Linc

Age

**Thomas Jefferson Russell** (better known as **Linc**), also known as **HO #12-09-14-03**, is a character in the Redearth88 series and the The Home Office ARG. He is an ex-OpAphid agent, who is on the run from the Order.

## Background

Linc grew up in the United States. In 1992, when he was seven years old, his parents were shot outside of a restaurant in Manchester. There were no subsequent arrests or convictions, and Linc was sent to an orphanage due to having no next of kin. In 2001, he interviews to join the Hymn of One while accompanied by Gemma. In December of that year, he returned to the United States.

### Operation: Dehteraew

With the help of Gemma, he entered into the Order in 2004 and begins training for field work. After a year of training, he was assigned to an OpAphid kill squad that managed surveillance operations as well as arranging assassinations. In 2005, they captured and released a gas station owner that was later arrested for arms sale. Linc worked alongside two other agents named Julie and Pete, all three awarded those names after they failed a critical assignment in 2006.

To make up for the incident, the three of them assigned to work on the hostage exchange to acquire Bree Avery. After the operation fell through, OpAphid had finally had enough with Linc's screw-ups, and sent a Shadow to kill him and his teammates. Linc narrowly escaped being blown up by a bomb left in Pete's apartment, and he advises Julie to go on the run, while Pete was presumably killed in the explosion.

For a while, Linc stayed in a house belonging to one of his handlers, and investigates the field where he trained as an OpAphid Agent. He discovered that the owner of the gas station across the way had been arrested under suspicion of terrorism, due to the arms sale that took place two years before. Linc finds it odd that the Order would be so sloppy as to have one of their agents charged with terrorism, and finds it even more strange that new equipment is at the station, despite it being shut down. The Order located him during the investigation and he made it out in one piece again.

Linc went underground for the next month, but became involved in unraveling the Order's crimes via the internet, and became especially intent on helping a college girl named Maddison Atkins try and discover the mysterious identity of Mr. Zipp. When the War Pylol video was discovered, Linc fled to Texas to save Maddison, but was unable to get to her in time. Linc is extremely distressed by this failure, and said that the message for help had come too late for him to arrive on time. Because of this, he declares war on the Order and vows to make them pay for the crimes they have committed.

### Operation: Red Earth

Linc reappeared two months later as an agent of the Lofi Syndicate. He has informed users that OpASphid had abandoned her post and Operation: APHID has shut down, and that he is currently being stalked 24/7 by an evil pre-recorded phone message. He receives a phone call every hour stating a message that he has until the 21st, but does not state for what. When the number is called, a music mashup puzzle is heard. The character 15over15 is then discovered.

Afterwards, 15over15 contacted Linc, and told him to protect Rachel. He has been stalking her, until one day when Rachel saw him in the park, and he was filming her. He told her he was filming his cousin, and the two went on a date, and planned to hit up garage sales later. However, Rachel saw Linc's cousin, and found out he wasn't filming her. She reacting angrily, and told him to go away when he tried to contact her. Despite this, Linc rescues Rachel from "the faceless guy with the syringe" who appeared to have done something to her while waiting to undergo an STD test. Linc shot the men and took Rachel home, where she spent the next few days sleeping.

Not long after, Rachel decided to give Linc a second chance, but on a bus ride home they are spotted by War Pylol, a former OpAphid agent, and are subsequently chased by a white van, which is documented with the aid of Linc's newly acquired war-spy device. Linc and Rachel lose the van in a parking garage (in which Brother, or Tachyon take care of the van's driver) and decide to hide out. Linc, convinced that 15over15 is going to assist them, takes Rachel to a spot outside a mysterious tunnel. Rachel loses her temper and storms off through said tunnel; Linc follows her and begins to explain their situation. He fails to notice that he is walking ahead and when he turns to check on her she is gone. Upon turning back around a ghostly image of OpAphid herself is shown and Linc falls to the floor.

Over the next two months Linc and Rachel whereabouts remained a mystery. Linc uploaded a video on October, 11th, 2007, entitled Farewells in which he explains that he woke up on September 1st, unaware of what had happened the previous month. He declares that he is tired of seeing the people he tries to help fall. He says he will not leave a trail and that anyone that tries to find him will fail.

### Operation: Zero Sum

On September 17, 2009, Linc was visited by Julie, who was now employed by The Home Office, an organization dedicated to bringing down the Order. Julie manages to convince Linc to join the Home Office for one mission. However, he is reluctant to take part when he is told that the objective is to kill an Elder using the alias Nicolai Black. Using information provided by a mole in the Order, Linc and Summer meet with a rogue Shadow and discover that Black has become addicted to Shadow drugs. While on a lunch break, Michael informs the team that they have been followed. In the chase, Linc is forced to ditch his car (which he nicknamed Gemma) in order to evade capture. He and Summer successfully install a GPS tracking device on the Order Goons' car. The success is short lived, as the team becomes annoyed with Linc after finding out that he had been driving drunk. Julie is chosen to drive from then on, and the team goes to the location of the tracked car. Once there, Linc gets out and confronts the Goons. He manages to steal one of their phones, but gets beaten up in the process.

They later discover that the phone has a GPS tracker on it, and the Order Goons arrive at the safe house. Linc manages to capture one of them, but the other kidnaps Julie. Furious, Linc pours paint thinner on the captured Goon and lights him on fire. Afterwards, he and Summer track the GPS signal on Julie to the tunnel where he and Rachel were abducted a year earlier. Linc kills the Order Goon and frees Julie, only to find out that Black's Shadow is there as well. Linc is shot in the leg, and the team is forced to relocate to another safe house. At the safehouse, the decide to contact Linc's former college Nash who works at Verdus Pharmaceuticals. Nash gives them a compound that will give a false reading in a trait positive test, but will be purged from the body after 48 hours. Julie takes the compound, and Linc discovers that the rogue Shadow has been killed by the Order. On his way back to the base, he is spotted by Black's Shadow.

He manages to escape, and the team is informed that Black is meeting with a Helper alone. Upon arriving at the location, they discover that the mole betrayed them, and they are attacked by the Shadow. Julie is shot and killed when she attempts to save Linc from the Shadow, but Summer manages to kill the Shadow. Extremely upset, Linc locates Black two days later at an office building and kills him. Afterwards, he leaves, telling Summer that he resigns from the Home Office.

For reasons unknown, the Home Office was not notified of Julie's death, and the Director ordered agents to locate Linc and bring him in for questioning. Agent Cargill located Linc in a bar in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and transported him to El Paso, Texas, and later to California, where he was interrogated by Agent Penn. On his person, they found video footage of Zero-Sum along with two plane tickets to Venezuela and contact information for an entity referred to as "7". After Penn and Cargill failed to capture "7", Linc broke into the security department and obtained the note written to him from "7". Linc recorded a farewell message and dropped a package of files at the Southeast corner of Magnolia & Vineland in North Hollywood. His current whereabouts remain unknown.

## LG15: The Misfits

*Main article: LG15: The Misfits - Pilot*

In a proposed spinoff of LG15: The Resistance, Taylor Genatiempo rejoins the fight against the Order after hearing about her sister Sarah's betrayal. Taylor locates Linc's name on a list of security threats to Verdus Labs. With the help of her friend Spencer Gilman, she locates Linc's house and they break into his backyard. There, Spencer voices his concerns about what they are doing, and is attacked moments later after Taylor turns her back. Linc is embarrassed, and implies that he thought Spencer was an Order Agent, and offers to get him some ice for his injuries. Inside, Taylor asks him to help them rescue Jonas. Linc immediately shoots down the idea, but changes his tune once he realizes that the Order is starting to show up outside of his house. He joins Taylor and Spencer in escaping out the back, and says that he no longer has a choice in helping them.

## Notes

* Although this is never really clarified in the story, Linc's use of the lofisyndicate account coincided with his joining of the LoFi Syndicate, a group of "cadets," made up primarily of the fans, who work alongside Tachyon. The group is intended to be similar in design to IPOD OPERA. [1] [2]