"Hello, yes, I'd like a Sirloin Snake and a Horned Beef to go, please." Mugsy says into the phone, having been reminded of these code phrases by El Diablo.
"Ah, Mugsy, it's been a while. Same place as always?" Meatsmith responds.
"Yeah. 245 Crime Avenue." Mugsy replies.
"I'll be there in ten minutes!" Meatsmith hangs up the phone, and turns to his apprentice, Beatsmith. "Okay, Beatsmith, looks like you'll be on duty for a while. I have to do my other job." Beatsmith shrugs while Meatsmith heads outside and walks over to the World Crime League, arriving after exactly ten minutes. Elsewhere, nordo wakes up in a strange place of incomprehensible composition, somehow having regained a corporeal form after his soul was carried away by the soles of the Sole Fountain.
"Hey Boss, he's here!" Mugsy calls, and El Diablo walks back inside to greet Meatsmith.
"Ah, perfect. I just finished inspecting these treasures. I've separated the pure gold ones from the others. We'll need you to melt down the other treasures to separate the gold from the less precious metals." El Diablo explains, gesturing at the large piles of treasure nearby.
"Okay, where can I set up my forge?" Meatsmith asks.
"The sub basement isn't being used for anything currently." El Diablo says, and Meatsmith nods and heads downstairs. Once he arrives in the sub basement, Meatsmith begins setting up his forge. Back upstairs, the radio suddenly blares to life, reporting some plane that exploded over Minneapolis. "Hang on, Mugsy, was that on our list of ongoing projects?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Mugsy responds.
"Odd...normally, we're pretty good at keeping track of ongoing crimes."
"I got it! Let's ask Cybr to hack into their radio system so we can see what's going on!"
"Good idea." El Diablo heads upstairs, where he finds Cybr once again working on his seemingly blank computer. "Hey, Cybr, did you hear that broadcast?"
"No, I've been busy." Cybr replies.
"Well, it seems like a pretty big crime managed to slip through the cracks without going through us first. I was hoping you could try to hack into the radio to find out more about what happened."
"Seems like the radio got cut. I can get into the communication devices of the people who were on the plane, though."
"That should work." El Diablo watches while Cybr brings up a list of communication channels, which have their names listed as "Boom-Boom", "Spearmint", "Cryptid", and "Druggie". Cybr hands El Diablo a listening device, which he holds up to his ear.
"Which channel should I check first?" Cybr asks.
"Check the 'Boom-Boom' one first. Sounds the most related to the crime." Cybr tunes into the channel and all that can be heard is the sound of wind going by as Steve continues falling through the sky. "Hm...sounds like just wind. Maybe this one just got dropped from the plane. Try 'Druggie' next. That's also crime related."
"Alright." Cybr links El Diablo to Yung Crackhead's phone, which lets El Diablo hear that Adam Sandler compilation.
"It sounds like someone is talking, but it's just a recording, not an actual person on the other end." El Diablo observes, not noticing a pair of glowing chupacabra eyes in the vent behind him and Cybr. "Let's switch off of this one. Try 'Spearmint' next." As soon as the transmission is changed, the eyes in the vent disappear, and El Diablo listens to a voice reading off some kind of report on the other end.
"A plane to Minneapolis has been sabotaged by a rogue group of anti-terrorists. Attempts to eliminate Targets before they could blow up the plane were unsuccessful. Leader of group appears to be Target number 8077, designated 'Yung Crackhead'. Another member of the group seemed to betray the others, but was terminated by some kind of creature which appeared to be partially commanded by 8077. In an attempt to bring down the plane faster, the pilot and co-pilot were both eliminated. However, the explosive device was able to be armed and detonated before the plane could reach the ground. It seems the one directly responsible for the explosion escaped; currently no other survivors have been located, but it is likely that there are several about. These Targets seem low-priority enough that further direct action will not be needed at this point." reports the voice on the other end of the line. El Diablo seems to vaguely recognize something about this report, but he doesn't elaborate on it.
"Seems like somebody was trying to stop whatever happened from happening. Seemed to be making a report of sorts. Let's move on to the last one." El Diablo says, and Cybr tunes into the "Cryptid" channel, which is in fact Glandcake's communication device. A soft babble of voices can be heard on the other end, but they sound distorted, as though they are underwater. "Hm...sounds like it's underwater or something. Not too useful. Thanks for the help, though." El Diablo hands the listening device back to Cybr and leaves the room, and Cybr tunes back into the "Spearmint" channel, waiting for the next report from it. After some waiting, the sound of static can be heard, and the transmission changes into what seems to be an older report. A few of the parts seem intentionally distorted, but it doesn't take very long for Cybr to unscramble the audio so that the report plays normally.
"Target number 3457 has been spotted on Shapersky Bridge. As usual, seems to be alone. No clear signs of any type of motive. Appears to have set up some kind of device on the bridge, the purpose of which is not apparent. No further information is able to be gathered at this point." reports the unknown individual. Cybr puts on a second pair of shades to activate another screen and starts looking into this "Shapersky Bridge", and finds numerous articles detailing the Mandela Effect, because apparently many people claim that this bridge existed, but there is no sign that it was ever actually where people say that it was. Cybr decides to head onto the Darkest Web to continue his investigation, and he manages to find a single article that has several blurry pictures of the supposed bridge. The pictures appear strikingly ordinary, save for one somewhat difficult to make out humanoid figure appearing in one. Cybr heads into the source code on this website, and finds that the number "3457" seems to be randomly injected into the code where it shouldn't be. Upon removing the instances of this number, the source code forms a new type of encryption, which when decoded reveals global coordinates. Cybr searches up these coordinates and finds another image of that same bridge, but from a different angle and slightly easier to make out, though the figure is nowhere to be seen in it. Cybr uses these two angles to create a very rough 3D image of the bridge. Cybr finds that this seems to be as far as he's able to get without sending somebody to the location of the bridge in person, so he brings up his list of people who owe him a favor. Cybr finds someone on the list who owes him a particularly large favor, and calls him up.
"Hello, D2G. I need you to do that favor for me. Come to the WCL building and I'll fill you in." Cybr says.
"Ah, damn, I was hoping to not get involved with you guys again, but I guess a favor is a favor. I'm on my way." D2G responds.