"Acid Tongue" is the twenty-third mission of Season 9.
An intercepted message sends you on your way, but the route is hazardous, and the past might be catching up to you!
Cast[]
Crew[]
- Writer: Mary Musgrave
- Director: Matt Wieteska
- Sound Designer: Mark Pittam
- Series Created By: Naomi Alderman
Plot[]
Hunted[]
Sam plays a message from Guillemette that you overheard thanks to one of Maryam's bugs. They know you were near the cell tower and they've set up cordons and are spreading photos to their allies in the area. They're sure you won't take a specific crossing, which means that's exactly what you're going to do! Janine and the others are laying false trails to throw Red Scorpion off and Veronica should be able to guide you through the half-submerged ruins of Al-Kursi. You'll be travelling with Ernie because Red Scorpion want him back. Be quick – you're being hunted!
Call Me V[]
The ruined city in the acid lake is quite beautiful. You meet a man who offers to guide you across in exchange for the anti-tank rifle you're carrying. Veronica thinks it's a good idea and will mean you're more likely to be safe during the crossing. The man calls himself V, and even offers to go first.
Imposter Syndrome[]
Some zombies seem to have spotted you. V says that they look strange because the acid stripped their skin then the heat dried out the remaining flesh. Veronica warns you that V is leading you on a safe route, but obviously has things he wishes to hide. V tells you that Al-Kursi used to be the capital of the region, with plenty of ancient buildings. Red Scorpion destroyed it in a single night, killing many of his friends. There are only five people he hates more than Red Scorpion. He suspects that you're Ernie's bodyguard and says that he used to be a mercenary once, with a group called Death's Hand. While Sam processes that, you need to run away from more zombies.
Platformer[]
Veronica believes that V stands for Visage. The head of Red Scorpion decided that Death's Hand must have allowed you to impersonate the group, and had them hunted down and killed in revenge. V probably doesn't know you were the impersonators and you want to keep it that way. He takes you across a bridge that is beginning to crack after being eaten away by the acid. The zombies climbing it aren't helping. You'll need to run!
A Gantry Full of Zombies[]
Ernie is feeling weak from the fumes and Visage orders you to remove your bandana for him to cover his face. He knows who you are and the tattoo you got to impersonate one of Death's Hand will confirm that. Visage blames you for his team being killed, but Ernie says that Red Scorpion were planning to kill Death's Hand after the job anyway. Visage takes off and starts throwing grenades at the building you're on. Veronica has the plans of the building and guides you to a gantry. It's full of zombies, but better than being dropped into the acid. Get moving!
Time to Think[]
You're almost at the edge of the city, and there's a safe path ahead, but Ernie is still suffering the effects of the fumes. You use the anti-tank rifle to take out part of the path and drop the zombies into the acid, cutting off Visage. The fumes and the sight of you using a gun have made Ernie realise something though: you're the one who killed Van Ark!
Transcript[]
SAM YAO: All right. Five, before you and Ernie set off, I’m going to play it again to make sure there’s nothing we’ve missed.
GUILLEMETTE FELIS: We have them! We know they were in the cell tower region only hours ago. I don’t believe Runner Five is dead. It was a clever trick, had me fooled for a couple of days, but the bodies didn’t match. We have cordons to the south, the west, the east, and the northwest. Each team has photographs. We are spreading them to our allies in the region. When Ernie or Runner Five try to leave the area, we will catch them.
[inaudible response from other side of radio connection] No, boss. Northeast is the battlefield. The acid lake and the sunken city of Alkursi. Only an idiot would try to cross there.
SAM YAO: [laughs] Only idiots like us.
VERONICA MCSHELL: We’re not idiots, Sam! We know several things they don’t. Firstly, they don’t know that Maryam planted a bug on Guillemette so we can hear her plans.
SAM YAO: Yeah, might have been good if she’d have mentioned it earlier.
VERONICA MCSHELL: She had her orders from the Maghreb only to reveal that she was a spy if it became absolutely impossible not to. And that’s the second advantage we have. You will need to cross the half-submerged city, but I have Maryam’s satellite images of the city. I can detect where the buildings are unstable and where the path is safe. Red Scorpion doesn’t know I’m inside your head, Sam, so they’ll have no idea we can do that.
Janine, Frances, Mo, and Maryam are laying false trails, trying to convince Red Scorpion you went a different way. Meanwhile, with the satellite images, I can get you across. And with the anti-tank rifle you procured from Bakari’s cache, Five, you have a last resort should Red Scorpion follow in force.
ERNEST VAN ARK: Has Guillemette said anything… about me?
SAM YAO: Only that she wants you caught and brought home, which we don’t want you to do, because we don’t -
VERONICA MCSHELL: Sorry, Sam. Ernie, I know what it’s like to… have a big identity change, but we know your picture’s been spread by Guillemette, so we need to make sure you don’t encounter any Red Scorpion soldiers.
SAM YAO: - trust you! Ronnie, I wish you’d give me some warning before you, you know, hijack my mind. Okay. Five, um… yeah, the gateway to the sunken city of Alkursi is close. Follow that dust road around the hill to the right, and be quick. Red Scorpion is hunting you.
~
ERNEST VAN ARK: Gosh, Five, it’s rather… beautiful in its way, isn’t it? The lake of acid looks… peaceful, if you don’t know what it is. The faint pink tinge is glorious. And all the buildings half-submerged in the liquid, crumbling away. The towers and domes, the aqueduct, the grand palaces of the old quarter and the modern glass office buildings. It must have been a glorious place.
V: It was. You’re crossing?
ERNEST VAN ARK: Ah! Yes. I, and my friend Five here, we need to - that is to say, we’re on a journey from -
V: You want to get away from Red Scorpion. It’s the only reason anyone ever comes this way, the only reason I’m here. Spent a few months in Alkursi a long time ago. It was a magnificent place. I know it all, which buildings are still reinforced and secure, which will collapse under you as soon as you put a toe on them. I’ll take you across for um, hmm… that recoilless M3 Carl-Gustaf rifle you’re carrying in your side holster, Five. Just the one. More use for guns than money here.
ERNEST VAN ARK: Oh, I ah… we’ve got our own guide… maps!
VERONICA MCSHELL: No! M analysis is that an expert guide will increase your chances of suffering no acid injuries by 5.7%, and you can ask him to go first -
V: I’ll go first. That way, you’ll know to trust me. Payment only when you reach the far side safely. Come this way, and call me V.
ERNEST VAN ARK: Oh. Oh, okay! He’s off, Five. We’d better follow.
~
V: The zoms on the theater roof have caught our scent. Look at them stretching out their hands.
ERNEST VAN ARK: Yes, they knocked the turret into the acid, and some of the other zombies. Why do the zombies look like that?
V: The flesh has been stripped by the acid winds and dried by the heat. [laughs] My friends would have called them barbecue chicken.
ERNEST VAN ARK: You had friends here. Did you go to a coffee shop together?
VERONICA MCSHELL: Careful, Ernie. The route V has led you is safe and clever. It is avoiding any chance of acid blowback. But there are clearly things he wants to hide.
V: I never brought my friends here. I came here to hide and I liked it here. Alkursi means the throne. This was the ancient capital of the region. Some of the buildings are more than 1500 years old. Red Scorpion destroyed it in one night. If I thought either of you were Red Scorpion, I’d kill you with my own hands.
ERNEST VAN ARK: [laughs] Us? No! We hate them too, don’t we, Five? We want to stay well out of their way. Well, well, well out of their way.
VERONICA MCSHELL: You’re saying well too much.
V: Good. First, Red Scorpion destroyed my home, then they killed my friends. There’s only five people I hate more than them. You’re called Five… that’s a nom de guerre, right? Don’t think I don’t see what’s going on here. You’re his bodyguard, aren’t you? Mercenary. I was a mercenary once. The best. Ran with a team called Death’s Hand.
SAM YAO: He was part of Death’s Hand? Death’s Hand, as in the ruthless mercenary group whose identities we stole to get into Red Scorpion base?
VERONICA MCSHELL: It would appear so.
ERNEST VAN ARK: Oh, zombies climbing out of the vent! Oh, they’re all raw and glistening, like chicken.
V: Follow me across the bridge. Be quick. Run!
~
SAM YAO: We cannot let V here guess Five was part of the team that impersonated Death’s Hand, Veronica.
VERONICA MCSHELL: I suppose V stands for Visage, the master of disguise. Guillemette has talked a little about them in the recordings Maryam sent us. The boss of Red Scorpion decided that Death’s Hand must have let us impersonate them. The boss had them all tracked down and killed them. Only Visage got away.
SAM YAO: Well, there’s no way he’s gonna know though, right? I mean, Red Scorpion haven’t circulated pictures of all of us saying hey, here are the people who impersonated Death’s Hand and infiltrated our base.
VERONICA MCSHELL: That’d undermine their reputation, Sam. They want to be seen as impregnable.
SAM YAO: Okay, good. Good! Because the middle of a crumbling marble city on top of an acid lake wouldn’t be a great place for -
ERNEST VAN ARK: Um, Mr. V, are you sure this bridge is safe? I felt it move under my feet.
VISAGE: The acid is eroding it a little every day, my friend. Keep to the left side.
SAM YAO: No kidding! Yeah, the right side is falling into the acid.
VISAGE: Watch out for splashes.
VERONICA MCSHELL: The marble bridge is less stable than he thinks. There are acid fumes eating away at the marble.
ERNEST VAN ARK: There are zombies. They’re covered in acid. They’re trying to climb the bridge from the lower level. They’re barely more than skeletons, brains and teeth. The bridge is cracking apart!
VISAGE: Five, keep your principal under control. We’ll make it across, but we have to go single file, sticking close to the left where the supports are intact. We’ll need to jump between them, and run!
~
ERNEST VAN ARK: Oh God, that was terrible. I feel… there’s adrenaline coursing through my body, and the acid fumes… everything’s confused. I feel like I’m half dreaming and half awake. Five, I can’t inhale these fumes anymore.
VISAGE: Take off your bandana, Five. Give it to your principal so he can cover his mouth and nose. Five, do it.
SAM YAO: Oh no.
VISAGE: What are you waiting for, Five? Take off the bandana.
VERONICA MCSHELL: He knows. We were going to remove it, but there’s been no time. The tattoo you got on the back of your neck, Five, to match the one Vampire Squid has!
ERNEST VAN ARK: No, I uh… I don’t need a bandana.
VISAGE: If you won’t take it off, I’ll take it off you! [cloth rustles] I thought so. You have Vampire Squid’s arcane helix tattoo. I saw the corner of it as you jumped. You impersonated us. You stole our reputation. You destroyed us!
ERNEST VAN ARK: That’s not true. Red Scorpion would have come for you anyway. They were planning to kill all five of you when you finished the job for them.
SAM YAO: Not making it better, Ernie!
VISAGE: So you’re Red Scorpion. I thought so. This death is much too good for you, much much too good.
ERNEST VAN ARK: Where’s he going?
SAM YAO: He’s sprinted to the next building. Veronica, he’s hiding beneath an archway. I can’t see what he’s doing.
VERONICA MCSHELL: He's chosen a strong position, where the building is well supported. Five, Ernie, duck!
[explosion]
SAM YAO: Oh no, he’s-he’s throwing mini grenades to destroy the roof of the cinema you’re on!
VERONICA MCSHELL: But he doesn’t know I have the schematics and the satellite images. Five, Ernie, walk eight paces to your right. Slowly! The marble roof is crumbling under you.
VISAGE: Trying to crawl away? You’ll die like worms!
VERONICA MCSHELL: All right. Now you’re over a concealed glass roof. Walk slowly away along the line of blue tiles. Don’t rush! It’s fragile.
SAM YAO: Veronica, the roof! It’s disappearing under their feet!
VERONICA MCSHELL: Just five more paces! Okay, there are five metal steps down in front of you now. There’s a gantry there you can run on towards the glass tower to the left.
SAM YAO: Gantry full of zombies, Veronica.
VERONICA MCSHELL: Lesser of two evils.
VISAGE: No! No, I won’t let you get away!
SAM YAO: He’s thrown all his grenades. He’s bringing the whole building down. Run, Five! Run!
~
VERONICA MCSHELL: All right, you’re almost at the edge of the city. There’s safe ground ahead, a series of ceramic pathways through the acid lake that you can use for the next day’s journey.
SAM YAO: Still a lot of zombies behind them.
ERNEST VAN ARK: I’m feeling… really strange. The acid fumes and the running… I feel like I’m… when Visage worked out you were Vampire Squid, Five, did you… did you have a strange image in your head of an airplane?
VERONICA MCSHELL: Five, you’ll need to take out those zombies.
SAM YAO: Yeah, and be careful not to hit Visage. I know he’s trying to murder you, but well, we did sort of indirectly get all his friends killed.
VERONICA MCSHELL: You have a recoilless anti-tank rifle on your back, Five. Kneel to aim it precisely at the third strut of the aqueduct. That will plunge the zombies into the acid and prevent Visage from further pursuit. And… fire!
[explosion]
SAM YAO: Yes, you did it, Five! The zombies are gone and Visage can’t get you. He looks angry, but he’s turning away!
ERNEST VAN ARK: A rocket launcher… a long time ago, someone killed me with a rocket launcher.
SAM YAO: What? Are you remembering something?
ERNEST VAN ARK: It was you, Five. You killed me.
SAM YAO: No. No, I mean… no. You must be hallucinating from the fumes, Ernie. You need to sit down, just relax.
ERNEST VAN ARK: It’s not a hallucination though, is it, Five? It’s a memory. You were the one who killed me.
SAM YAO: But-but we didn’t have a choice -
ERNEXT VAN ARK: Enough, Sam! Leave me alone, please. I need some time. I really need to think about this.
Codex[]
Letter[]
Hey Five!
That was a close call with Visage today (although honestly, I can’t remember the last time we didn’t have a close call…)
If I could give you a medal every time you survived something crazy like being bombarded by grenades in a city literally sinking into acid, you’d have… well, a lot of medals.
Ernie remembering you were the one who killed Van Ark is… not so great. I can’t imagine that’s a fun memory to have rattling around in your head, it kind of makes me feel sorry for him.
At least we’re staying ahead of Guillemette and those crazy robo-soldiers. If we keep this up, we’ll be in Maghreb territory in no time. Who knows, maybe when we’re there I can find you a real medal.
Love,
Sam x
Supplies[]
The following supplies can be found in this mission.
(List may be incomplete.)
Axe
Bandages
Baseball Bat
Batteries
Candles
Car Battery
Mobile Phone
Pain Meds
Playing cards
Prescription Pain Meds
Radio
Sewing Kit
Shorts
Sports Bra
Tennis racket
Tent
Tool Box
Toy car
Trousers
Underwear
USB Key
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