Sally hits the county annex hallway at full stride as the gray coat vanishes around a corner. Fluorescent lights buzz over banks of filing cabinets, and a shredder rattles from a back office ahead.
The Rose
Go, Sally. I’ll hold the corridor.
A security checkpoint snaps awake, red lenses tracking her. Mara slides in beside it, one hand raised, ready to jam the sensors before they lock the whole hall.
Mara Keene
Those gates are on a cleanup loop. If they seal, the file vanishes with the contact.
Sally
The signal is coming from the back office.
Sally spots the gray coat at the far end, one arm full of folders. He glances back once, panicked, then lunges for a side door marked records.
Mark V
That runner is wiping the trail right now. If he gets behind that door, we lose the chain.
The alarm begins to howl. The annex is no longer just a lead, it is the place where Sally’s missing history is being erased in real time.
✓ Quest Accepted
Stop the file from being destroyed
“I use my super speed again to sprint past the security checkpoint to intercept the runner before he hits the door. I yell, "I think I'm getting use to this!"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Sally blurs past the checkpoint while red lenses sweep empty air. She reaches the gray coat at the records door, shoulder-first, and slams him off balance before he can vanish inside.
Sally
I think I am getting used to this!
The Rose
Nice work, Sally. Keep him off that door.
The runner staggers into the cabinet bank, folders spilling across the tile. The shredder in the back office keeps chewing, its whine growing louder through the open doorway.
Mara Keene
There, stop him now, or the trail is gone.
Mark V
The routing mark matches the purge loop. He is on the last pass.
One folder skids to Sally's feet, stamped with the same buried transfer mark she saw before. Behind the runner, the shredder spits out a strip of white paper.
“I use my speed to grab the folder by my feet and reach the shredder”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Sally snaps low and blurs across the tile, one hand scooping the fallen folder as the other catches the gray-coated contact by the sleeve. Momentum drags her straight through the open back-office doorway.
Sally
The shredder is right there.
She reaches the machine in a breath, folder in hand, and jams it against the feed slot before the white strip can vanish. Paper shudders, catches, and stops.
Mark V
Good, hold it there. That folder is still alive.
The Rose
Nice. Do not let go of it.
The alarm keeps howling over the back office. The gray coat twists against Sally's grip, eyes locked on the stalled shredder and the torn pages under her hand.
Mara Keene
Sally, pull the tray. If it grabs again, we lose the rest.
+ New Item Acquired
Folder
“I pull the shredder tray”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled -2)
Sally yanks the shredder tray free. The stalled rollers cough, then spit a jam of torn white strips into her hands instead of chewing them down.
The gray-coated contact jerks hard against her grip, but the machine is dead now, its hungry sound replaced by the alarm and the hiss of a strained belt.
Mark V
That is it, the feed is blocked. Grab everything that is left.
The Rose
Good. Now get the pages out before it starts again.
A sharp edge nicks Sally’s palm as the tray comes free, and red light washes over the scattered papers in the hall.
Mara Keene
Sally, look, there is a stack in the tray pocket. That is the rest of it.
Inside the tray, a folded page shows the same Soviet routing mark from before. The contact goes still, staring at it as the shredder gives one last useless shudder.
Quest Complete
Reach the cleanup office before they erase the file
New Gift: Data Decryption
Quest Complete
Stop the file from being destroyed
New Gift: Digital Forensics