The Workers

JP with mdman, Jaxx, Your Name Here, Trustno1 and Cindy

Alyssa looked at the others, and whispered. "Anyone want to talk to those guys?”

Marina grinned and got up, stretching. "I'm game for asking them some questions, we're just waiting after all. But we shouldn't crowd them, I'm thinking I go with one other person and ask nicely. Anyone wants to come along?”

Choi was laughing at Alyssa’s response. He took a sip of the chai, grimacing again.

“You should come see it sometime. Plenty of space and a good view of the ocean. One question, do wear your hoodie with a bathing suit,” he teased.

Hearing the commotion. “Well,” Yeong suggested, “you’ll get more when the gorgeous girls are asking. I’ll babysit Powers here.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes at Yeong’s question. "If the weather's sunny and warm, I don't go to the beach. Too bright and crowded."

Marina offered to go talk to the guys. "Alright, I've been volunteered but, Marina, you do most of the talking. That's not my strong suit.”

Agent Powers swallowed his food and swallowed it down with his coffee. Then he replied, "If I go they will either try to fight me or run away. If they get out of line with you I'll turn them into a pretzel."

Marina nodded at Alyssa. "Then I guess it's best if we take care of it." She said, heading outside, hopely being followed by the Illuminati.

She stopped in front of the first man. "Excuse me sirs, are you workers at the theater? Where Sarah Summers worked?”

Choi looked at Powers chuckling at Alyssa’s response. “If she only knew! I have a private beach below my home,” he joked with Powers. “Do they have any good food here?”

Agent Powers raised an eye at Choi and paused as he smirked and replied, "Not likely. The bad crime rate keeps this place from getting talented cooks and stores. It reminds me of the poor places in South America and China." Powers then opened his backpack and pulled out a bag of hand baked Almond cookies and put them on the table. Then he replied, "Have some. I made a bunch of snacks for Alyssa since she is a work-o-holic. I like good food myself, but I have been trained to live off eating bugs and raw foods so I'm not picky.”

One of the two workmen said, "We used to work there, we don't know how Sarah Simmons is doing. We are not going back in there. We already told this to one of you people that was here earlier.”

Choi chuckled. “Crickets and grasshoppers deep fried are a good source of protein. We had that at the monastery quite often.”

Alyssa did indeed follow Marina over. She wondered who the two men had spoken to. However, still thought it was best the Council agent speak

Marina nodded, putting a hand to her chin. "I see. We don't need you to go back there, but we need to know a few things. First of all, who did you talk to?" She asked. Her tone projected authority, but she wasn't too demanding, a nice balance.

Agent Powers smirks as he replied to Choi, "Well deep fried is not bad, but I had to eat them roasted on a campfire or raw when I was deep in enemy territory. When deep in the jungles, forests or mountains its hard to find a convivence store. Not to mention the wild animals trying to make me into food.”

One of the workmen replied," we talked with Victoria Rodgers, one one of our co-workers who worked closely with Sarah. She is still in there. It's hard to get anything out of upper management.”

Alyssa added Victoria Rodgers to her mental list of who to research.

Marina took mental note of the name as well. "And tell me, why don't you want to go back? There are many disappearances in the US every day, what makes this one special enough to quit?”

Choi reached out and took one of the cookies. “I bet you enjoy the little cream filled ones too, don’t you?” he said to Powers in jest.

Agent Powers smirked as shrugged. He then replied, “If I had a choice in those times, I’d lean more towards roasted tarantulas, crickets and beetles, but a bit of melted chocolate is a game changer. I used to take chocolate paste in tubes every chance I got. Luckily I didn’t have to worry about customs and airport security. It’s considered contraband in a lot of places.” Agent Powers then finished his last cinnamon roll and drank his coffee.

"Disappeared?" she didn't disappear. Ask Victoria about it" said Robert. "We ain't going back in there, that place is haunted.”

Marina nodded. "I see. And what makes you say that? Also, where may we find this Victoria? We would like to speak to her too.”

"She's inside." He pointed towards the door of the theater.

Well that was curious. Alyssa wondered why they all had the same, apparently wrong, intel that the woman was missing. Alyssa finally spoke up. "Are there people still going into the theater?”

"Only workers. We aint working there no more." said Robert.

"I don't blame you." Alyssa sided with them, hoping it might achieve getting more information. "Is Sarah injured? Because, if so, it should probably be investigated so no one else gets injured.”

"She's in the hospital.......... Go inside and talk to Victoria.”

Well, finding which hospital and her status should be easy enough, so, it went on Alyssa's list.

Marina also made note of getting bad intel, as well as the evasiveness that the workers displayed. "Could we have your names? Just so we know where the information is coming from." She said, narrowing her eyes slightly. Something wasn't quite adding up. "What is it you two did in the theater? And you didn't answer my other question, why do you think it's haunted?”

"Oh you know, strange voices, flickering lights. It seems like someone is there when we are the only ones in the building. As far as what we used to do there, it has something to do with a guy named Manuel Labor. I'm Rob, and this is Joe.”

Alyssa was letting all this information settle into her mind, she was going to have another long night it seemed.

Marina sighed and nodded, then looked at Alyssa. "Do you have any other questions Alyssa?”

"No," The hacker said to the two men. "Thank you for the info." She figured they had gotten everything there was to get out of the workers.

In the chip: Alyssa, how are you? I'm going to be a little late, continue searching around the theater and the city, I will be there soon. Haven't seen you in a while. I've been thinking about you, " said Sartre.

Choi took a bite of the cookie. He was pleasantly surprised that it was quite good.

“You say you made this, Powers?” he probed. “You’ve missed your calling. You should go into business for yourself.”

Agent Powers smirked at the comment. He then replied, "Thanks but my father would not allow that. He allowed me to learn to cook and bake since it was part of me becoming independent. Since I traveled a lot on missions I got to learn a few things and try different foods. If I liked the food I tried to learn how to make it from the locals. It was a nice break from MREs, protein bars and bugs.”

Alyssa excused herself from the men, and went back to the table where Max and Yeong were. Into the chip, she spoke back to Peter. It's good to hear from you. We'll try to save you some of the mystery. She quipped. See you later.

She looked up to the others, "Peter's running late." Sipped her coffee. "Oh.. Max's almond cookies. These are so good." She took a cookie, and then a bite of it. Her thoughts on Peter were far too complicated for this moment.

Agent Powers replied, "I have more for later. Did you learn anything from those guys?" He sipped his coffee.

"The missing woman, isn't missing - she's at a hospital. They wouldn't say what happened to her just to speak to someone named Victoria Rodgers. They also said, they believe, the theater is haunted. Things like strange voices, flickering lights, another presence in the building when they were supposed to be the only ones there - that kind of stuff." Alyssa responded.