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Paul Serene posted:

I can still see her eyes. Pleading, begging to be saved. The university incident forced me to take... extreme measures to cover our tracks. Amy Ferrero will the first of many unfortunate, but necessary sacrifices. Her face is etched into my mind. I hold it there - begging to be saved - to remind me what all this is for.

Jack's transport never arrived at Ground Zero. It was a strange relief; if it had, he may already be dead. But Jack has a larger role in this to play, my visions have made that clear.

Seeing Jack at the university... it awakened something within me. A admission of what was coming. A reminder of how it all started. Who I was once was. Seventeen years ago, I performed a test that caused a fracture in time. I was to blame, I came to terms with that very quickly. It took far longer to accept that there was nothing I could do to stop it. I built Monarch from the shadows, waited seventeen years for that moment to arrive again. Thought I was ready.

This was my greatest struggle to date. Feeling such a moment, allowing such a tragedy to occur. Knowing, any action I would take to prevent it will simply make it so. And now it's here. We are the only ones prepared for what comes next.

My plan was in motion. The time for hiding is over.

quote:

Martin Hatch posted:

University Fallout
TO: Ground Zero Op - All

As you all know by now we encountered unforeseen complications during the core retrieval operation at Riverport University. As a result we were forced to take a more direct approach that led to unwanted attention. This attention must now be removed.

Paul Serene has given us direct orders. As his chief advisor and operations manager I will be making sure that we deliver upon those orders. We are to take a hardline approach in dealing with any threats to our plan. Your directives:

1. Execute all witnesses.
Any witnesses to our actions at the university are to be executed without prejudice. Said witnesses have been transported to the Ground Zero operation. We simply cannot afford any loose threads at this point in our operation. Perform routine questioning and then execute. Civilians who did not directly witness our operation but were present may be intimidated into silence. Such cases will be evaluated by supervisors in charge of the clean-up operation. If there’s any doubt as to the effectiveness of softer methods, do not hesitate to execute. We’re not taking any chances.

2. Assist in core transportation
The time machine core has been airlifted from the university to the drydock near the Ground Zero operation. All available personnel must assist in prepping the core for covert ground transport to Monarch Tower for installation.

3. Find Jack Joyce
Jack Joyce’s transport has gone missing shortly after reaching the Ground Zero operation. Liam Burke is heading a search party to find him. If you possess any information that might assist in his capture, report to me directly.

4. Chronon harvesting
Until Jack Joyce is found we are assigning additional security personnel to protect the chronon harvesting operation and Ground Zero perimeters. Teams have been stationed to patrol surrounding supply warehouses as well.

5. Monarch gala prep
If your role is not impacted by the previous four directives then you are to assist in prep for the Monarch Gala tonight, which is still moving forward as planned. More information to follow.

Any questions regarding security can be directed to Liam Burke. Any other questions should be addressed to your supervisor.

Bobby Radford posted:

So this thing at the university, you thought it was bad before? It's real bad now! It's bad, and Bobby's mad, people.

Okay. So we don't know exactly what went down, but that library came down way ahead of schedule. There's going to be a body count, and there's every indication Monarch Security people are putting in some long, hard hours earning their jack-booted thug merit badge, and why? Why is this happening? We don't know! And Monarch ain't saying. We've asked for a statement, but they're keeping shtum.

We know the demolition charges went off ahead of schedule. We have those reports of brutality. We know there were people popping off shots. We know there are people who will never see their families again, for Christ's sakes.

And where are the damn cops on this? We need some goddamn answers!

Charlie Wincott posted:

TRESPASSER ALERT
TO: Monarch Team Leads


*****************TRESPASSER ALERT*****************

NICK MARSTERS HAS ESCAPED CONTAINMENT AND IS IN THE GODDAMN SECURITY STATION! Who’s the fucking meathead responsible for watching over the university witnesses?? Consider your contract terminated!

How some spindly cab driver managed to get past you guys is beyond me, but he’s casually checking Facebook on a high security Monarch terminal. Yes, FACEBOOK. That’s how safe he feels right now. Converge on his location IMMEDIATELY before he figures out how to do some actual damage.

Oh, and remember Jack Joyce? The guy you were supposed to have apprehended? Yeah, he’s still shooting his way through our entire operation. GET. YOUR SHIT. TOGETHER.

Charlie

Charlie Wincott posted:

Nick Marsters
TO: Ground Zero Op - All

Yo,

So, I looked into this Nick Marsters guy. In short: he’s a sad little joke, I don’t even know why we’re wasting time on him.

He used to be a pretty promising football player, he actually got drafted by the Rexes, which I guess you can consider an achievement if you give a shit about that sort of thing, which I don’t. Not that he ever went anywhere, because he messed up his knee in a car crash on the night of getting the news, and that was it for his big career. There’s no police report on this, but looking at his social media at the time, seems like he was out celebrating pretty hard, so I’m pretty sure he had no business getting behind the wheel in the first place.

In an apparent attempt to prove the universe runs on irony, he now drives a cab. License and permits check out; he’s got eight unpaid parking tickets, a couple more for speeding, pretty much what you’d expect.

No relatives except his father, but the old man’s in the hospital and pretty much dead to the world from what I can tell. Looks like Marsters on a dozen different dating apps, with very limited success. Big surprise. And he seems to be seriously into weird conspiracy theories and bullshit like that, only without the usual crazy racist frothing at the mouth. It’s all pretty dumb, but surprisingly entertaining.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think anybody’d believe anything he said, but hey, you guys deal with him however you want to, that’s your business.

Charlie

Bobby Radford posted:

And we're back! This is Bobby Radford with the latest. We've got an official statement from Monarch Solutions and, heh, it's just what you'd expect really! Y'know, your typical slick, mealy-mouthed bullshit. I'll sum it up for ya.

As far as they're concerned, the whole thing was some kind of an accident with the premature demolition. Some lives were tragically lost due to that. They're investigating. Essentially they're saying: "no comment, don't worry about it".

Nobody has access to the site right now. All we know is what they tell us. Thing is, there were a lot of people there. Some people I know personally. Seems to be a lot of folks ain't answering their phones now. So what's that mean, huh?! I think it means that we [CENSOR].

So what am I saying? Well, they've got lots of lawyers, so I'm not saying anything other than this whole thing stinks to high heaven. I don't understand it, but I can smell a goddamn rat. This shouldn't be happening! This is Riverport, U.S.A. damnit, not some third world hell-hole where nobody gives a crap. Somebody's gonna have to take responsibility here. Who's it gonna be, huh?! Call me up on the phone now. I wanna talk to you.

quote:

CLARICE OGAWA: Let's talk about a cab driver named Nick Marsters. Where is he? Why is he helping you?

JACK JOYCE: You tried to kill him, I don't think he'd like that.

OGAWA: What does he know about-

JOYCE: He was the only one when I got there in time to save, I saw that room. The bodies. None of the witnesses from the university got out alive.

OGAWA: Let's focus on-

JOYCE: You fucking killed them! All of them. You went too far. Seeing those bodies changed everything. I knew I had to stop it, stop it from ever happening in the first place.

OGAWA: Nick Marsters. Where is he?

JOYCE: Fuck you!

OGAWA: I think it's time to take a break.