Care to Explain?

"Care to Explain?" is the sixth level in the award-winning video game The Operative: No One Lives Forever. Consisting of only one scene, it consists of a briefing and a visit to the training facility in preparation of the upcoming mission.

Briefing
''Congratulations. You have failed again.''

''Although the circumstances were certainly extraordinary in this case, don't expect much sympathy from command. UNITY cannot afford failures, however justifiable.''

Plot Summary
In the briefing room, Mr. Smith is furious that Archer has mishandled another mission, even commenting that sending a woman as their operative would end up in failure. Mr. Jones is less critical and moves on to outlining the next mission: Customs officials have spotted suspicious looking chemical containers on a Finnish cargo freighter in Hamburg. Noting that this could be a link to Dr. Schenker, Jones suspects that it is also possible that the kidnappers not only know about Schenker's research, but plan to make use of it as well. Archer also provides a detailed profile on her assailant, Magnus Armstrong, and concludes that it is very likely that he is working for H.A.R.M.

For her next mission, Archer is to travel to Hamburg to meet Tom Goodman, an American UNITY operative, who will be her new partner, as well as supervisor. He will provide her with further instructions and they will conduct further investigation from there. Archer is a bit surprised at this as she thought Goodman was killed in Amsterdam, which Mr. Jones explains away as surviving through his resourcefulness.

Following Archer's departure, Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones have a short discussion about her current performance. Smithy argues that she is an incompetent "liability". Mr. Jones, on the other hand, is confident that he did the right thing sending Archer on a mission like.

Archer proceeds to the training facility to learn about the latest gadget designed for her, a Perfume bottle holding Sleeping Gas.

Memorable quotes
Mr Jones: "It's quite probable that things will get worse before they get better." Mr Smith: "I don't see how that's possible."

Trivia

 * Although she never actually got a glimpse of him in the previous mission, Cate is still able to identify her attacker as Magnus Armstrong.
 * It is not clear in what way the chemical containers are a link to Dr. Schenker, although they do strongly resemble the ones seen in the research facility in Berlin by Night.
 * This is the first instance in which a character mentions the fact that "Tom Goodman died in Amsterdam". The nature of his death is never fully revealed.
 * This is the first training level where only one new gadget is introduced.
 * The "new prototype" that Leon is working on is the Briefcase Rocket Launcher. Going too close to it will cause it to explode
 * The fact that the cargo freighter is Finnish could be a link to the third assassination from The Assignment which takes place in Helsinki.
 * Using the dialogue option "I did my best under the circumstances" awards you an intelligence item.