Book Two - Undertows of Disbelief

[Fulci]

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man

Isaiah too joins the ranks of gun-toting academics, agents and detectives: he brings the gun given to him by Marius Albertoni.

I've had an agent watching the house, and he reported that Chertovski has had a number of visitors this morning who are still in the house as of 15 minutes ago."

"Any clues about the identity of these guests?" asks Isaiah upon hearing Agent Mulder's rapport.

He is ready to go.

[Inferno]

Sam Archer, private eye:

Dr. Clarke:
He extends his hand to greet Mr. Archer. "It's good to see you again Mr. Archer. I can see not much has changed with you, except ehh… so how is your investigation going?

Archer smirked. "Just swell. Except a temporary misunderstanding with the BOI resulted in permanent consequences," he said, glancing at his stump with cool grey eyes.

Dr. Clarke: Have you managed to recover anymore of the stolen antiquities?"

"No. I found Himenez and Madame Levoui. Darren McCoy is working with them, like that other BOI agent. McCoy was caught but the others got away. He's up in stir now, waiting for his boss to have him killed. Lost his mind; carved a... 'swastika' on his forehead," Archer said, glancing at the teachers. "Whatever that is."

"We will be questioning Konstantin Chertovski and have a search warrant on his house," says Agent Mulder to Archer. "We'll have three extra BOI agents with us, given this 'Shunned House' is quite large. I've had an agent watching the house, and he reported that Chertovski has had a number of visitors this morning who are still in the house as of 15 minutes ago."

Archer was pleasantly surprised, shocked even, that the feds had finally decided to use warrants and agents and raid the Shunned House properly. It was an agreeable sensation and one he wasn't accustomed to.

"Are there any questions or suggestions?"

"Yes. One. If Chertovski's entertaining a "number of guests," it'll be a swell game of hide and seek inside his haunted house, complete with guns and hypnotism. Sounds like Club Zothique all over again.
"It might be better to surround the house, wait for his guests to leave, and apprehend them on the street. Then we can chase the old man by himself inside his home," Archer suggested matter-of-factly.

[Starbeard]

Marius Albertoni

Marius always takes his gun.

The rugged poacher of Fascismo Italiano persuasion, Marius Albertoni, shakes Sam's good hand and introduces himself.

"I like the way this man thinks. No need to risk losing our prey when we can simply wait him out. With the house surrounded, we could send in a beater to drive out the inhabitants. If anyone suspicious tries to bolt, we'll have 'em covered. All we'd need is a cover story the beater can use to clear the place out."

[Mant72]

Dr. Morgan:

After retrieving his pistol from his room, the disheveled and nervous professor shakes hands with the private investigator, "Nice to see you, sir." Frank is not looking forward to the group's next step, but he knows it is necessary.

[Grognardsw]

Agent Mulder hands out pistols to those that want them.

"The idea of the beater is a good one," says Agent Mulder to Archer and Marius. "On the other hand, we may have a chance to question these visitors at the house. We don't have probable cause to apprehend the guests afterwards. To your questuon Mr. Bartlett, we don't know who those visitors are but it is a young woman and two middle-aged gentlemen."

[Inferno]

Sam Archer, private eye:

"The timing of that visit is a hell of a coincidence," Archer complained as he lowered the corners of his mouth and the center of his brow.
"I don't like coincidences. Three people show up minutes before a raid? Smells like a tip off. Someone dropped a dime on us.
"Which brings up something else we need to discuss. The cult can 'hypnotize' people, apparently. BOI Agent Baines. Darrin McCoy. It's likely that one of us, or one of the BOI, have also been hypnotized and are helping the cult. Like with this tip off."

Archer looked at Mulder, "We'll need a list of everyone who knew about the time of the raid on the Shunned House, up until 15 minutes ago. Everyone. I'm afraid no one's above suspicion."

[DadsAngry]

Dr. Clarke:

"One question Mr. Archer, who's Darrin McCoy?"

[Inferno]

Sam Archer, private eye:

Archer's eyes watched as pistols were doled out to the various librarians and mental patients. He turned to Vaughn, "Father, don't you want a heater too?"

Then he answered Clarke: "McCoy's a local gangster from up in Providence. A few weeks ago he took a... professional interest in Carcosa. Now he's another hophead patsy of the cult. Everyone here, except you and Father Vaughn, crossed paths with him at some point."

He said to Mulder, "The beater could have hell to take.
"The old man's guests will leave eventually. We can pick them up outside as we serve the warrant. Detain them for questioning; which I suspect is all we'll be able to do if we collar them in the house, no?"

[Grognardsw]

Agent Mulder nods at Archer's suspicions. "I suppose, though the choice of visitors doesn't seem to help Chertovski. He gets a lot of visitors as well, so this may be coincidence. Your hypnosis at the hospital to determine if your mind was tampered with by Anne Marie Levoui's hypnotism showed none. Nonetheless, I'll draw up the list. We don't know how Agent Baines or Darrin McCoy were turned."

The BOI man opens his notebook and writes down a list of names. "Discounting present company, there are the three additional BOI agents helping us today (who were notified end of day yesterday of their participation), the BOI New York director, and Agent Watson my superior in Providence (who is heading the investigation)."

[Inferno]

Sam Archer, private eye:

Agent Mulder nods at Archer's suspicions. "I suppose, though the choice of visitors doesn't seem to help Chertovski.

"Oh, I don't know," said Archer carelessly. "His visitors match the description of Glenda Heinrich, me and John Merrick, damn his soul to Hell."

Your hypnosis at the hospital to determine if your mind was tampered with by Anne Marie Levoui's hypnotism showed none.

"Really? That quack sure seemed to find something he was damned interested in.
"Anyway, it could be Carcosa or Himenez that does the actual hypnotizing. ...Maybe with those nonsense words. Or that drug.
"...What do you mean by 'Anne Marie Levoui's hypnotism'?"

The BOI man opens his notebook and writes down a list of names. "Discounting present company... and Agent Watson my superior in Providence (who is heading the investigation)."

"Thanks," said Archer. "...And counting present company?"

[Fulci]

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man

Isaiah might not like Archer's aggressive manners, but he definitely doesn't want the disaster of the club raid to happen again... He looks at the investigators, then his eyes stop at Dr. Morgan.

"Dr. Morgan, I don't want to accuse you of anything. But last night, Signore Albertoni saw you leave the hotel. Where did you go?"

[DadsAngry]

Dr. Clarke:

In defense of Dr. Morgan, Dr. Clarke speaks up. "Mr. Bartlett as we discussed this morning, Dr. Morgan never left the hotel as verified by myself and the Father. We believe the man you saw is somehow connected to the mysterious crystal Dr. Morgan had been carrying. Now if that was truly Dr. Morgan duplicated I can not answer for we don't know enough about the phenomenon. What we do know about the crystal it very well could be Dr. Morgan at another time in history or a echo from the past. We do know that the crystal has the power to move people across great distances and possibly time. I've chronicled what I have come to learn about it in my journal which you are free to read once we return, as well as you, Mr. Archer."

Turning to Mr. Archer "That crystal we found in Turkey has unknown mystical properties. Oh Dear Lord Jesus!" Dr. Clarke exclaims. "You don't know! Dr. Randolph! His return! We haven't spoke since we returned!" Dr. Clarke quickly stop realizing his use of the Lord's name. "Oh excuse me father. I didn't mean to use the Lords name in such a manner." He humble apologies to the Father, then continues on with Mr. Archer in a more controlled tone. "If you wish I can relay it to you on the way or we can discuss it after we visit Mr. Chertovski. The events are quite fresh in my mind, as I recently have been scribing them in my journal."

[Mant72]

Dr. Morgan:

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man
"Dr. Morgan's, I don't want to accuse you of anything. But last night, Signore Albertoni saw you leave the hotel. Where did you go?"

Frank laughs nervously, his eyes dart around the room for a moment, and then they come to meet Isaiah's, "I swear to you that I was with David and the Father all night. They can both attest to this. I know things look and sound bizzare. Hell, I question things myself, but I can assure you of one thing, I am commited to rooting out this evil as much as any of you. I know I have been deceptive about the crystal, but as I have said, I hope I can be trusted again."

[Grognardsw]

"As to present company," says Agent Mulder to the inquisitive Archer, "I trust them. But that crystal... I don't know what it is, but it is exerting unknown pressure on the group. It should be put in a vault. What do you say Mr. Morgan?" As to Anne Marie LeVoui's hypnotism, we assume that was who you were talking about when we got you out of that jam in the warehouse. You were pretty loopy then though."

The investigators, joined by the three additional BOI agents, continue to talk as they get in several cars to drive over to Konstantin Chertovski's "Shunned House."

[Mant72]

Dr. Morgan:

"Agreed, Agent Mulder. The crystal has an unnatural influence upon those it comes into contact with, myself in particular. It is now in possession of Father Vaughan, but I am sure he would have no qualms about locking it away."

[DadsAngry]

Dr. Clarke:

"Protected yes but not locked away. It still needs more study. It holds great mysteries and nothing will be discovered if we lock away in some basement vault to be forgotten."

[Starbeard]

Marius Albertoni

"Study it?! Lock it away and melt the key! And as for handing it over to Father Vaughan—I'll trust him with it as long as I know he isn't a Socialist. I don't have to remind any of you about this group's success rate with trusting mysterious outsiders."

[Inferno]

Sam Archer, private eye:

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man
"Dr. Morgan, I don't want to accuse you of anything. But last night, Signore Albertoni saw you leave the hotel. Where did you go?"

Archer raised his brow in interest.

Dr. Clarke:
"...Now if that was truly Dr. Morgan duplicated I can not answer for we don't know enough about the phenomenon. What we do know about the crystal it very well could be Dr. Morgan at another time in history or a echo from the past. We do know that the crystal has the power to move people across great distances and possibly time. I've chronicled what I have come to learn about it in my journal which you are free to read once we return, as well as you, Mr. Archer."

Archer said, "Thanks all the same, Doc. But I'm not much for science fiction."

Dr. Morgan:
Frank laughs nervously, his eyes dart around the room for a moment...

Archer's eyes coolly met those nervous, guilty eyes.

"As to present company," says Agent Mulder to the inquisitive Archer, "I trust them.

Archer smiled coldly, "That's swell, I'm sure. But I'm afraid no one can be above suspicion. After all, you boys in the BOI vouched for Agent Baines."

Agent Mulder "...we assume that was who you were talking about when we got you out of that jam in the warehouse..."

"You mean the jam that the BOI put me into?" Archer growled.

Dr. Morgan:
"Agreed, Agent Mulder. The crystal has an unnatural influence upon those it comes into contact with, myself in particular. It is now in possession of Father Vaughan, but I am sure he would have no qualms about locking it away."

Rueful yet bemused, Archer looked at Mulder and then to Morgan, "Professor, what unnatural influence?"

[Fulci]

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man

"So you say that your shadow split off you and left the hotel last night - what if it took our plans straight to Carcosa or Chertovski? Or you will just say that you are not your evil twin's keeper and not responsible for anything it does?!"

Isaiah shakes his head.

"If this crystal is anything as powerful you say, why keep it around for studying? What can this study give us? Do you want to master its forces? From what we've seen so far, YOU are greatly influenced by its twisted emanations."

[DadsAngry]

Dr. Clarke:

"And this is why we keep the crystal secret. Nothing but suspicion and superstition. You'd rather destroy it than learn from it. We already know it has the power to transport a person across the globe in an instant. But that is just one of it's proprieties. Yes, handling the crystal is hazardous but it can be done with proper protocols in place. If man destroyed everthing he didn't understand we would still be in the Paleolithic era painting on walls and living in caves. And don't be so quick to accuse Frank of betraying us or his double for that matter. You have no proof that his double has done anything wrong. His previous echo have not done harm to us, so why should this last one be different."