Opening Scene

Factory in Mexico

The team had made its way to Mexico to a factory owned by a General I. Juan B. Ricos. Some research by Ms. Wren had uncovered that General Ricos had recently acquired a number of shares of stock from Globo-Fashion, Inc. Further research had turned up several pictures of the General with Ivana Rulital.

We were tracking down the source of a perfume used by Globo-Fashion in a plot to control the thoughts and actions of people through the use of mind-influencing drugs and devices. Globo-Fashion was using the products of Emma Ritchgarl to distribute these items, all without Ms. Ritchgarl’s knowledge.

We had neutralized the drugs in Ms. Ritchgarl’s perfume, but we still needed to keep any new drugs from entering the market. Our research had led us to this factory.

We had chosen the early hours of the morning to stage our operation. Although the factory continued to operate through the night, between the hours of ten and four there was only a skeleton crew on hand to ensure the automated portions of the production section operated without incident.

Our task was to alter the mixing process of the perfume so that the hypnotin, the chemical compound responsible for the mind-altering effects, was left out of the process. Fortunately, only two men were monitoring the computers through the night.

Ms. Raven had planned our entry into the facility. Only a few guards patrolled the perimeter, and they weren’t expecting any disturbances. Two of them even seemed to be drinking a bit of tequila while on duty. It was a simple matter to slip over the fence when they weren’t looking.

As we entered the main building, we made our way to the control room. The hallways were empty as we slipped quietly towards our objective. Ms. Raven slipped ahead of us to peek into the control room. She pulled back from the door and signaled to us. Only one person was currently in the room. Either the other man had gone to relieve himself, or he was off napping somewhere.

Ms. Hawk pulled the sap from the back of her belt and moved into the room. The rest of us kept watch, looking for the other man.

In only a few moments, we heard a slight thump and a muffled groan. Ms. Raven, who had been watching Ms. Hawk, signaled the rest of us into the room. Ms. Hawk had knocked out the man inside and was moving him to the side. She laid him on the floor after ensuring he was unconscious.

Ms. Swan quickly moved to the control monitor and set up her laptop, connecting it to the factory’s systems. I directed Ms. Raven to look around for the other man and told Ms. Hawk to watch the door.

It only took a few minutes for Ms. Swan to isolate the mixing procedures for the perfume. She quickly altered the formula used to eliminate the hypnotin. Another quick command caused all the hypnotin tanks to purge themselves into the drainage system. Finally, she eliminated all the copies of the original formula and substituted a nearly identical formula missing only the hypnotin.

Ms. Swan quickly disconnected her computer and packed it away in her bag. Ms. Raven moved back into the room, dragging another man behind her. She and Ms. Hawk placed the two men back in their chairs so that to all appearances, the two men had fallen asleep.

The four of us slipped out of the room and out of the building. Slipping past the guards outside was even easier this time. If they didn’t notice anyone sneaking into the building, they certainly weren’t expecting anyone to be leaving.

We quickly made our way across the hills surrounding the factory to the truck waiting for us. Ms. Stark and Ms. Falcon helped us load our gear and we all got into the truck. Its muffled engine allowed us to pull away so quietly that no one farther away than one hundred feet would never hear us.

As we moved away from the factory, I reflected on this mission. The hypnotin was destroyed along with the formula. No one had been hurt and apparently we had not been detected. Best of all, the factory could still continue producing the safe perfume, so no innocent workers would be without a job.

A complete success.