Closed RP All Candid Fellows

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Containment

Leviathan
Staff member
Isaac Cotta led Goro and Cammie down in the opposite direction from Cody’s group. It was a shorter route to the offices. He took point, but didn’t give instructions for any particular marching order. Despite the slight breach of protocol, he did leave his visor up off his face. Removing that barrier was somewhat more personable than making them look through the red glass to see him. He hoped that at least one of his candidates would initiate conversation, but he still took time to point out the different containment units as they passed.

“Most of the anomalies we store at this facility are those we label as ‘household’-class. As stated in the presentation Dr. Redd sent out, our focuses are on containing and studying anomalies for as long as they remain unknowns to either the standard sciences or the focuses of magic. In the cases of household-classes, this is mostly for their protection, not the public’s, though there’ve been a lot of cases where a household-class anomaly became more dangerous after damage from an outside source. Most of our researchers try to avoid those kinds of incidents.”

He spoke flatly, in as much of a tour-guide tone of voice as someone raised in New England could manage. Unlike Codes, who’d had the benefit of being raised in the American Southwest, Isaac retained a ghost of his accent even when speaking normally. It was getting easier to hide, with time.

For security reasons, of course. Not like he was self-conscious about it or anything.

He paused in front of one of the old storefronts, its front now a pane of glass that revealed a large gray dog – a hound mix, of some kind – pacing the space. It was furnished about as well as anyone could ask, for a dog. The concrete floor had been spread with a layer of soil and grass, and even 49 itself seemed to like it. The lights in the room were pretty close to emulating sunlight, almost like a plant heater. There were toys scattered around, and a handful of obstacles were set up like a dog park’s agility course. Right now the anomaly paced back and forth, but its tail was wagging a bit.

“Access Containment File Twenty-Eight-Fifty-Eight. The researchers call him ‘Pluto,’ which isn’t trademarked or anything. Not that it would matter, given the secrecy with which we do things.” As he spoke, the dog passed by one of his tennis balls, which rolled toward it. Then, it levitated off the ground, and began orbiting vertically around the dog’s middle. Pluto didn’t even seem to notice. “He has a minor gravitational field that doesn’t quite match up with his mass. It doesn’t seem to affect his mobility at all, but sometimes he does… that. We don’t have a zoophysicist on-site to study him at the moment, but sometimes Dr. Florence’s people come up and play what they call advanced fetch with him. It’s good for just about everyone.”

To Isaac, sharing these tidbits of information about the anomalies he was containing and protecting was as natural as talking about the weather. He looked to his two candidates, searching their reactions. He hadn’t quite taken his mind off the task at hand, but given Cammie’s general quiet and the general understanding she’d be on-site as researcher, he was mostly checking her reactions.

Though, as a fellow agent, any insight Goro might have would be appreciated as well.
 

The young man guiding him and his interview duo couldn't be older than the recruits Goro often took under his wing, calm and composed, knowledgeable enough to be confident in his presentation of what would most definitely be considered unnatural. A fun and unexpected exchange of roles, the veteran out of his depth having to listen to a couple generations ahead of him. It brought a hint of a smile to his lips.

The facility was quite the creative cover-up laboratory, not necessarily something uncommon to Goro's many misadventures, but the remarkable test subjects definitely outclassed almost anything he had had to deal with before. All numbered, tended to in orderly fashion, an astonishingly structured system.

Truly, if there was anywhere on the planet he could begin answering his questions, it was within the Agency.

"That is fascinating, Mr. Cotta. Say, I am no intellectual of the scientific or magical spectrum, however I would very much like to understand how procedure for acquisition, for a lack of a better term, of these specimens usually goes." He met the man's gaze with expectant eyes. "If I am tobetter execute my functions on the field, I doubt personnel protection would be the only priority. Both the, uhm... 'Anomalies', as you call them, and the possibly problematic bystanders. What is the protocol for handling those?"
 
Cammie found Agent Cotta's accent difficult to follow. She hadn't grown up around a lot of people, or TV and he certainly didn't sound like she did- her accent was heavily Appalachian.

Still, Cammie followed and did her best to follow along, listening about household class anomolies. Is that what I am? She thought. She never considered herself particularly dangerous. Maybe Agent Cotta wouldn't agree.

Pluto seemed sweet, but even his quarters reminded her horribly of the pictures she had seen of zoo's. Fancy prisons for animals. Sure, he looked content and well looked after, but...Cammie wondered if they kept humans like this. In comfortable containers waiting to be studied. Cameron blinked.

She been hired. She would be the one doing the studying.

Cammie also paused at Goro's question. Aquiring anomolies was such a kind word for what her father had described being tanamount to kidnapping. She dared speak, "Yes, I'm quite interested in that as well."
 
Cotta caught himself smiling just a touch at Goro’s statements. He was making some assumptions, wasn’t he? For all he knew, the Foundation could be planning to put him into security. A location like 49 could use some veterans on-site. But, then again, Cotta and Codes had already discussed Goro and Sig. With Sig’s lycanthropic tendencies, it’d probably be best to keep him behind closed doors. Especially given today’s events so far. He held on to Goro’s stare for just a second, just enough for him to see that Cotta already noticed what he was getting at.

“Acquisition depends on the team and the anomaly in question,” he began, turning to keep walking. “We have set protocols that the field teams have to know before boots hit the ground, but because we work with the unpredictable, we leave a lot in their hands. As long as they’re not noticed and the anomaly isn’t harmed, rules sometimes even get set aside. Keep in mind we’re still deciding on the placement of your team members, both in and outside the facility.”

They started moving deeper into the facility, passing by other households along the way – mostly static objects. There weren’t any anohumans at L-49, not in the household-class department, anyway. One of the low-grade and one of the high-grade risky-classes were, but that would be outside Goro and Cammie’s nonexistent paygrades for a while. It was important that they stay focused on the answers to their questions, and Cotta decided it’d be best to start at the beginning.

“The process begins when someone internal passes down reports of an anomaly. This report is assigned to the nearest facility that can handle an anomaly of its suspected class, and then the facility assigns a team of the appropriate clearance level to begin acquisition procedures.” He glanced at Goro again, with an affirmative nod. “On the agency side of the issue, you’ve already laid out your tasks pretty well. You have to protect the research and secretarial staff sent into the field with you, you have to keep an eye out for bystanders, and you have to ensure the anomaly is acquired with as little flare and damage as possible. We tend to handle bystanders with a little more care than other agencies you’ve worked with. Capture and amnesticization are key for us. People disappearing started to get suspicious back in like, the 50’s, I think? After the war when the government started all its agencies. They usually got blamed, but the invention of rudimentary amnestic drugs and procedures changed the game for us. Again, as for the anomaly, you’ll be given loose instructions on handling and care, rarely permission to use lethal force if it’s anything less than a high-grade risky or unless your teammates are in severe enough danger.”

He turned his head to his other interview candidate, whose short affirmation hadn’t gone unnoticed. He continued to do his best to stay friendly, reaffirm that he wasn’t threatening. There needed to be trust between the staff who’d likely be left on-site.

“Based on your file, Cammie, it’s not all that likely you’ll be sent into the field. Medical conditions like yours will keep you here at L-Four-Nine for the time being, unless a second set of researcher’s hands are needed out there. The lab environment means you’ll probably be working with your team’s security agent and on-site archival researcher. We’ll get to that after we wrap up the office interview. You’ll have a little break to get some lunch at the cafeteria while management staff discusses your positions. ”
 
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