Post by StrathWriters on Nov 19, 2009 10:56:19 GMT
The photo booth continues it’s erratic behaviour as you approach it with a certain amount of instinctive caution. When you get within arms reach of the booth, the flashing suddenly stops. You wonder if it turned off by itself or if you triggered it, somehow. You peer around the station floor to see if anyone is watching you. You don’t see anybody spying on you, but what you do see is a scarlet haired girl walk past the old lady with the exposed purse. Your jaw drops as you see her casually swoop down and scoop the money up without breaking stride. As she quickly walks towards the lower level you see someone chase after her, yelling at her to stop. Too far away to do anything about it, you turn your curiosity back to the photo booth. It’s completely still now, no flashing lights to be observed. Instead, you hear a faint beeping noise from inside the booth. Your curiosity is even more intense now, so much so that it gives your caution sense a wedgie and tells it to shut up and let you investigate without a foreboding feeling. You slowly enter, looking outside one last time to see if anyone is watching you. You sit down on the chair, close the curtain, and wait for a few seconds.
You didn’t really expect anything to happen. Sure, there was a small part of you that had placed its chips on the weird and unexpected occurring. Turns out that part of you will walk out of the booth rich, because the photo selection screen before you flickers and lights up with a video. On the screen is a man sitting behind a desk. You take in a few details before he starts talking, such as his steeled expression, his expensive attire and the text across the screen that reads ‘MI8 secure connection’.
“Agent W, glad you could make it after that nasty business in Motherwell. Poor place will take years to recover.” The man talks with a formal but friendly voice. “But never mind that now, there’s a new assignment come up which I’m classifying as Priority A1 Alpha! We have just discovered that a terror organisation has released an airborne pathogen at multiple locations across Glasgow and many other cities all across the country. You’re one of the few agents we have in this area currently, so you need to protect the city from the effects of this attack!”
You look at the screen in utter disbelief, unable to speak for your surprise. Instead, you just hopelessly watch as the man continues his monologue.
“I know you have questions, but there is very little time. The pathogen acts by first shutting down all of a victims brain functions, rendering them in a near lifeless state. When this makes them become weak, a secondary virus within the pathogen will take hold of them. Our analysts warn us that this could make every infected person lethally aggressive and mindlessly violent. While the primary infecting will slow them down at first, we only expect this to last a short while before the population becomes ravenous monsters. By this time you will need to have delivered the antivirus or it will be too late.
“The only antivirus we have in your area is currently with agent L.” A picture of the old lady with the exposed cash appeared on screen. You blink several times. “It is disguised, laced through several bank notes she is carrying. Upon reaching the bunker at Glasgow Cross you must give it to our boffins there. They can quickly replicate it and then it is imperative that you spread it around the city by the most efficient means available.” A picture of the scarlet haired girl you saw steal the old ladies money then appeared on the screen. “Agent S has already been briefed, it’s possible she has already picked up the payload. You’re to work with her if you can…
“Oh, Agent W, there is likely a few hours before the pathogen takes any effect, so you are to not to raise public panic unless the mission success hangs in the balance! And stay inconspicuous! We haven’t identified the criminals behind this act of terror yet, and until we do we must assume they have the upper hand. They may already be tracking you.
“The fate of many depend on you Agent W, but since when is that different from any other mission, eh?” The man smiles for the first time, but you can plainly see it is a nervous, oh so nervous smile. “Good luck.” He finishes. The screen flickers to darkness and four sudden flashes of light blind you momentarily.
You find that you’ve suddenly started breathing heavily. You think that this must be some kind of joke, some kind of mistake, but when you peer out of the booth for a moment, you see the same crowd you did just moments before but you really see them. The ones waiting in boredom… They looked like they were the walking dead. The ones with smiles didn’t seem all there… There were people going from place to place, but they were clumsy, aimless; more so than usual anyway. You step out of the photo booth and look to the photo printout. You see four Polaroid’s of your surprised face stare at you.
You hear commotion in the station hall behind you. Across the way, you see two police officers escort the scarlet haired girl across the floor. A police car with flashing lights pulls up outside the station and more officers enter to restrain the girl. She’s shouting, screaming even. You can’t make it out fully, but you do hear the words “mistake” and “virus” amongst the cries. The old lady looks on nervously from the news stand.
This is way over your head. You grab your photos and head towards your train. If you hurry, you can still just make it: Turn to page 5
You decide you need to help the scarlet haired girl… or Agent S if that video had anything to say about it. You walk up to the officers to explain what you were just told: Turn to page 6
You don’t know what to believe, but if any of that was really true, the old lady can confirm it. You grab the photos and quickly walk over to her: Turn to page 7
You didn’t really expect anything to happen. Sure, there was a small part of you that had placed its chips on the weird and unexpected occurring. Turns out that part of you will walk out of the booth rich, because the photo selection screen before you flickers and lights up with a video. On the screen is a man sitting behind a desk. You take in a few details before he starts talking, such as his steeled expression, his expensive attire and the text across the screen that reads ‘MI8 secure connection’.
“Agent W, glad you could make it after that nasty business in Motherwell. Poor place will take years to recover.” The man talks with a formal but friendly voice. “But never mind that now, there’s a new assignment come up which I’m classifying as Priority A1 Alpha! We have just discovered that a terror organisation has released an airborne pathogen at multiple locations across Glasgow and many other cities all across the country. You’re one of the few agents we have in this area currently, so you need to protect the city from the effects of this attack!”
You look at the screen in utter disbelief, unable to speak for your surprise. Instead, you just hopelessly watch as the man continues his monologue.
“I know you have questions, but there is very little time. The pathogen acts by first shutting down all of a victims brain functions, rendering them in a near lifeless state. When this makes them become weak, a secondary virus within the pathogen will take hold of them. Our analysts warn us that this could make every infected person lethally aggressive and mindlessly violent. While the primary infecting will slow them down at first, we only expect this to last a short while before the population becomes ravenous monsters. By this time you will need to have delivered the antivirus or it will be too late.
“The only antivirus we have in your area is currently with agent L.” A picture of the old lady with the exposed cash appeared on screen. You blink several times. “It is disguised, laced through several bank notes she is carrying. Upon reaching the bunker at Glasgow Cross you must give it to our boffins there. They can quickly replicate it and then it is imperative that you spread it around the city by the most efficient means available.” A picture of the scarlet haired girl you saw steal the old ladies money then appeared on the screen. “Agent S has already been briefed, it’s possible she has already picked up the payload. You’re to work with her if you can…
“Oh, Agent W, there is likely a few hours before the pathogen takes any effect, so you are to not to raise public panic unless the mission success hangs in the balance! And stay inconspicuous! We haven’t identified the criminals behind this act of terror yet, and until we do we must assume they have the upper hand. They may already be tracking you.
“The fate of many depend on you Agent W, but since when is that different from any other mission, eh?” The man smiles for the first time, but you can plainly see it is a nervous, oh so nervous smile. “Good luck.” He finishes. The screen flickers to darkness and four sudden flashes of light blind you momentarily.
You find that you’ve suddenly started breathing heavily. You think that this must be some kind of joke, some kind of mistake, but when you peer out of the booth for a moment, you see the same crowd you did just moments before but you really see them. The ones waiting in boredom… They looked like they were the walking dead. The ones with smiles didn’t seem all there… There were people going from place to place, but they were clumsy, aimless; more so than usual anyway. You step out of the photo booth and look to the photo printout. You see four Polaroid’s of your surprised face stare at you.
You hear commotion in the station hall behind you. Across the way, you see two police officers escort the scarlet haired girl across the floor. A police car with flashing lights pulls up outside the station and more officers enter to restrain the girl. She’s shouting, screaming even. You can’t make it out fully, but you do hear the words “mistake” and “virus” amongst the cries. The old lady looks on nervously from the news stand.
This is way over your head. You grab your photos and head towards your train. If you hurry, you can still just make it: Turn to page 5
You decide you need to help the scarlet haired girl… or Agent S if that video had anything to say about it. You walk up to the officers to explain what you were just told: Turn to page 6
You don’t know what to believe, but if any of that was really true, the old lady can confirm it. You grab the photos and quickly walk over to her: Turn to page 7