I apologize for the amount of exposition, but some people probably haven't played Control. I am assuming if you're reading that you've played through the game, but things will be explained somewhat for those who haven't. If not, there are spoilers. Enjoy! Also yeah, this is yet another story when I have about a dozen others... sorry but my ADHD has the reigns and I write new things so often that I don't post. Medley is still going, just was working on college stuff. Everything else is worked on when I have the urge. I already have a few chapters written for this so it's enough that I feel comfortable posting.

The Bureau
Chapter 1: Threshold

Jesse Faden, Director of the Federal Bureau of Control, was worried. That wasn't anything new, she had been worried before. Worried about her brother when he was taken by the Bureau she now leads, worried when the malevolent entity known as the Hiss was taking over the entire facility a year ago. No, what was important about this fact was the cause of her worry.

This was supposed to be a normal cleansing of the final remaining Hiss pockets in the Bureau, locked behind the endless twisting walls of the Oldest House. Emily had promised that this was the last grouping in the entire building. Using the Hedron Resonance Amplifiers (HRAs) that repelled the Hiss invasion along with the missing Dr. Darling's notes, she was able to use a pulse of Hedrons that could 'echo locate' the remaining Hiss presence. Combined with Jesse's ability to sense the Hiss and their parasitic presence, they had finally cornered the Hiss in the back of the Panopticon, the containment area for many Altered Items and Objects of Power that the Bureau was containing.

Jesse turned the corner with Marshall's team of elite Rangers, eyes locked on the intense red light pulsing from the end of the hallway. The ever shifting walls of the Oldest house certainly were unpredictable, allowing the Hiss to more easily escape, but also to prevent their greater spread. If it hadn't been for the previous Director releasing the Hiss intentionally, they wouldn't have invaded as far into the building as they had. Now that Jesse was the Director, she would never let something like the Hiss or the Mold compromise her Bureau ever again.

"Heads up, we've got company." Jesse murmured to the squad, feeling the sensation of the Hiss pulse and burst angrily at her presence. The low background chanting mantra the Hiss relays spouted began to pick up in volume and pace, filling their ears. As they turned the corner into the room that held the Control Point, Jesse halted in surprise. The forms of the Hiss were much more numerous than usual, but they all were standing stock still around a central Hiss figure that was larger than the others. Adorned in a business suit, looking surprisingly normal apart from the deep red eyes caused by the Hiss' prescence, stood a man that was extremely familiar to Jesse and the Marshall.

"Ah, I see you've arrived." said Zachariah Trench, the previous Director of the Bureau. Presumed dead, his body had vanished after Jesse became the Director, but it had been assumed it had been some strange effect of the building. "Welcome, Jesse, Helen." his words echoed, repeated moments after he spoke by the rest of the Hiss in the room.

"Trench? You died!" Jesse said, pulling out the Service Weapon, changing the gun to the standard Grip form. "A year ago, you shot yourself and I took the gun. I'm the Director now! You shouldn't be here."

"You should know by now that those who have become one with the Hiss have abilities some find... unnatural." Trench said. His head twisted to the side unnaturally, floating slightly as he began spouting the mantra once that the Hiss were so fond of. "This cliché is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall! How do you say insane? Hurts to be happy. An ear worm is a tune you can't stop humming in a dream..." he began to rant mindlessly, lost in the Hiss' influence once more. Jesse focused her gaze on his hands, which tightly clasped a small object on a chain. It was too far to make out, but the red glow coming from it revealed that it was an Altered Object.

"This isn't a normal Hiss incursion. They're performing some kind of ritual!" Jesse realized. It seemed that Trench being the central axis of the Hiss infection as well as an ex-Director allows him to use this Control Point in order to utilize the Altered Item for his own gain.

"Damn! We can't let them finish the ritual!" Jesse said, thrusting her hand forward, activating her Telekinesis and launching hunks of rubble at Trench. The blocks of concrete flew across the room, but two Hiss Agents got into the path of the projectiles, preventing them from reaching Trench. The rest of the Rangers begin unloading on the rest of the Hiss with all they had. Pulling up the Service Weapon, Jesse changes the constantly shifting gun to the Charge mode, resulting in a three pronged end rather than the usual square muzzle. One by one each prong separates from the Weapon, spinning at rapid speeds and begin to glow. Jesse focuses on Trench, but ultimately is forced to fire on the arriving Hiss Clusters, the three glowing projectiles launching at the condensed ball of Hiss before it could start healing the other Hiss Agents.

The room descends into chaos as the resulting explosions from the charged shot devastates the area, destroying the Hiss Cluster before it could escape. Having encountered every Hiss enemy numerous times, Jesse predicts the appearance of another Hiss Cluster and begins running, dodging focused fire with calculated dashes, using her ability and teleporting small distances to avoid explosions. 'Why did we give our indoor troopers RPGs?' she thought for a brief second before catching a grenade midair with telekinesis and sending it back at the enemy. Aiming down the sights, the end of the weapon shudders, unloading into the Cluster. Seeing the weakened state, she pushes with her power and Seizes the Cluster with her mind, bending the Hiss to her will. The orb's deep malicious red bursts in a calming blue light, Jesse's will dominating the Hiss enemy and converting it to her side.

In the meantime, the Rangers were stuck in the doorway, using the edges of the stone wall to take shots at the enemy Hiss Snipers and Troopers that were holding them in place. With the introduction of the Cluster that Jesse took control of, they managed to start pushing forward, the Cluster now healing them instead of the Hiss.

Jesse turned to Trench, throwing a Hiss Charged with telekinesis to the side to explode in the center of a Hiss Demolition Expert. The former Director remained in the air, unfazed by the chaos around him, focusing on the Control Point. Jesse leapt upwards, shifting her Weapon to the default Grip form as she Levitated up to his height. As she approached, the Trench turned to face her with a sickening grin. Up close, she could see his body was falling apart at the seams, being used as a channel for the Hiss to access the area was taking a heavy toll on his body.

"I'm afraid you're too late Jesse. We're nearly finished here." Trench said, floating backwards around the corner.

Jesse launched after him, teleporting forward in small bursts, barely keeping pace. 'Where is he going? This is a dead end, he shouldn't be able to escape.' she thought. 'You can help me track him, right?' she thought, communicating with Polaris.

Polaris sent a pulse of encouragement, and Jesse was suddenly aware of Trench just around the corner before he vanished. Turning into the hallway, she saw the expected dead end. What was unexpected was the Light Switch Cord hanging in the center of the hall. "Damn! He's able to get into the Motel? What the hell is it doing here of all places?" she muttered. Marshall turned the corner behind her, her troops staying behind to finish up the Hiss. "Jesse. Where's Trench?"

"He took the Light Cord to the Motel. I have to follow him before he gets away. Go get the rest of the Rangers and have them monitor all the main halls. He has to exit back into the Oldest House. The other doors won't open for him." Marshall nodded, pulling out her radio and speaking into it as she left.

Polaris pulled at her senses once more, focusing on the Light Cord with what felt like worry. "I know, we won't let him get away." Jesse said, pulling the Light Cord once. The area flickered, colors shifting. She pulls it once more, the colors returning. She pulls it a third time, and then-

The Light Switch Cord. A presumed Object of Power, allowing the user to be transported to the Oceanview Motel when pulled, a pocket dimension of sorts that is filled with doorways to unknown locations. The Light Cord itself randomly appears in the Bureau building, and is highly unpredictable. The visitor is only able to return through the door they came through, and the key is often hidden every time they enter. The leading theory was that the doors that are locked lead to other worlds or realities not meant for people from Earth to live on.

Jesse finds herself standing in the lobby of the Motel, Service Weapon drawn. Trench was somewhere in the building, she could feel it. If he got to the keys to return before she did, then she wouldn't be able to return until the Light Switch Cord reappeared in the Oldest House again, which could take anywhere from hours to weeks. She would likely not survive if that was the case.

There. A glint of light under door 122. She slammed open the door, seeing Trench there with the keys in one hand and the unknown Object of Power in the other. He clapped his palms together, connecting the two Altered Items. He laughed aloud, holding up the keychain for her to see. The key that usually hung from the chain was no longer there. Instead, the metal was a rusted coloration, and the shape was drastically different. "Now neither of us will return, and I can leave to another world for the Hiss to thrive." His face was starting to burn away now, the internal forces of the Hiss eating away at him.

He pulled up one hand, throwing the nearby chair at her. She raised her Shield, a barrier of items and pieces of the nearby wall blocking the projectile. She released the barrier, launching it at Trench, knocking him to the ground. He rolled, tackling her out into the hallway. He took off, rushing towards the exit doors. Jesse dashed after him, teleporting forward in short bursts.

Trench reached a doorway, fumbling with the keys. Jesse raised the Service Weapon in its Shatter mode, shotgun blasting away at him. The impact knocked the keys from his hand, falling to the ground. Thrusting a hand forward she throws Trench against the door, his body already ravaged from the ritual he was performing. Trench lays on the ground, trying to move, to get up, but the lack of other Hiss in the Motel and the strange energy in the location prevent him from generating more energy.

"The Hiss dies here. The way it arrived was destroyed ages ago, and you are the last one." Jesse said, holding up the Service Weapon to Trench's forehead, the Weapon in Pierce mode. The muzzle of the gun split into four spikes, all centered on his forehead as energy began charging.

Trench stills, recognizing the futility of the situation. "Ah, but at least I took you down with me. The-" before he could continue or Jesse could ask what he did, the Service Weapon discharged, unable to hold back the energies once more. The powerful attack pierced right through the skull of the ex-Director, and into the wall beyond. The Hiss within attempted to burst outwards, escape to somewhere, but Jesse placed her hands on the body, focusing on cleansing the remains of the infection. In moments, there was a shift of blue energy, and the Hiss was gone. The buzzing in her head no longer existed, and it was silent save for the clock on the wall and the sound of waves outside the Motel.

Jesse sat there for a moment, breathing heavily. "Finally, I'm done with this." She reached over to the keys, picking them up and inspecting what the Altered Object had done to them. The keys to get back to the Oldest House, once a normal key on a chain, now had a strange stain on it that looked like rust. The effects of the Hiss were no longer on it, but the shape of the key definitely didn't fit the door that she usually took to get home. It was much more elongated, and twisting over itself, somewhat like the models of DNA you see in classrooms but not. It was confirmed when she went to the Inverted black pyramid door and the key no longer fit.

"Fuck." she cursed. 'Okay, rationalize. This place always provides a key to take someone back to their home. I wasn't changed, therefore the key was. So the motel should make another key for me to find before I can leave. There's no way this is the only key.' She focused, pulling on her powers, reaching for Polaris, the resonant power within had never steered her wrong.

Until now. Where she would usually have a sense of her goal, now it was like an optical illusion, like pressing her hand against a three dimensional object and finding out it was actually just a picture of it, without depth or a purpose. Polaris shifted in impossible ways in her mind, seemingly as confused as Jesse was. "Well, just because you can't find it doesn't mean there isn't one." she said, focusing on the rest of the Motel. "Let's check everywhere before seeing which door this opens."

Jesse moved through the entire Motel, searching under and inside of every room. The usual tricks like moving things around or making the first three bedrooms match identically didn't provide anything new. Trying to break out the front door, naturally, didn't work. It never did. Her phone wasn't connecting to any signals. Her powers still worked, sure, but the doors were just as unmovable as the walls. Hours of viciously slamming objects into the door, shooting it with varying anger, and then slamming the door with the debris from those explosions did nothing. The key itself wasn't harmed by any attack either, nor removing the effect through purification. It seemed like the keys had become a new Altered Item rather than corrupted by something.

She ran through the files she could remember about the Motel. So far Bureau Agents haven't been able to physically locate the exterior despite knowing it exists somewhere. The doorways are correlated to different locations based on the icons. If the inverted black pyramid door leads to the Oldest House, then the White Pyramid probably leads to the Astral Plane in some fashion, or whatever realm the creature known as Former lives in. The other two doors were somewhat known. One of them had a letter come out from under it that agents found a while back, possibly pertaining to an Altered World event in Cauldron Lake that resulted in some kind of World of Darkness. Jesse definitely didn't want to go through that door. The other door was presumed to be the opposite of that world if the first two doors were any indication. The last door, the one she opened, was the door with two overlapping circles. It looked like a sideways Venn diagram, with a dot inside of the overlap.

Trying the key on the doors revealed that it opened the door at the end of the hall, the one with two overlapping circles. Of course it would be the unknown one. For all she knew this door lead back to the source of the Hiss. Opening the door revealed an empty room, the only thing within being another Light Switch Cord and a painting that appeared to be completely black.

She sighed, leaning against the door frame. 'I don't suppose you know if the other side of this is safe?' she asked Polaris. The entity shifted in her mind once more, giving a positive answer, but also uncertain. "So it's safe but we don't actually know what's over there. Right." Heading to the Motel Entrance, she scribbled down a note and slapped it on the outside of the door.

Trench changed the key somehow.
Key only works on this door.
Altered Item used on key.
Ask Langston which item was used.
-Jesse

She rolled her neck stretching a bit before readying her Service Weapon. "Here goes nothing." she whispered, pulling the Cord. The room shuddered, going dark. She pulled it again, and the room returned to normal. A third and final pull-

and Jesse saw two enormous beings in a field of stars.

I'm trying not to info dump here, but Control isn't well known as far as I'm aware, and this first chapter has a lot happening. The next chapters won't be as wild.