Facility Containment Protocol: FLOOR_3 - BREACH

Summary

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Redwood Bureau – Facility Containment Protocol: FLOOR_3 – BREACH

Podcast: Redwood Bureau
Host: Eeriecast Network
Episode Date: May 9, 2026
Main Voice: Josh Tomar as Agent Conroy

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Episode Overview

This episode, “FLOOR_3 – BREACH,” immerses listeners in the chilling aftermath of a catastrophic containment failure at the Redwood Bureau’s Lumpkins Site. Agent Conroy, a fugitive ex-operative, leaks firsthand accounts, internal interviews, and the Bureau's classified reports to expose both human and supernatural elements behind the disaster. The episode alternates between personal testimonies, investigative dialogue, and an official internal review to reveal the grim cost of the Bureau’s obsession with capturing and controlling anomalous entities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Catastrophic Breach: Firsthand Witness Account

(01:51 – 11:20)

• Agent Brady’s Narrative: A surreal, almost dissociative retelling from an agent who realizes his actions during the breach were being controlled by an implant:
  • Atmosphere: Routine day shattered by comms explosions, blackouts, and violent incursions.
  • Subversion: Agent Brady details issuing containment orders—all precisely wrong, diverting response teams and intentionally crippling defenses.
  • Loss of Autonomy: “I watched myself give the orders. I watched on camera as the teams follow them. There was nothing I could do.” (07:10, Agent Brady)
  • Implant’s Role: Control is relinquished after sabotage; agent is left to face colleagues’ suspicion as the security structure collapses.
  • Capture: Security detains him, unable to discern whether they’re facing the real Brady or his puppet.

2. Survivors’ Interview: The Chaos on Sublevel One

(11:20 – 28:45)

• Agent Hale's Interview: A tense, detailed minute-by-minute reconstruction of the battle on Floor 1 amid systemic failure.
  • Initial Signs: Flickering lights, loss of radio—then sudden gunfire.
  • Encounter with Hostile Constructs: Description of 8-foot armored entities; bullets ineffective until a heavy weapon disables one.
  • Triage & Escape: Makeshift group forms, tries to follow protocol, faces insurmountable odds as squad mates are killed or taken.
  • Betrayal Among Agents: Finds returning Agent Vega guarding the escape route, giving misleading commands and positioned beside slain agents—suggests Vega is compromised/killing survivors to stop the breach from reaching the surface.
  • Critical Decision: Hale makes the call to shoot Vega before he executes another Bureau officer.
    • “He was bringing his rifle up on Hill. And I made the call.” (23:12, Agent Hale)
  • Struggle to Survive: Group flees through carnage, witnesses constructs and something still larger moving on the surface.

3. Internal Bureau Review: Layers of Blame and Systemic Failure

(32:33 – 48:17)

• Preliminary Review Excerpt: The Bureau’s Internal Review Board dissects the disaster.
  • Origin: Breach began with an explosion in the comms hub, followed by the loss of lower sublevels and surface vault.
  • Casualties: Over 100 dead or missing; severe losses on sublevels and surface (see statistics in next section).
  • Chain of Command Failure: Commander Ashcroft’s controversial decisions to descend past containment warnings fueled the extent of the incident.
  • Compromised Operatives: Survivors from Sublevel 3 may have been unknowingly controlled or sabotaged by the anomaly—evidence of unauthorized surgical modifications in apprehended agents.
  • Critical Assessment: “The incident was made possible by a chain of command decisions that placed Bureau personnel and assets in a position of unacceptable exposure…” (36:23, Internal Review Board)
  • Anomalous Element: No hypothesis yet on exact method of agent compromise; the “internal element” is linked to surgical/technological subversion.
  • Board's Recommendations: Indefinite detention for the compromised agent, command suspension, halt to further studies under the same operational philosophy.

Notable Review Board Quotes

“The Board further notes that Commander Ashcroft’s command record reflects a consistent operational philosophy that has… prioritized the welfare and recovery of operational personnel over the containment… The philosophy underlying these decisions is the same philosophy that produced the foundry containment failure.”
(36:46, Internal Review Board)

“The internal element is properly understood as a downstream consequence of operational vulnerability...”
(47:20, Board of Directors Member)

4. Aftermath & Showdown: Conroy Hunts the Escaped Entity

(51:55 – 53:55)

• Agent Conroy’s Pursuit:
  • Tracks the escaped anomaly to an abandoned ironworks.
  • Confrontation: Conroy ambushes it, targeting the “spiral of lenses” on its head, revealing a hybrid of wires, flesh, fluid, and brains in liquid containers.
  • Battle Described in Vivid Detail:
    • “The air shaped around it, asked: what unit are you with?... I raised my rifle and shot it through one of the spiral lenses.”
      (52:55, Agent Conroy)
    • Entity’s attack is superhuman; Conroy uses specialized rounds and an incendiary shell to destroy it.
  • Victory—For Now: Burns the remains, but notes the Bureau may be one step closer to catching him next time.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Each instruction made sense. Each one was the kind of thing a senior agent with my clearance would say in a moment like this. Each one was wrong.”
  — Agent Brady (05:34)

• "I don't know how something that big moves that fast."
  — Agent Hale, describing attacking constructs (17:48)

• “Hill was up front. I was at the back. We reached the vault. The vault door was open. There was nobody at the entry post. There should have been a security checkpoint. I'm pretty sure some of the bodies piled there were security.”
  — Agent Hale (25:04)

• “He just kept saying, there's a lot... and he had to run. He was bleeding pretty badly from the head.”
  — Agent Hale on Ramos’ shock and injury (16:21)

• "The Board’s preliminary assessment is that the incident was made possible by a chain of command decisions that placed Bureau personnel and assets in a position of unacceptable exposure..."
  — Internal Review Board (36:23)

• "It had walls, power that could be tapped into, and the kind of industrial floor space it needed. I'd been on it since it left the Bureau's perimeter..."
  — Agent Conroy, predator hunting the escaped entity (51:55)

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Important Timeline & Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Content | |------------|------------------| | 01:12 | Agent Conroy introduces Bureau’s secrecy and his mission to expose the truth | | 01:51-11:20| Agent Brady’s dissociative, implant-controlled account of the initial breach | | 11:20-28:45| Interview with Agent Hale – ground-level chaos, constructs, Vega betrayal | | 32:33-48:17| Internal Review Board’s Preliminary Review – losses, analysis, recommendations| | 51:55-53:55| Agent Conroy’s showdown with the escaped entity at the abandoned ironworks |

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Episode Structure

1. Introduction by Agent Conroy – Sets tone, warns of Bureau’s secrecy (01:12)
2. Agent Brady’s Possessed Sabotage – Chilling, helpless internal monologue recounting the orchestrated collapse (01:51–11:20)
3. Interview: Agent Hale – Nervous, traumatized survivor recounts his group's struggle (11:20–28:45)
4. Redwood Bureau Internal Review – Clinical, bureaucratic dissection of failure (32:33–48:17)
5. Directorial Feedback – Directive for a more forceful report (46:10–48:17)
6. Conroy’s Hunt and Fight – Gritty, cinematic battle with the entity (51:55–53:55)
7. [Interspersed] – Signal cuts and ads (skipped here)

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Casualty & Survivor Highlights (as per Internal Board)

• Total Confirmed/Presumed Dead: 100+
• Floor 1: 41 confirmed dead, 41 missing
• Sublevel 2: 31 missing/presumed dead
• Surface: 17 dead, 14 wounded
• Medical: 6 dead, 3 missing
• Foundry Team: 1 detained, 3 dead, 2 missing/presumed dead

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Tone & Style

• Narrative Tone: Grim, clinical at times, drenched in dread and urgency, with moments of resigned heroism (especially in Agent Conroy’s final monologue).
• Realism: Testimonies feel authentic—riddled with uncertainty, abrupt violence, and the tragic confusion of bureaucratic failure.

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Final Notes

This episode peels back the Redwood Bureau’s tightly-sealed layers, exposing not just the existential threat of the anomalies they pursue, but the fatal flaws within the organization’s human response. Through testimonies and committee-speak, it builds a horror rooted as much in institutional hubris and the fragility of trust as in the supernatural. Agent Conroy’s ongoing efforts—and survival—remain a tenuous beacon against an organization spiraling ever further out of control.

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Transcript

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[Agent Conroy]

Beware the Redwood Bureau. A secret organization which captures and researches creatures and objects that defy explanation. Their reckless procedures have led innocent lives lost. I am Agent Conroy. I worked for the Redwood Bureau, but I have escaped them to leak their reports to the unsuspecting public. You have the right to know.

[Agent Brady]

I remember sitting at the table. I remember a senior officer across from me reading questions off a clipboard. I remember that some of the answers I gave were lies. I know they were lies because they were not what I wanted to say. Beyond that, I cannot tell you what I said. The words came out of my mouth and I lost them as fast as I heard them. The four of us stood up at the same time. The interview officer thanked us. We walked out. Brady turned left in the corridor. Vega turned right. Nelson went straight and I ended up at a console in the operations center. My body sat down. My hands found the keyboard and brought up a feed and a comm channel. I sat there in the chair, watching the screen. The operations center was full. A dozen people at stations, two coordinators behind them, a senior officer at the back of the room with the tablet. The atmosphere was the routine alertness of a facility on standing watch. Something had happened on floor three that morning. My team had returned. Debrief was underway. Medical was preparing for follow up. Everything was on schedule. I watched my hands open a status board. I watched my hands log into the com grid using my own credentials. A message arrived from Ashcroft's office requesting That I report for additional questioning. At 1600, a coordinator passed by my station and clapped me on the shoulder. He said something good to have you back. Or words to that effect. My body said something warm and appropriate in return. The explosion came shortly after the feed I was watching wided out. The sound came a fraction later through the building itself. The lights flickered. Several monitors went black. People stood up at their stations. My body was already moving. My hands were already on the console pulling up alternative feeds, querying second cameras and opening backup channels. By the time the room had finished registering that something had happened, I was halfway through the response checklist. A voice over the general channel. We have detonation and comms. And then the channel cut. I watched myself stand up. I walked to the standing console at the back of the room. The one a senior agent could use in an emergency to coordinate response without needing full command authorization. I started issuing instructions. QRF2 to comms perimeter. QRF3, hold position. Medical to standby. All non essential personnel away from the surface entry. Each instruction made sense. Each one was the kind of thing a senior agent with my clearance would say in a moment like this. Each one was wrong. QRF should have gone to the elevator. Medical should have been moving toward the surface entry to receive casualties, not standing by. Holding QRF3 meant the mid tier response was sitting in a ready room while the breach window opened wider. I watched myself give the orders. I watched on camera as the teams follow them. There was nothing I could do. A new report came in over a line that was still working. Floor one reports activity in the lower vault sector. Request advisement. My voice, calm and professional, said, possible secondary detonation. Hold and assess the voice on the other end. Acknowledged. 60 seconds later, that connection was lost. Another report. Floor 1, ground sector 7 lost contact with patrol. My voice comms cascade from the surface incident attempt. Rerouting through alternative channels. The reply acknowledged. 60 seconds later, that connection was lost as well. The next report did not come from floor one. It came from Medical. Multiple staff casualties. Medical wing perpetrator unknown. Situation ongoing. I heard myself say, seal the wing. Contain the threat in place. The senior coordinator confirmed the order. I knew without being told that Nelson had just done what Nelson had been sent to do. The senior officer at the back of the room came forward and asked me what I was seeing. I gave him an analysis. The analysis was wrong in specific, deliberate ways. He nodded and went back to his tablet. By the time anyone else in the room began to suspect that the surface event had been a distraction, the constructs were coming up through the floor. One vault. The camera near the vault entry caught movement, and the operator across the room called out, what the hell is that? People started turning to look at his screen. The senior officer crossed the room in three strides. I remained at the standing console, calmly issuing routine status checks to sectors that I knew could no longer respond. The image was on the screen for maybe four seconds before it cut. Four seconds was enough. The senior officer was suddenly issuing his own orders. Coordinators were on multiple comms at once. Someone was on a hard line to surf its security. The fiction I had been handing out collapsed all at once, and within 30 seconds the operations center understood that the comms building had been merely the start of something, not the whole event. Then the implants let go. I looked down at my hands. They were mine. I tested a finger. It moved when I told it to move. My breath was mine. The next thought I formed went where I directed it. The breach was on the surface. The orders I had given for the last hour had been carried out. The personnel who would have responded were in the wrong places. The senior officer behind me, who could have made decisions, had been making them based on information I had given. None of it could be undone. I sat at the console. I did not stand up or speak. The implant did not resume with the connection. It had moved on. I was an asset that had served its purpose. The room moved around me. The senior officer was trying to raise anyone in floor one, but none of the channels were going through. The senior officer's voice cut across the room. He said my name, the way you say something when you are about to do something you do not want to do. I turned. He was looking at me from the doorway with two security agents flanking him, both with sidearms drawn. The senior officer had been adding it up the same way I had been watching it happen. He was not stupid. He said, hands on the console. Slowly. I put my hands on the console. Slowly the two security agents crossed the room. One of them pulled my sidearm from my holster while the other kept his weapon trained on the side of my head. The first one cuffed my wrists behind my back and pulled me out of the chair. As they walked me out, I looked at the senior officer. He met my eyes. I think he was trying to read whether I was the man he had been talking to all afternoon or someone else. They took me out of the operations center. Behind us, I heard the room start to organize a response. Late, stripped of every advantage, but a response nonetheless. I walked between the two security agents and I didn't resist. If there was anything I could have done to prevent this, to resist it, I would have. I tried. Every step of the way, I tried.

[Interviewer]

For the record, please state your service number and your assignment as of the morning of the incident.

[Agent Hale]

4471 K. Jr. Security, floor one rotation. It was on a second shift. Started at. I think it was 1200. Yeah, 1200.

[Interviewer]

And your specific posting on floor one?

[Agent Hale]

Checkpoint. Near the central corridor. It's. It's just a checkpoint. You sit there, you check IDs, you log who's coming and going. It's not. I mean, normally nothing happens. Nobody comes through that doesn't have credentials.

[Interviewer]

When did you first become aware that something was wrong?

[Agent Hale]

The lights flickered. That was the first thing. Before that, everything was normal. The lights flickered and then about a second later, the building, like, shook. Just once, like a thump. And then the radio went dead.

[Interviewer]

Define dead.

[Agent Hale]

Like, no signal, not static, not interference, just dead. Like the radio wasn't on. I checked it. It was on. I tried to call up to the desk, and there was nothing there either.

[Interviewer]

What did you do?

[Agent Hale]

I. I sat there for maybe 10 seconds, fiddling with it, trying to figure out if my radio was broken. Then I heard somebody shooting down the corridor somewhere. Three or four shots, then a longer burst, so I went toward it.

[Interviewer]

So you left your post and proceeded toward the source of the gunfire?

[Agent Hale]

Yeah, I left the checkpoint. I know I shouldn't have left the checkpoint, technically, without being relieved, but my radio was dead, and I had to make a decision.

[Interviewer]

Continue.

[Agent Hale]

I got maybe 40 meters before I saw the first one. I didn't know what it was. I still don't really know what it was. It was about 8ft tall, plated, like, armored. Its arms were really long. It was standing over a body, and there was another body next to it. And there was a third one further down. I didn't know if they were dead yet at that point, but they weren't moving. The thing was just standing there, and then it heard me and it turned around.

[Interviewer]

You engaged it?

[Agent Hale]

I tried. I had my rifle up. I put. I don't know, I put six or seven rounds into its chest. They sparked off like they didn't go in. I could see where they hit, and they just didn't go in. Then it took a step toward me.

[Interviewer]

Did you continue to engage it?

[Agent Hale]

I dumped the rest of the mag. I was just shooting at it because I didn't know what else to do. None of it was doing anything. And then somebody came in from the side it was Senior Agent Holm. I knew him. I'd been on rotation with him last summer. And he had a launcher. He hit it square in the hip joint. And it went down. Not all the way down, but it lost the leg. And then home. Was yelling at me to get back, and I started backing up.

[Interviewer]

Where was Senior Agent Holm at that point?

[Agent Hale]

He was. He stayed there. He stayed there because there were more of them coming behind it. I could hear them. He told me to fall back to the secondary checkpoint and cold for survivors. And he stayed there to slow the next ones down. He was reloading the launcher when I left. I. Sorry. I'm sorry. Can I have some water?

[Interviewer]

Help yourself.

[Agent Hale]

Thanks. Sorry.

[Interviewer]

Take your time.

[Agent Hale]

Oh, Okay. So I fell back to the secondary checkpoint. And there were already three other people there. Two security and a researcher. I think she was a researcher. She had a white coat on. She didn't have a weapon. We were trying to figure out what was happening. The radios were still dead, all of ours. We could hear shooting from multiple directions now, not just where I'd come from. And then somebody else came running up. Officer Ramos. I think it was Ramos. And he had a head wound. He said they were coming up the elevator and that they had killed the team that was guarding it.

[Interviewer]

Did Officer Ramos provide further detail on the elevator situation?

[Agent Hale]

He said there was a lot of them. He just kept saying, there's a lot. And he said his team was dead, all of them. And he had to run. He was bleeding pretty badly from the head, and one of the others was trying to get a bandage on him.

[Interviewer]

What did your group do?

[Agent Hale]

We tried to organize the senior person. There was. I think her last name was Park. She was a senior security agent. I didn't know her well. She took command of the group. She tried the radios. She tried the wall com to the surface. None of it was working. Park said we needed to send a runner. That was the protocol when comms go down. Somebody runs up to the vault and gets a signal from the surface side because the radios won't work through the rock and concrete. So she sent one of the other security guys, whose name was something with a V. I keep wanting to say Vasquez, but I don't think that's right. Anyway, she sent him. She told him to get to the vault, get a signal, call for backup and come back.

[Interviewer]

Did the runner return?

[Agent Hale]

No. We waited maybe 10 minutes. The shooting was getting closer in some directions and quieter in others. Tark said he should have been back. She said something was wrong. We were going to send another runner. And that's when two of those things came around the corner together. And they were on us. Park went down first. She was at the front of the group. They came around the corner and one of them was on her in like two seconds. I don't know how something that big moves that fast. The other one, I don't remember exactly. I was firing. I think the researcher was screaming and somebody behind me was shouting orders and. I don't really remember. The next, I don't know, 30 seconds when I could think again, we were running. Park was dead. The researcher was. I think she was dead. She wasn't with us anymore.

[Interviewer]

How many were in your group at that point?

[Agent Hale]

5. Me 2. Security Officer Ramos with a head wound and a tech, an engineering tech. His name was Coyle. Coil had a sidearm, but he really wasn't a shooter. We were heading for the vault door. Park said before she was. She said if it got bad, we needed to make for the vault and try to get out as a group. That's what we were doing.

[Interviewer]

Describe the route you took.

[Agent Hale]

WE went through the supply corridor and then through the south workshop. Then we tried to go through the main hall, but there was fighting in there. Three or four people were pinned down at a barricade against. I think there were four, five of those things in the hall. We didn't go in. We went around. There's a service corridor that runs parallel and we took that. We lost Coil in the service corridor. Something low, four legged, fast. It came out of a side junction and got him before any of us could react. It just took him down and there was nothing we could do. We kept going.

[Interviewer]

Did you not attempt to assist Tech Coil?

[Agent Hale]

We. I'm sorry, we didn't. We kept going. He was already. When it had him, he was already. There wasn't anything we could have done.

[Interviewer]

Continue.

[Agent Hale]

The service corridor lets you out near the vault entry. It's maybe 100 meters from where we came out to the vault. It looked clear. No constructs, no fighting. And I remember thinking, okay, we made it. We're going to make it. The vault's right there. And then we saw him. Senior Agent Vega. He was halfway down the corridor, standing in the middle of it by himself.

[Interviewer]

Agent Vega of the Returning Foundry Team?

[Agent Hale]

Yeah. Yes. It was him. I knew he'd just come back from floor three. Everybody knew it was all anyone was talking about. So when I saw him, there it was. It didn't make sense at first. He was just standing there with his rifle up.

[Interviewer]

What happened Next, Hale called out to him.

[Agent Hale]

Hale was the senior person in our group at that point. He said, vega, status. And Vega answered. He sounded normal. He sounded fine. He said something like, the corridor is compromised. Fall back to secondary position. And Hill, you could see he was trying to figure out what that meant because we just come from the secondary position. That's where we lost Park. But Vega was a senior agent and he was giving an order. Hill was. I think Hill was about to say something like, ask him to clarify. But Vega gave a clearance code. He said, authorization 79er or something like that. I don't remember the exact code, but it was a real code. Hill recognized it. And Hill started to turn, like he was complying. He was going to start walking us back. And I. I was at the back of the group. I was like two steps behind everyone else. And from where I was, I could see past Vega down the corridor toward the vault. And I could see there were bodies on the floor behind him. Maybe seven, eight people. Bureau agents. They'd been shot.

[Interviewer]

You observed bodies in the corridor behind Agent Vega?

[Agent Hale]

Yes. And the corridor behind him was empty. There was no fighting. There was no. There was no reason for him to be telling us to fall back. The vault was right there. It was clear. I told Hill, and he turned around and started walking toward him. Vega raised his rifle. He was going to shoot Hill.

[Interviewer]

Are you certain of that?

[Agent Hale]

Yes, I'm. Yes, he. He brought it up. I saw it.

[Interviewer]

What did you do?

[Agent Hale]

I shot him.

[Interviewer]

Specifics, please.

[Agent Hale]

From where I was standing, I had. I had a line on Vega through the gap between Hill and Officer Ramos. It was tight, but I had it and I took the shot. One round. It hit him in the head. He went down.

[Interviewer]

You discharged your weapon at a senior Bureau officer?

[Agent Hale]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Without authorization?

[Agent Hale]

Yes, I, I. Yes, I, I know. I want to say for the record that I saw what I saw. The bodies were there. The corridor was clear. He was bringing his rifle up on Hill. And I made the call. I made.

[Interviewer]

Did anyone else in your group witness Agent Vega raising his weapon?

[Agent Hale]

I don't. I don't know Hill for sure. Ramos and the other guy were on either side of Hill. I think the other guy might have seen it, but he. He died about a minute later.

[Interviewer]

Did anyone in your group dispute your account at the time?

[Agent Hale]

No. Hale said, we're going. That's it. And we went.

[Interviewer]

Continue.

[Agent Hale]

We made for the vault. We had maybe 90m to go. We started running. The other guy, the one whose name I can't remember, he got hit something Came out of a doorway as we passed it. I don't even know what kind of construct it was. I didn't see it clearly. It just took him. We didn't stop. We kept running. Ramos was bleeding worse by then. He was slowing down, but he was running. Hill was up front. I was at the back. We reached the vault. The vault door was open. There was nobody at the entry post. There should have been a security checkpoint. I'm pretty sure some of the bodies piled there were security.

[Interviewer]

What did you see when you reached the surface?

[Agent Hale]

When we came out into the FOB There was smoke and bodies. Some of them were ours, Some of them were constructs. The comms building was gone. There was just a hole in the ground where it had been with smoke coming out. And the operations center had its doors open and people were running in and out of it. And then I saw. I saw the thing.

[Interviewer]

The thing?

[Agent Hale]

The big one down the courtyard by where the loading bay is. It was huge. I can't. I can't really tell you what it looked like. I saw it for maybe a second or two. It was tall, like, way more than a person. It was dark. Pitch black dark. It was moving across the courtyard, going east, away from where I was.

[Interviewer]

Can you provide additional detail on its appearance?

[Agent Hale]

No, I'm sorry. I saw it for two seconds, and I was running. Then it was just gone.

[Interviewer]

And then what did you do?

[Agent Hale]

We reported what was happening to the commanding officer at the operations center.

[Interviewer]

I want to return to your encounter with Agent Vega.

[Agent Hale]

Okay.

[Interviewer]

You stated that Agent Vega gave a verbal order to your group accompanied by a recognized authorization code. You then discharged your weapon and killed Agent Vega without seeking confirmation from your direct senior officer, Hill, who was at that moment in the act of complying with Vega's order?

[Agent Hale]

Yes, That's. Yes.

[Interviewer]

You understand that the discharge of a weapon against a senior Bureau officer in receipt of a recognized clearance code is, and I'm putting this lightly, a substantial deviation from protocol?

[Agent Hale]

I. I do. Yes. I. I understand that.

[Interviewer]

And you understand that the basis on which you assessed Agent Vega's intent was your observation of bodies in the corridor behind him and your interpretation of his weapon position?

[Agent Hale]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Can you have no other corroborating witnesses?

[Agent Hale]

Hill saw him and the bodies.

[Interviewer]

Officer Hill is being interviewed separately.

[Agent Hale]

Okay.

[Interviewer]

You are aware, I assume, of the standard process for incidents of this nature?

[Agent Hale]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Is there anything you would like to add or amend to your account at this time?

[Agent Hale]

No. No, that's. That's what happened. I made the call. I made. I don't I don't know what else to tell you. Vega was killing agents. All the runners, probably. I'm sure you'll find their bodies with bullets in them from his rifle.

[Interviewer]

If that's true, we will find them. For now, the standard protocol is to remand you into custody pending investigation.

[Agent Ashcroft]

Warning. Signal interruption detected.

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[Agent Hale]

Nope. I'm making dinner tonight.

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You don't have time. Josh has practice.

[Agent Ashcroft]

Oh, that's right.

[Internal Review Board Member]

I'll just get a salad and fries.

[Agent Hale]

No, just the salad.

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[Agent Hale]

Salad only.

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Fries.

[Eeriecast Host]

Salad, fries.

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[Agent Hale]

Hey, can I get the fries?

[Agent Ashcroft]

Salad? Sorry.

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[Eeriecast Host]

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[Agent Ashcroft]

Signal connection restored

[Internal Review Board Office]

Redwood Bureau Internal Review board Transmittal Memorandum 2 Office of the Board of Directors From Internal Review Board Office of the Senior Examiner Re Incident at Forward Operating Base Lumpkins Site Preliminary Review Classification Redwood Internal Directorate Eyes

[Eeriecast Host]

only

[Internal Review Board Member]

Per your request, the Internal Review Board has prepared the attached preliminary review of the incident at the Lumpkin Site, Forward Operating Base. The review reflects information available and remains subject to revision as ground recovery operations continue and additional evidence is processed. The Board notes that several critical elements of the operational record were destroyed during the incident itself and that the casualty figures provided are working estimates pending a full account of personnel status. Final figures may vary materially. This document is prepared for your review prior to formal submission. The Review Board awaits your guidance on direction, scope, and any adjustments to framing or analytical emphasis you deem appropriate. We will incorporate your notes and resubmit a finalized version on the timeline of your preference. Respectfully Internal Review Board Office of the Senior Examiner Preliminary Incident Review Lumpkins Site Forward Operating Base Prepared by Internal Review Board. Status preliminary. Not for distribution. 1. Incident summary. At the time of the incident, a containment failure originating from the subterranean facility beneath the Lumpkins site resulted in the loss of operational control across multiple sublevels and the eventual breach of the Surface Forward Operating Base. The incident commenced at approximately 14:46 hours with an explosive event in the surface communications and control structure. It concluded with the breach of the surface vault and the loss of facility containment. Restoration of containment is ongoing. Confirmed and presumed casualties currently total in excess of 100 personnel across the affected sublevels and the surface installation. With that figure expected to rise as recovery efforts continue. A substantial portion of personnel on Sublevels one and two are unaccounted for. Recovery of remains has been complicated by the condition of the sublevels following the incident and by the continued presence of unidentified hostile elements within the structure. The Lumpkin site remains in a state of partial containment as of the time of this report. Sublevels 2 and 3 are not currently accessible to Bureau personnel. The surface fob has been re secured with the assistance of additional Bureau resources deployed from neighboring sites. Two operational background operations at the Lumpkin site were initiated under the direction of Commander Ashcroft. Following the recovery of facility schematics and the determination that the site contained elements warranting Bureau study. Operational authority for the descent has remained with Commander Ashcroft throughout, including the determinations to proceed past sublevel 1 into sublevel 2 and subsequently from sub level 2 into sublevel 3. The decision to deploy a tactical clearance team to Sublevel three, designated Foundry was approved by Commander Ashcroft on the basis of intelligence gathered from the sub level 2 breach. The intelligence available at the time of approval indicated the presence of preserved biological specimens, anomalous materials and fabrication equipment of uncertain operational status. Standard pre deployment protocols were followed. The Foundry team consisted of six personnel. One squad leader, one heavy weapons operator, two breach specialists, one communications and interface specialist, and one medical and anomaly detection specialist. The team descended at 0600 hours and conducted operations on Sublevel 3 for an extended period before re establishing contact. Four of the six team members returned to the surface via the Sublevel 3 elevator at approximately 1800 hours. Two team members did not return and and are presumed deceased. Returning personnel underwent standard decontamination procedures and were referred to operational debriefing at approximately 1840 hours. Debriefing concluded at approximately 1910 hours, after which the four agents were released to receive medical evaluation in accordance with post incident protocol. The Agents did not report for medical evaluation. 3. Analysis. The internal review Board's analysis of the available record indicates that the incident at the Lumpkin site was the result of a sequence of operational decisions made within the chain of command at the FOB Compounded by the actions of an internal element whose nature and origin remain under investigation. The Board notes that the decision to continue descent past sublevel 1 early was made over the objection of multiple personnel within the operational chain, including representatives of the Containment Doctrine Office and the Office of the Director of Anomalous Studies. Commander Ashcroft's determination to proceed was based on his assessment that the value of continued dissent outweighed the containment risks identified by these offices. This determination was within Commander Ashcroft's authority to make. The Board offers no opinion on the propriety of the decision itself. It notes only that the decision likely created the conditions under which subsequent events became possible. The Board further notes that Commander Ashcroft's command record reflects a consistent operational philosophy that has, in prior incidents generated friction with established Bureau doctrine. Specifically, the Commander has on multiple occasions prioritized the welfare and recovery of operational personnel over the containment and and recovery of anomalous materials and or entities. The Review Board observes that the operational philosophy underlying these decisions is the same philosophy that produced the foundry containment failure. The foundry deployment itself proceeded into an environment whose risks were known to be substantial and whose containment status was understood to be un uncertain. The Commander approved the deployment on the basis of available intelligence. The available intelligence proved insufficient. Two members of the team did not return. Of the four members who did, all four were subsequently implicated in the events that led to the incident. The Board's preliminary assessment is that the incident was made possible by a chain of command decisions that placed Bureau personnel and assets in a position of unacceptable exposure and that the actions of the internal element described in section 4 were facilitated by, rather than the cause of, the operational vulnerability that the chain of command had created. Four anomalous elements. A complete characterization of the internal element responsible for the immediate cause of the breach is not available at this time. Forensic recovery from the Operations center, the Medical Wing and sub level 1 is ongoing. Recovered materials, including biological samples taken from the one apprehended team member, indicate the presence of unauthorized surgical modifications consistent with subcutaneous instrumentation of unknown function. The instrumentation is currently being analyzed. The Board notes that the four returning agents demonstrated coordinated behavior in the period between debriefing release and the trigger event and that this coordination was not reported by any personnel who interacted with them during that period. Personnel who interacted with the agents have been interviewed. None reported observable indicators of compromise. The Board does not at this time advance a hypothesis. As to the mechanism by which the agent's compromise was affected, nor as to the extent to which the agents retained operational autonomy during the events in question. The Board further notes that the explosive event in the surface communications structure. Was carried out by Agent Brady at the cost of his own life that the unauthorized presence of Agent Vega on sub level one during the incident. Corresponds with the observed failures of automated containment overrides and the obstruction of runner protocol and that the casualties in the Medical wing were caused by Agent Nelson, who was killed at the scene in a subsequent firefight. The fourth team member, the squad leader, Is currently in punitive detention and has been cooperative with examination. 5. Personnel status and recommendations. Personnel status as of the date of this report is as Commander Ashcroft remains in operational command of the Lumpkins site under standard protocol Pending the completion of formal review. The commander has been notified of the pending review. Foundry Team Surviving members one in punitive detention. Three confirmed deceased, two missing, considered deceased. Operations center senior officer on administrative leave pending interview. Medical wing personnel. Six confirmed deceased, three unaccounted for. Sub level one personnel. Of the 94 personnel assigned to sub level one at the time of the incident, 41 are confirmed deceased, 12 are confirmed wounded and recovered, and 41 remain unaccounted for. Recovery of unaccounted personnel is dependent on time and personnel constraints. Sub level 2 personnel. Of the 31 personnel assigned to sub level 2 at the time of the incident, none have been recovered. All are presumed deceased. Surface FOB personnel casualties during the surface breach. 17 confirmed deceased and 14 wounded. The Board's preliminary recommendations are as 1. That the formal review of Commander Ashcroft's command decisions. Proceed on an expedited timeline with specific attention to the cumulative pattern of operational philosophy described in section 3. 2. That the apprehended team member be retained in secure detention indefinitely. Pending complete characterization of the surgical modifications Described in section 4. 3. That further descent into the Lumpkins facility be suspended. Pending review of containment protocols and the completion of the Internal Review board's final assessment.

[Board of Directors Member]

4.

[Internal Review Board Member]

That the management of the Lumpkin site be transitioned to interim command pending the outcome of the formal review. The Board awaits the Director's guidance On the timing and direction of the Formal Review.

[Internal Review Board Office]

Office of the Board of Directors, Internal Correspondence directorate. Eyes only. 2. Internal Review Board Board Office of the Senior Examiner. From Board of Directors. Re Preliminary incident review notes for revision.

[Board of Directors Member]

The Board acknowledges receipt of the preliminary review and offers the following guidance prior to finalization. 1. Section 2 Operational Background the chronology is acceptable, but the framing is overly neutral. The Board's view is that the operational decisions described in this section reflect a pattern that the final report should establish more clearly. The descent past sublevel 1 was approved over substantial internal objection. The descent past sublevel 2 was approved on intelligence the Commander knew to be incomplete. The foundry deployment was approved despite the cumulative risk profile that the prior two decisions had established. The final report should walk the reader through this sequence in a manner that allows the conclusion to follow from the evidence without requiring the analyst to draw it explicitly.

[Agent Hale]

2.

[Board of Directors Member]

Section 3 Move forward in the document the Board would prefer that the framework be established before the operational background rather than after. The reader should understand the analytical conclusion before encountering the supporting record. 3. Section 4 anomalous elements reduced to the minimum necessary for context. The internal element is properly understood as a downstream consequence of the operational vulnerability described elsewhere in the report. Extended discussion in this section may inadvertently shift the analytical focus and should be avoided. The detail regarding the surgical modifications in particular should be moved to an Appendix and abbreviated.

[Agent Conroy]

4.

[Board of Directors Member]

Section 5 Recommendations the Board concurs with the recommendations as stated, with the following adjustments. Recommendation one should specify that the formal review include consideration of administrative measures up to and including separation. Recommendation three should be strengthened to include the suspension of all current Bureau study programs operating under the same operational philosophy as Lumpkin's pending review. Recommendation four should specify that the interim command be drawn from outside the Commander's existing operational network. Please return the finalized review within 72 hours. Detected office of the Board of Directors, Redwood Bureau

[Agent Ashcroft]

Warning Signal interruption detected.

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[Eeriecast Host]

Attention all fans of horror. Darkness prevails here. Host of unexplained Encounters, Tales from the Break Room and more. I'm so excited to announce the new Eracast platform at Eerie fm. I've been working years to create a platform like the Netflix of horror audio, and I've finally done it. You can go to Eerie fm. That's E E R I E FM to listen to all your favorite eeriecast shows and get free full length samples of members only content like exclusive horror novel audiobooks you can listen to or even read now in our built in ebook reader and exclusive members only shows like Fractured Reality where I narrate real people's stories about glitches in the Matrix. Become a member today and you're not only helping me and all of eeriecast survive and thrive, you're unlocking every eeriecast show ad free and members only content. All of that for only eight bucks a month. Plus favorites, playlists, sleep timer, playback speed, listen with your phone locked, all the cool podcast features you're used to. Don't worry, an Android and iPhone app are coming very soon and I'll let you know when they're out. We would be nothing without loyal fans and supporters like you. Again, go to Eerie fm. Thank you. Hey there. Darkness prevails here. Founder of eeriecast, my little network of scary shows. I appreciate you listening to our scary content, but did you know you can support us? Get ad free feeds of your favorite shows, get a 20 discount code to the Eeriecast store and unlock access to members only audiobooks all at the same time. Just go to eeriecast.com/plus and become a member today. It's cheap and really helps us out. That's eeriecast.com/plus. Thank you.

[Agent Ashcroft]

Signal connection restored. The ironworks outside Hayfork had been closed since the late 90s. There was nobody within 10 miles of it. The thing that came up out of the Lumpkin site picked it for that reason. It had walls, power that could be tapped into, and the kind of industrial floor space it needed. I'd been on it since it left the Bureau's perimeter. I had to keep my last report sparse. For this reason. I crossed the loading dock through the back and made my way toward the central hall where the smelting equipment used to run. It saw me before I saw it, but until now it wasn't aware that anyone had tracked it. One point for me. The whole spiral of lenses on the upper part of its body rotated toward me at the same time, smooth as a clock hand. And the voice. The air shaped around it, asked, what

[Agent Brady]

unit are you with?

[Agent Ashcroft]

I didn't answer. It spoke again.

[Agent Brady]

You're a Bureau operator.

[Agent Conroy]

State your handler. They're prepared to discuss recovery terms. I can offer schematics, operational protocols, live samples, and I can build you.

[Agent Ashcroft]

I raised my rifle and shot it through one of the spiral lenses. The round was something special we'd Been working on since I salvaged some tech from the storm shelter facility. One lens broke and the head snapped back with four more trigger pulls. I placed accurate rounds to devastating effect. Glass components, fluid and blood sprayed out the back of its head. At least six of the lenses were completely destroyed, but I was sure the damage exceeded that. My guys did a hell of a job with those rounds. Then it did something. The floor under me started to ripple, like I was standing on a waterbed. A piece of light fell away from my vision at the time. Same sides, and my vision narrowed. It came at me faster than I could track and in a way that was hard to understand. I ducked behind a column, and a second later, the column exploded, 6 inches of reinforced concrete and rebar coming apart around my head, sending me sliding on the floor to the far side of the hall. I came up shooting, putting rounds through its chest and walking them up to the lens close cluster pieces of it raining from the exit points. My vision flashed back as if the entire world had winked out of existence. Then I felt myself lifted off the ground by my ankle. The blood rushing to my head was the only familiar sense I could grasp to understand what was happening. That and the pain of the metallic vice grip crushing my ankle. My vision blurred back into focus, and the remaining lenses on the fractured head all adjusted on me independently, whirling and zooming on different parts of my body. On the outside, it was a smooth black mass, like tar or hardened liquid, shaped to a design it had deemed perfect. Where my rounds had torn through, it was jagged, broken metal, revealing wires, circuitry and flesh. Within its chest cavity were brains housed in containers of aerated liquid, hooked up to tubes and wires that ran through every visible inch of its internals. Several were broken and leaking within it, I could see. Its movements slowed now that I was up close. I didn't wait another second before bringing my rifle around on its sling and emptying the magazine into the exposed organic components. It whipped my body across the room, sending me flying into a far concrete pillar. The impact was a bright flash of pain and breathlessness. I knew immediately several things were broken, but I couldn't breathe, and I could hardly keep my head from spinning into unconsciousness. My left arm wasn't responding. I felt drunk as I felt around sloppily with with my right, looking for my rifle. I couldn't find it. The sling must have been ripped off me. Even through the swirling haze, I could see the black, towering figure approaching me. My right hand dug through the pockets of my vest until the object I was looking for came free. It dropped between my legs. I managed to squeeze it with my thighs and release the barrel hinge. It was getting closer. I couldn't be sure if it was my spinning vision or the damage I had done, but the entity looked to be stumbling, walking sideways, righting itself and then swaying the other direction. Either way, it was coming for me. My hand returned to the vest and after patting several empty spots, I finally found what I was looking for. I loaded the large SH shell into the breach and click the barrel back into place by angling it against the floor. It was 10ft away. I lifted the 40 millimeter launcher with my right arm. It felt like all the weight in the world eight feet away. Blood was trickling from a cut on my forehead into my left eye. I closed it and tried to focus the two black looming entities in the to one six feet away. With a muted whoosh, I pulled the trigger and sent the incendiary round into its open chest. The effect was brilliant and immediate. It didn't scream or curse. It just took a step, then another, slower step as the blue flames spread within it. Highly effective against organic matter. It took one more half step before collapsing to its knees and then falling face down, its head nearly touching my boots. I inched away, not wanting the fire to spread to me, and watched it burn down to almost nothing. I destroyed what was left with a highly corrosive acid, picked myself up, and considered this a job done right. The Bureau might listen to this and think I'm losing a step. That they're one step closer to apprehending me. I guess we'll see how the next few weeks play out.