"There has been an incident. You are going to want to see this."

"Has there been a breach?"

"No, the subject is still secured as far as we can tell. Protocol has been followed and there are no signs of emergence as of yet."

"Then what is this about?"

"These images were picked up via a weather satellite tracking a disturbance in the upper atmosphere over the Everfree Forest. The same satellite picked up a sudden change in the topographical features of the area that was struck by the storm. You can compare the two here and if you look closely you can see that the area has been-"

"Candified!"

"Correct. We estimate exposure occurred some months ago. It's a miracle that things didn't escalate sooner... Though if they had, perhaps we could have already cleaned this up."

"How far has it spread?"

"That's just it. It hasn't spread. We were able to establish containment without meeting any resistance. I've dispatched mobile task force Epsilon 4. Once they are on site we can proceed with sterilization of the area."

"Notify the task force that they are not to proceed with sterilization until I give the go ahead."

"Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"Why the hell should we do that!? I've read the documentation on this thing. I know how dangerous it is! Any chance we have to eliminate it has to be taken as soon as possible!"

"Under normal circumstances I'd agree with you, but this emergence went under our radar for months. I don't blame you for not knowing this as the relevant documents are actually above your classification, but this anomalous activity is not only dangerous, its growth should proceed at a geometric rate. That it hasn't is cause for investigation."

"What do you mean?"

I mean that it shouldn't just the Everfree Forest, but probably half the country should have been consumed by now. If we've missed this for this long, then that means either our calculations are wrong, or there is something different about this emergence. We have to analyze the area carefully or we run the risk of letting something bigger slip through our fingers."

"Then you're suggesting that this might be the worst case scenerio?"

"Yes. It's possible we are looking at a second incursion."