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OPERATION SUMMARY

Operation Designation: DEATH’S DOOR

Tasking Division: (REDACTED)

Field Operative: Operative Blackwood

Primary Location: Foundation Safe Office then cognitohazard-induced construct

Mission Type: Internal anomaly breach and secondary murder investigation

1. Objective

While reviewing intelligence related to Operation Crimson Clue, Operative Blackwood encountered an unmarked envelope placed on his secured desk. Opening the envelope activated a cognitohazard that induced full neural dissociation and temporary subjective containment in a synthetic mental environment. The operative was rendered unresponsive for eleven minutes in real time.

2. Incident Summary

Time stamp 0746

Envelope opened. Inside was a black and white photograph of an alley submerged in red light. Words written on the back in thin black ink read

Look for the echo

Two seconds later Blackwood lost consciousness. Vitals spiked, then dropped into theta wave immersion. The envelope and photograph self-immolated without flame, leaving behind a fine dust of glass-like ash.

3. Cognitohazard Construct

Subdermal logging indicates that Blackwood found himself in a sprawling noir city of unnatural geometry and endless night. Rain fell constantly. Every building leaned forward like it was listening. He described the environment as

familiar but wrong.

As he wandered, glass surfaces distorted his reflection. Some showed him older. Some younger. Some missing. All of them alone. Mirrors blinked when he turned away. One cracked softly when he said his name out loud.

The sound of a rotary phone followed him street to street. When he answered it, he heard only his own voice whispering

This is the third.

He later wrote that something inside him cracked at that moment. That the voice felt too personal. That it

sounded like it had waited a long time to speak.

He reached a motel room marked 313. Inside was the body of Agent Lark

former Mu thirteen

slumped near a rusted bedframe

eyes open

posture identical to Agent Rhodes from Crimson Clue.

A slip of paper had been placed in Lark’s collar. It read

Trust no badge unless it blinks

On the desk was a mirror turned inward. When he approached it, it shifted shape and showed a child in a hallway. Then a boy at a window. Then a man walking away with no one behind him. The reflection whispered in a voice that was his own

They always leave. You stay and they leave. That is who you are.

Operative Blackwood Encrypted Log

"I should have turned back. Every bone in me said run. But I knew the look in Lark’s eyes. I saw it in Rhodes. I have seen it in too many people. And that voice. It sounded like it knew everything I lost. Everything I try not to say. The mirrors saw me when I was still a boy. I was afraid. Terrified. But someone is keeping count. I could not let Lark become nothing but number three."

He reassembled the clues

Murder

Location

Message

Weapon

Only when he placed his hand on the mirror and said the word aloud

mirror

did the construct collapse. Lights turned white. A hallway opened into nothing. He stepped through.

At 0757 Blackwood awoke seated in the same position as before. No time lost. The desk was warm. A cold mist was present along the ceiling. The mirror was gone.

4. Results

Subject Status

Cognitohazard source Destroyed anomalous envelope

Agent Lark Confirmed deceased

Operative Blackwood Recovered but disturbed

Artifact connection Mirror from Operation New Front strongly implicated

5. Evaluation

Operative Blackwood endured a tailored cognitohazard targeting his deepest psychological injuries. Unlike prior incidents this construct showed deliberate use of abandonment cues and memory manipulation. The phrase

This is the third

was repeated but not explained.

Fear response was acute. Speech logged within the construct suggests vulnerability bordering on fragmentation. Despite this the operative reconstructed the hazard and identified the killer's pattern. Cognitive reassembly under stress remains intact. Further evaluation ongoing.

Captain Secretary Closing Observation

"The ones who survive are not the ones without fear. They are the ones who know it will come again and go in anyway. He is afraid. And he is not done."

Filed by Captain Secretary

Clearance Level 5

Addendum

Ultraviolet scan of the ceiling revealed hidden text etched into the paint by reflective residue. It read

The badge will blink when the door opens

Containment status of all mirror-based artifacts elevated to maximum threat level. Investigation into a fourth victim has begun.

Operation concluded. The count continues.

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