The Bureau for Artifact Collection and Storage

...And so, once everyone— including Raymond and Kurt, with a smirk and cracking of the knuckles from Ray — had assembled into the briefing room — in came the stomping, marching General, orderly and straight as could be, with the Chief coming in behind, with a firm hand slowly sliding down her face once again.

As for the Briefing room itself, it was large and spacious, with rising layers of seats in the back, like a movie theater. And also like a movie theater, there was a giant screen in front of the seats, obviously meant for showing pictures, footage, etc. And in between the rows and the screen was a giant stage, designed for those who had something to say, to say it, and gain all attention from the crowd. The General and the Chief both walked up the stairs to the stage. The Chief, her palm finally having slid off of her visage, then looked up to the ceiling above, and shouted, with far more command and bravado then you would think a 44 year old woman could be capable of, "COMPUTER! MISSION BRIEFING! NOW!"

"WELL, SOMEONE'S UPSET..."

A loud, monotone voice could be heard all around the room, as if from nowhere, and everywhere. "I didn't ask for your opinion, Computer," said the Chief. "I asked for a briefing."

"...HOW ABOUT I FIX YOU A NICE CAPACHINO—"

"Give the damn lady what she fucking WANTS!", blasted the General.

"...VERY WELL," resigned the Computer. "ALTHOUGH, WHEN THIS AFFAIR IS SETTLED, I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST SOME PRIMAL SCREAM THERAPY FOR THE BOTH OF—"

"COMPUTER!", shouted both the Chief and General in unison.

After a long moment, the viewing screen then lit up, and on it was a map of the entire continent of North America.

"JUST A MOMENT AGO, MY SENSORS PICKED UP A HIGH AMOUNT OF ENERGY THAT IS NOT FROM OUR WORLD. SOMEWHAT LIKE THE TACHYON PARTICLES THAT WE PICKED UP FROM THE ENTERPRISE A FEW YEARS AGO. ...ANYWAY. THE ENERGY IS SEEMING TO COME FROM OUR COUNTRY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SPECIFICALLY, THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. EVEN MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE TWIN CITIES OF MINNEAPOLIS AND ST.PAUL."

The satellite map of the USA then quickly zoomed in, first on Minnesota, and then on Minneapolis.

"...It looks," said the Chief, her eyes squinting in perplexity, "...nature-ey."

"Indeed," said the Computer. It zoomed in again, and gave the Chief, General, and the agents a rather good look at what had become of the two cities. In fact, one could argue that they were no longer cities at all. Grass, vines, foliage, and all other sorts of plantlife, as well as small mountains and rocks, littered the city in place of buildings and houses. And as the view on the screen moved around, it eventually managed to get a glimpse of some ordinary citizens. ...Which were no longer quite so ordinary. All of them had hair as long and matted as you could possibly get for either gender; they were all dirty, but also quite fit — even the women — and were dressed in animal hides and loinclothes. There were also various beasts and animals around. Warthogs, sabretooth tigers, wooly mammoths... pterodactyls...

"...If I didn't know any better," said the General, "I'd swear that I was looking at some inbred idjit's idea of pre-history."

"THAT MAY WELL BE THE CASE," said the Computer. "ACCORDING TO WHAT I CAN ASCERTAIN, SOMEONE OR SOMETHING IS CAUSING THESE DUEL CITIES TO CHANGE FROM WHAT THEY WERE. ...AND THIS WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST TIME."

"...As in?", asked the Chief."

"BEFORE THEY WERE CAVEMEN," said the Computer, "I BELIEVE THAT THEY, AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT, APPEARED AND ACTED AS IF THEY HAD ALL COME STRAIGHT OUT OF HELLO DOLLY."

"...That is a problem," said the Chief. She then swirled around, now facing the Agents. "Well, Agents," she said, "you heard the man. ...Or computer. Whatever. There's something out there that's causing an entire duel-city to think it's either from a bad history book, or a 50's musical, and somehow, I don't think whatever's causing this is anywhere near done. First, we're going to set up you up with some Tachyon particles; those should protect you from the changes going on in those cities. ...Although, no there's telling just how much they'll protect you. Then, you're gonna' be sent over there, and you're gonna' find out just what the hell is going on, before we're all singing 'Over the Rainbow' like Judy Garland! Got it?!"

edited 4th Sep '13 10:11:45 AM by kkhohoho

"Not a problem, they women look a bit manly to date anyway" Jericho laughed, slouched in his chair comfortably, he looks at the rest of the agents for their verdict.

"Um, are us new recruits going on this mission as well? Because I've gotta admit,I have no idea what we're supposed to do and how we're supposed to do it.

"Just try to keep up, kid." Plucky grinned. "And learn from the Master."

Whoever this "Master" was, the vets would be certain that it wasn't Plucky.

Emily was trying to picture the sort of person who would want to be doing something like that and immediately flashed to Jack Thompson, before getting serious. What was a possible motive for what was going on in Minnisota?

"We'll need details as to what might cause this and possible suspects," she stated, eager to find out what they can. "Computer, give us every piece of information you have on the situation, no matter how slight. Who might profit from it, what might be capable of such a feat and the source from where such an item would be from. We'll go over it on the way."

"...SOMEONE NEEDS TO LIGHTEN UP," said the Computer. "...ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE, I ALREADY DID AS YOU HAD ASKED BEFORE YOU ASKED. I HAVE NO IDEA WHO COULD PROFIT FROM THIS, NOR AM I SURE OF WHAT THE SOURCE COULD BE. HOWEVER, I AM CERTAIN THAT THE EMISSION IS COMING FROM SOMEWHERE IN MINNEAPOLIS, NOT SAINT PAUL. AT THE LEAST, YOU WILL ONLY NEED TO CHECK ONE OF THE TWO CITIES. HOWEVER, I STILL DO NOT HAVE AN EXACT LOCATION. YOU WILL NEED TO BRING WITH YOU THE PORTABLE ENERGY EMISSION DETECTOR. THAT SHOULD GUIDE YOU TO THE SPECIFIC SOURCE OF THE REALITY WARPING."

"Sounds like someone had been playing too much Saints Row," Emily noted. She hadn't had the opportunity to play the game yet knew enough about it to see a possible link, small as it may be. "I'll look over what you have on the way to Minniapolis." What she didn't say was how they could take down someone with that kind of power. That was way above her pay grade. "Just give five minutes before we go."