From: Chief of U.S. Field Operations Gabriel D. Hardwick
To: All UNTIL and UNITY Field Agents
CC: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
CC: Support Operator Serenity Carpenter
Subject: Communications Protocols

It has come to my attention that communications protocols are being ignored with regards to UNTIL Support Operator Lima -- Serenity Carpenter, call sign "Spoiler". A request has been made to remind all field agents that S.O. Lima's call sign is, in fact, "Spoiler", and not "Siri."

I don't know who came up with that nickname for Miss Carpenter, and, to be perfectly frank, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it is negatively affecting morale in the Support Operations department, and Director Medini has made it clear that he wants it to stop. Now.

Gabriel D. Hardwick
CIC, UNITY Field Operations, U.S.

From: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
To: Chief of U.S. Field Operations Gabriel D. Hardwick
Subject: Re: Communications Protocols

Thanks, Gabe. Spoiler's really got a burr under her saddle over this "Siri" thing, and you know how she gets when she's upset. (I'm still getting disciplinary requests about her mass e-mail spoiling the entire second half of 24's second season. The last thing I need is for her to do the same thing with Breaking Bad.)

From: Chief of U.S. Field Operations Gabriel D. Hardwick
To: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
Subject: Re: Re: Communications Protocols

Don't forget, Angelo, we had a deal. I get the boys and girls to stop calling her Siri, you get her to stop calling me General Hardass.

From: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
To: Chief of U.S. Field Operations Gabriel D. Hardwick
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Communications Protocols

I'm working on it.

From: Support Operator Serenity Carpenter
To: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
Subject: You have got to be kidding me

What the hell is this, Angelo? Did Hardass put you up to this?

From: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
To: Support Operator Serenity Carpenter
Subject: Re: You have got to be kidding me

I presume you're upset about your temporary reassignment. You've completed your field training, and are cleared for use of all standard-issue UNTIL equipment. Your field deployment is largely a matter of protocol -- sometimes we need to deploy people who'd rather be pushing a desk around the office.

And, really, don't call him Hardass. You know how he gets.

From: Support Operator Serenity Carpenter
To: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
Subject: Re: Re: You have got to be kidding me

I'll stop calling him Hardass when he stops being such a hardass. You'd think an old ex-Army grunt like him would take it as a compliment!

P.S.: It turns out the terrorists are USMC SpecOps doing a fundraiser. The orders come from either the Joint Chiefs or the Veep -- not sure yet. Let you know next episode.

From: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
To: Support Operator Serenity Carpenter
Subject: Re: Re: Re: You have got to be kidding me

He'd take it as a compliment if you actually meant it as one. I swear, your metahuman talent at reading group dynamics has absolutely crippled you socially, since you never had to learn to read people individually.

That brings me to the real reason you're being deployed. Command is convinced that your effectiveness as a Support Operator and analyst could be nearly tripled if you had a better idea of what field agents actually face when a hot spot flares up.

To clarify your orders, you'll still be acting as a Support Operator, and you'll resume your duties as an analyst. The difference is that you will be acting as a low-level field agent in the Millennium City area, except with the authority to pick and choose your own assignments as a Support Operator.

I shouldn't have to tell you, but I will because I KNOW you, you're going to have to learn how to deal with agents better on a one-to-one basis. Especially with this assignment. A lot of agents thing we have it out for them in Support Operations. You know, the usual complaints. "I never get enough backup." "Why do you keep giving me the weird missions?" and so on. Nevermind that we simply haven't got the manpower anymore to provide the level of backup these agents want. That's why we've cultivated relationships with so many freelancers lately. And, let's face it, ALL our missions are weird ones, when you get down to it.

P.S.: God damn it, Carpenter, what did I tell you about spoiling things like that?!
P.P.S.: How the hell are you able to use your ability on fictional characters anyway?

From: Support Operator/Field Agent Serenity Carpenter
To: Angelo Medini, Director, Support Operations
Subject: Fictional Group Dynamics

I'm not using my power on the characters in the show. I'm reading American culture and filtering what I get from my power through the magic of pop culture awareness. (Translation: My power tells me what trends to watch for, and having watched a whole lot of TV lets me know what cues indicate those trends.)

Also, why do I get all the weird missions?

Two Weeks Prior to Incident: A college prank gone wrong outs a metahuman with electricity-generation powers. Thankfully, no one is hurt. Rumors begin to circulate around campus about a proposed change in MCU policy requiring separate housing for human and metahuman students.

One Week Prior to Incident: Millennium City city councilman J. Ernest Wright proposes a new city ordinance. Called the Safe Haven Act, it would ban the use of metahuman abilities in places it is already illegal to carry a firearm: places liquor is sold or served, public facilities (schools, government buildings, etc.), banks, and hospitals foremost among them. It would also mandate an additional charge for use of metahuman abilities in commission of a crime. The proposal has yet to be voted on.

Day of the Incident:

• Agent Carpenter alerts freelancers in MCU area of a hot spot developing: a metahuman/metahuman-supporter protest of rumored changes to MCU housing requirements. IHA counter-protest is also taking place on site.
• Metahuman freelancers Echo and Ophidia are participating in the protest, as is non-metahuman Anarchy.
• Freelancer Trance is on campus for scholastic reasons.
• Freelancers Quake, Zenithboy, Holdana, and Warpblade respond either to the situation as it develops or to Agent Carpenter's APB.
• Metahuman protesters noted to be more aggressive than normal in their response to the situation, while IHA counter-protesters taking an atypically pacifistic approach.
• Local media arrive on scene.
• Ophidia attempts to befriend one of the protesters, a reptilian metahuman named Max. Proximity to Max allows Ophidia to forestall an attempt by Max to assault counter-protesters with a thrown stone.
• Holdana and Anarchy attempt to reason with protesters in an effort to prevent a riot. They are largely successful.
• Quake, Echo, and Ophidia feel slight muscle fatigue and aching. Simultaneously, Echo and Warpblade become aware of a subsonic hum from the direction of the nearby strip-mall just off campus.

The Ex-Humans assembled in front of MCUFCU.

• Newly-formed (and as-yet unknown) criminal organization known as the Ex-Humans declare intent to wage a domestic terror war against Millennium City in general, and its human populace specifically.
• Protest and counter-protest break up. Zenithboy tracks some of the metahuman protesters from the air, observing that they are discarding items of clothing in a back alley off campus. Zenithboy is called away on other duties before he can alert the others to this development.
• Freelancers trace the subsonic hum to the Millennium City University Federal Credit Union, where the Ex-Humans are in the process of a robbery.
• Quake, Echo, and Ophidia find their metahuman abilities suppressed within the confines of the bank. This does not prevent the team from engaging the criminals.
• The Ex-Humans are handily defeated by the heroes. The last blow struck, a tazer-arrow from Holdana, which strikes Vizor mid-torso, takes the fight out of the group. An ascending whine comes from Vizor's backpack.
• Ex-Human "Ex-Girl" teleports the defeated villains to safety, with the exception of "Honey Badger", who is taken into custody by the heroes.
• An explosion is heard from a few blocks away. Investigation reveals that the source of the explosion was Vizor's backpack, discarded by the villain after his departure. The backpack contains a high-power portable generator and is wired to his namesake visor. The heroes speculate that the Ex-Humans' seemingly metahuman abilities may be technological in origin: specifically, those of Vizor and Ex-Girl.
• MCPD discover an unknown device left behind by the criminals during their escape. Though the device has its own power supply, it is plugged into a power outlet in the credit union.

The Day of the Incident:

• Ophidia attempts to contact Max via Facebook, but she is not listed. Neither does a reptilian metahuman matching her name and description appear on MySpace or on the MCU student registry.
• The robbery is mentioned on both local news and on news-comedy program The Daily Show. No mention is made of the identities of the heroes involved in foiling the crime.

Two Days After the Incident:

• Agent Carpenter is notified by MCPD that the device found at MCUFCU was a Lee-Kirby Field Generator. Googling the term yielded a 60 Minutes article regarding cancer treatment for a tumor rendered inoperable by the patient's metahuman abilities. The article points to Doctors Jacob Lee and Stanley Kirby, stating they have found a theoretical way to suppress metahuman abilities in order to treat the anonymous patient.
• Agent Carpenter is unable to track the two doctors, posts this information on an internet forum frequented by local heroes in the hopes that one of them will fare better.

Fig. 26012013-merid-1-a: Satellite image of Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico, with approximate location of ziggurat circled in red.

1/20-1/22/2013, Mérida, Yucatan: Mysterious ziggurat appears near downtown Mérida, in the style of ancient Mayan temples. (See fig. 26012013-merid-1-a)

1/23/2013, Mérida, Yucatan: Two European tourists (See attachment 26012013-merid-profile-a), last seen in/around ziggurat, reported missing. Remains found 1/23/2013 17:47 local time, must be identified by DNA.

1/24-1/25/2013, Mérida, Yucatan: Approximately 80 persons reported missing over the course of three days. Remains of 30 confirmed deceased. Local citizens in fear of cryptid known as chupacabra (see relevant file). UNTIL assistance requested.

2200 hrs, 1/26/2013, Mérida, Yucatan: Date of incident. Agent Serenity Carpenter dispatched, along with a group of freelance operatives, to respond to situation. Agents briefed by local constabulary in the person of one Inigo Montoya, Méridia PD, regarding sudden appearance of ziggurat and disappearance of local citizens and tourists. Agents request and receive maps of city streets and sewage/storm drain systems to determine possible paths of approach as well as possible places reported monsters could go to ground.

2227 hrs: Agents arrive in near vicinity of ziggurat. Streets appear abandoned. While investigating, agents encounter a local woman in severe emotional distress. Woman claims that someone or something killed her brother and her husband, repeats the phrase "the eyes" over and over. While agents attempt to communicate with her, citizen panics and runs for cover. First encounter.

Fig. 26012013-merid-1-b: One of the "chupacabra" creatures reported by local citizens. Image taken from Agent Carpenter's combat visor log.

2231 hrs: Agents attacked by a group of cat-like beasts. (See fig. 26012013-merid-1-b) Freelancer Surova Grimwish is wounded but recovers due to parahuman healing ability. Creatures either killed or driven off. During encounter, agents report sound of drums. Freelancer Photon tracks sound of drums to ziggurat. Agents choose to pursue wounded creatures in the event they are not returning to the structure before proceeding to ziggurat.

Fig. 26012013-merid-1-c: The ziggurat as seen from Calle 56, facing north-northeast. Image taken from Agent Carpenter's combat visor log.

2245 hrs: Agents track creatures to location of anomalous ziggurat (see figure 26012013-merid-1-c), report stairs leading up ziggurat to temple lined with creatures standing "on guard" along sides. Freelancer Man at Arms dispatches paranormal familiar to Agent McBrosephson to give status update and request UNTIL assistance. As agents proceed up ziggurat, mummified corpses emerge from crypts in ziggurat and move to intercept.

Agents also report large quantity of blood on stairwell, which is animated through unknown means (suspected blood magic - consult with Trimegistrus Council recommended) in order to impede agents' progress. Agents achieve top of ziggurat, where a number of civilians are being held against their will. One such civilian has been recently sacrificed, possibly to provide power for animation of mummified dead and/or blood on stairs (see above note regarding blood magic).

Agents confront apparent high priest, also mummified (possible lich - again, consult with Trimegistrus Council recommended). Freelancer Man at Arms moves to protect hostages with a shield while Freelancer Ryder Williams confronts high priest. Agents manage to reach temple at top of ziggurat. Freelancer Williams dispatches high priest.

Temple contains one artifact: a drum apparently made entirely from human remains. Agent Carpenter volunteers for civilian guard to let paranormal expert Man at Arms examine artifact. Freelancer Photon retrieves artifact. Freelance agents report wall behind drum has a mural depicting agents ascent of ziggurat.

Agent McBrosephson arrives on site, accompanied by members of Trimegistus Council. Agent and Council representative in heated debate regarding post-incident damage control. Freelancer Man at Arms departs ziggurat to consult with paranormal expert Blaspherion (see relevant UNTIL profile) regarding artifact and incident. Agent McBrosephson subdues Trimegistus representative, reporting that the mage was about to use lethal magic to detain Man at Arms.

1/28/2013: Agent Carpenter cited for unprofessional behavior regarding communications protocol. Agent files official request that further assignments not include association with freelancer Photon. Agent claims Photon has poor impulse control which may cause problems on future missions. Request noted, no action taken apart from previously noted citation.

• (Field) Agent - A metahuman, parahuman, or otherwise skilled operative deployed in UNTIL field operations.
• Alter, Teratogenic - A metahuman whose abilities are due to physical, but non-genetic, changes. Distinct from a baseline in that physical alterations give them metahuman abilities or traits. (An amputee is considered baseline, a cyborg is a teratogenic alter.)
• (Divine) Avatar - A parahuman being that acts as a physical host for a divine entity.
• Baseline - A human who does not possess metahuman or parahuman abilities.
• (Divine) Champion - A being who acts as on behalf of a divine entity. Frequently a parahuman being whose abilities derive from interaction with the divine entity in question.
• Cyborg - Cybernetic Organism. A teratogenic alter whose abilities derive from hardware that directly interfaces with the nervous system.
• Demon - An extraplanar entity whose plane of origin is classified as demonic, or who derives from the Qliphothic.
• Divine - Of or related to extraplanar entities of immense power, worshiped as deities for their innate abilities. Literal divinity is frequently a subject of debate. One of the types of entities within the purview of Project HERMES.
• Extraplanar - A specific subcategory of extraterrestrial, these beings' origins are outside of the four-dimensional space occupied by Earth.
• Extraterrestrial - Colloquially, "aliens", these beings originate off-world. Includes, but is not limited to, extraplanar entities.
• Freelance(r) - A vigilante, superhero, or other agent not under direct control of UNTIL or a government agency.
• Lee-Kirby Field - An electromagnetic field that interferes with metahuman abilities. Exposure results in an inability to cause metahuman effects to manifest, reversion of minor physical mutations, inability to control extra limbs resulting from gross physical mutation. Metahumans exposed to a Lee-Kirby field report mild-to-moderate physical discomfort, depending on the degree of physical mutation present. Does not affect parahumans, baselines, Alters, or non-humans (including extraterrestrials and co-habitant non-humans). Developed to aid in treatment of metahumans with abilities that would otherwise prevent life-saving medical treatments.
• Lycanthrope - Subcategory of therianthrope whose animalistic features are lupine in nature. This is the most commonly encountered form of therianthrope. (The therianthropic Vibora Bay street gang known as the Dogz are lycanthropes.)
• Lycanthrope, Genetic - Lycanthropes whose abilities are the result of mutation or deliberate non-magical genetic manipulation. While magic lycanthropes are considered parahuman, genetic lycanthropes are metahuman.
• Lycanthrope, Magic - Lycanthropes whose abilities are derived from a magical source. Most magic lycanthropes are the result of a curse. Magic lycanthropes are classified as parahuman, rather than metahuman, as genetic lycanthropes are.
• Mage - Short for "magic user", a mage is any being that voluntarily manipulates various energies classified as "magic". Mages may be metahuman, parahuman, extraerrestrial, co-habitant non-human, or baseline. Subcategories of mage exist. Further information requires HERMES clearance.
• Magic - Any of a range of manipulable energies capable of causing effects in the outside world. Distinct from psionics.
• Metahuman - A person or persons with superhuman abilities derived from deviations in their genetic structure from the norm. Metahumans fall into three categories: mutants, mutates, and heritage mutants.
• Mutagen - A chemical or energy that damages genetic material, resulting in pre-natal or post-natal mutation. Examples include "hard" radiation, carcinogens, certain categories of toxic waste, etc.
• Mutant - A metahuman whose abilities are a result of pre-natal genetic mutation. Mutation is one of the processes of evolution (mutation, selection, reproduction). Not all mutations are beneficial to the mutant, and many with gross physical mutations are treated as second-class citizens, or even as non-humans.
• Mutant, Heritage - Technically not a mutant, a heritage mutant is a metahuman whose abilities are inherited from his or her parents. Parents may be mutants, mutates, or heritage mutants themselves.
• Mutant, Latent - A mutant whose metahuman abilities and/or gross physical mutations are not yet apparent, even to the mutant.
• Mutate - A metahuman whose abilities are a result of post-natal mutation. The most common form of post-natal mutation is cancer. There are those who speculate that mutates are actually latent mutants whose mutations are not apparent until a life-threatening situation arises, when the activation of their latent mutation protects them from potentially lethal side-effects of mutagen exposure.
• Non-Human - Not intended as a slight. A non-human is a being whose origins do not include homo sapiens in their recent genetic history, or at all. Non-humans may be extraterrestrial, extraplanar, or co-habitant. UNTIL agent Skarius Snowtalon is an extraplanar non-human.
• Non-Human, Co-Habitant - A non-human of terrestrial origins. Lemurians are co-habitant non-humans.
• Parahuman - A being who possesses supernatural abilities, but may or may not practice magic. Examples include divine avatars, divine champions, demonic entities, magic lycanthropes, vampires, etc.
• Project HERMES - Division of UNTIL tasked with dealing with extraplanar or other supernatural threats. Incidents of this nature are required to be forwarded to Project HERMES.
• Psion - A metahuman or parahuman whose abilities involve influencing their environment or people around them through application of psionic energies.
• Psionic - A classification of energies that are emitted or manipulated by psions. Psionic energy is distinct from magic energy in that it derives from the nervous system, whereas magic energy is either spiritual or extraplanar in origin.
• Supernatural - Extraplanar or magic in nature.
• Therianthrope - A metahuman or parahuman whose abilities include shapeshifting into an animal or quasi-animal form. Derived from the Greek therios (beast), anthropos (man). Therianthropes can be either magic or genetic in origin. (See Lycanthrope, Magic and Lycanthrope, Genetic for classifications.)
• UNITY - A collection of metahuman, parahuman, and other agents under the direct command of UNTIL, deployed to deal with non-standard threats.
• Uplift - A mutant or mutate of non-sapient origin whose mutations include (but may not be limited to) near-human level sapience. Fictional characters the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are terrapin uplifts.