Nearby town spared no hint of his fate, but it did harbour two lost souls belonging to the SMSC, our former sister group. Their wanderlust matched ours; their loyalty to identity anchored them in a post watching traffic. All of us grew up in this town, knew each other's birth names, respected each other enough to never call ourselves by them again. We brought them coffee, handed out a flyer, and compared notes. While they couldn't help us with our man, they did have something noteworthy: Some suit from the Genera has been asking about him too.
Our relationship with the Genera is not kind. It's been eyeing us since before we took ourselves off of STAB's grid, and since then we've lacked the grid's accompanying force, leaving no leverage for our safety. The Genera has no allegiance except to its own secrets. It has no code except one it won't disclose. But out of all of the organizations devoted to our dark gods, it is also the greatest in research. It discovered the fossil particle and established first contact with Them. It is rigorous, scientific, and government-blessed. But it's also devoted to its privatization. No one who goes to work there is allowed to speak with outsiders. Its public statements are carefully manufactured and edited to hide just as much about Them as they reveal. If it's after Magreat, then that is significant, but this is also cause for caution. We've stolen some of its intel in the past. The Genera is not one to forgive.
The SMSC isn't too happy with us either, considering we betrayed them in cold blood, but they're not as bureaucratic an entity. Compared to the Genera, they're practically a family business. As long as we stay out of their way and just talk to agents who don't mind us, we're golden; they've made that much clear. And that suits us. They don't have much we need. Not anymore.
Only other organization worth bringing up is the Archive, which is a library that openly acknowledges its allegiance to one of Them. Their information is good, but talking to them is risky-- they only accept deals, information exchanges.
We prefer to stay off of everyone's radar when we can. Instead, we just drive, listening to rumours, looking for any avenue that will take us closer to our dark gods, and thus closer to the greatest of all great games: The elusive god even the Ovi Man is said to have dreamed of during his final moments. That's one's mine. I'll make sure of it.
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