Front Lines Communications

I would like you all to welcome our newest member, Trey, the younger Waltz. His efforts will allow us access to the findings of Project: Ascension's new genetic testing project. Please treat him with our usual warmth, and give him access to all the terrorist amenities.

Secondly, there is a box of new burner phones in the kitchen at HQ. Remember to ditch your old burners frequently using the appropriate methods of disposal. Don't forget to recycle the parts that you don't burn or drown.

[DIANA/TREY]

Diana, you'll be in charge of Trey's training. Trey, this is your new mentor.

Now that the dust has settled.

The warehouse was clearly a set-up. Project: Ascension went to great lengths to make this lead appear authentic, and we walked into their trap. Thank you to everyone who risked their lives to make sure that all of our operatives made it out, and thank you to everyone who is still working to make sure that we pull through from this.

I need information. Everyone who was present, I want your individual reports: who you saw, who you fought, what your injuries are, everything you witnessed or overheard. We need a complete picture of how this went sideways so that it won't happen again.

My alerts just flagged a shipping manifest containing some of the more rare materials that we'll be needing for the supersuits. It's no doubt part of a Project: Ascension shipment, so we'll need to be cautious, but we have the element of surprise. If we act fast, we should have this out from under their nose in no time.

Giselle, Jane, Jakob: meet at the coordinates I'm sending to your phones within the hour and do a sweep of the warehouse where the shipment is held.

Everyone else, stand by in case they need assistance moving the shipment. We need to do this quickly, quietly, and without raising an alarm.

It is my pleasure to welcome two very dedicated new recruits to our cause, Lana Lyon and Paul Davenport.

Without Lana, we would not have the intel that got us the supersuits in the first place, and Paul has given us unprecedented inside access to the leadership on Project: Ascension's side that will no doubt serve us very well in the weeks to come. Please make them feel welcome, show them around the safehouses, and help them with any questions they might have about remaining incognito in their normal lives. They'll be assigned mentors soon, but as always, help each other with training whenever possible.

As a note: last week's continued training session was a great success. Given the increase in dangerous missions of late, we'll be having more of these sessions as time allows.

( CUT FOR SPOILERS. )

( FILTERED TO JACKSON. )

First and foremost: The Movement for Atavist Liberation stands in solidarity with the members of our community affected by the Greenwich House incident. One of our own has put together an online donation page here for anyone who wishes to help them directly without Project: Ascension's red tape.

Now, I want to address these rumors of a "cure."

I'm not saying that it's real, but some of you may be thinking about how becoming an atavist and gaining powers has negatively impacted your life. You may be thinking that it would be easier to just get rid of them. For those of you who resent being detained in New York City: that is entirely due to Project: Ascension's dictatorship. They represent the American government and a certain elitism that would keep superpowers directly under their control, which goes against every individual freedom protected by the Constitution. You are not weapons, to be controlled: you are people who should be free to live your lives.

For those of you who are afraid of your powers: this isn't like curing a disease. Your powers are a part of you. Your powers are a part of you, a manifestation of something inside of you that needed release. You may not know why, or how to cope with them yet, but no power is a mistake. You will, in time, come to understand its purpose. These powers are your tools with which to resist oppression. The question only remains: how will you rise to the challenge?

[MAL LEADERSHIP + MIA + MARTIN]

In light of the discussion about finding a permanent way to access the general atavist network, I wanted to hear your thoughts. If you all think it's a worthwhile risk, we should organize an attempt. Even if we can't access the Project: Ascension encrypted network, we might glean some details we'd otherwise miss via the network. And at the very least, it would annoy the hell out of Shahidi.

I hope you have all been following up with your potential recruits, and those new atavists you may have missed on the first approach. Even just getting close to them to learn their politics or discover whether they're susceptible to being influenced is a start.

Secondly, I have a [...] personal request. Tonight is my daughter's birthday, and I believe she'll be spending it at Throwback, as she so often does. I can't be there myself, but I'd like someone to watch over her and make sure that she has a memorable evening tonight.

To the Atavist Community:

I am Leo Barone. You have heard of me, whether whispered between dissidents or warned outright by agents of Project: Ascension. I address you all so very rarely and let Project: Ascension's actions speak for itself, but this time, I want our purpose to ring loud and clear, undisguised by misinformation and secrets.

The Movement for Atavist Liberation has always stood against the policing and militarization of the atavist community. Our actions yesterday at the docks were towards that goal. Project: Ascension has been developing and producing high-tech "super suits," uniforms that can withstand and enhance atavist abilities and would allow them to perform beyond the ordinary limitations of the human body. These suits were being shipped to their isolated facility on Governors Island on Thursday, and we believed it necessary to stop them from ending up in the hands of a force that has proven itself willing to harm innocent bystanders in order to stop us. This is a project that knows no limits, that is given no boundaries. We are the only ones policing them.

To this end: know what your government is capable of, and be wary. Do not blindly obey. Do not trust their motivations. Behind your backs, they will do whatever it takes to empower their agents to become the supersoldiers they've been trying to create with their Idol.

To the Atavist Community:
Thank you for your time and attention,
Leo Barone

( re: THE INFORMATION ON LANA'S USB DRIVE. )

For those of you who haven't been by HQ lately and seen our new supplies, I'm happy to share the news that two of our operatives were able to raid a shipment headed to Governors Island. They secured medical supplies and other useful goods for us, but more importantly, they successfully struck a blow to Project: Ascension. Congratulations to Aphra and Noelle for a job well done.

On a more serious note:

I had a serious conversation with the Deacon over at 1st Corinthian this weekend. It seems that some members of the congregation have come to him expressing concerns about our people hanging around the church, seemingly without reason, occasionally at odd hours. In order to allay suspicions while also making him more comfortable about our continued presence there, I've agreed to a compromise of sorts.

From now on, I need each and every one of you to find a way to give back to the congregation. Attend church services. Volunteer as ushers on Sundays. Volunteer at the soup kitchen, help with clothing and can drives, join their incredible gospel choir. Meet the people of the community and make sure that they know your name and face, even if it isn't your real name and face.

I don't want to hear excuses about this. 1st Corinthian is very important to me, and the deacon is an old friend. If I find out that any of you has been shirking your participation, we'll have to have a chat.

The darknet is up and running again at last. I'm sorry for the blackout; the power surge brought my daughter and myself head-to-head on the network in an unexpected way, and our emotions apparently affected our control in a way that had an immediate backlash on our systems. I've determined there was no significant loss on our servers — I had to rebuild the darknet tables, but no databases were wiped, so you should all still have past entries, conversations, your MAL contacts, &etc — nor did Project: Ascension manage to breach our security. We're still quite safe.

Meanwhile, I'd like to check in with you all. I've noticed that the surge seems to be subsiding somewhat, or at least my power has become less overwhelming on a grand scale. How are you all managing?

( Cut for spoilers. )

Apparently, Project: Ascension has apprehended an atavist thief who was operating out of Koreatown. She wasn't one of us, but given that she was hellbent on giving their agents a headache, perhaps she should have been. It doesn't matter if we atavize all the potentials in the tri-state area if we don't have enough people to capitalize on the chaos.

I'd like all of you to reach out to people you know. Find at least two candidates for the Movement and focus on them. I'm open to some new suggestions for low-risk missions that the candidates have to successfully perform in order to prove their value to us, too. We need people, but also people we can trust.