Emily Pope's office within Containment Facility II is polished, clean, and almost neurotically well organized. Everything fits somewhere and it does so well. For those things that do not fit, they've been made to fit, either being pulled, pushed, or lifted to line up with everything else. She affixes her tie, leaves her notes down on her freshly folded labcoat, and reads of the script she wrote herself to inspire and motivate the new employees in this new era of Paranatural Research, led of course, by herself. If this worked the prior head of the Research Department, Casper Darling, to motivate his staff; it also stands to reason it will work for herself.
POPE: I've been told I sometimes speak too much so I'll try to make this brief, welcome all, new and old employees, to the second Place of Power officially under our control. While the Bureau knows of a grand total of seventeen places of power, far too many of them are too unpredictable to be properly studied beyond a few recurring behaviours present within them.
[She takes a deep breath]
POPE: This Mansion, like the Oldest House, is in what we call a meta-stability. For those of you who studied chemistry, physics, or even dabbled in the two or perhaps even some other area, the term may come as familiar. It means we can inhabit them, repurpose them, and even, use them as containment.
[She stands up from her desk, facing the camera with freshly gained confidence]
POPE (Not subtitled: )Just as important...
[FBC jingle, presentation outro]
GL Labs [FBC jingle, presentation intro] (Continued from a prior conversation)
POPE: Just as important as what this place is, what it this place was to the prior inhabitants. Take a look at this board here, please.
[The camera focuses on a whiteboard behind POPE]
POPE: Here, I've gathered together an overview of all that we know of as the current date of the Paracriminal Organization known as GL Labs, or Generic Labs, as internal documentation we've recovered from this very same location reveals. You've probably had a project related to one of the byproducts of their work.
[POPE points towards a circle on the board, hastily scrawn. It reads "Unknown Goals???" and points towards a point and another baloon obscured by her body]
POPE: Their goals were previously unknown but now that we've discovered just what their goals were... (giddy) this may be one of the greatest discoveries of the twenty-first century...
[POPE looks around before awkwardly taking a few steps to the side, revealing the baloon that was hiden behind her to read "the harvesting of human souls"]
POPE: Concrete evidence towards the existence of souls. Their goals were to extract these and their methods well... they were utterly reprehensible. But they did effectively prove the existence of souls in their search of attaining eternal life through the reanimation of the dead.
[FBC jingle, presentation outro] Meta-Stability in Places of Power (PoPs) [FBC jingle, presentation intro] (Continued from a prior conversation)
POPE (Not subtitled, slightly muted: )But before we delve into souls, we have to get into why exactly we were able to move in here. It'll make sense, I promise.
POPE: The appeasement of altered items and objects of power tends to be complex and intricate, and most of the time, very counter-intuitive. Much the same can be said about places of power. To put it bluntly, we have absolutely no idea how to appease the Oldest House.
[POPE takes a quick breath and a rather long sigh]
POPE: While the Buerau's Headquarters remain in the Oldest House in particular for it's... let's call them "Anti-Memetic" properties, Director Faden has requested we move as much operational capacity into the mansion, and for good reason.
[Pope gestures her hand around the room]
POPE: Feel that? No House Shifts. House shifts are approximately the cause of over thirty percent of all Bureau accidents of personel staffed at the Oldest House. The Mansion, meanwhile, does not shift while actively observed. While people have gotten lost, we've always been able to find them through numerous checkpoints marked by traversing a certain number of rooms. Multiples of 100 seems to be the rule.
[Pope walks back and taps the wall. It sounds like drywall]
POPE: If we were to knock this wall down and see beyond, what you'd most likely see is a dark void. Or a massive mess of architecture moving back and forth... which would become stable and static the moment you laid eyes on it. Meta-Estable. Appeasing the Mansion, as Panopticon Supervisor Langston described, is as simple as keeping one's eyes open and one's awareness present. Something the prior occupants never really had in mind.
[FBC jingle, presentation outro]
Leylines [FBC jingle, presentation intro] (Continued from a prior conversation)
POPE (Not subtitled, slightly muted: )(...) never really had in mind.
POPE: In adition to the stupendously simple ritual, we are further aided in our occupation of this location by a field of study they did not have in the least. The Study of Ley-Lines perfomed the late Theodore Ash Jr. The decades he spent discovering the logic of places of power. With them, further stability and something else: allowing the Director to quickly traverse around the Mansion. Take a look at this.
[Pope guides the camera to an unoccupied spot in front of her office]
POPE: My very own control point. The director could come in at any time. And I wouldn't even know.
POPE (Not subtitled, muttered: ) Thankfully the panic room has a shower.
[Cut to the inside of the office again.]
POPE: Combine an easy-to-satisfy ritual for a inhabited space, and the usage of Control points to create stable ley-lines that make the structure predictable, and we have a stable environment in which to not get lost in an endless maze. For those of you who worked in Oldest House and remember House Shifts this should be a massive boon.
[Pope walks back and taps the wall]
POPE: Of course, if a para-natural forces were to take over this facility like they did with the Oldest House in 2019, we'd figure it'd have to do with one of the Several Altered Items, Objects of Power, or Thresholds that GL Labs were so... callously violating the Ash Act over, and it is with this that we return to the topic of souls.
[FBC jingle, presentation outro]
Souls [FBC jingle, presentation intro] (Continued from a prior conversation)
POPE: Finally moving onto the topic of souls, it's not a simple cut and dry matter. They are not a determinant of sentience, or sapience, or even being alive. Information recovered, and then tested, reveals that even non-living objects can hold souls unique to themselves.
[Pope guides the camera to a baseball bat in front of her desk. It is wooden, and shattered in the center, in such a way only the handle is intact]
POPE: For those of you familiar, this is an Object of Power which cannot be bound. OOP11-SE, formerly OOP11-KE. While previously, it's effect was believed to only affect objects in a kinetic manner, such as demonstrated by being able to push the apple on my table right now.
[Pope pushes the apple on her desk with the space where the tip of the baseball bat would be if it was not broken. The apple rolls]
POPE: But if I were to smash it...
[Pope attempts to smash the apple. Nothing happens. She places A284-SE back on the table and stands back]
POPE: Contrary to what we first believed, this does, in fact, have an effect on the... essence of the apple, for a lack of a better term. It's soul. Through the following day or so, the apple will rapidly decay in the expected pattern to it being smashed apart. This is different than it being affected kinetically as a KE object should because while you could, in theory, un-rot an apple given the appropriate tools and Objects of power to do so... this apple cannot ever be fixed. The same would apply if the bat had broken a mug, a table, or, even a person.
[A part of the apple rapidly browns, sloughs off, and slides towards the camera before coming to a rapid halt]
[FBC jingle, presentation outro]
Frankenstein's Brain [FBC jingle, presentation intro] (Continued from a prior conversation)
SABA (Not subtitled: )(...) please, you've been going for thirty minutes...
POPE (Not subtitled: ) Nonsense, I can keep going, I'm not winded at all.
[Pope looks back at the camera, no longer addressing the out of frame Doctor Saba] POPE: Additional discoveries within the mansion include several Altered Items, Numerous amount of Thresholds, and several Objects of Power.
[Pope points towards the board. It showcases a diagram and a short description of OoP26-PE/KE]
POPE: As a byproduct of it's containment procedures, the so-called "Frankenstein's Brain" Object of Power as some researchers called it, has, for the better, completely altered some of our methodology in several fields. So much so that it's necessitated isolation within an area blocked off by the Ashtray Maze.
[Pope taps the board three times, each tap corresponding to one of the byproducts of the OoP]
POPE: As long as continuous current is running through the saline solution, the OoP will produce one of three byproducts, which we've labeled LV-1 through LV-3.
[POPE taps the board's description of LV-1]
POPE: LV-1, for a lack of a better term, erases memories. It's made info-hazardous and memetic Altered Items much easier to contain, to the great joy of the Human Resources Department.
[Pope points up the board's description of LV-2]
POPE: LV-2 does the opposite. It enhances memory recall. For obvious reasons, I do not recommend mixing the two. As much as I'd like to say it has led to something, I have a note addressed to myself saying I've delegated those tasks and can no longer remember them so... that's a joy. But LV-3...
[Pope points up the board's description of LV-3]
POPE (Grinning: ) LV-3 is the most interesting one. It annihilates your ability to think logically according to rational cause and effect while it's in your system. I'll explain just why it's so interesting in a second.
[FBC jingle, presentation outro]
Paracognition [FBC jingle, presentation intro] (Continued from a prior conversation)
POPE (Not subtitled: )(...) explain just why it's so interesting in a second. POPE: To dissociate oneself from rational thought using LV-3 allows one to directly interface and commune with ideas. In other words, to commune with the astral plane without actually entering there. As many Astralnauts can attest, even when under the supervision of a neutral astral entity, it's a hazardous job. When under no supervision, or even... the observation of a malignant force... it can prove downright disastrous, as observed with experiments performed outside the Oldest House. [Transition to footage of Pope pointing out a diagram of an inverted black pyramid]
POPE: Dissociating from the board by, say, observing the shadows of the Astral Plane rather than direct traversal has allowed us to expand such research to places not covered under the Board's influence. [Pope flips the board around]
POPE: And in fact, the newly created Paracognition Division has had some pretty intriguing discoveries related to some of the altered items we recovered from this location. If you're part of this division, I would like to conclude this lecture by relaying this from our current Department head...
[Pope takes out a note from her desk, unfolds it, and reads]
POPE (confused : ) Leave your teeth by the door...?
[FBC jingle, presentation outro]
Why was this tape produced, hidden away within shifted corridors within a narrow pit? A projector playing for no one, always on loop... maybe this is related to why everyone went missing...?
Outake 1 [FBC jingle, presentation intro]
[POPE and DIR. FADEN are kept out of frame]
DIR. FADEN: I think that'd be everything. Yeah. Did you have to do it in one take...?
POPE (scoffing: ) Of course I did. I wouldn't be able to keep momentum otherwise.
DIR. FADEN: I think with all of that said... good job Emily. I'll be going now.
POPE: Jesse...
DIR. FADEN: What?
POPE: You're forgetting something.
[DIR. FADEN gasps]
DIR. FADEN: What was that for?
POPE: Good luck. While you lead the investigation into those sewers...
DIR. FADEN: And that other one...?
POPE: To help me get through the paperwork.
[POPE and DIR. FADEN hum in tandem. DIR. FADEN pauses]
DIR. FADEN: Is that camera on?
[FBC jingle, presentation outro] Or maybe not, it would be best to leave this here...
Post Chapter notes:
Just writing this has been a slog. I've definitively lost my touch to a degree. It's been fun, but emotionally exhausting. Now I'm done with exams I just want to get done with Promises and continue on my other long-fics but gaining momentum has been... hard. So. Here this is. Don't expect much from it. Realistically, this takes place after the excellent FBC/SCP: Ignition by qntm and probably in the same universe. I fully expect whatever Remedy cooks up after Alan Wake 2 will uterly destroy whatever I did here but alas.
Also, yes. The FBC found the Jumpscare Mansion. The house of jumpscares, even. The feds have taken the shifting maze hostage and are not gonna let it go (it's a good base).
The bread and butter of most bureau investigations. What becomes of altered items is usually to be locked up indefinitely. If a prisoner is too rowdy, incineration follows. If it cannot be incinerated, The Assistant Janitor cleans up the energies and either it's locked up once its purified, or it's incinerated as usual. It's not a fate you'd wish on anyone.
Jump-Scaring Cardboard Cut-Out (AI234-KE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: Item is to be suspended above the floor via cable. These are to not be removed. The item is to not be attached to any surface that may be determined to temporarily or permanently function as a wall for risk of loosing the item.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: The item takes the form of a variety of cardboard cut-outs. These vary between observations, and often take the form of cartoonish looking creatures, household objects, or edible products. All iterations of the item have a simple, smiling face. Despite seemingly being made of ordinary corrugated cardboard, the item possesses considerable durability, which researchers have compared to plywood. When attached to a wall, the item is capable of moving considerable distances, but only when not observed directly. Movements attempt to reposition itself where one is most likely to be moving, revealing itself by emerging from the wall and emitting a loud sound. Reports indicate the item is capable of duplication, though they are unproven.
BACKGROUND: The item was recovered inside The Mansion Place of Power, where it demonstrated its effects on numerous bureau staff traversing amongst the halls, upon where it was recovered. Investigations performed on site revealed the item was used perform [REDACTED] on individuals who wandered into the site. Dir. Faden [REDACTED] the item, upon which it was placed into storage. Necromantic Sludge (AI235-KE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: Item is to be preserved within a sealed barrel. This barrel is to be appropriately labeled and to remained unopened or exposed to cadavers. Should more than eight liters of the item be present, the surplus is to be incinerated.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: Eight liters of green, indistinct sludge. Chemical analysis is inconclusive, but indicate a high presence of petroleum, skin oil, several species of algae, Vaseline, and [REDACTED], concentrations of which vary from analysis to analysis. When exposed to a human cadaver, the substance is able to convert it into more of itself through unknown means. The item will then construct itself a humanoid body in an attempt to create more corpses or absorb already existing ones, this behaviour only stopping when total body-mass falls under eight liters.
BACKGROUND: The item was recovered inside The Mansion Place of Power, where it attempted to attack bureau staff. Item was apprehended and processed after sufficient body-mass was destroyed by Dir. Faden and kept in storage. Giant Centipedes (AI236-KE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: All recovered instances are to be kept within proper enclosure. Walls are to be lined with construction grade steel and Black Rock. Labels and signs are to be followed under all times. Population is not to surpass 200 individuals, and surplus individuals are to be taken for dissection and study. Feeding is to be performed through the introduction of cattle unfit for consumption, six living individuals a week. Should instances escape termination is to be performed utilizing concentrated blasts from thermic weapons such as flamethrowers or OOP16-KE (Laser Pointer). Should a full-scale breach occur, adjacent hallways are to be filled with aerosolize pesticide.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: Each item within the whole is dark brown arthropod-like creature with a hard, shiny exoskeleton. Its body is similar to that of a centipede, while its face is more reminiscent of a spider's. Its body has four distinct segments, each with a pair of legs. The front-most segment has eight round, greenish eyes, and bears five sets of pincers. Every member of the species appears identical, and they do not possess reproductive organs. Despite this, every member of the species will lay one through five eggs every year, of which roughly two fifths will hatch into new instances of the item. Despite their size, item(s) do not appear to possess any form of respiratory system present within other insects, or any respiratory system to begin with. Through an as-of-yet not understood process, each member of the species is capable of telepathically communicating with terminally ill or injured or injured individuals, usually with the purpose of demoralizing them and preparing them for consumption. These communications do not appear to follow any pattern or style after ten performed tests, and experiments have been halted following concerns by the Human Resources Department. It is current scientific consensus that the item(s) do not fully understand the messages they are communicating. Additionally, every member of the species appears capable of incredibly precise burrowing and tracking. These abilities appear unconnected to their paranatural properties, and would appear to be connected to their mundane, though oversized, biology.
BACKGROUND: The item was recovered inside The Mansion Place of Power, where it attempted to perform predatory behaviours on Bureau Rangers, leading to [REDACTED] and causing on-site staff to retreat. Retreat encountered [REDACTED] and led to Expeditionary Force to be sandwiched between [REDACTED] and the item. Holding out until Dir. Faden dealt with [REDACTED], Bureau staff were able to utilize flamethrowers to encase the item into a preliminary enclosure, leading to containment. APPENDIX: This marks the first time the FBC Has contained a Paranatural Animal Species. Protocols described here are to be used as a basis for further research should other Paranatural Species be found.
Hallucinogenic Sculpture (AI236-UE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: Item should be stored in a Black Rock paneled cell. Item is to remain unobserved while not in testing.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: Rock sculpture of a featureless female human made of unknown chemical composition, impervious to damage. Item wields a large sword. Composition and size indicates tilting or loss of balance should follow. However, no such instance has been observed. The item becomes animate in the presence of a living human following unknown criteria, upon which it will attempt to follow and lacerate them in an attempt to incapacitate them, upon which contact with the item will cause a loss of the subject through their dematerialization. Human testing not-approved regarding concerns of the Human Resources Department. Individuals near the item will report visual hallucinations, including fog, walls changing texture and/or shape, and having no reflections. If not contained in a Black Rock paneled cell, the item will begin to alter the surrounding environment into a Threshold to an unknown location. This Threshold is believed to be the same one [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]are bound to. Wether or not individuals captured by the item are sent to this location is, as of the current date, unknown.
BACKGROUND: Item was found during explorations led into the Mansion POP, with [REDACTED] Rangers and [REDACTED] Researchers being lost to the Item before being baited into containment.
APPENDIX: Discussion regarding wether or not the item should be labelled an astral entity is pending.
Mansion Within a Mansion (AI237-UE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: The item's altered effect can be avoided by simply not entering it. Any "Possessed" individuals are to be [REDACTED] by Dir. Faden. Should she not be available, termination via gunfire is an acceptable method. External permimeter of the object is to be lined with Black Rock panelling.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: Primary Paranatural property manifests when the boundaries of the structure are breached by a human. Property manifests following a period of waiting time between 3 to 6 hours. When manifested, it will randomly select one of the individuals present within the structure, converting it into a "host". This host will then attempt, to various means, to preserve all future individuals within the Item's grounds, though it typically resorts to violent means to do so, including breaking limbs, amputation, and[REDACTED].
Additionally, it is observed that the hosts possess enhanced abilities not displayed by individuals prior to conversion. These properties persist even following [REDACTED] by Dir. Faden. Consideration is being taken into using the Altered as a form to create large quantities of minor Parautilitarians, though testing regarding the possibility of re-pre The mechanisms have been observed to be similar to Hiss Corruption. For more information, contact Emily Pope, Head of Research.
BACKGROUND: Discovery and recovery were made during secondary explorations of the Mansion Place of Power. Initially confused for a Threshold, it's true properties where determined when [REDACTED] came under the object's effects, leading to the [REDACTED] of [REDACTED] individuals before Dir. Faden's Involvement. Subsequent breeches occurred due to undetermined paranatural properties of the structure, leading to [REDACTED] casualties in [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] before containment procedure was established to the one seen in the current date. Records indicate the Item was initially purchased from a Welsh Firm under the shell company of Nezumi Testing. Investigation regarding the nature of the relationship between Nezumi Testing and GL Labs are ongoing.
APPENDIX: This is the largest altered item contained by the FBC to the current date, measuring roughly 18500 cubic meters, beating the Prior Record holder (A178-UE "Eagle Limited Train Car") by 16920(Aprox.) cubic meters. Oh, these ones tug at the memory. Down below, in a hospital... they were trying to make use of something down there, weren't they? That corridor... but it never came to pass.
Body Bag (AI238-KE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: Item should be kept within a Black Rock panelled cell. Item should not be introduced to any human corpses to prevent activation of Paranatural Properties.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: A nondescript body bag, no brand identifiable. Object is impervious to all damage.
When a corpse is inserted within the item, it will become animate. The object will then float, and attempt to assimilate other human bodies within it's nearby vicinity by throwing itself onto them. Acquired features of the corpse held within the item are combined following continued acquisition of corpses the animated feature through some manner of organic melding. Testing into properties halted regarding concerns from the Human Resources Department.
Effects of the item are deactivated following a vacation of any available bodies. Removal of the corpse held within the item will make the item inert once more.
BACKGROUND: The item was discovered following expeditions into the lower reaches of the Mansion POP. Rangers initially assumed the item to be a hostile entity, and engaged in combat, to little success. Item was finally recovered after Ranger [REDACTED] managed to insert a grenade inside of the item, shredding the corpse that was occupying it, and deactivating it's effects.
Spooper (AI239-BE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: Item to be stored in a Black Rock panelled cell. Airlocks in and out of the cell are to be installed, with air released to be incinerated. Any further instances of the item are to be reported, and incinerated by a biohazard response team. Care must be taken when transporting these other instances to avoid damaging them.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: Young human male of indeterminate age wearing jean shorts and sneakers, covered by a white sheet blanket with two black circles drawn in it's place of eyes. These items have been determined to be made of the same biomass as its skin, and genetic analysis showcases a familial link with Aspergillus Fumigatus, though the lethality of the item and it's resistance to treatment is much lesser. The interior of the item, while bearing a passing resemblance to muscles, are much closer in in function to hyphae despite not absorbing nutrition.
When damaged through any means, the item releases spores into the air. Mammalian inhalation of these spores can be treated by common antimycotic medication. If left untreated and following infection leads to death, the corpse will be utilized to grow a new instance of the item. Item(s) can transport between entrances as long as not enclosed within a Black Rock cell, seemingly with the purpose of aggravating potential prey into damaging it.
BACKGROUND:
Item spontaneously manifested within the cafeteria doors, upon which attempted removal caused a rupturing of the external spore sack, leading to mass infection of present personnel. During treatment of the infection, two personnel perished and had their corpses utilized to grow more iterations of the item. All surplus iterations were incinerated. Remaining iteration kept in containment.
Looping Corpse (AI240-UE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: Item to be stored in a Black Rock panelled cell. If item is found outside of the cell, notify nearest Parautilitarian capable of disabling the item immediately.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: When not active, the item appears to be an ordinary, though indestructible, carcass of a Caucasian woman between the ages of 30 to 45 with dark brown hair and auburn eyes. Eyes present notable discoloration, and one is missing. The item has a gunshot injury in the lower abdominal area, and it is believed to have been the cause of death due to blood loss. The removal of the eye was done post-humorously. Cursory analysis suggests the item was pregnant at the time of death.
Following unknown parameters, the item will become animate, and "loop" a section of structure with the purpose of trapping an individual. Looped structure cannot be accessed by anyone outside. Typically, those trapped will be adult males between the ages of 20-50, though instances where the item has trapped a woman has been observed. Following a period of 5-6 hours, the loop will vanish, and all individuals trapped within it will be released with one notable exception. The item will always be found within the "middle room" of the loop.
Behaviour of the item between individuals, and loops, varies. In four recorded instances, observation of the item caused it to become hostile. In three other recorded instances, it was not aggressive at all. In further two recorded instances, not observing the item caused it to become aggressive. Aggression methods vary from biting, strangulation, use of physical force/trauma, and the like.
Alterations between loops also vary heavily.
If not contained in a Black Rock paneled cell, the item will begin to alter the surrounding environment into a Threshold to an unknown location. This Threshold is believed to be the same one [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]are bound to. Ties to other items pending investigation. It is unknown if a fetus was produced by the item, or if it shares it's properties. Testing indefinitely suspended regarding difficulty of recording data of item activation and effects.
BACKGROUND: Item was initially discovered by Researcher Heather Gillespie while walking back to her dormitory after returning from the cafeteria after obtaining a "Midnight Snack". Item was reportedly non-hostile during this encounter, and merely observed Researcher Gillespie from a distance.
APPENDIX 1: Discussion regarding wether or not the item should be labelled an astral entity is pending. APPENDIX 2: Ranger Norman Sunderland is MIA, and presumed dead.
Otto the Otter (AI241-KE) CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE: The item's altered effect can be avoided by simply not removing the slice of pizza present within it's cell. Item must be contained within a standard cell, with no deviations.
DESCRIPTION/PARAUTILITY: A large otter animatronic, approximately measuring 2.4 Meters. Eyes glow in the dark. Item is animate despite having no known power source.
Item is known to "guard" a piece of pizza. This pizza slice will not decay. Should it be removed, it will attempt to chase after the slice of pizza. Should the pizza be consumed, it will attempt to remove the pizza from the digestive tract of that which consumed the pizza slice unless presented with a replacement slice.
BACKGROUND: Item was found within the kitchen of the Habitation Sector Cafeteria of the Mansion place of power, guarding the pizza that had been produced for the day's meal. Containment procedures established on-site, and the item was transported to containment.
Post Chapter notes:
The worst part of writing in american english is that I kept trying to correct myself from liters to litres and it physically hurt to leave it at that.
-"Flora, where is Specimen (NUMBERHERE)??? Specimen (NUBMBERHERE) is my favourite!"
Uh, wait and see.
The second worst aka bad part about writing altered items all discovered in one location is that I do not now how to vary the background appropriately. It all feels copy and pasted "oh this was found in the mansion! Then Jesse or the rangers contained it". I've tried to vary it a bunch but... There's only so much I can do when this "story" focuses on the mansion and the feds taking it over.