The man nods as you all get settled.
"Is that all of us then? Excellent..." he says in an even voice.
He stands, his expression inscrutable behind tinted lenses.
"My name is Mr. Scarlet. I will be briefing you on your current mission." he moves to the side of the table and the room darkens slightly. Monitors smoothly slide up from thier concealed location within the metallic table, one for each of you seated. A satellite photo of a small town can be seen on the view screens.
"This is Iridium Vale, Oregon. Iridium Vale is a small city surrounded by desert, formerly a mining town for the rare heavy metals once concentrated in the sand, now its the haven of America's leading high-tech industries, and a small university." scenes flip on your monitors to various mining operations, research labs, and sites around Iridium Vale, including the University.
"Because of the possibility of high-tech accidents, multi-million dollar industrial espionage, and the theft of valuable materials the city employs two heroes, Epsilon and Serena, collectively known as the Valiants." the monitor shows two costumed figures. One man and one woman. Epsilon wears a metallic golden jumpsuit trimmed with black, while Serena wears a red and blue affair. Both complete with masks and a stylized 'E' and 'S' adorn thier chests respectively.
The images then turn to something rather bizarre. Various other costumed figures. Though some of the costumes are familiar, these are not the striking heroic figures chiselled form stone, but slightly overweight, mountain dew drinking fan-boys dressed in ridiculous attire.
"Science fiction, role-playing games and comics are exremely popular among the university students, faculty and the local workforce, and a group has conglomerated itself to organize a convention, The Great Iridium Con, to be held between the city's largest hotel, The Sands, and the lecture theaters of Iridium University. About two-thirds of the attendees are locals, but many are from outside the city, even outside the state. The con is largely sponsored by the major industries, Heavy Metal Mining, Westech, JCN, Omniversal and Cyberworld, and by the University. Much of the program is designed to lure attendees into engineering, programming, etc. Other events, like the Masquerade, are far less seriously intended."
The lights resume thier normal illumination and he scans each of your faces. The corners of his mouth were ever so slightly upturned in what passes for Scarlet as a smirk.
"I am sure you are wondering what this all has to do with the Resolutes. Wednesday, a bomb was sent to Valiants HQ. Serena was badly injured, but not incapacitated. She was taken into protective custody and is recovering at the Maximum Security Wing of the local hospital. Epsilon, who was absent at the time, was ambushed Thursday morning and was incapacitated. He is comatose in the same Ward as Serena. The weapons used in his assault were an energy pistol and a crossbow. That night, last night, Doctor Laura Stoner of Heavy Metal Mining, the Leader of the Deep-Scan research team, was attacked in her lab and killed. The weapon seems to have been a laser fired through the second story window. Nothing was missing from the lab."
He pauses for a moment before continuing.
"If you aren't familiar with the Deep-Scan project. The intent is to build a portable Holographic Echo-location Emitter. Using oscillating waves it can map out a 3D image of terrain both underground and above. With such a device trying to find Fugitive Terrorists hiding in caves or pinpointing the recent problem we had in California would be a thing of the past. A prototype is scheduled to be presented during the Con. Your mission is two-fold. Investigate the recent attacks and protect the Deep-Scan Device from theft. You are to remain low-key and pose as Con-goers while at the convention. You already have rooms reserved at the Sands. Your contact there will be Dr. Michael Dupont; attending physician for the Valiants and an undercover agent working for us. He will meet you when you land. Your transport leaves in 15 minutes. Any questions?"
