Following up on a comment from Douglas Cole- Ballistic Leggings

Quite a while ago, Douglas Cole commented, wondering if ballistic leggings actually see any use.

Preparing for my Agents' fight that's to come in the next session, I decided to dig a litte.

Slate reported that James Holmes, the perpetrator of the Aurora movie theater shooting wore a fairly full set of body armor during the attack, including "ballistic leggings, a throat protector, a groin protector, and tactical gloves". Beyond that, google is a wasteland of advertisements for 'tactical' gear.

I think the jury is still out on whether they see any use within military organizations or not. I'll probably end up running with riot gear for the attackers.

That said, if anybody wants to shed light on the topic, I'm not the only one who would find it interesting to know!

Action Report: Pariah Dog

The Agents

Tobias Stöhner: Gray hat hacker and electronics whiz, Tobias makes computer security experts at the Pentagon break out into a cold sweat when he infiltrates their systems.
Virgil Cooke: A former CIA agent, Virgil is a master of acting a part and working the social aspects of covert ops. You probably should avoid windows if he wants you dead.
Jack Herman: Former SAS, Jack is the group's heavy muscle and military man. If the group needs his talents, it's inevitably because something went FUBAR and they need saving.
Nima Caspi: A former IDF combat medic, Nima is perfectly at home driving like a complete maniac and patching up complete maniacs who have taken a bullet or two.
Johnny Trang: Johnny Trang was too cool for LAPD officer school, so they put him into undercover work. Johnny Trang is perfectly at home infiltrating illegal racing rings or snooping on bad guys.

Tobias' player was absent again. Still unsure about his continued participation, but we'll see how that goes.

Virgil is held by some very pissed off police officers and hospital security. His Secret Service badge passes intense scrutiny, and Johnny's prior bribe of the local security detail buy them a good word. When it's discovered that the 'nurse' wasn't an actual employee, they grudgingly allow Virgil to leave.

The other Agents return to the safehouse. They trawl the web, coming across some schematics for the safe they pulled from the Copperhead warehouse, although their initial attempts to defeat the lock fail.

Virgil later cracks it open upon his return, as he actually has lockpicking.

The safe contains a lot of first-hand evidence that incriminates three US Senators in cooperating with the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. The Sinaloa feeds information to the DEA that allows them to target the Los Zetas, the DEA avoids the Sinaloa, and the congressmen and certain individuals within the DEA get a cut.

There's also a voice recording:

"We have the means to implicate them as cooperating with the Zetas Cartel."
"How?"
"You don't need to know that. All that matters is that we get paid."
"I'm arranging that now."
"If you try to double-cross us, you'd better believe we will make sure that everything you touch withers and dies."

 
The Agents get in touch with Kyle, who stops watching the GAO Chairman's home. They decide to visit the congressional offices to get a scoop on what the dirty senators are up to.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: I didn't fully research the congressional offices and learned I played it wrong- there's three, and technically all senators share some huge office buildings, they don't have individual places like I assumed at first. None of my players caught the discrepancy, although it can be easily dealt with should they notice.)

Security at the first office is fairly lack, consisting of two security guards and an alarm system that's been stuck in an alert state for the last few weeks- silenced by an admin who got sick of hearing it go off for no reason.

The Senator's office turns out to be fairly boring- he doesn't watch porn from the office, the safe under a painting only has a financial ledger, some scotch (stolen by Kyle), and some cigars.

The Agents leave and then hit up the next congressional office. The security system here has been obviously bypassed, and they find a security guard, dead from a stab to his abdomen, as they head upstairs.

What follows is one of the worst showings by enemy NPCs ever. The operative fails all of his perception check, getting swamped by Jack, Johnny and Virgil who all manage to grapple him and take him down. They handcuff him, leaving him prone.

They toss the already tossed office, finding the senator's sensitive paperwork as well as a brick of cocaine.

Johnny goes about making the entire scene look like a robbery gone wrong, and leaves with Virgil and Kyle. Jack shoots their handcuffed prisoner with the security guard's gun and then makes a mad dash for the fire escape before the guard on the ground floor responds.

The Agents return to the safehouse and get a night's rest. Come morning, the news has already caught onto the death of a Senator and is going nuts. The rumors do mention ties to the Los Zetas Cartel, including the bloodbath that went down at the Copperhead warehouse.

Tobias has cracked into the dead Senator's files and phone, uncovering an e-mail:

"EA Confirmed. GAO and problematic senators will be framed as per plan."

Kyle suggests calling Egeman with the new discoveries. The Agents state that they've uncovered a plot for multiple innocent US Senators to take the fall for the two surviving corrupt Senators, and that they've secured the intelligence Soto had gathered.

Egeman tells them their mission is over, and that they are to report to New York to meet up with Ozzy to deliver the intel. He approves of how they've enabled the other team present to do their work.

This confuses the Agents, and Egeman reveals that cocaine stolen from the Los Zetas (way back when) has used to frame a few problematic politicians as cooperating with the Sinaloa cartel, taking heat off from the truly corrupt Senators.

In fact, the brick they recovered was part of the take they got in Mexico.

This leaves the Agents stunned. Virgil feigns approval, the only thing that stops Egeman from getting suspicious. The call ends, and there's a few tense moments as Johnny strongly considers killing Kyle.

They get away from Kyle and contact Logan with an update. Tobias begins duplicating the intel from Soto's files. Then they get a call from Nima- Natalia is at the hospital.

Fearing that Egeman has ordered Natalia, Johnny drives the team through D.C. like a man possessed. They find Natalia sitting next to Nima outside Soto's room. She's happy and chipper, and simply gives Johnny back the modified FN-Five Seven she took from him in Turkey, before skipping away.

They receive word from Logan, who wants to meet them in NYC.

The Agents drive to NYC, and then Nima and Johnny stage a race to ditch Kyle while they still can.

Logan's meeting spot is a rundown EB Games. The place is deserted, and a note on the cash register denotes that Logan is downstairs.

Upon getting downstairs, they find Logan bound and gagged to a chair, obviously having been subjected to some serious physical abuse.

Logan indicates that his Agency 17 bodyguard, Mr. Monson, has betrayed him.

Just in time for the ambush.

My Thoughts on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

I love the idea of Standard Operating Procedures, and this thread on the SJG Forums got me thinking and talking with my players.

SOPs are particularly useful for avoiding ambiguities (did you use your silencer when you shot that man in the back of a restaurant), smoothing over boring details (yup, car's fueled up!), and it can help prevent players from having to state a million times over the things that they like to do all the time.



A good SOP:

• Speeds play
• Cuts down on confusion/ambiguity
• Logically and reasonably explains a character's reaction to a certain set of circumstances
• Has a narrow focus if not related to a skill roll
• Possibly gives a skill bonus in a very narrow set of circumstances (+1 to avoid sticking yourself with a syringe while doing lab work, etc)
• Has power that's reasonable for a perk
• Helps protect from mistakes of omission (kicking down an unlocked door, forgetting to silence a gun during a stealth operation, etc)

And here are some that I've come up with:

SOP: Get the Data
There's no question whether you remembered to pocket a bad guy's phone or copied down his financial data.

SOP: Check the Goods
You always check new equipment for defects or issues before it gets used.

SOP: Burner Phone Addict
You always remember to change phones between missions to maintain security. 

SOP: Silencer Use
If you have a silencer, you're assumed to be using it when appropriate 

SOP: OTC Medication
You always have headache/allergy/digestive medication on hand. (Pick one) 

SOP: Captive Care
You never forget to feed or otherwise care for those you've taken prisoner

SOP: Bug awareness
You take out your phone battery before having sensitive conversations

Action Report: Congressional Misconduct

The Agents

Tobias Stöhner: Gray hat hacker and electronics whiz, Tobias makes computer security experts at the Pentagon break out into a cold sweat when he infiltrates their systems.
Virgil Cooke: A former CIA agent, Virgil is a master of acting a part and working the social aspects of covert ops. You probably should avoid windows if he wants you dead.
Jack Herman: Former SAS, Jack is the group's heavy muscle and military man. If the group needs his talents, it's inevitably because something went FUBAR and they need saving.
Nima Caspi: A former IDF combat medic, Nima is perfectly at home driving like a complete maniac and patching up complete maniacs who have taken a bullet or two.
Johnny Trang: Johnny Trang was too cool for LAPD officer school, so they put him into undercover work. Johnny Trang is perfectly at home infiltrating illegal racing rings or snooping on bad guys.

Tobias' player was absent the last two sessions summarized here and I'm currently dubious as to his continued participation. But anyways, without further delay...

The team takes a weak or so to get to the US. Kyle spends the time getting to know the Agents, questioning them closely about their previous missions, starting with the operation in Turkey. Virgil correctly surmises that Kyle is an ex-cop of some caliber, and does his best to ensure Kyle thinks the team is competent.

The Agents carefully omit some information from Kyle:

• They avoid disclosing their working relationships with both Rashad in Brazil and Wade in Turkey
• The discussions with Logan centering around the possibility that a mole is operating within Agency 17 are completely avoided.

Johnny takes the time to get to know Shaka, the pilot responsible for saving their bacon back on Arthur Bingham's ship. Shaka is friendly, boisterous, and immediately takes a liking to Johnny because he understands what it's like to pilot a helicopter. When asked about the pilot sent by Agency 17 to take out, Shaka is able to fill in a few details. The pilot was trigger-happy, and a lone wolf. He enjoyed taking out targets, and was drawn to helicopters for their destructive potential. He didn't really fraternize much.

Kyle calls a briefing and is prepared with a long powerpoint filled with slides documenting official Agency 17 policies and procedures- 90% of which he clicks through rapidly, going past such gems as the 'Always pay your parking fines' policy, the fact that Virgil's cache of weapons in Maryland was against A17 policy, the sexual harassment guidelines, as well as the official guidelines for requesting gear.

Intel from Miguel- their previous contact in Mexico- indicates that a Sinaloa boss of some kind, one Alejandro Soto, is arriving in Washington DC with four goons that will serve as his bodyguards. The Agents question what their role in the mission is, and Kyle doesn't have any clear answers. It sounds like a meeting of some kind will be taking place, and likely something crawling with multiple alphabet soup agencies.

"You should embrace our position as wolves among sheep, Johnny." Kyle says. "We're the big boys in the spook world."

 Kyle reckons the mission will be easy. Stake out the airport, follow the Sinaloa Boss
 and crack beers once they know what he's up to.

The conversation turns to logistics. Johnny tries to get the gun Natalia took from him back, but Egeman deflects that line of questioning. Kyle hints that Natalia might be on the tail of Logan. The Agents compare notes in the hours they have before arriving in the Chesapeake Bay, recalling that Egeman was greeted by a man associated with Agency 17 right after the mission in Turkey, and noticing that he's not currently on the ship.

Traveling to DC goes without a hitch, and the team is provided a suburban safehouse complete with an under the floor safe loaded with four silenced pistols. Nima and Virgil go out on a 'shopping' trip, stealing multiple cars. Nima's take on the last mission when asked by Virgil is that somebody really didn't want the group talking with Arthur Bingham. Virgil takes some time to get in contact with Wade, trying to subtly suggest there's some pay involved if Wade will give Virgil some information on whoever hired him to kill Lorin.

Meanwhile, while Kyle watches the local news, Johnny and Jack talk about what Johnny learned from Shaka. They're convinced that Shaka is not involved in whatever events surrounded them being attacked by an Agency helicopter, but the other pilot is fishy to them, likely chosen because of his wanton disregard for human life.

Virgil finishes up his portion of the shopping trip by going to the most popular Quake forums online and posting carefully crafted posts designed to make Logan's hotword senses tingle. He hits up the top five forums, before rejoining Nima and getting back to the safehouse.

The plan for the airport is simple. Virgil will place a bug on Soto. Jack will watch him from inside. Nima and Johnny will both be outside posing as taxi cabs. Kyle will be nearby outside.

Soto's security team ends up driving onto the tarmac of the airport, getting swarmed by the TSA (Natural 18 crit-fail, right there). Soto's departure from airport security is delayed a few hours. Jack notices a man watching Soto, but unwisely doesn't do anything about it.

Virgil placing the bug on Soto gets immediately overshadowed when the man Jack spotted walks up to Soto and stabs him with a knife, repeatedly, including a good stab directly to the throat. Jack rushes in to try and keep Soto alive once the guy with the knife flees, applying first aid.

Kyle and Johnny give chase in their car. Johnny is by far the better driver compared to the attacker, who tries a little too hard to push the motorcycle he's on to perform. After getting onto the freeway their target loses control when he drifts over some rumble strips attempting to pass a semi on the right.

Kyle handcuffs him and throws him in the back of the cab.

Soto is taken in TSA care, while the team meets back at the safehouse. Virgil has received information from Wade, basically detailing that Wade was hired by a rival arms dealer cartel to take out Lorin so that they could then start supplying the PKK- a niche they've been starting to fill since the team left Turkey.

Johnny and Jack begin interrogating the guy who attacked Soto.

"Tick tock." Is all Kyle says.
"What's the hurry? Alejandro is probably dead."
"I have a meet and greet with a hooker in an hour and this interrogation will kill the mood." Kyle says. "I need time for my manhood to recover."

 The man has a few Zetas tattoos, and resists all attempts to pry information out of him. (Critical success!) The team resorts to going through his phone, discovering Alejandro's true reason for visiting the United States- he's here to inform on certain members of Congress for taking money from the cartels in return for ensuring DEA cooperation in certain areas of enforcement.

Virgil does some detective work, quickly finding that Soto is indeed alive and at a nearby hospital. Thanks to some forged identification made by Tobias, he's able to convince the local cops watching over Soto that he's also been attached to babysitting duty.

A few days pass before Soto wakes up. Virgil grabs his cache of gear from Maryland, Kyle watches a lot of TV, Nima does some more shopping, picking up a crash kit and guns, while Johnny and Jack trade off watching Soto.

Soto cannot speak, a result of being stabbed in the throat. Writing on a pad of paper, Soto indicates that all of his evidence is in a briefcase- which has gone missing.

Meanwhile, Jack, who hasn't replaced his phone recently, is contacted by someone with eerie knowledge of their operations via text:

I HAVE IDENTIFIED THIS NUMBER AS BEING RELATED TO ANAMOLOUS ACTIVITY WITH 86.7% CERTAINTY. ARE YOU FRIEND OR FOE OF HUMANITY?

DATA SHOWS CHANCE OF VIOLENCE IN ITALY. APPROACHING 90%. CORRELATION TO ARMS TRAFFICKING STRONG BUT UNCONFIRMED.

JET FUEL USAGE UP OVER WESTERN EUROPE, INDICATING MOVEMENTS OF THREE PLUS BLACK HELICOPTERS. MIND CONTROL UNLIKELY.

I WILL BE IN TOUCH.

 Jack sends back some (really well done by the player, to the extent he got an extra point at the end of the session for it) coded messages intended to discern if this person is Logan attempting to initiate contact, but it isn't the case.

Logan does get in touch with Virgil, sending only a terse message that he's under observation and will be in touch with the group soon.

This is followed by Johnny and Jack doing some detective work at the airport. Using fake credentials and a cop's savoir-faire, Johnny manages to get access to security tapes, while Jack looks at the lost and found luggage. They determine that somebody found Soto's briefcase, took the contents, and replaced them with women's underwear. Johnny gets the footage. They discover that the person responsible for the switch got buzzed into secure areas using a TSA badge issued to an officer who hadn't turned up to work for a few days.

They decide to give the TSA Agent a visit. While Jack slips around the back of the house, Johnny knocks. Hearing movement inside, but with nobody answering the door, a firefight ensues when Jack sees two men inside preparing an ambush.

The fight is fast, and ends very poorly for the two men inside. Jack shoots one through the kitchen window, causing the second man to retreat into the house.

There's a gunshot from inside. Johnny rushes in and kills the second man as he's turning around for the TSA Agent he just executed.

Jack and Johnny attempt to clean the crime scene as well as make it look like a robbery gone wrong. They don't have time to search for clues considering the police response, but they nab one of the intruder's cellphones before leaving.

It pays off. Shortly after it receives texts asking for the status of the TSA agent. Tobias is able to track down its location- an old warehouse, previously contracted by the Smithsonian before too many items started 'falling off trucks'.

Virgil stays behind in the hospital to ensure Soto isn't assassinated. Kyle follows up on leads showing that Soto was trying to contact someone in the Government Accountability Office.

Jack, Johnny and Nima head for the warehouse. A guy exits the side right as Jack is nearby, and Jack gets him in a chokehold. One unconscious guard later, Jack and Johnny slip inside while Nima waits with the car.

The warehouse is empty, except for an office on the second story where five men are lounging around, being racist about Latin Americans. They're a local gang, contracted by the Zetas to do some grunt work.

Jack and Johnny take up positions near the doors. They locate themselves so when the men leave the office they'll have the door between them and their targets.

Nima honks her car horn outside a few times, to convince the men that the Zetas are outside looking to make the exchange.

What follows is Johnny quietly convincing the man they left up on the catwalk to cause no trouble, handcuffing him and leaving him in the office. Jack opens fire on the lead man, dropping him. Confusion reigns amongst the crew, and only one manages to escape Jack and Johnny inside, at which point Nima rams him with her car.

Yelling at injured and scared local gangsters gets results, and the Agents promptly find the firesafe the gang leader stored the documents from Soto's briefcase in. The Agents leave just before the real Zeta cartel members show up- they doubt any of the local gang will survive the wrath of the most notoriously bloodthirsty drug cartel.

Virgil manages to stay on task during the long and boring hours waiting. Being very crafty (Hello Craftiness Talent 4), trying to impersonate a nurse (even with skill 14 in acting and disguise) around Virgil is a bad idea, as a would-be assassin learns when Virigl interrupts her attempts to switch out Soto's IV for something a little more... deadly.

There's an extended struggle as Virgil and the assassin vie for control of the syringe she pulls out of her pocket. Virgil eventually gets her into an arm lock, forces her to the ground, and finishes her off with a telegraphed all-out attack (determined) punch to the face.

Both Virgil and the assassin are detained by hospital staff until the police arrives. That's where we ended for the evening.

Notes:

• Kyle mentions that Interpol agents rarely make the grade when it comes to Agency 17 standards. The last one to qualify as a candidate- Agent Larson- died in Turkey during the investigation into Lorin's gun running operation due to a fragmentation grenade.
• All my players think the mysterious texts are coming from a male. I've decided to make the character female purely to play on their expectations.
•  Virgil didn't have the brawling skill up until this point.

Agents of Agency 17: Nima Caspi

Nima was originally intended to fill in some gaps within the party that existed while Alex was still around providing thieving opportunities and before Johnny showed up as a potential wheel man. Most importantly, nobody in the group had put more than one or two points into first aid, and none of them had surgery. Along with that, nobody in the group had driving capabilities up to high-speed car chases.

Using Kromm's excellent specialty packages, Nima was created with the following four: Field Medicine, Tactical Driving, Fixer, and Infantry Training, working off the concept that she was a former IDF Combat Medic.

Her standout skills are First Aid 18, Driving (Automobile) and Smuggling both at 16, and Guns (Rifle) and Merchant both at 15. With surgery 14 she could also work professionally as a surgeon, thanks to bonuses for routine tasks, good equipment, and the other benefits one enjoys working in a hospital.

Nima's primary weaknesses are hand-to-hand combat (13 in Judo and Brawling) and she's only effective socially when attempting to acquire gear. She also entirely lacks technical skills not covered by Soldier, which I should probably raise as it covers a great deal of things she would be proficient at.

On the personality side of things, Nima does enjoy being around people and helping them, a large part of why her medical skills are as honed as they are. That said, she drives like a fucking maniac, gleefully attempting maneuvers behind the wheel that others would refuse to attempt.

Besides the usual advantage package that everybody who gets into combat loves (combat reflexes and fit), Nima's rocking Daredevil and Danger Sense. Daredevil is a great choice for someone who takes grossly unreasonable risks, and Danger Sense is the perfect thing for someone driving your vehicle when IEDs and land mines are a potential threat.

Overall, Nima has done a great job of supporting the group while not overshadowing anyone else (except maybe Johnny's driving).

Action Report: Backstabbed

The Agents

Tobias Stöhner: Gray hat hacker and electronics whiz, Tobias makes computer security experts at the Pentagon break out into a cold sweat when he infiltrates their systems.
Virgil Cooke: A former CIA agent, Virgil is a master of acting a part and working the social aspects of covert ops. You probably should avoid windows if he wants you dead.
Jack Herman: Former SAS, Jack is the group's heavy muscle and military man. If the group needs his talents, it's inevitably because something went FUBAR and they need saving.
Nima Caspi: A former IDF combat medic, Nima is perfectly at home driving like a complete maniac and patching up complete maniacs who have taken a bullet or two.
Johnny Trang: Johnny Trang was too cool for LAPD officer school, so they put him into undercover work. Johnny Trang is perfectly at home infiltrating illegal racing rings or snooping on bad guys.


The Agents boarded the ship without issue, and promptly set up shop. Everyone got to work schmoozing with the staff, their neighbors, the security personnel, as well as looking for Vivian.

Tobias quickly got to work taking over the WiFi on the ship, introducing some advanced traffic shaping to ensure he got crisp reaction times while attempting to work- also booting off everyone torrenting at the same time.

Johnny used his cover as an Interpol Agent to get on the goodside of ship security. Meanwhile, Jack rubbed shoulders with a man presumably from HMRC- The British equivalent of the IRS- named Harley Gunroy. The two have a pleasant conversation, during which Harley lets slip that there Belarus goons on deck four, a fact he learned by bribing the ship staff. Harley and Jack are joined by Harley's wife, Jane, after which they part ways after agreeing to have dinner a in a day or two.

Having located the security office thanks to Johnny's snooping, Tobias and Virgil set up a small scale pyrotechnics display out of the contents of a janitor's closet, smoking security out of the office so Virgil can slip in and plant bugs on their systems for Tobias to use. It goes off without a hitch.

Despite the Agents' best efforts, Vivian is nowhere to be found.

Early the next morning, Johnny comes across two men kicking in a door. He interferes, starting a fairly nasty gunfight. Johnny's first salvo of shots takes out the larger of the two men. He and the remaining foe trade ineffective fire for a few rounds before a man emerges from the room that was being broken into with a knife.

The guy shooting at Johnny hears him coming and blasts at the guy with the knife, seriously injuring him. Johnny takes the opportunity to shoot him dead.

The wounded guy the goons were attempting to reach by breaking down the door turns out to be Interpol- investigating Italian Mafia connections to the drug trade. The agent is gravely wounded, and only survives due to Nima's supreme capabilities as a combat medic.

By this time the other Agents have been roused, and Tobias has already used their new surveillance capabilities to ensure the others' movements aren't recorded. Jack, Nima and Johnny toss the room that was being broken into, and Johnny catches a whiff of cocaine, which is leaking from a crate hit during the gunfight. The Agents load the dead men onto a luggage dolly and conceal it with a tarp, while Nima and Jack get the interpol agent to a room.

Virgil sloshes bleach everywhere, to give the appearance of a cleaning job gone wrong, improvising another incendiary device to set off once everyone else is clear.

The rest of the day is relatively uneventful as the Agents go back to fruitlessly searching for Vivian. The Interpol Agent is barely stable, and nobody in the group is comfortable explaining to the medical facilities on board how they found a gunshot victim.

Late that night, someone starts jamming all radio signals on the ship, hard. The noise is loud, obvious, and it even intrudes on the team's radio communications. While Tobias tries to track down the jammer, the team almost entirely ditches their headsets due to the feedback.

At this point, Virgil is creeped up on by Vivian, who was alerted to their presence by the queries launched by Tobias against the passenger manifest. She believes the Agents are on board to assassinate her for her association with Arthur Bingham- much like how she believes they got George Hardings killed.

After a short discussion, Vivian makes it clear that the team is going to be picked up by another ship and taken to a location to discuss things with her organization. Amazingly, the team agrees to the meet, despite the possibility that it's a trap.

Jack calls Logan to let him know about the meeting.

Vivian arranges everything, bribing the staff on the bottom decks to allow everyone close enough to the water line to comfortably change ships. The wounded Interpol Agent is brought along because he can't survive without Nima's vigilance.

They're immediately shown to a room where there's a conference table and they're seated across from Arthur Bingham.

Arthur informs them that he was NSA, that the team lost him his job, and that he believes that they got George Hardings killed- if they didn't pull the trigger themselves. He states that they're working for the wrong side, that he can see how the killings in France (courtesy of Natalia) are interrelated to events in Turkey, going so far as to state that he can see the FNORDS.

Arthur has clearly become a little unhinged in the months since he last met the Agents. The conversation is strained, ending up with Arthur storming out of the room. The Agents briefly talk about what to do while searching the room for bugs or cameras, finding a few.

It's at that time that four men with submachine guns come to escort them under decks. The team prepares to attack them- just in time for a massive explosion to rock the ship.

In the chaos, the team strikes out and takes out the men who were supposed to be escorting them, quickly taking over their weapons.

Turns out a helicopter attacked their ship with a rocket. It sprays the Agents with minigun fire, only hitting Nima with shrapnel. It moves closer, about to launch another attack on the team when it is strafed by another helicopter, and crashes.

What then ensues is a mad dash as the Agents attempt to prevent Vivian and Arthur Bingham from evacuating the ship as an aerial battle starts between yet a third helicopter that has appeared.

The Agents fail to stop the evacuation chopper from lifting off, although Virgil and Tobias both scored hits on the pilot and Bingham, respectively. The second chopper to appear wins the aerial battle and hails them on the radio- he's their ride home, sent by Agency 17.

The Agents quickly search the ship, stealing any information they think might be useful, as well as making sure the wounded Interpol Agent is evacuated on the chopper.

Upon returning again to The Salvation, the team is greeted by Egeman who apologizes for the fact that Agency 17 has been compromised. He promises that the leaked has been contained, and takes the chance to introduce them to their new handler, Kyle.

What Went Down:

Upon learning that the Agents were going to be in contact with the group that's actively backing Arthur Bingham (thanks to Jack's call to Logan), Egeman ordered an attack helicopter to take out Vivian, Arthur and the Agents in one attack.

Distrustful of Egeman, Logan caught wind of this plan and ordered another Agency 17 helicopter out to save his team's bacon. Logan's copter took out Egeman's, as well as the helicopter sent by Arthur and Vivian's agency to guard their evacuation.

Logan is now on the run, knowing full well that Egeman will have him tortured and killed for preventing the death of the Agents.

Kyle, meanwhile, is not as he appears. Rough, blunt and rude, it all hides a very strong critical thinker and tactician. Kyle has not really drank the kool-aid, although I'm sure my players will assume he's under Egeman's thumb.