Page 149 - Hunter - The Vigil

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CHAPTER THREE: HUNTER ORGA N I Z A T I O N S
were far too interested in such things to let them go just be- been known to end up in an offshore prison facility, wearing
cause they weren’t fi ghting the allies. an orange jumpsuit and not knowing their own names.
Things kicked off then. After the Roswell incident (an TFV possesses big guns, but has to balance its use of
early triumph for VALKYRIE’s disinformation policy), TFV astonishing gear with the knowledge that it can’t allow the
managed, effectively, to disappear. Its mission is to protect the public to know it exists, let alone the other conspiracies out
USA from extra-normal forces. A handful of people at the there.
top level of government know it exists. The President isn’t
one of them. Hunters
Every story of sinister Men in Black who cover up para- You investigated suspicious packages for the US Postal
normal events, every account of black-clad, heavily armed Service. After a while, packages started coming your way that

Special Forces operatives who descend from black helicopters defied explanation. You kept your head, went above your su-
and make people vanish, every supernatural or UFO conspir- periors’ heads and, when the monsters came, got out alive.
acy theory comes right back to TFV. It really is the conspiracy The next thing you knew, you’d been recruited by TFV. The
that keeps the people blissful in ignorance. SWAT gear’s heavy, but it works. The gun isn’t a gun at all,
Or it’d really like to think it is. The fact is, it’s still a gov- it…makes this sound. You’re in deep. Holy shit.
ernment agency, and just like every other government agen- You’re a veteran of Special Forces. One time in Kabul,
cy, the Task Force suffers from nepotism and incompetence. you saw things that they frankly hadn’t trained you for. You
Sometimes it’s at a level that endangers the men and women dealt with it, though, and kept the details from your CO. But

in the field. Intelligence gatherers are often as lazy as those somehow TFV knew about it. You were back in the US within

foreign-posted CIA men who get their intel from watching a week and working in the field in the mainland US in a black
the news. They’ve got a wide base of information about any suit and tie. It’s good to be home.
number of ENEs, but a mountain of red tape and clearances You worked for the EPA, investigating health risks. You
to get through before it’s readable. found some truly bizarre substances out there (like the greasy
And then there’s the budget. Obviously, TFV is a black mold that grew in strange mandalas), all weird enough for
budget agency, but that only leads to certain irregularities, TFV to give you a job, just so you could sign the piece of paper
such as TFV having a budget a fraction of the size of ATF, let that said you weren’t going to tell.
alone the FBI . So how can it afford the black helicopters, or You were an agent of the FBI. And you knew all about
that enormous underground facility in Arizona (the one you UFOs. You didn’t stick your nose in too much — not like that

think you know about in New Mexico is as flimsy as a movie idiot in your office with his “the truth is out there” bullshit —

set) and the astoundingly well-funded R&D department? but you kept a secret file. One day, it was deleted from your
And if TFV’s remit is to protect the US people from computer. The next day, you’d been transferred.
ENEs, how come so much field work involves observation and Departments

kidnap rather than straight fighting? Why has it got so many
TFV divides itself into special units and departments,
ENEs stored away in that underground prison? Why do field

many of which work closely in the fi eld with ordinary agents.

agents who get close to certain secrets find their assignments
Although departments such as Containment and R&D have
changed without warning?
essentially closed membership (which beggars the question:
Maybe there’s something else going on. TFV has a shad-

how do they recruit?), field agents can apply to join any of
owy history, but what if that’s just a fabrication? What if none
the following:
of this is true? What if it’s all really just a cover for something
Project TWILIGHT concerns itself with the doings of
else entirely? Perhaps TFV’s masters have a more compre-
ENEs classified as P (Para-human) and S (social), the ones

hensive plan, which their agents don’t need to know. On the
that are near human or post-human and seem to operate
other hand, perhaps the agency is compromised. Perhaps TFV
in covens, cults, conspiracies or other underground societ-
is working for the very monsters its agents seek to defeat.

ies. They’re mostly field agents. They recognize that taking
But then, that’s just paranoia.
down one SP/ENE won’t necessarily resolve the threat posed
The Enemy by their respective conspiracies, and dedicate themselves to
TFV has a firmly set procedure for dealing with most information gathering and more circumspect activities. Some

ENEs: report, observe, assess, report again, neutralize or call go deep cover.
for backup. Agents attached to Operation FORT dedicate them-
Having said that, few agents stick closely to procedure selves to understanding extraterrestrial and extra-dimensional
when in the field. A snarling, shapeshifting beast who’s just phenomena. They’re interested in aliens, but they also inves-

realized he’s being observed isn’t going to wait until the agents tigate fairies, demons, ghosts and alien entities that evidently
have assessed, reported and taken action. TFV’s strict cell- hail from some other-dimensional source. They’re the least
based structure might technically require approval up the scientifi c of TFV’s agents, drawing a lot of their methodology
chain of command before breaking out the Advanced Armory, from folklore and religion. They’re often nearly as cranky as
but often agents are blasé about exploiting the seemingly lim- the civilians who bang on about conspiracies.
itless budget. Having said that, agents who get too blasé have Operation ADAMSKI gets its name from a notorious
hoaxer who convinced many that he was in regular contact
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