The safe house backroom settles into a dim hush, all paper dust, old wood, and one buzzing lamp. The Hooded Woman lowers her hood at last, her face catching the light in pieces. Sally recognizes her from a broken flash of white tile, a metal tray, and a child-sized crying room she cannot fully place.
Sally
I know her. I have seen her before.
The Hooded Woman
They kept us moving because it was cheaper than caring where we broke.
The Hooded Woman
Some of us were useful. Some of us were lost on purpose. The pipeline did not just make power, it burned people into shapes the Department could file away.
Devlan stays near the door, quiet for once, while Amilia folds her hands around a mug and listens like every word matters. The room feels smaller with the hood gone, but also more honest.
The Hooded Woman
I remember your face, Sally. Not all of it, just enough to know you were never supposed to walk out.
The silence after that is gentle instead of empty. Rain taps softly at the window, and for a moment nobody reaches for a weapon or a file. They just sit with what the Department took, and what still remains.
“I ask how she knew my name? Are we related?”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -2)
Sally
How do you know my name? Are we related?
The Hooded Woman
Not by blood. By the room they put us in. I heard them say Sally before I ever saw you clearly.
The Hooded Woman
I was in the next intake block when they brought you through. We were both property to them, just in different folders.
She looks down at the table, then back at Sally, and the certainty in her face makes the air feel colder.
The Hooded Woman
No, we are not family. But I know what they took from you because I watched them take it from me first.
Devlan Mitchel
That is enough to explain a lot. Not everything, but a lot.
Amilia Jacobs
And it changes the shape of your testimony. If she witnessed intake, that matters.
The Hooded Woman slides one sealed scan packet from The Rose closer to Sally, the corner brushing dust across the tabletop as the quiet holds.
“Do you have super powers like I do as well?”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -2)
Sally
Do you have powers like mine?
The question lands softly, but it pulls the room tight. The Hooded Woman studies Sally for a beat before answering, one hand flattening the sealed scans as if to steady herself.
The Hooded Woman
Yes. Not the same as yours, but enough to matter. They called it intake conditioning, then power expression, then whatever made the file look cleaner.
The Hooded Woman
I could feel the lights before they failed, and I can still sense old systems if I stand close enough. It was useful. It was also the first thing they tried to own.
Amilia’s pen stills over her notes. Devlan shifts at the door, saying nothing, while the lamp throws a hard line across the table and the packet between them.
The Hooded Woman
I should not say all of this. But she deserves the truth.
The Hooded Woman
I am not here to compete with you, Sally. I am here because I remember the corridor they took us through, and I remember who signed the paper.
As she slides the scans fully toward Sally, a corner of the paper catches on the table and tears a thin strip free. The alliance feels real now, but the woman’s stare stays guarded, like she expects the room to keep listening.
“I ask who signed the paper”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled +1)
Sally
Who signed the paper?
The Hooded Woman does not answer at once. Her gaze drops to the torn strip on the table, then lifts to Sally with a look that has worn that question before.
The Hooded Woman
Doctor Vladimir Polpovich signed it. His name was on the intake authority, and his hand was on the first transfer order.
The Hooded Woman
I saw the signature before they buried the copy. I never forgot it.
Amilia looks up sharply, pen hovering. Devlan goes still by the door, his attention narrowing on the name like it has weight.
The Hooded Woman
He was not a rumor. He was there, in the room, deciding what we became.
The sealed scans rest under Sally's hand now, the torn edge visible beside her fingers. The room holds quiet, but the answer changes the air in it.
“We need to go find Dr polpovich you guys. Amilia, I know you aren't a hero anymore. But would you join us anyways?”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled -1)
Sally
We need to find Doctor Polpovich. Amilia, I know you are not a hero anymore, but will you come with us?
Amilia Jacobs
Yes. I am in. If he touched your life this deeply, then I want him on the record, and I want him in a room where he cannot hide.
The Hooded Woman
Polpovich always hid behind paperwork. That is how they made monsters look orderly.
Devlan Mitchel
Then we do this carefully. No wandering in blind, no giving them time to move him again.
Amilia Jacobs
I am done pretending the paper trail is the whole fight. If Polpovich is real, we put him under oath or expose him ourselves.
The Hooded Woman
I will help too. I know the kinds of doors he uses, and the kind of people he leaves behind.
The backroom loosens around the table, not with safety, but with purpose. Sally's question lands, and the answer turns the search into a shared path.
“I ask the Hooded Woman how Polpovich hides”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled +2)
Sally
How does he hide so well?
The Hooded Woman
He hides in plain records, shell offices, and people who never see the whole job. If a door gets watched, he uses the hallway. If a name gets burned, he keeps the file in motion.
The Hooded Woman
Polpovich likes layers, transfer orders, interim custodians, dead phone lines that still ring. He never stays where the paper says he is.
Amilia Jacobs
So we chase the paperwork that chases him.
Devlan Mitchel
That fits the pattern. If he is moving through lawyers, handlers, and front desks, then the first real mistake will be one of his people.
The Hooded Woman
Exactly. The man is real, but the trail is built to look empty. That is how he stays hidden.
The Hooded Woman
If we pull the right thread, the whole disguise comes loose.
“I ask the hooded women what her name is.”
SUCCESS (Superb Persuasion, rolled +3)
Sally
What do I call you?
The Hooded Woman
Mara. That is the name I kept when the rest of me got filed away.
The Hooded Woman
She gives a small, tired nod toward the scans, as if trusting Sally with the name costs less than hiding it.
Amilia looks up from her notes and writes the name down without ceremony. Devlan eases one shoulder off the doorframe, still watchful, but less like a guard and more like a witness.
Mara Keene
Polpovich used names like masks. If we are hunting him, we should keep the real ones close.
She slides the torn scan strip a few inches nearer to Sally, revealing a second stamped code beneath the fold, the kind that would matter in an archive or a courthouse.
Amilia Jacobs
Good. Then we have a person, a paper trail, and a place to start.
“Does Mara know where Polpovich is hiding?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 63)
Mara Keene
I know the location, but it is a dead zone. He is hiding in a facility that is not on any map, and the only way to reach it is through a transit line that is currently being purged by the cleanup teams.
Sally
She knows where he is, but the path is already compromised.
“Is Polpovich reachable before the cleanup teams?”
NO, AND WORSE (Unlikely, rolled 90)
The floorboards of the safe house groan as a heavy, rhythmic thudding echoes from the hallway, signaling that the cleanup team has already breached the perimeter.
Mara Keene
They are not just purging the line, Sally. They are burning the entire block to ensure nothing leaves this room alive.
Sally
The exit is gone, and they are already inside.