Messy Business (Pt 4)

Messy Business poster by @ootron on twitter [1]

* Episode (must be logged into Patreon to view)

> This film cannot be shown. We wish it could. Perhaps some years from now, and far away, a group that’s much like us will quieten down. The lights will dim, the picture start to play. We built an apparatus out of steel to hold a camera, fixed, beneath a drone. We set the lens, adjusted for the height. It leapt to flight, and northward, ventured out above the thicket. Kept a steady line. It faltered not, and for a time we saw a grainy picture, on our little screen, of miles of houses, miles of scrub, of brush. The signal stuttered, soon we could not see. It travels onward. Blind telemetry.
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### Opening Narration

> *Specialist Corson**, start record - article intake number 8553. Object: Police evidence lot BB-2019-22, it is a little blue box with a bunch of plastic baggies with various… things. Well, I did ask for ephemera. Description: Let’s see, there’s like a- like a lighter in here? Some forks and knives… what is this, a keynote ticket? Okay… there’s a plate, with some sort of symbol on it, let’s see- I think it’s like a- yeah- it’s a- it’s a pair of dice wearing crowns- did someone eat off this plate? Oh my- oh my god, this bag has scrambled eggs in it, gross! What is-! Is this from a casino buffet? Fuck! [scoffs] Alright… mark it as Bluff City, I guess. Jesus, half of this stuff is burnt, what happened to- [sighs] right, there’s a- there’s a wallet in here, let me get the tweezers.*
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> *Alright, sub description: Wallet contents. ID - burned, validated parking ticket - mostly burned, Eat Fresh loyalty card-? - okay, somehow that is totally fine. Um… and… this is one of those electric key cards for a hotel room. I don’t- I don’t know this hotel… Mimona, did a new place open up in Bluff City recently? Or is this… some sort of exclusive-*
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> *[Door knocking sound]*
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> *[away from mic] One second!*
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> *[Door knocking]*
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> *[away from mic] One second-! Uh- Hey! What are you- No, you can’t come in… Okay, woah, slow down… It’s not- Jesus! He- Hec- [recording abruptly stops]*
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> *[Intro music continues until fading out to a dial tone and wind noise]*
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### Music

This episode's main theme samples the second movement of Franz Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat Major, from a public domain mark 1.0 recording sourced from the European Archive via museopen. The dial tone heard in the opening and closing is from a recording by giddster, via freesound, licensed under a creative commons 0 license.

The final track samples Del Carnaval, by Juanitos, licensed under a creative commons 2 France license.

## Cast

* Austin Walker as GM
* Chris Andrews/Agent Ryder (Ali Acampora)
* Agent Heard/Robber Twig (Keith J Carberry)
* Maggie Darcy/Agent Seals (Janine Hawkins)
* Florence Slowly/Agent Page (Jack de Quidt)

## Plot

Florence Slowly, Hector Hu, Christine Andrews, Maggie Darcy, and Agent Heard at the Film Festival by @vlasdygoth on twitter [2]

Below them, the audience is shocked in reaction to Blake’s film - some people leave, some demand that the

film be played again (“as if people have seen a crime on stage”).

Heard heads immediately towards Hector (“I go to Hector. I don’t know what I’m doing yet, but I’m going to Hector”), followed quickly by the others who are afraid of what Heard might do. Hector, unworried, asks what they thought of the film. Page yells out a warning to Hector (“Hector, run!”). Heard tells Hector not to run. Phones ring out across the Festival.

Hector does not run, although he does turn and quickly walk down the stairs, hanging up a phone on his way past. Heard follows him, trying to catch up to Hector as he makes his way through the crowd.

Blake’s film starts to play again, the projection widening until it is projected on the buildings surrounding The Courtyard.

Ryder, Seals, and Page follow Heard at a distance, trying to make sure that Hector will not be in danger but giving them enough space that they can keep out of Heard’s sight. Hector heads towards an alleyway near to The Courtyard, followed closely by Heard.

Heard grabs Hector by the shoulder, spinning him around. Hector tells Heard to tell the Concern that he got away, as it should be enough that Heard solved the mystery surrounding Blake’s death, and Heard disagrees (“I honestly think that was less than a third of what they wanted”). Heard asks Hector if the place on the film was real, and Hector says it is, and asks if he wants to go. Heard says he does as he “doesn’t know what else to do about knowing”. Hector says he feels the same, which is why he helped Blake and Gale (“It was the only thing that made sense. I couldn’t keep it to myself”)..

Hector says he can drive them there, which startles Heard initially (“it’s a drive? You can drive there?”), but he still agrees to go with Hector, and says that the others will come with him. Hector greets the rest of the team, telling Seals specifically that he’s heard good things about her work. They take Sleeves’ car (Heard driving, with Page and Hector in the front with him, and Ryder and Seals in the back).

A new float is added to the parade - an “amalgam of hands - which begins to follow them, a sign that the Curator is following them.

Ryder asks if the citizens involved in the parade will be okay, and Hector reassures her. Hector directs Heard as they drive, working on folding paper fortune tellers. They begin driving towards The Thicket.

Heard asks if Hector saw his trial, and Hector says he did not but that he “heard about it”. Heard says it was convincing (“it always is with them”), and that almost everyone Hector associated with is gone. Hector points out that Heard isn’t included in that, and is in fact currently up for promotion. Heard says that this was because he told the Concern that he’d bring Hector in, and Hector asks if that’s where Heard is driving them. Heard says that he is driving them to Bluffington (“I turned left, you said turn left”).

Hector turns back to Ryder and Seals, asking how his peel is doing. Page and Heard tell him that the peel is dead, but agree that it was a convincing one. Hector takes the news of his death in an extremely calm manner, and Page asks why he isn’t more bothered that his peel had been murdered. Hector responds that “[the peel] was murdered there so [he, Hector] wouldn’t be murdered here”.

Hector tells them that if they follow him to Bluffington, it is unlikely that the Concern will let them return to Bluff City, and that they cannot rely on the next agent’s loyalty being as compromised as Heard’s (“Hey!” “Not to me, to them”).

Page and Ryder ask how long the Concern has known about Bluffington, and Hector says he believes that the top management level of the Concern not only have always known of Bluffington but are initially from there. Page and Ryder express shock at this.

Ryder says that she made a promise to help Apollo and Finnegan return to Bluff City. Hector says it’s not too late now, but that she has to make the decision before they leave. Page says that she will go with Ryder, in order to return to her daughter (“if I don’t know that I can’t come back, I’m not gonna go”). Hector calls to get Ryder and Page a ride back to the city in order to fulfill Ryder’s promise.

They continue to drive, eventually reaching the Shunt Point to Bluffington: a canal. Hector tells them to get their story straight before they split up, and Heard tells Page to tell them that the Curator got them, and Hector says that he thinks that will be believable to the Concern.

As they discuss their preparedness, Hector looks over Page’s gun, replacing the bullets inside with his own. She asks if Hector will be able to contact him in Bluffington, and he says transport between Blough and Bluffington is not a problem. Heard asks if this means that Blough is closer to Bluffington, and hector says that he believes that the distance is the same between Bluff and Bluffington, but that they haven’t found the Bluff City shunt point yet.

Ryder says that she’s staying to help Apollo and Finnegan, and Hector says that he could use her help, if she changes her mind. Page says her goodbyes, and Heard tells her that she should quit, which Page emphatically says that she plans to. Hector hugs both Ryder and Page before they leave.

A riverboat pulls up to the edge of the canal, and Rage and Ryder wade towards it. They get on, arriving at Finnegan’s apartment a short time later.

Hector directs Heard to drive into the canal, and Heard does. The car sinks, driving underwater towards a tunnel. Once they enter the tunnel, they are no longer underwater. The tunnel emerges into an on-ramp to a highway, and the car drives onto a highway, and their car has turned into a lincoln town car.

They arrive in Bluffington Beach. Hector directs Heard towards a casino parking lot, and they decide to go to the casino buffet.

Meanwhile, back at Finnegan’s apartment. Page and Ryder make the conscious decision to not refer to each other by their agent names, and discuss the details of what they’re doing.

Finnegan peaks through the door, dressed in his santa costume minus the beard. He tells them that he was expecting Maggie, and Chris tells him that the other agents were occupied. Finnegan checks with Apollo before opening the door.

Apollo asks what their plan is for getting out, and Ryder explains that they’re going to go through “a door”, and that they’ll have to lie low while in Bluff City but will be relatively safe. Finnegan rushes around finishing packing (clothes, a little bowling league trophy from Blough City, portable fishing rod inside a hard brown suitcase). Apollo does not have any luggage with him, believing that he will find what he needs once in Bluff City.

Chris calls her Control operative, Agent Duke, to get the information about the Shunt Point, and he gives her direction to 2-22 Countinghouse. They arrive, followed closely by police.

Meanwhile in Bluffington, Seals, Hector, and Heard get food from the buffet. As they sit, Mike Truck joins down besides them, eating some spaghetti. He expresses his regret that they couldn’t see each other more when Heard was in town. Hector taps on the table, attempting to signal Heard and Seals to look at Mike’s hands - they cannot count how many fingers he has, or how many hands, revealing him to be The Curator.

Seals excuses herself to go to the bathroom and retrieves a can of air freshener spray.

Meanwhile in Blough City, they ride the elevator up the Countinghouse building to the top floor. Chris’s communicator rings and it is Agent Ward. She advises Chris to wait there for her arrival once they reach the top floor. Chris tells Florence about the call, but says that they should go through the door to Bluff City and that she’ll wait (“I have less to worry about”).

They reach the top floor and then take the long stairway around the building to the top of the roof. From there, they can see that although The Curator balloons are gone the parade itself is bigger, joining up to form the symbol of infinity in the streets below. From this perspective, they can see how the city is replicated over and over again into the horizon.

Chris says again that the others should go and that she will wait for Ward. Florence gives Chris her gun, although she tries again to get Chris to come with them. Chris says she won’t, and that after she confronts Ward she is going to find the tunnel to Bluffington, but that if she can come back to Bluff City she will. Florence and Chris say goodbye to one another, leaving hopeful that they might see each other again some day.

Florence opens the door to find the stairwell is now going straight down. Finnegan heads down first, followed by Apollo and Florence. The door closes, and then opens again to reveal Ward, who asks where the others are. Chris tells her that they have gone ahead, including Apollo. Ward is displeased by this, and asks where Heard is. Chris tells her that he is still chasing down Blake’s film.

Across Blough City, Blake’s film begins to play projected onto more buildings.

Ward does not believe her, reaching inside of her jacket for her weapon. Chris raises her gun (“you knew my priorities the day we met”). Ward takes out her pistol and takes aim at Chris.

Chris fires her gun, the shot firing true thanks in part to Chris’ solid faith in Hector (since it was his bullets in the gun). Chris’ phone starts ringing. What she hears is the scene in the casino in Bluffington -

Maggie Darcy, during Messy Business Pt 4 by @dancynrew on twitter [3]

Seals takes the air freshener carefully back to the table, lights a cigarette, and pulls up the air freshener can

and pulls up the lighter and sets The Curator on fire, killing him (as ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ plays on the casino speaker).

The screen cuts to black. When we cut back, Seals, Hector and Heard are in a different casino, seated by the slot machines (“this is going to be alright. Three of us, we can build something“).

Chris, still listening to their conversation, drives back towards the canal, following the tire tracks into the water.

Back at the slot machines, Hector pulls out a notepad, beginning to plan a new organisation with four department heads (Hector, Heard, Maggie, Gale), pauses, and then adds Chris to the list of names as well.

The camera pulls back through Bluffington Beach, letting the audience catch a glimpse of Chris’ car before the episode, and season, ends.