At the beginning the mission, the camera follows the NAA employee npc you're supposed to persuade as your first objective. In typical fashion, on my 3rd attempt at the mission, I was fiddling with the camera to pass the time and noticed a strange civ leaving the building the NAA employee is going to go into. If you don't touch the camera then this stranger is conveniently off screen by the time the camera shows the door, which is one thing that makes me suspicious.
The character themself is wearing an all black getup with a cape and a wide-brimmed hat. They also have an odd purple kind of aura. Been playing this game off and on for nearly 30 years and I've never noticed this person before. I was able to persuade them but I've yet to clear the mission with them in tow to see if there's any significance to them or if they're just a little easter egg of some kind. Some cursory searching hasn't come up with any references to this character so I wanted to put this here to see if anyone knows what's up.

Frankly Im thrilled to find something new, even if they serve no other purpose than just being interesting.