Report: Bleeding Darkness Part Two

 Part Two: "The Body and the Blood"

3:00 PM, March 10th, 1999. 

Agents Irena, Indigo, and Imogen return to their safehouse in Queens with the mysterious briefcase that Indigo had snatched from the adept following Dr. Monpierre. On the way there, they buy plastic tarps, jumpsuits, duct tape, and a crowbar. They haul the heavy briefcase to an empty room and prepare to open it.

A chamber covered in plastic tarp is thrown together, and Irena volunteers herself to attempting to pry open the briefcase with the crowbar. She is successful at doing this, though ends up splashing its contents across the room, getting some on her skin. 

The briefcase contains a viscous, black substance that stains everything it touches like ink, it is thick, heavy, warm, and absolutely foul-smelling. Also in the briefcase is a plastic bag with clothes and various small weapons: a hatchet, a hammer, a steak knife, a meat tenderizer, a garrote wire, and set of brass knuckles. In the centre of the case, a strangely shaped chunk of uncut brimstone. 

Irena leaves to furiously scrub away the foulness off her skin. Relieved to find that at the very least, it appears none of it got into her mouth or any membranes. Isaac moves to collect the brimstone chunk and deposites it into a plastic bag, noticing it twitch when he touches it, and more of the foul inky black liquid leaking from seams in the stone. Finding little of use in the case, they begin collecting the case, its contents, and the tarps into trash bags to be disposed of. Their cleaning is briefly interrupted when Isaac notices some of the ink leaking from the brimstone congeal and form into two human fingers that grope uselessly against the plastic bag.

No sooner that this happens, Nancy arrives. She inspects the bags and Irena and recommends wrapping the bags in extra plastic bags and depositing them into the deep freezer on the ground floor of the safe house and using a ratchet strap to seal it shut. She then recommends they go to see Dr. Wu at the American Museum of Natural History. 

4:00 PM

Dr. Wu is cordial, but admits that he knows little. He relays to the agents that it sounds like they've stolen a special "implement" peddled on occasion by The Network out of Club Apocalypse called "Thralls". He explains that they are amorphous, plasticky sapient beings that are used by Sorcerers as guard dogs and assassins, and, most disturbingly, that he has heard rumours that they are actually liquefied human beings. He doesn't know what getting the liquid form of them on you does, but recommends Irena to be vigilant of her health. He promises to review his library for anything similar to what's being described, but recommends Nancy review 'The Dreams of the Changeling' a book already in A-Cell's custody, and that they see about requisitioning 'The Dust of the Thresholds', as conventional weaponry seems inadequate at dealing with Thralls. He rounds off their meeting by relaying to the agents that he does not know the person or persons who create the Thralls, but that he's heard of them being referred to by members and customers of The Network as "Leviathan".

6:00 PM

I-Cell returns to their safehouse in Queens to begin drafting their requisition to A-Cell before going to visit Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church, as Isaac recalls that Father Casimir had visited there to speak with "an old friend" not long before he died. They arrive at the church and are drawn to photographs near the entrance. One is from Christmas, 1988. Father Casimir Szary is photographed alongside Mayor Ed Koch and Father Peter Rozsavolgyi, according to the label on the photo. Another photo includes Father Peter Rozsavolgyi and Gustav Yohn, who Irena and Isaac recognize as the balding priest they encountered that morning at Our Lady of Częstochowa - St. Casimir Parish, Father Gus, though in the photo he is only a deacon. 

Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church

Not long after they spy the photo do they encounter Father Gus. Father Gus is cordial and expresses his pity and sympathy at Father Szary's passing, offering abundant praise and kind words. He claims that Father Szary had come to see him the night before he passed, claiming the priest was in despair. Irena suspects this to be a falsehood, and likewise notes that when pressed on what exactly Father Szary had asked Father Gus, Gus is avoidant of the question. Not long after, two other priests, Father Kenneth and Father Warren, enter and are introduced to the agents (who are posing as reporters). Irena notes the black briefcase Warren carries with him, and that after placing it against one of the pews, he rolls his shoulder and stretches. The briefcase is heavy. They offer kind words before parting and returning to their safe house. 

Father Gustav Yohn

Irena expresses her suspicion, which is reciprocated by the others. Indigo advocates for turning thier surveillance to the priests, and the cell returns to the safe house to recuperate and arm themselves as they prepare for their surveillance op. As a few on the groud floor are collecting their things, they hear a voice. 

A soft weeping echoes from inside the strapped-shut freezer. A whisper from inside, through tears, speaks:

"This is hell. I'm in hell."