Chapter 1:

Director Jesse Faden held the Service Weapon tightly in her hand as she entered the Synchronicity Lab from the Ritual Division, though her business suit looked relatively undamaged. The Hiss were still relentless despite their disadvantages.

It'd been a couple of days since she'd shut down the slide-projector, and despite the fact that the hiss within the Oldest House no longer held infinite numbers, the supernatural force seemed undeterred in its mission to kill every non-integrated human alive in the building. The lockdown was still in effect, and Marshall was still MIA. The only other positive of the current situation was that she'd finished all the tasks given to her by the others…

It was still weird, not quite fully set in yet… she was the Director of the FBC. A couple of weeks ago, she was making her way to New York, looking over her shoulder as she hoped she was simply being paranoid… (Of course, she knew better now) Now look at her, the director in charge of a supernaturally-based federal organization, with little-to-no qualifications for the job except the facts that the Service Weapon chose her, and she seems supernaturally inclined. Polaris and Hedron certainly helped, though…

She was getting off-track.

A few hours ago, the new head of Research, Emily Pope, called Jesse into the Board Room. She'd apparently found a breakthrough in dispelling the rest of the Hiss from the building, something that could take years if it were done the old-fashioned way. (ie. room-by-room, as Arish said.)

Emily Pope told Jesse that, based on her own and other's recounts about the Hiss' activity, there were certain locations the Hiss refused to manifest. Some locations were more easily explained, but some weren't so easy. One location, in particular, was the Synchronicity Lab located down in the Research Sector. For some unknown reason, the Hiss would steer clear of the lab.

Jesse had immediately recalled her experiences in the lab with the Victorian Mirror, the mirrored dimension, and her seemingly mirrored-self. The big battle against a nearly evenly-skilled and powerful opponent, who seemed to have been corrupted by the Hiss. Emily had listened closely to her story, but brought up an interesting point.

Though her alter ego may have been affected by the Hiss, there was still no sign of the Hiss in either versions of the lab.

It was also interesting to note that when Jesse had gone to the other dimension, she was unable to explore beyond the lab, meaning there may have very well been Hiss in that other dimension within the mirror, but if there were, they were beyond the lab.

Emily theorized that the Victorian Mirror Altered Item may be emitting some kind of resonance, similar to Hedron's, that could be dispelling the Hiss away. If that were the case, it could be the breakthrough needed to contain the Hiss, maybe even eradicate what was left of it in the building depending on the discovery.

The problem was, the lab was located in an odd location, right beside the Ritual Division. The Ritual Division was a hotspot of Hiss activity, for one reason or another, making the process of getting Pope there to study the lab a not-so-easy task.

Though, with the lack of a breakthrough otherwise, Jesse didn't have much of a choice in the matter. She could either escort Pope to the lab, or wait for another breakthrough, however long it may be.

Jesse, being Jesse, took the quicker option. After all, they'd been trapped in this building for a while now… she'd prefer to see the sun and stars again before she reached retirement age.

Back to the Synchronicity Lab, Jesse entered with Emily Pope right behind her, having just taken care of the large group of Hiss in the Ritual division.

"Wow, Jesse… Ma'am, I must say, it is a pleasure to see you work." She said, amazed at her display of power and skill against the Hiss. She'd killed over a dozen of them without taking a single hit. Child's play for her by this point, really, but Emily had yet to see Jesse move so fluidly against the supernatural foe.

"Thanks, Emily." Jesse replied easily before her vision suddenly began to blue.

A blue tint appeared in her vision as she could see a vague outline of a familiar man in the distance. Former Director Zachariah Trench was speaking to her once more, the first time in days as it were. What caught her particularly off-guard was the fact that he'd said nothing the last time she'd been in this room.

His voice echoed in her mind silently, not affecting Emily in the slightest. He spoke in a broken fashion, only allowed a few fragments of phrases to reach her conscious mind. It was always like this at first…

"...Synchronicity Lab… dedicated to studying… dimensional research… another me… never returned…" His voice said, cutting out several times.

Jesse shook it off, turning to Emily. She'd consult the Hotline shortly.

"So, whatcha think?" She asked the researcher, who was currently walking towards the nearby monitors.

"I think… that this may take some time to prepare for. I'll need to set up my equipment and run a few tests."

Jesse nodded, "I see. Well, I'll be over there," She pointed to another spot near the corner with a seat, "I need to consult the Hotline."

Pope nodded in return, "Certainly. I should be able to set everything up by myself. It'd be better that way anyway. I'll leave you to it, Director." She finished, before returning to the monitors and the equipment she'd brought in as well.

As she walked away, Jesse called out a reminder, "And remember: Don't approach the mirror, doc."

Sitting down in the corner, Jesse made herself comfortable as she placed the Hotline down onto the counter beside her. The bright red, old-fashioned rotary phone may look like an odd antique, being laid unplugged onto the counter, but it held a strange, unique ability. You see, the phone, called "The Hotline" does not connect to or reach any other phone in this plane of existence. Rather, the Object of Power reached the Astral Plane, allowing the Director to talk to The Board, the leaders and founders of the FBC who resided there. It also had the ability to allow Jesse to listen to the thoughts and words of her predecessor: Zachariah Trench.

The Director gently reached over and grabbed the phone, thinking of the lab she was currently in, and the previous words she'd heard from Trench. Then, she picked it up and put it up to her head.

The phone rang in her ear, echoing in her head and around her brain for a few moments as she was connected to Trench's words. She closed her eyes and blocked out her surroundings, before the usual dark image of the former Director appeared in her mind, smoking a cigarette. His deep voice began just moments after the ringing finally stopped.

"The Synchronicity Lab was a peculiar idea by Darling. After the Victorian Mirror was brought in, he studied it briefly in a lower lab… It'd been at the Bureau for less than a day, before Darling requested a larger lab dedicated to studying the mirror... I gave it to him… The Altered Item was the original basis for the creation of Dimensional Research, that is, until Ordinary. After that, the project was moved closer to the Ritual Division and the project was given to others… I once accompanied Darling to see the mirror… I… saw something… saw someone… another me… and he smiled at me… I refused to go back after that, and ordered an increase in isolation for the altered item. I never returned to the mirror, especially after Ordinary. Our focus soon shifted elsewhere…"

His voice soon faded back into oblivion as Jesse opened her eyes, gently replacing the phone on its stand before putting the Hotline away. The information provided by the former Director was interesting. She could dwell on it later though, as it didn't seem entirely relevant for this particular project.

Standing up, Jesse wandered back over to Emily Pope, who seemed to already have her equipment set up and running. Just as she approached, Emily looked up and smiled, "Nice to have you join me, Director."

Jessie shrugged, "How's it looking, Emily?"

"It's all very fascinating. The Resonance… it's nothing like Hedron, or you." She told her, "But, there certainly are some similarities between the two. Whatever it is or its source, it seems to be, indeed, keeping the Hiss away."

Jesse raised an eyebrow and shifted her stance, "But…?"

Emily sighed, "...but, the Resonance seems corrupted. I can't get a good read from here. If I could just…"

The new Director didn't give her a chance to finish that thought, "I'm not letting you anywhere near that thing, Emily. It's an Altered Item. I seemed to have calmed it down, but who knows how it'll react if you go anywhere near it."

Shaking her head, Emily tried to reason with her, "Jesse. I can't do anything with this data unless I get the entirety of the signal."

Sighing, Jesse knew she'd need to compromise… though she knew deep down that she'd likely have to do the dirty work, whatever it was. "Give me the run-down. What do you need?"

Pope smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Jesse. The Victorian Mirror, itself, needed to be examined up close. If I could get one of these sensors behind or adjacent to the mirror, that should be fine. However, given what you've told me before, I'll need to gather some readings from the other side."

"Absolutely not!"

"Then this whole expedition was useless." She shot back immediately, before taking a deep breath and sighing, "I'm sorry Jesse… I've been losing sleep over this issue. We haven't made any progress in removing The Hiss, and some of us are itching to open the front doors."

Jesse nodded understandingly, "I understand Emily, but you're our best bet to getting those doors open in the first place. I can't risk you going through that mirror." She paused for a moment, before speaking again, "Can you get me the necessary tools?"

"What?"

"I'll go through the mirror and collect the data. But, I'll need whatever equipment necessary, and instructions."

Emily nodded, "I can do that. The sensors are portable and easy to use. They're mostly automatic, in fact." She grabbed a few small disks and held them out to Jesse, "I'll need one next to the mirror on our side, one next to the mirror on the other side, and probably one by where my workstation is on the opposite side as well."

Jesse nodded, "Ok, I can do that." She affirmed, reaching out and grabbing the tools.

"Thank you, Jesse. They're built to transmit the data back to me, so you just need to plant them in the right locations."

"Should be easy enough. I'll be back, stay here."

"Wasn't planning on going anywhere without you, Ma'am."

Internally cringing at the formality despite knowing she was doing it on purpose, Jesse pocketed the devices and made her way back down the stairs and around to the mirror chamber. She proceeded down the hallway and quickly reached the Victorian Mirror.

It was intricately and beautifully designed, with a dark, wooden border around the mirror, showing what appeared to be a mirror image within the reflective surface. That is, with one major difference… Jesse's reflection was nowhere to be seen. She didn't freak out, as she was used to this sort of thing by now. The mirror, after all, wasn't showing a reflection of her world, but the live-image of another, very similar world.

She reached over to the side of the mirror and placed one of Emily's disks on the edge of the wooden border. The device stuck to the rough surface, before beeping one as a green light began to blink.

'Guess it was working.'

Looking up and to her left, Jesse looked through one of the viewing windows to see Emily giving her a thumbs-up. Nodding to her, Jesse slowly reached out with her left hand and touched the mirror, focusing on the world within the mirror.

Slowly yet suddenly, her perspective changed as she blinked, disappearing from one world and appearing in another. Looking back up to her left, she noticed the dark room with no one observing her. She knew without a shadow of a doubt she'd successfully made the journey once more to the other world.

Placing another device on this side of the mirror, the second disk quickly stuck to the mirror, making another 'beep'. The light did not turn on for a moment, before suddenly it began to blink green.

That's two.

Turning completely around now, Jesse made her way out of the mirror chamber and went around the corner and up the stairs to the consoles next to a few viewing windows for the mirror. She found the location of Emily's workstation, though none of her equipment was here, truly showing that this dimension and the other aren't exactly the same.

She placed the final device down and heard it make the sound as it powered. A moment later, the green light on it began to flash, signifying its connection.

'All set. Hopefully, that'll give us everything we need.'

Jesse turned to go back down the stairs, when the alarms began to blare around her, just the emergency shutters shut down upon the mirror chamber, sealing it completely.

Racing down the stairs, she slammed a fist onto the emergency door as it finished sealing. She quickly raced back toward the main monitors in the lab, looking for an override, or attempting to find the reason the chamber sealed. Upon reaching the console and attempting to use it, she cursed aloud. "Dammit!"

The keyboard was reversed, making the entire device that much harder to read and use. The screen, itself, contained several phrases and words, which were inversed as well. She might have taken them for nonsense, but recalled the recording in this chamber, as well as the mirrored recording in her world.

The language here was reversed.

She reached down into the desk and pulled out a piece of paper and grabbed a pen as quickly as she could. Once she had the tools, she took a seat and began to transcribe the weird shapes and symbols on the screen as fast as she could. Once complete, she reached over and turned on a desk lamp, turned the paper around, and raised the paper up to the light. Doing so, she could read it in normal, non-inverted English. She read it aloud.

"Director Override Accepted. Emergency Sealing of Mirror Chamber Initiated. Notice: In order to unseal the A.I. please seek Director Override, or call for Doctor Darling."

Jesse frowned but realized this was only a minor set back, as she just so happened to be the director of this place… well, not here, really, but in her other reality…

That's when the thought came to her. What caused the lockdown?

It certainly wasn't automatic, as it happened out of nowhere. If it was because of Pope's device's it would have sealed her in with the mirror, not outside.

And… wait… Director Override?

"Who… who did this?"

That's when Jesse felt a presence behind her, and heard a sound eerily similar to her own Service Weapon changing forms. Her worries were confirmed when the barrel of a gun rested against the back of her head as she sat at the desk. Her eyes widened in alarm, before she heard a strange, vaguely familiar voice speaking behind her. Or, at least, it sounded like speaking, except it sounded like nonsense to her.

""!uoy llik ll'I dna evom sa hcum os uoY !?niaga uoY" A feminine, familiar voice yelled at her.