Working for the Man

 

April 16 1999

The members of Cell 'I' have received cryptic and strange notes at their workplaces summoning them to the Green Bar at Club Apocalypse. Months ago, they struck a bargain with The Network in exchange for information that proved crucial in their raid against The Skoptsi. 

They arrive. They spot a number of weird figures. Members of Taras Dzubenko's crew are getting fucked up doing vodka shots in the main bar. They get a few glares and odd looks. They notice a group of three men dressed in suits and wide-brimmed hats. They have an east-asian look to them, but their eyes are a strange, dullish yellow, and their skin is an odd sepia or grey. They are received by a member of The Network, an unkempt man decked in army surplus clothes, on one hand the leviathan cross, on the other, the star of David. 

They are taken to the Green bar and given refreshments before meeting with Belial, who gives them their first task: Conduct a brief surveillance operation against former U.S Army Sergeant Tom Murphy, now the propietor of Minuteman Guns & Ammunition LLC. and Minuteman Press and Agent Monty of M-Cell. They're told to spy on Monty at his cabin in upstate New York, then to relocate to the town of Monument, Montana to continue surveillance for three days while Monty and his cell conduct an operation in the area. They are given surveillance equipment and sent on their way. 

On the way out of Club Apocalypse, Irena is stopped by one of the Men in Black. The men stares unnervingly at Irena before "Hallelujah, a good luck charm" before producing a metal paperclip and placing it in Irena's breast pocket before leaving. Confused and thoroughly freaked out, I-Cell leave swiftly. 

April 17

At the cabin south of Albany, Cell I spies on Monty, a gulf war veteran suffering from a severe but unknown skin condition that has left him with (what appear to be) port wine stains on the right side of his neck, jaw, and right cheek, as well as another blotch on his left temple. Cell 'I' spies him loading up a bronco full of supplies - primarily weapons - before he leaves. They cautiously enter his cabin and find the place thoroughly booby-trapped. They find his collection of firearms magazines, including archival copies of Sic Semper Tyrannis, the magazine published by Monty's own publishing company, Minuteman Press. A thorough examination of these archives, including archived mail sent to Monty by his subscribers, helps piece together the true purpose of Sic Semper Tyrannis - information and disinformation. Monty's subscribers frequently send him mail on UFO activity and other strangeness. Things that are obviously "bullshit" are published, occasionally with even futrther embellishments. But reports that strike Monty has bearing water are copied and forwaded to A-Cell. "bullshit" stories are sometimes even published with subtle allusions to Delta Green activity, so that anyone reading the magazine hoping to catch Delta Green agents are sent on long-winded wild goose chases. 

After searching through his cabin, they decsend into his fallout shelter-style basement and find where he sleeps as well as his greenbox. They locate a cork board detailing M-Cell's activities since around 1996, primarily focusing on their operations taken against Majestic-12 and the Dorian Grey Society. Imogen taking thorough notes of what she sees. 

The agents eventually leave the cabin and take a flight to Billings and then make their way to Monument, Montana, booking rooms at the local 'Cheyenne Inn', contriving a legend that the three are gambling addicts who've struck rock bottom in the indian casinos and are waiting for one of their uncles to send them some money. 

April 18-21

Once Monty and the rest of M-Cell, two FBI agents, one man and one woman, arrive, they make begin their surveillance. All is relatively normal, M-Cell taking the time with brief excursions into the wilderness, getting the lay of the land and prepping themselves. I-Cell's operation encounters immediate complications. 

It becomes obvious within the first day of the surveillance operation that someone has I-Cell's zeroed in. Their relative inexperience and demeanor indicate they aren't NRO DELTA - they likely aren't even Delta Green. Imogen hypothesizes that they could potentially be sent by the Bratva, or even by the Skoptsi, who may have bought information on their whereabouts from The Fate. They file an anonymous report to the local sherriff's office alleging their stalker of being a drug dealer, which gets him put away and his vehicle impounded for about a day. 

On the third and final day of their surveillance mission, they take action. They arm themselves and enter the house where he had been lodging, finding him seemingly unawares. Their stalker goes for a gun, the agents shoot first, and he is killed. In the kitchen, they find that most of the major appliances have been unplugged, in lieu of a single massive power cable snaking into the basement. The agents follow it and come upon something strange. 

A hulking machine, the only indication of its function being a keyboard and a massive screen. As the agents enter the room, the sounds of data crunching is heard from within it. It displays three messages to the agents. 

BETHELL, MARYLAND, THE VOICES OF THE FUTURE DAMNED ECHOING INTO THE PAST

STANTON, WASHINGTON, THE VORTEX, THE PATTERN. 

And lastly. 

THE AFFLICTION OF ONE GRAHAM TELFORD BEAUFORT AND THE INTERRUPTIONS, NOW AND BEFORE.

Before the agents have time to ponder these messages, the sizzle of arcing electricity is heard, and bolts of power surge criss-crossing the basement. The screen flashes, Imogen and Isaac losing their footing and their conscioussness. Irena, however. 

Irena feels something different, vertigo. The unshakeable sensation of plummeting despite not moving. Suddenly, she looks around and is not in the basement in Montana. But elsewhere. 

 An enourmous city, seeming at times to really be a singular structure hewn seamlessly from great slabs of basalt, stretches across a fertile valley. The heat and the brilliant green fauna bring the heart of the Congo to mind. In the distance, great and strange things, like crustacean-like creatures that slither along like slugs in the distance, with strange pincers and twin heads mounted atop huge, muscled stalks. 

Before Irena can move, the feeling returns. She feels herself plummeting through an infinite blackness, before coming to rest. 

She is in a room, a black room, the walls only indicated by the occasional flicker of strange, sickly green lights. Voices in something resembling Chinese to her untrained ears hiss to each other in the dark. A man steps foward, lithe and grey-skinned, he contemplates Irena for a moment. 

"I imagine this is all very confusing for you now, madame."

"Yes."

"I trust that in time all will become more or less apparent. You are here to affect a change. We are here to....curate it to our special desires."

Through the walls, she can hear shouting, laughter, the sound of rain. 

"You have found yourself in an unenviable position, but an important one, one you will someday come to recognize as an honor. You find yourself in the crossfire of a struggle you couldn't possibly intuit the mechanics of....No, not a struggle, not a war. An Angling. Follow your intuition, all will be well. This is for our kind. Be well now, Madame. I believe you are...is this true...? aboard the plane? yes. That's right"

Like that, all three agents awaken onboard a private jet. Small and parked on the runway at Le Guardia airport in New York. The plane is totally empty and silent, a limo idles on the tarmac nearby. They exit and enter the limo and are greeted by Belial and another man who introduced himself as Stephen Alzis. They forfeit their surveillance materials to Belial at Club Apocalypse and are "compensated for their time" by Alzis with a wad of 1,500$ cash. 

As they exit Club Apocalypse, closed during the day. They look to each other in bafflement of what they were just through, and come to an agreement. 

we never speak of this.