Internal Affairs | Part 3

Everyone, this is Christoph and this is Robin and we are continuing our deep dive into the Leviathan vault and continuing to bring you some of our special edition episodes that we put out over 15 years ago. Yeah, we are continuing to listen to internal affairs are a story that dives a little deeper into the Black Door group. You heard internal affairs parts one and two the past couple weeks and this week we will be listening to internal affairs part three. That's right and and this is as you've heard in the last two chapters, we're exploring what some of the other doors within Black Door do and exploring some of the characters that you met in season two of Leviathan Chronicles. Mainly Celeste Harris who was one of the Black Door agents who picked up Tully and Oberlin and in addition to her, we also have Chief Hardwick the head of door 20 who is an actor named Eric Deeter and we really found love with the way that he kind of had this rough door chief presence to him and you heard him in parts one and two of internal affairs. And if you've been listening closely, he also comes up in the prologue to the wrapped Scalene agency. So once we find an actor we like we try and usually expand the character further. And I think that's one of the fun things about these special edition episodes is it does have these characters that show up in the main story and in other parts of the Leviathan universe. Yeah, and if you keep listening to internal affairs you're going to hear a few other characters from both the past and future of Leviathan pop up again some rather big characters at least one smaller character who you might recognize from season one of Leviathan Chronicles. So yeah, we're going to be listening to part three today in parts one and two you heard our hero Celeste Harris break into a laboratory in Japan to try to steal some some top secret dirt on Jason Sterling and his group door door number 12 and part two ended with a Celeste passing out inside a locked chamber inside this laboratory in non-Katsu headquarters. So we're on to part three we get to see what happens after she she awakens and you know part three opens with this big chase scene through the streets of Tokyo and it's really fun. I love those Tokyo jeans. I love when we do stuff in in Tokyo. We've done so many fun scenes there. It's it's always fun to visit that soundscape. Yeah, and I love this scene in particular because it's basically it's a single character scene which is something we do from time to time. It's often footchaces like this scene and you know a single character scene is kind of a big challenge an audio drama. And it's interesting hearing how we did it 15 years ago as opposed to how we do it today. If you listen to Inveneos expedition there's a similar single character chase scene with the character Brittany cop or sorry the actress Brittany Cox playing the characters to read in the Robi. There's a scene where she is running through the pirate camp in Inveneos and it's really fun for me to compare that that scene to one a similar one that you're about to hear an internal affairs that we did so long ago because I'm again struck just by I feel like a broken record I keep saying this in these intros. But how audiobook like these old episodes from long ago are here to what we do now for sure where we're just relying mostly on narration to talk about what's happening with you know if you grunts here and there whereas I think we've got a lot better than the single character scenes in our newer work. You know coming up with more natural reasons in the dialogue for the character to be speaking to the audience instead of just hearing their thoughts a few of their thoughts in their head followed by a long chunk of the narrator talking about the action. That's true. It's just one of the you brought up the scene of serena and a Robi and the pirate camp in Inveneos expedition. It's like totally thought of that when when I was realisting to the episode and kind of like the woman on the run. And you know kind of kind of theme and yeah it's a it's we do do it differently now but it's a it's fun to see how we you know kind of interpreted a a a soundscape and tried to make and how to really make Japan feel like Japan. Yeah a thing you'll hear a little bit of in this episode is some Japanese language dialogue I really like throwing in dialogue and foreign languages when we can. We do a lot of scenes that are set in foreign countries and it gives a nice bit of flavor to hear that foreign language dialogue it's a nice little Easter egg for listeners who might understand those languages and for those who don't it's kind of just some fun flavor it makes things feel a little more real. It can make things feel chaotic it can make you more curious if you want to know what's going on and I think I said in our intro last week. These special edition episodes were originally kind of like a laboratory for us where we started playing with you know techniques that. We maybe hadn't tried out in the main podcast feed and a lot of those techniques we started using more and more in the main show and I think this may have been our the first time we we really use some foreign language dialogue well you'll hear I think there's I was I was thinking about that and I heard it and I think there was one time believe it or not that we did use for like which is before this. If if you're eagerly eared back in chapter 11 I think it was we had when we were in Mumbai I remember having an actress a friend of a friend come into speak good rathi because we wanted to have more. Wow. So that incredible memory. I think chapter 11 of the live chronicles even older than this one I think that might have been our first time but that was it was definitely cold to hear us doing that again again here I mean what. What a what a blast in the past yeah you'll hear we've got a couple Japanese pedestrians it's the less run into who start speaking to her in Japanese we hear some some newscasts in the background in Japanese and you know hearing this made us want to explore that type of thing more so once we got to our app scaliant agency you'll hear that show has a ton of foreign language dialogue there's a lot of characters speaking French. In our latest season the Invenius expedition we've got some characters speaking Portuguese and Arabic so it's something that we would come back to a lot after this. Nothing mentioned our our famous five minutes Spanish. Post credits scene that we had at the end of season three which was a little controversial but I stand by it I think it was a lot of fun. But this is definitely one of the first times we were playing with foreign languages and it was cool to cool to kind of see what I don't know what Christ off is talking about if you go to. The final episode of the main Leviathan storyline chapter 50 you go all the way to the end you listen the credits. Don't turn the episode off you're going to wait through about 90 seconds of silence specifically as an Easter egg we. And you will hear a scene that opens with I would say one to two minutes of a character speaking entirely in Spanish. We have taken a little bit of criticism for the yeah we we've been you know Chris neither Kristoffer or native Spanish speakers I speak the most elementary level of Spanish I think Kristoff speaks even less so we have taken some criticism for that scene from some Spanish speaking listeners who say the Spanish in that. The Spanish acting in that is not quite up to Paul so we apologize without further ado from us very excited to keep listening to internal affairs so let's get into chapter three there we go. Internal affairs a Leviathan Chronicle story. Part 3. Taste the first sense that returned to agent Celeste Harris's body was taste as she detected a distinctly metallic sensation in her mouth. Smell return next as she instantly caught the odour of lingering gunpowder consistent with the discharge of a firearm her eyes instantly shot open thus rendering her now with the sense of sight Celeste Harris was lying on the floor in a pool of warm blood. She sprang to her feet and immediately checked her body for the source of the wound surprisingly finding nothing more than some bad scratches and bruises she promptly did a 360 to entertain exactly where she was from what she could tell she stood in what looked like her hotel room a low end one at that perhaps an SRO cheap furniture was appended and strewn everywhere the stained wall paper was cracked and curling at the edges even more blood was streaked on the walls. She looked down to find herself wearing a hen shin tigers t-shirt and some dirty black jeans and sneakers Celeste recognized none of the clothing she quickly scanned the room and pared over the sofa which had been completely flipped over the blood was the heaviest there and when Celeste flipped it back over. She saw exactly why the bodies of two men was split on the floor wearing what were once white laboratory coats with nankatsu logos on the front their bodies were severely brutalized and she could see the entry points of several gunshot rooms. I smell firearms discharge but this is too much blood for a gunshot. There's no way that. And just like that Celeste looked down and saw the sticky kitchen knife in her hand still dripping with blood she was clenching the knife so tightly that she hadn't even realized she was holding it. Celeste froze and realized that she had no memory of entering this room no memory of these dead scientists of murdering them it was as if her short-term memory had been wiped clean. But the knife lay on the floor clearly reminding her that she had she must have killed these two men for reasons that were completely unknown to her her mind raced for an explanation but as she looked around the room her body suddenly froze on the filthy walls of the room was scored a single word in dry blood. But Celeste stopped in mid-thought instead intently at the television for a split second she thought the set might have been a mirror because she saw her own face staring right back at her. her. No, no, no. Her face. On every single channel she turned to, her face appeared on the television screen. Every channel was having its program interrupted for a late-breaking story regarding a viral pandemic that was on the verge of erupting in Tokyo. I'm not ifbesolesce desperately flipped through the Japanese news channels, finding only images of herself against a white wall wearing a hospital gown. No. The tiny mirror by the door and looked at herself. The right side of her face was covered in dried blood from where she had been passed out next to the scientists. The other half of her face was streaked with thick red lines, like every vein in her face was about to burst. She quickly wiped the blood away with her sleeve. My god, I am infected. Okay, the break-in and in cancer records there was a mistake. Something went wrong. There was gas. Did I really kill those men? They mustn't try to get me back to the laboratory. There had to be... Shit. I've gotta get out of here. Police in the building, they must know I'm here. I've got to leave. I've got to... Doha, get up. Get up. Fuck. Open the door. Celeste threw her body through the third story window, hoping that the tattered grey canvas awning of the tiny cell phone store below the hotel would hold her. The policeman were already too late. Celeste had landed into the slack of the grey awning. She easily rolled off, landing feet first on the ground level of Hitori Street. Pestrians stared at the strange women who just fell out of the building. But before anyone could say anything a geck-i-can-sarchy distribution truck rumbled past, Celeste quickly jumped behind it, pulling herself onto its rear loading deck. Come on. She pulled herself flat against the rear of the truck to avoid being seen by the driver. A few blocks behind her, the door to the dilapidated guesthouse burst open, and four Tokyo policemen ran onto Hitori Street searching frantically for Celeste. But their arrival was a moment too late. The truck already turned the corner on Ketsu Street and headed into the city centre. I can't stay on this truck. I need to find a way out of here. I need to find a way out of Tokyo. Celeste hopped off the truck at Djengume Corner and briskly walked across the street to a crowded farmer's market. Celeste tore the bottom of her t-shirt and took a long strip of fabric and wrapped it around her face like a flume mask that people commonly wore in Japan. Celeste pushed through the dense stores of the marketplace and bent her knees trying to disguise her height. She felt a vague sense of comfort being surrounded and hidden by the thick crowds of people. Celeste froze in her steps. She looked up to see that her face was now plastered on a jumper-tronic screen overlooking the plaza where the farmer's market was located. Celeste instantly hunched her head down and avoided eye contact with everyone. Celeste's door number three was part of the firefighted sanctuary in Beijing. Maybe I could get on a train heading north to Hokkaido. I've got a contact in Russia. Maybe I could find a ferry to Vladivostok. But damn it, I've got no access to fun, no way to pay. And then Celeste stopped in her tracks. She was suddenly overcome by the most primal of urges. Hunger. In the course of waking up next to two dead bodies and running from the Tokyo police, she neglected to realize that she was starving. Her ravenous hunger was brought to her attention by the intoxicating smell of rich pork broth, wafting from behind the counters of one of Tokyo's revered ramen noodle bars. I can't remember the last time I ate. It had to be before the break in 24 hours. Maybe a lot more. That's why I'm moving so slow. Why everything hurts. Christ. Fung. My body needs some form of nutritious starving. I've got to find something. The smell hit her again. Pork. Rich, slowly braised, fragrant pork broth. Hints of garlic, cinnamon and star anise drifted through her nostrils, causing her mouth to water achingly as she smelled the ramen hurt nearby. Unlike the five-for-a-dollar packs of dried ramen favored by American college students, Asian cultures consider fresh ramen a revered cuisine, and one of the ultimate comfort foods in Tokyo. Cooks could spend days preparing the rich broths that were cooked in massive 50-gallon pots, alongside egg and rice noodles being cut from scratch and dropped into fresh bowls while still nutty and firm. The entire concoction was usually topped with fresh herbs, bits of dried seaweed or poached egg, along with tender shredded pork or chicken. Lines could stretch of full block for one of the better stalls, which were often so tiny that there was only room for a handful of customers to stand. On such lines stretched out in front of Celeste and headed down to one of the underground accessways to Tokyo's massive subway network. Celeste checked the pockets of her jeans, not knowing what to expect. Celeste walked down the steps of the subway station to get closer to the source of the intoxicating smell. She did her best to bend her knees and hunt her back, but soon found the effort exhausting. She got in line with the other patrons waiting for ramen, and slowly shuffled forward until she stood in front of the counter. Antelope, you sort of know? Please. No money, but please. Just a little bit. Don't take it, sayo. This isn't the charity kitchen. People are waiting. Get out of here. No. Please. The television screen above the counter switched from the baseball game it had been broadcasting, and instead showed Celeste's face. There was a skull and crossbones next to her image. We tried to play this game with the public safety announcement. The world featured about this patient sale. A highly contagious escaping from the Tokyo hospital. No, no please. I'm so hungry. I'm hurt. I just need it. The crowd in line behind Celeste grew agitated. Many had missed their train in order to get one warm bowl of ramen before heading home. A man behind Celeste began to push her out of the way to place his order. Hey, get off. No, stop it. The situation quickly escalated and before she could stop him. And warning Celeste's face mask was pulled down and the red streaks along her face and neck were clear to see. No. Antelope, you're not going to lose it. Oh, that's a police. No, no, no. Celeste spun around and threw the person behind her on the floor. She tucked her arms in front of her and exploded out of the ramen shop and knocking three other patrons to the ground. She managed to grab just a mouthful of pork from behind the glass counter before sprinting up the staircase to the ground level. It's three level. I forgot to get out of the area. If I can just get out. But as Celeste dashed up the stairs, three Japanese police officers were pushing people out of the way, leaping down the steps towards her. Shhh. Celeste turned and sprinted back down the stairwell, going deeper into the train station that was now in full panic mode with people running in all directions. One young student was frantically waving his Tokyo metro pass over the turnstile scanner to gain access to the train platforms. She grabbed the metro pass from the young man's hands. When he started to protest, Celeste connected a right hook to the side of the man's skull. Throwing his head into the metal pole of the gate. Shhh. Which line do I take? The police will be here any second time to look at the map. Just need to find the closest train platform. They're firing. In a station full of civilians. That's crazy. Either I really am the deadliest play carrying transmitter or... Or these aren't really Tokyo calls. Celeste burst through the turnstiles and sprinted down a flight of stairs under a sign for platform number four. Word had quickly spread that patient zero was on the loose in Djengomai metro station and everyone seemed to be running in a panic. I need a distraction. I need... There. Near the end of the train platform was a harried transit officer. Celeste noticed that he wasn't a member of the Tokyo police force and therefore wasn't armed. But what he did have hanging off his belt was a far more valued to Celeste. My man was completely distracted by trying to direct the screaming crowds of panic people. In fact, he never saw Celeste coming. In one swift movement Celeste grabbed the baton stick from his belt, spun around the back of him while kicking out his legs and quickly clenching the baton against the larynx that has thrust. Listen to me. I am a killer. You have only five seconds to live. If you do exactly as I say, I will let you live. But that choice is yours. Will you listen to me? Hi. Yes. The Tokyo police have spotted me on platform six. This is the bat! You have spotted me on platform six. Do you understand? She tightened her sticky belt to his neck. Excuse me. I found a lady's girlfriend. She is a six-way home. She is a flat home ship. Tell them to hurry. Please hurry. Here it is. Hurry up, please. Good. You will live. And without warning, Celeste brought the baton down hard on the side of the man's neck and he collapsed to the ground. People were still running in a panic throughout the station and few took the time to notice the sudden act of violence committed by Celeste. The police will be looking for me on platform six. Although the security cameras will see me here on platform four, I might have bought myself 60 seconds. Which might just be enough. A metro train suddenly approached platform four and gradually came to a stop. Celeste ducked behind a round column and let the passengers disembarking get absorbed into the panic crowd. She hoped she had moved quick enough so that the station wouldn't be put into full lockdown, thus holding all trains in and out of the station. But a sudden shudder of the train doors gave Celeste hope. The train. It's moving. It's falling out. I've got to get on. Quick! Celeste leapt onto the train just as the door slammed shut and slowly pulled away from platform four. Tokyo police officers were now flooding the platform searching for Celeste, but she didn't risk staring out of the train window. She turned her back to the station and bent her knees again so that she would blend in better with the other Tokyo commuters. As the train pulled away and entered the dark tunnel of the Tokyo Metro, Celeste allowed herself to release a single breath of relief. Seven minutes. I just bought myself another seven minutes. Celeste tried to slow her rapid breathing, but she couldn't escape the growing stairs from the other passengers in the train. She lowered her head instead and tently at the floor, but out of the corner of her eye she could see fingers starting to point at her. The red streaks on her face burned under the inspection of the commuters and soon passengers began shuffling away from her. In less than two minutes, Celeste found herself almost completely alone in the rear of the cab. I shouldn't make them any more nervous than they already are. The next station. I'm going to need to leave. The train suddenly screamed to an abrupt stop, throwing Celeste down to the floor hard. Oh, fuck! I'm going to get damn passengers. Must have pulled the emergency rock and they think that that... Hi, this is Rob Benavitt. And I am Richard Spate. We were both on a little show you might know called Supernatural. It had a pretty good run, 15 seasons, 327 episodes. And though we have seen, of course, every episode many times, we figured, hey, now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again. And we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll of course have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit of a left field choice in the best way possible. The note from Krypki was, he's great, we love him, but we're looking for like a really intelligent, decovony type. With 15 seasons to explore, it's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes. So please join us and subscribe to Supernatural, then and now. The war is over and both sides lost. The kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world, praying. The darkness chooses someone else tonight, but in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring and it's most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s and man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the shadow dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on youtube.com slash the glass cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. The world of Sonic the Hedgehog has been thrust into a not so dark, not so stormy, hard boiled detective story that probably nobody saw coming. Follow Sonic and the intrepid chaotics detective agency as they take on their biggest case yet. This high flying action-packed adventure will take them across the world, fighting for every clue they can fight. It's one heck of a tale, which is good because this story might be the only thing that can save their lives. Well if that's all I can just dispose of you. Wait what? All will be revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog presents the chaotics case files. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. The chaotics are on the case. Oh, look at the passengers must have pulled the emergency rock and they think that that... The rear of the train exploded into two pieces. The deal was shredded like paper and everyone on the train screamed in horror, running to the front of the cat, flesk and instinctively reached her waist for her sidearm that wasn't there. The rear of the train was now exposed and the walls of the train were peeled back like some bizarre fruit. The subway tunnel outside was pitch black and the illumination from the fluorescent lights of the train now flickered weekly. In the fading light of the train tracks, three forms suddenly materialized at the opening. Two of the forms were enormous, shaped roughly like men but far taller and almost equally as wide. Celeste couldn't see them but heard rouse emanating from. Between the two stood a man, a rather short man, who seemed to take no note of the monstrosities standing beside him. He calmly hops onto the train through a massive opening where the two giants had ripped the steel car open. Good afternoon, Agent Harris. Who the hell are you? The person that you stole from. You're from Lancatson. I most certainly am not. I work for somebody else that I have a feeling you might know. I work for Jason Sterling. Door number 12. Yes, Lack Door. Who are you? My name is Dr. Marquain. I've seen your files. Dr. Peter Marquain. Alias, Dr. Richard Ackerman, Pedro, Sangora, Demetri Carloschi. You are known as the Chimera Doctor. There are warrants for your arrest in the US, Canada, and Mexico. This isn't Mexico. You've been living in exile for years. Most intelligence reports have you presumed dead. No, you could say I've just been... ...sundying myself on a remote island. The doctor removed a small metallic sphere from his jacket pocket and pushed a button in its center. As you can see, I'm far from dead. But I am rather anxious to get back what you stole from us. So is Jason Sterling, and all those that work for Door number 12. The doctor took a step towards Celeste causing her to instantly crawl backwards defensively. My name is Agent Celeste Harris, Black Door Operative 352. Code, Equitist, Selentium, Lord. I know who you are. I'm Door 20, Enforcement and Internal Affairs. I hereby institute Door Lock Protocol. You will seize all activities relevant. I don't think I'm going to rush to update my resume just yet. What do you want from me? I told you. You stole something from us, and now I'm taking it back. What do you mean? I didn't take anything. I don't have anything. The infiltration operation failed. We were never able to... You stole my virus. It constitutes one of the most important breakthroughs in genetic engineering and cerebral manipulation. You stole the master copy and destroyed it when you infiltrated and then caught Sue headquarters. Well, forgive me if I don't cry over spilled milk. Oh, the milk isn't spilled. At least not yet. That's why I'm not going to kill you. I don't understand. The virus. It's what creates these enforcers you see beside me. They're still somewhat experimental, but they're quite vital to the long-term plans of Door No. 12. Without the master virus to graft onto the individual DNA of our participants, we would lose the ability to manufacture them. And we can't have that. So beautiful in this cellular perfection? So necessary for the future? You destroyed the master copy and then caught Sue. But... I told you the mission was a failure. But there's one copy I can still obtain. It's the one inside of you now. Burning through your bloodstream. I can see some of the manifestations on your face. Your black door. You can't kidnap me in front of a train full of witnesses. The world will know what you've done. This whole train will... Most of the train is still on its way to the next station. Only this car was disconnected. The rest will never know what happened here. There are still two dozen witnesses in this car that have seen everything. And even you would have... The doctor tilted his head towards Celeste. And before she could finish her sentence, the left enforcer leapt forward, grabbed Celeste by the neck, yanking her on the train. It squeezed her windpipe just enough to extinguish her consciousness. Before it carried her off into the dark subway tunnel. What witness is... And with that, the doctor lightly tossed the metal sphere in his hand towards the front of the train car. Where the petrified Tokyo commuters had congregated tightly, he turned and walked back down the dark subway tunnel with the remaining enforcer by his side. He never saw the pulse bellic electricity leave the grenade, frying the nervous system of every human being on board. He was already far too preoccupied with the operations that lay ahead. And after all, he had a plane to catch. You have been listening to Internal Affairs, a Leviathan Chronicles story. This episode was made possible by the generous support of our listeners to listen ad-free and get exclusive bonus content and behind-the-scenes footage. Become a subscriber at patreon.com slash Leviathan Chronicles. Internal Affairs was written by Christophe LaPucca, directed by Nobi Nakanishi, produced by Robin Shaw, executive produced by Ahtz Johnny, original music by Luke Allen, sound design and editing by Luke Allen and Robin Shaw, starring Amanda Lichtenberg as Celeste Harris, Norm Golden as Dr. Peter Marquain and Samantha Parker as the narrator. For a full cast list and to learn more about our other audio productions, go to Leviathanaudioproduction.com or follow us on social media. Thank you for supporting Leviathan Audio and thank you for listening. Leviathan Audio Production Oh please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood. Could we get something a little bit lighter, lighter music here? Are you a fan of true crime TV shows? And what about Unsolved Mysteries, the show that jump started all of our love of true crime? I'm Ellen Marsh, and I'm Joey Taranto. And we host I Think Not, a true crime comedy podcast covering some of the wildest stories from your favorite true crime campaign TV shows all the way to Unsolved Mysteries. Baby, you will laugh, you will cry, you'll think about true crime in a whole new way, and you'll also ask yourself, who gave these people mics? New episodes of I Think Not are released every Wednesday with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon. And every Monday, you can listen to our true crime rundown where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week. So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcast. Uh, the Regency Era. You might know it as the time when Bridget Hentakes plays, or the time when Jane Austen wrote her books. But the Regency Era was also an explosive time of social change, sex scandals, and maybe the worst king in British history. And on the vulgar history podcast, we're gonna be looking at the balls, the gowns, and all the scandal of the Regency Era. Vulgar history is a women's history podcast, and our Regency Era series will be focusing on the most rebellious women of this time. That includes Jane Austen herself, who is maybe more radical than you might have thought, but also be talking about queer icons like Ann Lister, scientists like Mary Annning and Ada Lovelace, as well as other scandalous actresses, royal mistresses, rebellious princesses, and other lesser known figures who made history happen in England in the Regency Era. Listen to vulgar history wherever you get podcasts. Ever open up your podcast apps, scroll forever, and still not know what to listen to? And there are millions of podcasts, and most of them, they just don't grab you. That's why I created something you should know. Every episode is built around surprising, useful, and fascinating ideas. We're consistently ranked in Apple's top 200, with thousands of five-star reviews. But more importantly, people come back because they learn something interesting every time. If you're tired of searching and you just want something good to listen to, try one episode of something you should know, right here on the platform you're listening on right now.