research supernatural matters. In fact, he was on the team that flew to Las Vegas after the winter solstice of 2010 to investigate the rumors that a portal to an alternate universe -- a 'hellverse' -- had opened over the Circus Circus resort. There were claims that the hole between worlds literally opened up and began to suck demons into the sky, back to where they came from (a report not far from the truth).
That incident was the most exciting of his career. It was Agent McDormand's fervent belief that the portal could be reopened, and the 'sucking' phenomenon resumed, to rid the world of its demon problem once and for all. If he could orchestrate it, it would be a very public event. It would be an act of terrific heroism for the U.S. government, with him at the helm!
McDormand knew that a mystical force named The Exile (ha! as if it were a sentient being!) had been involved in the incident. He assumed that The Exile was simply energy, used as a key to open the portal (the 'Dawn Summers' effect). If this was the case, it might be done again! This time, he would orchestrate the spell himself, and make it so the Exile's power would not be interrupted before it was fully unleashed... the power to banish all demons back to hell.
Deep in the hills that bordered the tiny town of Searchlight, McDormand deposited his magical resources, bought by the U.S. government (and possibly the Canadians). Then a well-paid practitioner of the black arts took over, arranging the paraphernalia into an altar and beginning a ritualistic chant. Nearly twenty minutes went by. McDormand was sweating buckets. Something slithered past his ankle. He held absolutely still.
Suddenly the warlock's head snapped up and his eyes went wide. Before McDormand could react, the hill exploded. It was nearly volcanic in its eruption of earth and rock. A boulder the size of a Volkswagen crushed the life from the warlock. McDormand landed on his head twenty yards away, unconscious as inches of dirt piled on his back.
For miles upon miles, the gigantic beacon of white could be seen, shining like a searchlight into the heavens. Then a second beam separated from the first, and another, and another. The pillars of illumination burst through the earth and pointed in every direction. Some even pointed down deep into the ground, where eyes couldn't follow.
At 9:21pm on June 22, 2012, the will of the Exile was finally realized. It was not a key; it didn't unlock dimensional doors. It revealed the gateways to all dimensions simultaneously... heavens, hells, even locations of mystical convergence like the Bermuda Triangle were unveiled. The gates glowed in brilliant displays of color and light. Some hovered in the sky like weather phenomena. Others swirled over the ocean, creating maelstroms, or turned ordinary backyards or parking lots into soupy mixtures of boiling earth.
No demonic creatures poured from them, but the energy shift was massive. It only lasted a moment, but it blew entire power grids. It made people's hair stand on end. Many creatures leading double lives -- creatures who wore human guises to hide demon parts -- were accidentally outed, as they temporarily lost control of their physical features, like werewolves suddenly getting a clear glimpse of the full moon. In that instant, ghosts normally invisible to the human eye were finally seen. Angelic wings unfurled behind beings like Nathan Rhames.
In a word, it was chaos.
Agent McDormand stirred beneath the rubble and lifted his head.
The tiny town of Searchlight sat on the horizon. For thousands of years, people had flocked to that patch of sandy earth, none of them certain why. It simply had a magnetism.
Now, as its citizens wrapped themselves in bathrobes and rushed onto their porches, everything became clear.
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