Richard adjusted his coat and skullcap before rising to join his comrades. He merged with the other agents near the middle of the group with his coat drawn tightly around himself. He stuck close to the stronger members of the group, knowing full well if shit went down that he would be safest near them. It wasn't long before everyone started their introductions and the assistant director spoke up in his ear.

Don’t preach to me ‘bout procedure. Don’t think yer all high and mighty ‘cuz yer old as shit. We ain’t got no authorization to take in any humans, and you ain’t gettin’ it without a report statin’ why. That’s not even yer lane. That’s Bugs’ @ShaggyDoo0 lane.

"That actually would be a good idea, lets try to take one if we can't bring the old man in."

Not long after they made it to the front of the aisle, everything hit the fan. Richard immediately moved to the center of the group and reached into his coat grabbing his tazer and pepper spray.

"Try not to kill them! Get me a specimen or a cadaver and we could maybe find a cure! It could also help us find a weakness to others like the preacher if there are more."

As he spoke he followed Buck to try amd get to safety.

Paranormal. Research. Investigation. Eradication. Syndicate.



St. Anthony’s Church of the Holy Flame: Friday, Dec. 14, 2016 - 8:02 P.M.



As the church erupted into the kind of chaos one would expect from some freaky Lovecraftian horror, the pastor calmly watched them. Like his followers, he too began to transform. His skin became brighter until it emitted an eerie glow. His arms lengthened, becoming long and bony and his legs became thin and stalky. The round the vampire @Wraithblade6 had fired in his direction would spark and wink out of existence against a strange milky-white barrier that flickered briefly into visible sight before disappearing. The pastor looked over at him, still wearing a smile that was becoming thinner as his lips and brows faded on his face. His blonde hair fell away, tumbling like hay down his shoulders, and his eyes sank into a pool of black.



The church began to crack. The floorboards snapped and came loose, revealing another floor that was of an unusual black metal. Beams of light shot upwards through the floorboards and the floor beneath the pastor started to sink.

“It is a shame,” he spoke without moving his lips from its pleasant smile. His voice seemed to project from his very being as he crossed his stick-like arms over his chest and embraced himself. “I could have saved this world from itself. I could have given you all salvation.”

Bill was watching through the eyes of the various agents still in the building.

Well shit, he’s an alien, and he just escaped into a ship that’s beneath the god damn floor. WHAT ARE Y’ALL STILL DOIN’ IN THERE? GET THE HELL OUT BEFORE YOU DIE!

The alien ship was starting to rise out of the ground on thrusters. The pillars and rafters started to crack, crumble and tumble down. The ship was going to take off into the sky.

Bill’s voice specifically went to Aradia’s @Witch Cat ears as he ordered, If yer ass makes it out alive, I’m gonna need you to cast a spell to make anyone who might be watchin’ this science fiction flick forget what they saw!.....and I wanna see you in my office after this.

---

Brood: 105 Less

Group Goals:

Escape without making matters worse.

Escape or die.

Wipe the minds of any bystanders.

Extra Goals (Optional):

Procure a cadaver for research.

Foreshadow: This won't be the last time you see the pastor.

@redbaron1234@jumpadraw@Queentze@shagranoz@ShaggyDoo0

The shit had officially hit the fan. Seph pushed her shock at the sight of the pastor's true form aside. It was time to beat feet... metaphorically speaking.

The gorgon slithered for her life towards the open door. Her pistol was out of rounds, and she didn't have the time to reload. Boss, this one might be tough to wipe. I mean, how the hell are we going to blank the entire city? Cause that's who's going to see it.

Buck pushed towards the exit, the roar of the thrusters drowning out the sounds of fighting. He grabbed a metal candlestick, cracking open an attacker's skull. Seeing that Richard had joined him, he wryly noted "Getting a cadaver means killing, Rick."
Buck readied himself. He rushed forward, gun in one hand and bludgeon in the other. Focused on getting to the exit, he switched between bullets and bashing, steadily clearing a way through the crowd. Even as he closed the distance to the exit, he made sure that Richard wasn't mobbed. Realizing that he wasn't going to hold out alone forever, he shouted "Come help me, it's time to get out!"

Richard used his tazer to keep the mob off him but he can only shock one person at a time. "Thats why I said to try and not kill them. A living specimen would be best but a cadaver will work just as well!" he shouted over the roar of the spacecraft starting up. He realized that it was useless to hide himself now so he threw off his cap and coat to give him better vision and more limbs to help keep his attackers at bay. Each spider leg kicked out at his attackers with enough strength to knock them back. Each leg is strong enough to hold his weight when hanging upside down, so those kicks did more than tickle. He tried his best to stay close to Buck, he may be useless ina firefight, but against normal humans he can at least hold his own against a few at a time.

Aliens!? Agent Harrison's mouth fell agape as his concentration broke. Even as a medium, this had been the farthest thing from his mind. Still, he had little time to think of anything at the moment. Without a second glance towards the pastor or his teammates, Harrison ran towards the exit, pushing and shoving his way through the crowd of brainwashed men and women. As he did, he blocked the pain and panic that shot through his mind, the pain and panic of those around him. His body began to shake slightly with the effort, and he became conscious of cold sweat pouring down his forehead, but this wasn't the first time he had been in a situation like this. Had he let this sort of stuff get to him, he would of died years ago.

Harrison wasn't sure how he managed to reach the other side of the room, but in a manner of seconds, he was there, scratched and bleeding, but alive. Resisting the urge to turn and help others escape, he ran through the door.

The building was fucking falling.

Mithias looked up to see the facade of the pastor fall away and the heard the alien's departing speech as he folded his arms behind some kind of forcefield. He saw the ceiling give way above him as the far wall slanted threateningly forward into its collapse, its support beams refusing to break. The chain of events were like dominoes tipping one into another to the hyped senses of a vampire surrounded by blood.

The cam feed would be a brief blur followed by the suddenly startled sight of the other agents faces as Mithias appeared covered in blood in front of them outside in the streets. The cacophony of the church's collapse thundered behind Mithias before he finally turned around and gazed up at the alien vessel taking off.

Mithias' camera looked down at his own semi-clawed white and bloody hands before turning back toward the others.

"Director..."

Everyone seemed to be ok.

Mithias added with annoyance. "I lost my gun."

Aradia let go of her teammates, dodging past attacking things. Could they even be called human at this point? Aradia saved that discussion for another time as she busted through the doors, escaping into the night air. The chill wind made the sweat on her forehead prickle her skin as she frantically looked around while she shouted into the church at her group. ”Get out now!”

She stopped for a moment, throat raw and breathing heavily as she looked around, thankfully seeing no one. Yet. The rising commotion was bound to attract people, and she possibly missed a few people. Aradia’s vision was clogged by sweat as she placed a finger to her ear, hysterically shouted into her mic, ”What’s happening? What was that?”

As Seph made her way out of the collapsing church, she saw that her teammates were safe as well. ET seemed to have gone home, and good riddance to him. The gorgon looked around at her compatriots.

"Well, that could have gone better. Main thing is, though, we're all safe."

When Mathias mentioned his missing firearm, Seph groaned. "All that, and the first thing you're worried about is a missing gun? How about the fact that we almost got ourselves killed in there, or the fact that he got away with mindslaving over a hundred people? No, you're heading straight to your service piece. Ugh."

The demonic glow faded from the vampire's eyes and his speaking gradually made him return to looking more like an ally than a renegade supernatural that needed to be put down. He checked the swan broach on his suit briefly, not otherwise concerned with the condition of his garb. He answered Seph, "The weapon will be found in the wreckage, along with many mutilated bodies and several with well-placed bullets inside them. Evidence of the alien ship or the parasitic plague may be inconclusive, especially if any of the affected managed to escape and contact the media with their own version of the story. Even now, they would appear to us as normal humans. We have no means of tracking them. The cavern beneath the church might be played as a sinkhole, or the result of a bomb that had been brought in by some madman... with a gun... which was registered ambiguously as property of Paranormal Research Investigation and Eradication Syndicate... which Director Hadley will report as stolen... which will raise questions of why he had not reported it stolen sooner, or why any agent of his would have been there, botched a mission, or betrayed the Syndicate, branding our kind again with a bad name... As you can see, poor Bill will be inundated in red tape and legal pressure by the large percentage of the human population which are convinced we are part of the problem and want to see us all eradicated."

Mithias didn't look at Seph as he spoke, instead continuing to passive-aggressively stare at the pathetic pile of rubble that had been a church and slamming the whole team with a sudden silence that was vengeful and somber.

The verbal lashing lingered for a moment as no one really knew how to respond. Finally, Mithias began walking back to the scene. "I'll retrieve a body."

Michael Viscardi

Micheal saw the church falling apart, and made for the exit behind the others. He looked back as the alien ship rose form the ground and felt like he should not be surprised at anything this world spits out at him but none the less his eyes still got big. After making it out side he looked back at the crumbled building and whipped the sweat from his brow. His team made it out okay and that was fine, considering the mission went to shit an no one died it seemed like a good day.

When he heard Mithias talk about his lost weapon and Seph complaining about it he decided to go with him to get a cadaver.

"Aye I'll come with you." he said with a smile and followed the older vampire in.

Buck Baker and Richard Arachnidae

---

Buck felt some relief as he saw the rest of the team run by and out the door. "No, no, I'm sure Rick and I can handle ourselves..." he mumbled. Picking up his voice he shouted to the remaining agents, "Okay guys, last call to get out!" With a crack he beat an attacker over the head with the candlestick, finally bending the bludgeon into uselessness. The former human fell to the floor squirming. "Rick, you think you can cover me while I drag a 'subject' outta here for you?

Richard rushed over to Buck's side "Buck, you keep pulling, I'll do my best to keep them off of you. Lets hurry!" He had to nearly shout over the roar of the ship.

Buck nodded and grabbed the downed attacker by the collar. This had been a man, if the suit was anything to go by. "Let's just focus on getting out of here first. Dragging the dazed attacker as quickly as he could with both hands, he made his way to the door before tossing the possessed human out the door like a sack of potatoes. "Watch this for me, would ya?" he asked the rest of the team. He turned back to fire back into the crowd and shouted at Rick to get out.

Richard did his best to keep the rest of the afflicted off of Buck, he took a few scrapes and gashes himself doing so. As he reached the exit, Buck shouted at him to leave. Richard turned to make a snarky comment and lost his footing, falling at the group's feet and barely managing to catch himself with his legs. Since he was already near the ground he crawled over to their captive and proceeded to tie him up. It took a bit of fighting and a good bit of pulling out webbing from the back of his throat. After a minute he was able to tie up his soon to be experiment and he stood up feeling drained.

Paranormal. Research. Investigation. Eradication. Syndicate.

COMPLETE!

Bill was ready to rip his hair out as each operative took their sweet time to leave the church as though it wasn’t about to all go up in the air. Some were even confused with how to go about getting a cadaver for the doc. With a palm against his forehead, he continued to watch the feed as he imagined the Benny Hill theme playing in the background.

They all managed to escape but as the church crumpled around a massive flying saucer, every vein in Bill’s cranium could have burst from how much of a headache he was getting. Concrete, glass, and wood tumbled from the ship in the loudest ruckus before in a blast of alien technology, it warped off into space at a speed that human science couldn’t match nor comprehend. It made a loud sucking noise as it shrank into the cosmos before the sound barrier roared as though a cloudless thunderstorm had shook the entire city. Who knows how many people had watched and recorded the incident despite the ship having appeared for barely a minute?

Bill bowed his head and closed his eyes. Whining, arguing, and ridiculous speculations followed, which was how he knew everyone had survived. The vampire liked to pretend to be a complete know-it-all and Bill was too exasperated to tell him that despite being in the agency for longer than he had been, he apparently didn’t know shit about how it worked.

“Everyone get yer asses back here. I’m gonna send a cleanin’ crew. As for who saw what, we’re gonna have to wait until tomorrow or who knows, it might be up on the Utube in a few minutes,” Bill ordered. “I want all yer asses in my office. Every single one of you…not the dead guy (the cadaver). In fact, put the dead guy where it belongs, and then come see me.”

He had to be specific because he didn’t take risks with non-human agents now days. He wouldn’t put it pass them to bring the cadaver to his office.

Later that day, a cool rush of air announced the vampire's entry into Bill's office. The sun was bright even through the windows, which was the likely excuse for wearing dark shades indoors. His long black hair hung loosely down his back like some kind of a rockstar, and he had on a fresh new suit, black this time. Mithias had the face of a young and innocent 22 year old, only blemished by that unnatural tone of white and stern jawline. Of course, he was anything but.

Mithias entered the office and glanced around. He wasn't smiling, and he wasn't going to say anything. Nothing needed to be said. The scent of tobacco was thick, as was the scent of warm, masculine blood... and coffee. Definitely coffee. The vampire looked Bill over from behind his shades and bore the disapproving glare of the director with no reaction, like he always did. A stack of Time Magazines suddenly became interesting, and Mithias picked up the top copy.

The trip back to HQ was a quiet one for Aradia. She spent the entire trip back mulling over old memories of allegedly fake UFO sightings. Obviously some were fake stories meant to make some dirt town appear on the map, but then again, there always was that possibility…

She forced the thought out of her mind, even if they were real, it couldn’t be something she couldn’t handle. For now, she thought it be best if she celebrated a bit, even if the boss wasn’t all too happy. Sure Mr Mars Attack did get away, but at least any further infection has been stalled and memories wiped. Some clips might’ve ended up on some crackpot theory website, but with no one remembering their eye witness accounts, Aradia was confident they’d disappear soon.

She gave herself a mental pat on the back as she strode in the dank room that was meant to be an office. Everything looked ancient and reeked of dust, to Aradia anyway. She knocked on the door once she was in, posture loose and confident as she spoke, ”You called, boss?”

As soon as she got inside the building, Seph took off her silver snake charm. On the one hand, looking normal did make life a lot easier, but when she glanced in the mirror, the face she saw wasn't hers. In the office, she could be who and what she truly was, without much fear or judgement.

The gorgon slithered into Bill's office, looking at the floor. They'd made a complete botch of the mission from start to finish, and quite frankly, it was a miracle they weren't burying any of their own. Seph knew that a massive tongue lashing was coming their way; after all, one does not usually get glowing reviews after one fouls up beyond all recognition.

Michael Viscardi
The mission was a complete dud and now the team had to return home so "mom" could scold them. Micheal did not mind, he did not contribute much to the mission so it is what it is. When they got back to base he washed up and changed clothes then followed the others into bills office.

Other team members had all ready gathered in the office, they all seemed to be preparing for the scolding that was imminent. Each and everyone of them had a part to play, whether it was doing to much or close to nothing at all. Now all they had to do was wait for the old man to come and start his rant.

Agent Harrison walked into the Director's office, fighting back a deep sense of dread. The mission had been a complete disaster, probably the biggest wreck he had been involved in since that motorcycle accident five years ago. Harrison wasn't angry at the Director for calling them in. Quite the contrary, a failure as massive as the one they had was deserving of discipline. Still, it wasn't entirely their fault that it had gone that way. Harrison had tried to utilize his skills in the way he saw fit, and while he could've done more, he was comfortable with his choices. He had little time to truly react, and nobody seemed to be expecting a massive UFO to rip apart the church. How could've they? It took everyone so off guard that most didn't seem to actually know what to do. At least it wasn't a complete loss. They got a cadaver (Harrison shuddered at the memory of feeling the person's aura fade) and they had discovered what the Priest truly was. There had been a lot of collateral damage, a lot of chaos and panic, but next time they would (hopefully) be prepared.

As he stepped into the crowded office with the rest of his fellow agents, he looked at the Director head on, not letting any sign of shame or bitterness cloud his expression. Whatever reprimand he would receive, he would do so with respect and understanding, not annoyance or pettiness. The Director, whether he was right or wrong, was the Director, and what he said was always right.

Richard tried his best but it seemed that the distance from the subject and it's master made the subject go into shock and pass on. He took care of the body and stored it in the Syndicate's morgue for an autopsy later. Currently the young spider had more important matters to attend to. He made another stop by his lab before going to Bill's office so he could get the proper paperwork for his experiments on the deceased subject. When he finally made it to the office he realized thay he was the last one there in the now crowded office. He pulled his legs in close and his six eyes darted across the room as he prepared himself for the tongue lashing that was sure to happen. He gripped the clipboard that was holding the forms tightly in his hand.

When the operatives filtered into his office, Bill greeted them with a harsh glare. His grey brows were furrowed over coffee-bean eyes—scalding coffee with his evident temper. He had an open case file open on his desk that he was yanking pages out of and haphazardly tossing them to the side. The papers rocked down to the floor, landing in a pile that began to crumble as though clenched between teeth. The papers shriveled and turned black, bursting into crispy ashes. The work of the fabled fairy dragon Kissy. No one had ever seen it, and some might have said that Kissy had been Bill’s imagination; but seeing papers being incinerated in a corner of their own accord seemed to contest the rumors. When the last operative arrived, “Bugs” of all people, Bill lifted the folder and slapped it closed upon the desk. His eyes closed, the anger that wanted to pour from his mouth and douse the operatives like fire simmered within him. Bill’s nostrils flared as he took a deep inhale before exhaling the breath on a sigh. His rage seemed to deflate a little. Maybe he had calmed down.

Grabbing his coffee, he threw the ceramic mug across the room and before it could smash against the wall, it stopped in mid-air and floated back to his desk. Bill brought the same hand that had thrown the mug to his face and closed his eyes once more as he tried to ease his temper.

All that woo-sah shit don’t work, he thought.

“I was gonna yell at y’all. Suspend a few folks…but I’m not gonna do it,” he confessed. Lowering his hand as he rested his weight upon his forearms. He opened his eyes and looked at each and every agent in his office. “I’m just as responsible as y’all thinkin’ we were dealin’ with the usual boogeyman. No one was expectin’im to be an alien. It could have went a lot smoother. ‘Could have just retreated and kept an eye on’im until we knew what to do, but that’s not how it went. Ain’t that right, Agent Coventry?”

He still managed to put the witch out there for she had pissed him off with her reckless stunt.

“We’re gonna be spendin’ an entire year trynna’ clean up this mess and makin’ it out to be yer typical alien sighting. I’m not too concerned about it becomin’ a national incident because quite frankly humans don’t even believe in themselves majority of the time. We got our cyber unit online prepared to work their nerd magic and we got our cleanup crews on the ground, workin’ their real magic. This brings us to the next part of this exciting field trip…the report.”

“Agent Varomere, since you like to believe yer the most competent son ova’ bitch in this unit, I wanna report on my desk by tomorrow morning documentin’ everything that happened at that church.”

Bill then looked over at the arachnid. “Bugs, I hope you get to work stat. I wanna know what happened to those people and how Pastor Goodfornothin’ was controllin’ them. I don’t mean to say this but…that may not be the last we see ov’im.”

Bill ran a hand back through his salt and pepper hair and then scratched the bristly side of his jaw as he tried to push back some fatigue. The mission had worn him out and he hadn’t even been there. They may not have believed it but he had actually been worried sick.

“I got another situation for y’all. Tomorrow night, Madame Red of House Blood Raven is havin’ a swoi-rey. Yer all to dress yer best cuz’ yer representin’ The Syndicate. Let yer hair down for a while, put a tie on, and mingle. Madame Red has information for us ‘bout a new drug goin’ around that turns punks into monsters. I want y’all to get as much information as y’can ‘bout that. For now though, for the love of God get some sleep. I’m expectin’ our vampires to shine tomorrow, and I don’t mean like Twilight.”

Bill then waved everyone out. “Now get outta here before I start takin’ badges. Agent Conventry stick around.”

@redbaron1234@Witch Cat@Queentze@ShaggyDoo0@shagranoz@jumpadraw@Wraithblade6

GM Note: We're in sandbox mode. You guys can have your characters do whatever you want before they go to bed. The story will move on when everyone is ready to move on.