As Brian begins the subtle negotiations with the commie bastards, the facility's lights wink out for a moment then the place goes completely black.

A few panicked seconds later, the lights come back on at about half-strength with the sounds of diesel generators eminating in the background.

One person bearing Major epaulets on his uniform approaches Brian. He begins the conversation in Korean, proceeding to Chinese, then, upon noticing the rustiness of Brian's Mandarin...switches to English.

"My men have been ordered not to cause trouble. We have enough problems without us having a full-scale engagement inside this place. I am Major Woojin Cho of People's Army. I am second in command at this facility."

A nuclear shockwave is felt as the bunker shakes violently. The Major dusts off his hat and puts it back on in proper military fashion.

"The explosion you no doubt saw would be over the port city of Hungnam. Fear not, we are 90 miles away and the bunker is considered a hardened target, but I suggest we go deeper in case the radiation spikes."

Brian lowers his weapon enough that it is no longer pointed AT any particular Korean...downgrading to capable of shooting any Korean he feels like.

"Alright, lets get lower. We've been...out of touch...with command for a few hours. Any idea what caused the yanks and you to start trading nukes?"

"Major Cho, we need to establish contact with your superiors and find out what is going on. Time is of essence."

"Miss, I wish that were possible. The EMP from the blast wiped out most of our primary systems...damn Chinese engineering! My men are currently working on getting some short-wave channel up and running, but that will take some time."

Coincidentally, as the Major gives the Team the bad news, their Agency phones begin to vibrate. A text message comes on the screen.

To: (Insert Team Member Name)
From: J. Wade

"If you are getting this message you are still alive, or at least conscious enough to read it. Nuclear explosions confirmed on Korean peninsula. ROK Army/Marines decimated by first strike weapons. 38th Parallel crossed by North Korean forces. Seek hardened shelter immediately. More information to follow as it becomes available. Send current status." ---- WADE

Jess stares at the phone, looks at the Major, then stares at the phone again.

"Guys, remember when I promised to buy you a nuke for Christmas ? Maybe I shouldn't have joked."

Brian chuckles.

"Well, things just got...complicated. Inform command of our current status..."

Jess starts typing away furiously at the small keypad of the phone.

To: J. Wade
From: J. Spiner

"All accounted for. Are in hardened shelter with members of Chinese military. Awaiting further orders."

Carla pulls out her phone purposefully, and begins playing tetris on it.

Another text message breaks into Carla's wicked game of Tetris. (103 lines!)

Residual radiation measurements over the Korean peninsula suggest that explosions were low-yield neutron and thermonuclear bombs. Retalitory strike from U.S.S. Alabama over 38th Parallel has halted North Korean advancement into the south.

Orders:

-Avoid contact with Northern forces
-Return to original insertion point
-Rendevous offshore with U.S.S Connecticut. (coordinates provided).

(Edited by Dieter at 1:46 pm on Aug. 4, 2003)

Carla sighs, and gets back to work.

Requesting specific measurements, noting hot spots(radiation or combat) if possible.

Deciding to leave the post-haste, the Team saddles up their gear, but not without some hesitation from Major Cho. His second in command, Captain Tseng, proposes that he escort them back to the beach...just to insure their safety.

Jessica reads this gesture as perhaps an "out-of-character" response by the Captain. She's not sure what Tseng is up to, but it's probably for the best.

Major Cho expresses some concern of letting his number two man go with foreigners,

(sigh) "Very well, but make it quick, Captain. Take a truck and drop them off. We have much to do here."

As the team heads out of the bunker, a full platoon of heavily-armed soldiers is there to greet them.

They commence fire and the team is quickly cut into...

....And that's when everyone wakes up.

Everyone is in a sterile, stainless-steel room laying on hospital gurneys. A woman in a white labcoat, along with what appears to be her assistants, are unfastening electrodes from various parts of the Teams' bodies.

Still groggy from the surreal experience, a semi-clouded figure walks in from a non-discript portal. It's hard to make out the face, but the prominent British accent is a dead giveaway...it's Malcolm Philpott, AKA Nightengale.

His tone seems perturbed at best.

"Doctor, it would seem your experiment was a complete failure. My agents had no chance of survival and the scenerio was a bit...shall we say, contrived."

Everyone's vision is pretty much restored at this point as their motor functions quickly regress back to normal. The doctor puts down her clipboard and walks over to some high-tech apparatus.

"I beg to differ, sir. Up until the last 5 minutes, the agents were nearly convinced everything was quite real."

Philpott shakes his head.

"Was it necessary to nearly drown two of my best agents for your contribution to science? Do you realize the time and money invested in the training of these people???"

He walks over to Carla and Jess.

"How are you ladies feeling? Can I get you anything?"

(Edited by Dieter at 9:15 am on Aug. 7, 2003)

Ayumi surveys the room with a strange lack of surprise. The last hour had certainly felt like some kind of bad dream, one that she was anxiously awaiting to wake from. Her suspicions confirmed, she does precisely what she wanted to do on waking: drop her head back to the pillow and shut her eyes.

Er... but... I... wha....

Goose gets up slowly, waving off any help. He walks slowly up to the doctor, then procedes to punch her in the face, nearly putting her lights out.

That done, he shakes hand out and turns around to lie back down...

...and then punches her again.

Philpott attempts to calm Goose down as he helps the doctor to her feet. He looks at Goose then back at the doctor.

"You know, I'd say that you had that coming to you. You and your staff might want to leave before the others fully awaken. Some of them, might be....less than forgiving as Agent Goose here."

Her jaw aching terribly and with both eyes beginning to swell shut, she nods to her staff to exit the room post-haste.

(Edited by Dieter at 2:01 pm on Aug. 7, 2003)

Brians eyes flicker open, and it becomes obvious that he had been listening to the discussion with the doctor.

"A platoon of guard-class troops against an under-stength squad of irregulars? Those guys didn't stand a chance. Or did you not see what we did to the bar in Vegas?"

He sits up, rubbing a shoulder.

"Still, do we at least get regular doctor's appointments and the new treatment for free? That seems to be the usual arraingement for test subjects these days."

((btw...good call on pulling the plug. Also, I will be on a backpacking trip for 4 days, so will be unreachable from tomorrow on)

Carla's eyes flutter open gently, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.

"How are you ladies feeling? Can I get you anything?"

"Her ovaries, in a glass jar."

Carla leaps off the table and throttles the doctor. At least, that what she would do if they were still here.

"Malcolm, could you be a sweetie and tell me what's going on before I have to start breaking bones and crushing dreams?"

Malcolm pauses for a long second and puts his hand up to his chin.

"The long and short of it. Everything up to your unfortunate helicopter crash was real. All of you were knocked unconscious and suffered some serious, although non-lifethreatening injuries. An S&R team from the U.S.S. Iwo Jima fished you out of the water where you were then airlifted to a Naval hospital in Hononlulu. You're currently at one the Agency's R&D facilities the Pacific. To tell you the truth, I'm not even quite sure where we are. Wherever it may be, required a 8 hour flight from Hawaii."

Nightengale makes sure the medical staff has left the room before continuing.

"...which brings us to why the good doctor is going to need medical attention of her own. The Agency, in its infinite wisdom, decided your temporary comas would be the ideal situation for a what was described to me as a "Virtual Scenerio Training" or VST for short. It was going quite well until a tropical storm blew up right over us, spiking the island's entire electrical system. The techs thought they had it resolved, but the surge wrecked havoc on the programing. That nuclear explosion you saw was the "Virtual" interpretation of that gliche in the system. Twenty minutes later, I had the doctor pull the plug on the whole damn thing."

Jess stays quiet up until Nightengale finishes.

"Maybe you should pull the plug on the whole damn project."

She gets up from the bed, groggily trying to find her way, then walks over to a nearby water dispenser and has a cup of the cool liquid. Gulping it down as if she'd just spent seven days in a desert (that is, slow and steady not to overtax her body - handy thing, that survival training, if you're not in the mood for nausea), she listens for any further comments.

Philpott nods at Jess' remark.

"The doctor is probably going to need her jaw wired shut after the thrashing Goose gave her, so I'm guessing the project will (no doubt) be re-evaluated. This botched test-run will certainly go into my report to the powers above. My apologies for any undue harm caused by Dr. Frankenstein's machine."

He walks over to a small desk near the room's exit portal and opens a briefcase.

"Pending a final medical evaluation, all of you will be put back on active duty. Your next assignment (giving everyone their Agency phones), is in Scotland. I figure the cool air and climate would do you all some good. Your base of operations will Edinborough. We want to investigate a possible resurgence of Guy Fawkes Society."

"Just don't nuke it and we're golden," Goose quips.