XX-12 - "Green Mist"
Summary
Category: XX
Current Attitude: Hostile
Containment Procedure: N/A
Description: Unconfirmed, usual manifestation is a green fog.
History
The Victory Line
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, a project was commissioned behind closed doors to construct a new London Underground railway line in the aftermath of the war. This project, supposed to be a “surprise” in 1950 to commemorate 5 years since the end of hostilities in Europe, was never revealed to the public and all references to it have been squashed by a rare collaboration between the UK Government and the Cross Foundation.
In 1946, sickness reports amongst workers in the Victory Line tunnels started to rise. This was initially written off as a simple quirk of statistics, but by the start of 1947 almost every work team on the Victory Line project reported that at least one member of their team was always sick. When proper record-keeping began, it became clear: almost everyone who was sick had the same report – injury to the right shoulder. Believing this was just a clerical error, managers on the Victory Line Project started demanding to see the sick workers to investigate. This was the last record that was kept on the project.
A week after this last record, in January 1948, the Foundation was called to investigate the Victory Line construction after a group of family of workers petitioned the Metropolitan Police to investigate and the news made it to the desk of Dr Cross who “took it off their hands”. Investigators arrived to find no work teams, no staff, and confirmed to the bereaved families the worst: that the site was abandoned.
This wasn't, however, the whole story. Investigators found that one of the Victory Line tunnels – highlighted by consultation with XX-9 - "Blue Triangle" – had been deliberately blocked off. After calling in construction crews to clear the debris a green gas started to escape. Immediately, the tunnel was evacuated, but it wasn't until the sighting of an arm groping out from behind the rocks covered in crystalline green growths that the tunnel was flooded with incendiaries and purged.
Aftermath
The purging of whatever was in the Victory Line tunnel was confirmed to be absolute, but the complete lack of information to follow up on and completely unauthorised action against an undefined Anomaly resulted in the immediate dismissal of all Investigators involved. This was, however, insufficient, as when it became apparent that multiple other “green mists making people vanish” incidents were all connected, the XX-Category entity found by Mediators immediately treated the Foundation as its enemy.
It is by the best work of Mediators that any conversation was ever achieved with what became classified as “XX-12” but it never let the Foundation forget what it perceived as an attack. Mediators attempted to convey that the Foundation was apologetic, but the concept clearly never translated. Frequently, when Mediators achieve a Conference with XX-12 it would make reference to the initial contact in which it was “burned” and “mutilated”.
Though Mediators in the 1980s believed they were making progress in understanding XX-12 – being able to establish what little they could about its supposed history – proceedings broke down in 1989 when Mediators attempted to ask it about the crystal-covered arm seen in 1948. This agitated it considerably and the Conference quickly shifted into multiple Incursions which Investigators were only barely able to contain. Since then, all Mediation with Green Mist has been back at “square one” with it agitated and angry about the works of the Foundation.
Advice for Mediators
- XX-12 communicates mostly non-verbally until it is given a concept to latch onto. Be careful of the concept you choose as it can become easily agitated.
- XX-12 appears to be incredibly proud and thus far incapable of rationalising the human concept of “apology”.
- XX-12 is capable of quickly launching Incursions – it is worth having combat teams available shortly after Conferences.
- XX-12's mist is non-toxic, but the effects of prolonged exposure to it seem deleterious to human health.