As the Marked finish breakfast, Williams motions for Anderson and Jones to stay behind and finish up cleaning.

"We can handle this," he says. the rest of the G-men follow the Marked to the High School's basement. They listen to Jason and Cecil's debate. At Jethro's vote, Cox balks.

"You'd vote for a lady?" he sputters, stepping toward Jethro.

"Stand down!" Williams snaps. "She's just as likely to be one of them as anyone else."

"But-"

"I said stand down!"

Cox backs off, glowering at Jethro.

Jethro returns Cox's scowl. "I voted ferra person," Jethro retorts, his accent suddenly harsh, "jus' like I did before. An' if it turn out that they ain't one o' them Controlled, I'll be just as sorry, man 'r woman." He stabs a finger at the G-man. "An' seein' as you ain't on th' ballot t' git killed, you ain't got no place givin' me lip over it."

Having vented his ire, Jethro stalks over to the wall and leans back against it. Then he pulls the brim of his Stetson down over his eyes so as to obscure Cox from his view as he listens to the others debate.

Dottie listens,the speaks up, quietly.

"It's all right to vote for me. If I go, I'll be with my family sooner." She nods to herself, then adds, "But... you seem so sure, Cecil. How can you think this through so easily? How can you think? I don't blame anyone here for being angry, or afraid, or suspicious, or even just a tenth-level jerk, not after what happened... but calm? How can you be calm? Everyone we know is dead and we're next!" She's hysterical enough at this point not to realize that the two parts of her statement -- accepting death and rejecting it -- are contradictory.

Vote: Cecil

Cecil sighs. "I didn't want to have to go into it, but - well, before I moved here and open up the Second Edition, I had - um - I lived the sort of life that's very interesting to read about. I've seen what it's like when people die. I've seen people die slowly, and I've seen people die quickly, and the ones that died slowly were by far the worse. I've been -" He shudders. "Never mind that. I still have nightmares sometimes. How do I stay so calm? I stay so calm because I must. I can't keep it up more than a few days, but a few days is all we have. We already have probably two out of five people Controlled, and if we get it wrong today then tomorrow we'll likely have three out of four Controlled. We have to get it right today, and Jason has to decontaminate someone tonight, or we're all dead."

"So. I don't want to have to vote in this situation, but I don't see that I have any choice. I can't abstain, not when I think there's a chance that one of the Controlled might get away scott free. And so I have to vote; Richard, you are the most likely person to be one of the Controlled in my estimation."

"If I am correct," Cecil continues, "then Richard will vote for either me or Dottie, and almost certainly for me; it will be up to you, Jason, to ensure that not everything goes the way of the Controlled. And it will be up to you, tonight, to decontaminate the other Controlled, whoever that is, if there is one."

Jones and Anderson enter the basement quietly, quickly getting into formation with the other G-men surrounding the Marked. O'Brien leans over to Anderson to fill him in quickly on the details. Jones glares at the two in their whispered conversation, and shakes his head.

Williams and Lee ignore their unprofessional behavior, honed in on the discussion between the Marked.

Richard mulls over everything. "I-I-I... I can't b-believe I'm sssaying this, but I vote D-D-Dottie."

VOTE: Dottie

Williams glanced at his watch.

"Close to time," he muttered. "My Dubois, you plan on adding a vote? Otherwise, Ma'am, I'm sorry to inform you --"

"That you're surrounded by idiots," Cox muttered.

"Cox, you speak up again...!"

"Yea, gimme a minute."

Jason reaches out and grabs both Cecil and Dottie on bare skin, preferably before either one of them realises what is happening.

The moment Jason touches Dottie and Cecil, they begin to glow. However, it is not just Jason, Dottie and Cecil who are effected. Jethro and Richard are also enveloped in the glow, though they are not touching another Marked member. And the muffled feeling that the basement once gave them is not so strong. There are glimmers of the outside world. They can hear birdsong, feel the direction of the wind, feel the humidity in the air; it will rain today.

Meanwhile, all five Marked can hear each other's surface thoughts. Nothing telling, still the same bits and phrases that float to the top of the mind. And all five can feel something...wrong. Something is blocking them. Something is hiding itself away within the group. And they can feel it: there are two who are Controlled. But who those two are, none can determine.

"Number!" says Cecil. "We can't pick up identity but we can get the number of Controlled people! And - and we're picking up the outside... that's a problem. That lead's not blocking - whatever this uses..."

Williams hid his face against the glare.

"Fifteen minutes!" he called, unsure if any of the Marked heard him.

"Twelve o' clock," Lee says calmly. "I suggest that we move outside. We don't want the nonterrestrials to damage a perfectly good building, do we?"

The g-men surrounds the Marked, breaking them apart and pushing them up the stairs of the basement and outside. A bright beam of light waits at the bottom of the steps to the door.

"Sorry, ma'am," Williams says gruffly. "You're up. Do you have any last words?"

"It's for the best," Dottie says quietly. "I lost my husband, I lost my son, I lost... everything. You have no idea." She gives the others a knowing look, then nods. "It's for the best."

Williams bows his head.

"Walk toward the light, ma'am."

Dottie nods and takes a few steps towards the beam. As she gets closer, a strange, crazed smile covers her face. In the beam, a tall, willowy man appears with a flicker. He holds out his hand to Dottie.

"Hello, Mrs. Anderson," he says with a pointed smile. "You have done so well, my dear. Would you like to see your son again?"

"Oh, yes," Dottie breathes, taking the man's hand. He pulls her into the beam, placing a hand on her upturned cheek. She smiles up at him, tears building in her eyes. The beam flickers, and disappears. Dottie and the willowy man are gone.

The g-men are stunned.

"It seems," Lee says finally, "that Dottie was Controlled."

"But...that's impossible!" Cox sputters. "You should have seen her the first day! She literally called and spoke to a woman who wasn't there! Checked an empty bed for her son!"

"Maybe it was all a ruse," Williams muttered. "Or maybe she turned later. It doesn't matter."

He looks at each of the Marked.

"What matters is that you've chosen correctly today. And now you know for sure that there's at least one more among you who is Marked. I suggest you do what you can to smoke him out. Men! See to your Marked! Dismissed!"

(OOC: I'll be waiting for your night roles! You're welcome to play in this thread until I've received them all)

"Dottie." murmurs Cecil. "It was Dottie. But... who else..."