Chapter 5: Page 4

Land of Confusion: Page 4

NOTES FROM JASON

Continuing from yesterday’s page, we find out who that voice was calling to Agent 629: fellow agent Rickie Behrens. We’ve met this character before, back in the Volume 1 epilogue called “Munn’s Last Stand.” If you haven’t read that, then do go back and read it. It’s very much part of the main story, and threads from that will show up later in the story, the first of which being on this very page. Volume 2’s end will also have an epilogue short, but we’ll get to that later.

Randy briefly talked about the layout of the Agency bullpen yesterday, and I’ll add to that. For me, a lot of the design is inspired by the CTU bullpen in the show 24, which was and still is my all-time favorite show. When it came time for showing off Director Towser’s office, the initial idea as written was that it was a little more elevated than the rest of the floor, allowing him to look out over his domain. As you saw yesterday, that evolved into a tower within the tower that looms over the agents the same way their tower looms over the city. Gives you an idea of what the environment in the Agency is like, not to mention the psychology of the one who leads it, the man with the codename ‘Bullmastiff.’ More on that later.

As for Director Towser’s office, in yesterday’s page we saw Agent 629 toggle a switch that essentially blocks all visibility into the office. I originally wrote it as just plain old blinds that are drawn, but Randy suggested the digital upgrade, which I believe are called ‘smart windows,’ which made more sense. Me, I should have thought of it earlier, as these windows appeared in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, the best game from my all-time favorite game series. In that game, they were referred to as electrochromic windows, which I think is a way cooler name than smart windows.

Anyway, in today’s page, our trusty agent managed to talk his way out of a potential bad spot and defer any suspicion about his activities, whatever they might be. The page ends with him on the phone once more, talking no doubt to the same someone from last chapter. If you recall, that someone wanted 629 to do something for him, which our agent has apparently now done. But the big question is who is this mystery someone? And what’s their agenda? Same questions posited in that scene from last chapter, but this time, I have a feeling the answer is imminent. Let’s see next week.