Campaign Log

Campaign Log

Session 1:

[This was mostly Character Generation]

5 cops are transfered over to the 13th Precinct to form the core of a new initiative to give patrol cops a greater amount of leeway to investigate cases before handing them over to the detectives.

• Sergeant Burl Caine (Tall, muscular, overweight, blonde/grey hair, mustache, some tattoos. Wyoming accent. Sgt.) - Played by Nick
• Officer John Bishop (Canadian, 28, tall, dark, fit and very handsome) A rigidly by-the-book officer with a hidden kinky side - Played by Ade
• Officer Sarah Long (early 30's short, but muscular, athletic, short blonde hair, sharp features. Leather wrist watch) A solid ex-military woman in a long term lesbian relationship - Played by Carly
• Officer James Whittle (24, immaculate uniform, physically small, unremarkable, gelled hair, cleaned cut.) A rising star with a background in computers and political connections. - Played by Rob

Their first night shift in their new unit, Lt. Ripka gives them a brief introduction to their new role and answers some questions. Sgt. Burke is in command of the newly formed Unit and they are encouraged to use their discretion. Then the main briefing starts hinting at a disturbing trend of rising crime and introducing the unit to their Union Rep Mal Lesperance .

Issued a pair of patrol cars they decide to go on a Patrol in the South of the City, as there were reports of Switchtrack Alley being a hotspot for several deaths recently. However they rapidly find themselves called away by 13 Zebra 1 to an armed robbery at a local gas-station instead.

Whistle and Bishop stay at the crime scene, whilst Clark's eagle eyes spot a car fleeing the scene at speed, so he Long and Caine set off in pursuit.

Sgt Caine tails the car with his lights off and eventually catches upto them, then T-bones the suspect car.

Sarah Long shoots out one of the rear tyres and John Clark boxes them in. Surrounded, Caine suggests they surrender, whilst shooting at them. Sarah more diplomatically reads them their rights and orders them to come out hands on their heads. With a stern voice and the promise of not getting shot they eventually comply. Only one of them has a criminal record and has infact violated his parole, promising a long sentence for the older of the two crooks.

Meanwhile back at the gas station the distraught cashier recounts that the thieves took all the money from the till and threatened to shoot her if she caused trouble.

James tries to look at the security tapes whilst Bishop comforts the victim, only to discover that the security tapes (on old-style VHS cassettes) have been removed. The only clue being a heel indent on the soft carpet as if somebody vaulted the counter near the CCTV equipment. However the cashier who was huddled behind that same counter, didn't see anybody there and doesn't wear heels herself.

Things wrap up and donuts all round.

Session 2:

A week after the Gas Station robbery, the team meet up near the front Desk shortly before the start of shift meeting where Arthur Delgado is on duty and share a donut together.

They talk a bit about the Switchtrack alley area (which Arthur has found out that Burl Kane is planning on looking into) and Arthur tells them that when he was a kid it was a prosperous area, in which the money dried up when a lot of freight shipping changed from roads to ports. Arthur reminices about being out on patrol (which he had to give up due to a serious heart condition)

Pausing before going into the shift meeting Sarah gives Burl a dressing down for what she claimed were reckless actions in the Gas Station robbery, where he shot before giving the perps a chance to surrender. Burl says he'll keep that in mind.

Sgt. Mal Lesperance is leading the briefing as Lt. Ripka has been called out. There is little news to report, but he informs the new team that they will be assigned cars 3 and 7 on a semi-permanant basis and quickly ushers everybody off.

Out on the streets with their new cars they decide to go for a patrol around Switchtrack Alley. Officer Bishop reveals that he has previously talked to some prostitutes on the street and heard a story about one woman who broke her fingers trying to scale a brick wall, because she thought that the ground was suddenly covered in snakes. Some people suggest that the area is haunted by the ghosts of dead gang-members who died in the turf war several years ago.

After some patrolling and Burl giving the girls on one street corner a casual greeting (and some remaining donuts) they head for a local diner to get some coffee and catch up. Sloppy Joe's Diner has seen better days and is surprisingly busy despite it being near midnight.

There were a few people around including two groups wearing rival gang colours (The Switchblade Disciples and the Big Head Boyz), a few late shift workers topping up on their coffee and what may have been a pimp and his girl. Almost as soon as they enter the Switchblades leave and the Big Head Boyz tense up.

The team order some passable coffee and slightly stale cherry pie claiming a booth of their own and discuss the events of the Gas Station robbery, finding it strange that the CCTV tape was taken without any witnesses. They eventually decide as VCR tapes don't run for very long, that the tape must have been stolen at most 6 hours before the robbery and that it shouldn't be too hard to find nearby CCTV from other sources in that period and search them to try and identify anything strange in that period. Although they don't have the time to do it personally, they phone up Arthur Delgado who is pulling desk duty and ask him if he'd be willing to watch through it after James Whittle fires off an email with a formal request for the footage to the City Council. Arthur says he'd be happy to help, but it might take some time.

Then John Bishop goes over and tries to befriend the Big Head Boyz members at the other end of the Diner. He offers to buy them a drink, but for some reason this makes them tense and they make odd motions under the table, before deciding to leave. Burl Kane gives the owner a $50 tip to appologise, leaving the Owner (Joe Wasowski) another reason to be grateful as the gang members seemed to concern him anyway and the tip leaves him quite communicative. He mentions about some strange occurences like dealer who climbed up a lamp-post and jumped off, badly injuring himself as well as a bag-snatcher who inexplicably broke down in screams as he tried to steal a bag and ended up running back to place the bag at the victims feet again before running off. He suggests that it's a strange place, but then backs off after more detailed questioning.

Burl Kane heads outside for a quick smoke and finds the two gangs milling around, obviously discussing where else to hang out after being chased out by the cops, and whilst they are avoiding each other, they are oddly not giving each other any trouble. He calls into Control, who mention that they are getting a message through and that they should stand by.

Piling back into the cars they are just in time to catch a report of a robbery in progress at a place called Kays Jewellers, which is fortunately not too far away. Kane and Bishop take car 3 cutting straight up the Interstate, whilst Whittle and Sarah Long take car 7 round the long way and approach from the East.

The light traffic up the Interstate and direct route, mean that they arrive on scene in less than two minutes, in time to catch a chrome Hum-Vee as it pulls out of the wrecked glass of the Jewelry store.

Burl tries to catch up, surprised by the power of the Hummers engine (guessing that it is infact a military surplus vehicle that has been painted up for the civilian market) and it slowly begins to pull away. Kane gets bishop to take the wheel whilst he levels the shotgun at the vehicles tyres, but although he scores a good hit on them, they don't deflate, suggesting that they might be solid rubber. They radio this ahead to Car 7 which is fast approaching.

Whittle in Car 7 not wanting to overshoot his target wheels around and starts to speed off in the direction that the Hum-Vee is travelling in. Sarah takes the window and tries to shoot out the Radiator, only to have the thugs in the vehicle return fire, which takes out the rear windscreen and one of the rear tyres of Car 3.

Bishop, with his pistol takes aim at the shooter in the passenger side and hits with a clear shot in the arm. causing them to drop their gun and causing a nasty injury in the process.

Meanwhile the hostile driver, feeling enclosed seeks a way out and comes across a family of four and takes aim towards them with the intent to take some hostages to negotiate with.

Burl and Whittle both try to box the car in before it can reach the family and Burl also tries to warn the family away, but Burl is hampered by trying to intercept the fast vehicle from beind whilst it's still accelerating, not managing to score more than a glancing blow, whilst Whittle is unable to stop quickly enough to box them in. Bishop and Long however both take shots at the driver, who loses control of the vehicle and ploughs into the brick wall surrounding a nearby residence. Limping out, the passenger with the bloody arm has acquired a second machine pistol and takes the woman of the family (The Wallingham Faily) hostage

Whittle comes out from the front, unarmed and tries to talk the hostage-taker down (Who demands that the driver gets medical attention and that the cops back-off, so he can escape before he will release his hostages)

Bishop goes to treat the Driver and quickly uses an old T-shirt in the Hum-Vee to put pressure on the wound.

Sarah hangs back covering the Hostage-taking passenger

Kane however has put his car floodlights on and sneaks around the side using the nearby trees for cover. Then takes a risky shot at the hostage-taker (who still has a finger on the trigger of an automatic weapon). He doesn't manage a perfect take-down, but does hit him in the gut, taking him out of the fight. As he goes to the floor he reflexivly pulls the trigger sending out a spray of automatic fire as he flails around.

Long gets a loud and painful crack at her ear, deafening her briefly and She, Burl and Whittle quickly move in to disarm the attacker, secure him and make sure the hostages are safe.

However Sarah Long looses her cool to Sgt. Kane, shouting at him for his rashness that almost got her shot in the head, so enraged is she that she takes a tight stance and ducks in a quick but furious rabbit punch. Kane, familiar with boxing himself takes a step back and to the side, carefully evading the blow, then quickly their colleagues arrive to break it up.

Searching the Car Whittle finds the diamonds and opening the case gets a strange feeling that something is wrong with them, testing out a diamond ring it seems as though it is softer than the hardened glass of the Hum-Vees windows, presumably the whole batch could be fake.

One of the other patrol units with Sgt. Wade Whitfield and Officer Stewart Green pulls up in Car 2, and help to lock-down the scene. Complaining that they miss all the fun bits. They offer some cheerful banter and invite Kane to go deer-shooting up in the mountains next weekend. Then moving off to escort the prisoners in the ambulances over to the nearby hospital (Midway General Research Hospital ).

Meanwhile tempers cooled, Whittle, Long and Kane head off to Jewellers to secure the scene. Whilst Bishop goes off to "pump a contact for information"

Kays jewelry store is part of an extensive chain of such stores, but as they came across it the shutters were raised, the glass had been smashed in and all of the display cases had been broken open, with only a small amount of the (also fake) jewelry scattered on the floor.

A quick look at the CCTV showed the robbery, but no sign of the jewels being replaced by fakes between closing time and the break-in. However the alarm had been disabled by somebody who knew what they were doing.

They decide to pay the conscious perp Billy Dawson (the younger of the two) a visit in hospital. Pointing out what deep trouble the man is in (more for the taking of hostages by his colleague now than the robbery), the fact that and Wittles pointed words persuades him to admit that a man called Thomas, who they had met in a dock-side bar called Pete's place, had been the person who organised everything and was able to provide the telephone number.

Whittle checked the number through the standard databases and noticed a quick way in which he could phyically locate that precise phone, although its use was questionably legal and would only work in a location with this large amount of phone coverage, he submitted all the correct forms and covered himself, including getting permission of his phone provider.

Thomas Wilson is a bigger fish in the criminal pond. With convictions for Fraud and Handling Stolen Goods and several arrests that did not lead to convictions. Currently however he is not at his listed address.

The team consider ways to get Billy to help expose the conspiracy, but Billy draws the line at helping to entrap Thomas and won't co-opperate in something like that.

Filling out the paperwork they wrap things up and consider their next move.

Things to think about for next week:

• On your reports, will you mention the aborted fist-fight?
• Have I missed anything out here?
• Was Burl Kane right to shoot despite the presence of a hostage?
• Where will you go next? The manager and staff of Kays and confront them over the fake jewels (although you have little evidence of wrong-doing at the moment)? Or the Traced phone signal (Which could give out at any time if he leaves the area with the dense phone coverage?)

Session 3: (11th Sept 2012)

After confirming that Thomas Wilson was their prime suspect, the team decide to investigate further. Phone tapping and entrapment are unfortunately illegal, however there's nothing to stop them from following up a few leads. After much discussion they swing by Pete's plaice the bar on the docks late at night, in the hopes that the bartender can help them with their enquiries.

James and John go into buy a few cans of coke and some peanuts as the barman subtly urges his more inebriated patrons to move along home. They ask about Thomas, who the bartender explained did sometimes meet with Morris Harshman and Billy Dawson. He also recalled Thomas meeting with somebody who seemed out of place but it was hard to know how. They asked the barman to contact them if he saw Thomas again and the barman agreed.

Disapointed, they headed back to the car, meanwhile Burl and Sarah spotted a figure deliberately turn away from them when it got close to the bar and saw the cops. When Burl flashed the lights the suspect took off down a nearby alleyway. Burl and Sarah gave pursuit in car 3, whilst James pulled Car 7 around the block and John sprinted after them on foot.

The suspect ran into a blind alleyway with a chain linked fence at one end. Surprisingly however he kicke off the fence and then the wall to quickly propel him over it and kept running. Burl and Sarah's car burst through the cheap chain-linked fence nearly colliding with John who came across their path at almost the same time. James followed John in the car and after a few more metres the suspect vaulted a wooden fence leading the grounds of Westridge Highschool which backs onto the industrial docks area and features fairly large wooded school grounds.

Burl drove his car into the fence to open a hole and everybody but James got out to give chase. After a few minutes their prey, who was last seen heading towards an old gymnasum building, vanished.

James stayed in the car to do a bit of quick research into the place. He got a floorplan and discovered that construction had been halted and never resumed due to the school running out of funds for the project about 12 years ago and now the planned road that led to it had never been built and the track covered over with saplings.

Guessing that he was somewhere in the building, the cops ignored the radiation and chemical hazard signs and broke the lock of the gate to get in.

John went South towards the smaller of the two wings of the building, Sarah went North towards the main sports hall and Burl stayed at the glass-fronted entrance to keep an eye out.

John found a large meeting room where detritus was scattered liberally. including very illegal assault weapons with the serial numbers missing and assorted collections of documents and equipment (including a geiger counter that whilst apparently functional read absolutely no background radiation). Eventually he threw a heavy bag into one of the corners in which the detritus had apparently been swept away in a neat circle. The bag hung in space for a moment before being deflected outside the circle and falling down.

Sarah found that the main hall had a huge indent in the floor as if a large force had just pushed it down and spotted signs that a door in the north west of the room had recently been disturbed. Moving into the glass-fronted coridoor she motioned for back-up.

James who had just finished his research came out to join the others and Burl quickly directed him around the back to back up Sarah.

Eventually James discovers small metal boxes on the corners of the building with flashing LEDs. Managing to identify them as military grade proxmity alarms, which had been triggered. He carried on around to find a firedoor that he could break open and headed in to support Sarah.

As James moved up to support, the ground gave way beneath him and he too floated in the air for a moment before crashing down. getting concerned Sarah picked up the closest thing she could find to hand and threw it into the room where the victim was. She found a square cut of linolium from a kitchen inscribed in geometric circles and pattersn, covered in blood. The Linolium roll goes in and rapidly gets sucked into the room without warning. Then Burl and John joined them. Burl approached the door himself (not having seen the Linolium incident) and grabbed the door frame just in time to avoid getting sucked into the rotating mass of dead person floating up above the floor.

Then the sounds of an approaching helicopter sounded. They quickly grabbed what they could and made a run for their cars. (Sarah grabbed a satchell containing the uniform and ID badge of a Karl Henries, John found a collection of scientific papers, Burl dropped everything and ran and James found a laptop wrapped in chicken-wire.

Almost everybody made it to the fence in time, but in the dark Burl got turned around and missed the exit. So Sarah went back for him whilst John and James drove the cars away. The three figures walked past and moved off towards the gymnasium allowing Burl and Sarah to escape at another area of the fence.

13 Zebra 1 tried to call the cars back to the scene, unfortunately Car 3 had developed another slashed tyre which had to be replaced and car 7 was still in pursuit of a suspect, and so it was nearly half an hour until they responded to the feds request.

When they arrived a large decontamination tent was errected next to a black panel van. Alejandra Quintero and Neil Hurst (who seemed quite tense) were on scene when the team arrived and had set up crime-scene tape.

Agent Swift's ID badge

Burl managed to sneak a phone under the decontamination tent to record the agents conversations when they got back. Sarah went to hospital with an injured leg, John and James secured the outer perimeter.

Eventually the agents returned. They consulted briefly inside the decontaminaton tent, about what to do about the "Anomalies". They speculated that somebody ran in and was killed and that any other accomplices were scared off. They planned for a

Agent Cadbury's ID badge

plausible cover story to allow them to destroy the structure using a gas-main.

They came out and explained to the officers that contractors would arrive in the morning to make the site safe and that they should hold the perimeter until then.

Taking the opportunity Car 3 developed another flat tyre (from running over the chain linked fence apparently) forcing it to remain at the decontamination tent. whilst cars 7 and 2 held the outer perimeter until morning. The agents left promptly afterwards.

Agent Friendly's ID badge

Burl decided however to go home, get a ghile suit and infiltrate the area. Sneaking past the hapless civilian contractors he managed to get inside and retrieved a binder full of zip codes with omminous annotations such as "Majestic?" "Prison Camp?" "Cult Centre?" and "REX 84", at various zip codes. He also picked up a fragment of 8 mm celluloid film, about thirty feet long. (after getting it converted onto a DVD they found that it showed a few seconds of a group of technicians inspecting a large apparatus centered on a huge tuning fork. The film is of German manufacture, dating form the early 1940s. At the end of the tape is what looked like a case file reference number added afterwards to the film.

James contacted his Uncle Albert Warren, who works for the Department of Justice in the Office of records Management department down in Washington (Not a political office its self, but he hopes to one day get into the upper echalons of the department politcially). His Uncle couldn't find the case number but mentioned that there was a deparment back in the 60's and 70's that dealt with some odd stuff during the Vietnam War. He didn't know much more but shortly afterwards noticed that his attempt to access that case file had been flagged and that James should probably just forget it.

The officers were eventually relieved and went back to the station where the day shifthd already taken over.

Getting a little sleep they all met up in Sloppy Joes Diner in Switchtrack Alley.

Session 4 (2nd October 2012)

Recently Maxime Gordon (a local resident and wife of the State Governors cousin) was convicted and sentenced to death for her role in killing her husband and two children. There have been state-wide protests against this, particularly in and around Midway City Hall and the adjoining courts where she was sentenced.

Because of this officers have been pulling a number of double shifts to help cover the crowd-control duties.

Burl Kane was called in to see the Captain in his offices in Precinct 1 an hour before shift in his nice dress-uniform.

The Captain expressed his concerns about the significant damage to police vehicles, lack of significant convictions and irregularities between witness statements and the reports of the officers in the beat-detective scheme. The Captain was assured that this would be remedied.

Later at the station James Whittle and John Bishop met with Officer Lance Schachter (an ex-aviation officers who carried around a camera that he seemed quite attached to) and Father Paul Nelson Calhoun (The Precinct Chaplain, who gave an offer of an ear in confidence to anybody who needed one)

In the Brief it was revealed that Sarah Long had been comitted to crowd control and that the beat-detective team had only car 3 between them until Car 7 was repaired.

Meadow House:

Whilst out on call, working out the details of "Operation Scumbag Roundup" but with only one car, their talk was interupted as 13 Zebra 1 called in and asked them to follow up on a missing persons case at Meadow House.

Emma Weller (An otherwise unemployed Artist) had not appeared at a scheduled art exhibit on Monday the 1st of October and she had not been seen since the 30th of September. Her brother (a local taxi driver) contacted her neighbour (who had a spare key) and the neighbour (Becky Jollenson) had found her keys, purse, wallet, phone and keys all inside. They then alerted the police.

When they arrived they spoke to the building Supervisor (Mike Waltz) who escorted them upto the 7th floor. Where they found the scene as described. James Whittle looked over the CCTV records and found that she had entered the building on the night of the 30th, but had not left it by the main lobby.

A cursory investigation of her purse however revealed that she was a smoker and that the building was strictly non-smoking with smoke alarms in every main room.

When they asked Mike Waltz if she could smoke on the roof he mentioned that it was out of bounds, but that there was access and directed them upstairs whilst he headed down.

Officer Bishop and Sgt. Kane headed upto the roof to find the victim laying unconscious huddled in the corner, apparently suffering from mild deprivation and exposure. They also noticed why, when the one-way firedoor closed behind them. They radioed down to Officer Whittle who was Checking her computer (and had confirmed that she hadn't accessed it since the morning of the 1st of October) and came up to release the trapped officers.

However something then went a bit wrong. Emma woke up with a start and talked about her dream of being hot and then somebody asking her if she did this and a fire.

Then the officers slowly became aware that there was no external fire-escape (despite there having been one visible from the street) and a fire rising from within. Emma screamed about it happening again and curled up in a ball. A man came from within the now-burning building covered in a soaked blanket and trying to escape, and asked the officers who did this and if it was them.

As the man fled back inside Officer Bishop tried to stop him, but was instead thrown from the building. Officer Whittle with Burl Kane's help tried to swing down to one of the lower windows, but fell and finally Sgt. Kane himself ran into the water with Emma and the remains of the soaked blanket across his mouth, only to pass out from the flames.

They woke up on top of the building, feeling shaken and drained. but otherwise unharmed. Then headed down and handed Emma off to the emergency crew.

They did some cursory research at a nearby cafe and found that there had been a building fire there in 2002 and that there were 12 deaths and 30 serious injuries. The disaster actually prompted the State to review its fire safety procedures and after the block was rebuilt and repaired it was opened again (this time with an external fire escape and numerous fire safety features.)

They went back to speak to the building supervisor who confirmed this and mentioned that he had trouble leasing the top floor partly due to the superstition involved (and he had not yet filled the 7th floor which was generally more desirable anyway) He was the Supervisor at the time of the fire and did not like talking about it.

Deciding not to investigate further they headed back to Pete's place where surprisingly enough they found Thomas Wilson (Then who was it who walked into the gravity anomaly?) who tried to duck back into the toilets, but Burl followed him in and John covered the rear window. He reluctantly came in "for routine questioning".

However they had very little direct evidence of the crime. They had Billy's testimony that Thomas set them up (but Billy was not very well informed) and the presence of fake gems recovered from the crime scene. This was not enough to truely link Thomas or the store manage together for the crime.

So they held Thomas for questioning until the morning, brought Billy in for further questioning and invited the manager of Kays Jewelers (Robert Ellis) in to do answer some routine questions.

They engineered it so that they would all see each other in the police station and it would be enough to force a confession from one of them.

Burl took Thomas Wilson, who denied all knowledge

James Whittle then dealt with the manager Robert Ellis, who was initially very reluctant to say anything. He almost stumbled when they said they wanted a line-up (despite Robert not having been witness to anything) but he managed to salve the situation by suggesting that paperwork needed to be completed.

John Bishop handled Billy Dawson and one of the public defence attournies Katy Garriga, he disucussed the case with Katy, and managed to get a plea bargain and a date from her.,

Finally all three officers converged on Robert Ellis and Burl used the weight of Billy's confession to make Robert also confess. It turned out that whilst Robert was the mastermind, he was facing bankrupcy from medical bills from his daughter. So conspired with Thomas to stage the theft of the fakes in order to cover up Roberts own theft of the real gems. Thomas then paid Robert for the real gems whilst Billy and Morris Harshman took the fall.

Despite the pleas for clemency Katy guessed that Billy and Morris would get at least 10+ years. Robert would likely only serve a few months in jail plus a long stay of community service (But his reputation would ruin him) and Thomas would take the majority of the blame but would likely get only a few years at most. She enjoyed a pleasant date with John Bishop with a promise to see each other again.

Pleased that this would likely be enough to endear them to Captain Jacques, they enjoyed their success and went on to investigate the zip-codes found at the gynasium. Particularly the one for the Hassanamisco Cultural Centre in the city centre. Visting during the day they got to see the vast collection of artifacts gathered there, including some that were over 800 years old. There were a number of exhibits and John Bishop signed up for a number of lectures and classes that the centre runs on the subject of "History and Legends of he First People of the Americas"

There were mentions of the various Native American Tribes that populated the North Eastern States. Particularly two local tribes, the Hassanamisco (who led a coalition of three tribes to broker a peace agreement with the Colonists and integrated surprisingly well.) and the Agawam (Who came into conflict with the colonists and suffered heavily for it). The Cultural Centre is named for the Hassanamisco tribe and focuses most strongly on local history, but contains information about Native American culture and history from across the continent.

The centrepiece is a lovingly restored log-built structure that was shifted and reassembled onto the top floor of the circular building, a replica of a pre-colonial shamanic lodge, complete with original artifacts and replicas of the period.

Burl was convinced that there was something hidden here and so arranged for James to trigger a false alarm one night so that they could get into the restricted areas of the building.

Aside from gaining access to the storage spaces and an escorted torch-light tour by a security guard, they found out little new, but stopping at the Lodge they did notice a couple of things. The Lodge guestbook had some interesting names in them ("Moses" - a local homeless woman, Conrad O'Malley - Somebody allegedly associated with organised crime in Midway, but who has never been charged or convicted of it and Charlie Middleton - A local historian with long family roots in the city believed descended from one of the cities founders.)

They also noticed that some of the Hassanamisco symbols (prominently the Coyote) featured on the city crest and a number of other logos that relate to the city (such as their own badges). The Coyote is the cities mascot (among other things the Midway University American Football team are called the Midway Coyotes)

Satisfied, but wanting to investigate further they tracked down Moses using John's contacts. John and James treated her to a meal. She showed some knowledge of John's encounter of the fire earlier in the week and hinted at other things, but was cryptic and obcure, so it was hard to divine her meaning.

Extensive research uncovered that her original name was Elise Reed and that she worked for starbucks before vanishing in 1997. What drove her onto the streets is a mystery, but it is known that her parents died around the time of her disappearance, so little effort was made to find her. Talking to a Journalist Erik Blattner, also revealed that Moses has aided in uncovering some of the civil corruption that existed in conjunction with the Citadel Heights scandal (A scandal about 3 years ago that highlighted the institutional racism in the cities police force.)

Session 4: (10th October 2012)

Before the night shift begins the team makes a further effort to talk to Lance Schachter about his helicopter crash. He revealed somewhat reluctantly that he believed it was common knowledge by now, that he had been blamed entirely for the crash in conjunction with a "bird strike", Looking up the details in the National Enquirer, they reported that the "bird" was reported by Lance to have been a pterodactyl. Whilst the FAA report listed it as a bird strike combined with gross negligence on the part of the pilot, for which Lance had his flight status revoked and was reduced back down to a patrol officer.

The night shift briefing stressed that the Maxime Gordon case continues to draw crowds (which Sarah Long was obliged to continue covering) and that there were reports of two missing students at Midway University.(Peter and Jack)

With both cars now back in action they went for a patrol of the city before being called to support a local ambulance going into Switchtrack alley (to respond to a Road Traffic Incident).

Arriving on scene a crowd of Gawkers had gathered, with a 60 year old priest at the back. Burl requested the paramedics tested the driver for drugs and alcohol. Whilst James and John questioned the reverend, who seemed deeply upset and mentioned that he had lost his son some time ago.

Following the priest back to the Church they found a number of people inside, who did not seem particularly reverant. One was smoking in the Church, others were checking phones or similar, there were even a couple sporting the gang signs of the Big Head Boyz. All of them seemed to be somewhat fearful, but not of the cops in their midst.

Going back outside they asked questions of some of the various locals including an Indian store owner (who had decorated the entrance to his store in Swastikas), a local kid, some of the homeless and an owner of a car title loan dealership. Most of whom were reluctant to go into details or to come forward formally.

• Reverend Isaiah Neely of the Seventh Congrega-tional Church died in the center of Switchtrack Alley three years ago. That ’s his blood still staining the street to this day.
• A rapper named Lay-Z killed the preacher in front of his congregation and no one tried to stop the gangster.
• Reverend Neely ’s father, Reverend Ishmael Neely, held his son in his arms as he died.
• Lay-Z hangs out at the Alarm Box, a bar on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Switchtrack Alley.
• Lay-Z used to be in charge of the Switchblade Dis-ciples, a local gang.
• Switchtrack Alley is haunted by the ghosts of all the people killed there in gang violence.
• The Seventh Congregational Church was built on an old graveyard and they never moved the bodies.
• Lay-Z is some kind of voodoo-practicing ghostbuster. If it wasn ’t for him, the place would be over-run with ghosts.
• Lay-Z killed the old preacher’s wife, which is why Isaiah had it in for him.
• Lay-Z was last seen wearing some weird face-paint. Like Indian war-paint.

Checking against some of the incident reports, they noticed the several members of Lay-Z's Gang (The Switchblade Disciples) were killed or injured in the last few years and noticed that the incident that killed two of the gang and crippled Lay-Z, happened almost exactally a year after his death.

After work they visited a local occult shop and picked up a few books on the subject. The shop assistant told them that somebody matching Lay-Z's description had come in.

They also discovered posts on the Cultural Centre notice boards asking or information on dealing with ghosts. James and John worked together to post a fake profile and to post some details trying to get Lay-Z to come forward. As he is on benefits they also have his correspondence address (A terraced flat in Switchtrack alley)

The next day at the station they also came across a system flag on one of their files relating to the Meadow House Missing person. Emma Weller had apparently thrown herself from the top of the building after suffering from intense dreams and halucinations following her ordeal in the previous week.

They looked into her appartment (Now classified as a potential crime scene and sealed off, presumably by the people who discovered her body) they nosed around her computer, finding references to nightmares about the fire.

Session 5: (13th October 2012)

The team go on shift after a few days of work, with the department still under-manned.

Meeting Sammy Atkinson

Greeting Lance who enquires about Sarah Longs Availability.

Maxime Gordon Execution date set for two weeks from now.

They volounteered to follow up on a complaint filed by the normally very reliable Jamie Byron regarding "cult sacrifices". Going into speak with him he clearly took his role in the Neighbourhood watch very seriously and worked it in to his on-call IT support work (which often required late nights anyway)

Find the Church and talk to the Priest but ultimately they don't seem to be doing much to break the law.

Called off to investigate two deaths. Ambulance 130 is on route.

Found Juan and Michael Castillios quizzed him about how somebody got access to the keys.

Took them in for questioning. Michael was holding back and a bit of prodding eventually made him confess that he had taken $50 from a trio of "friends" to get access to the rooftop. Where they then videotaped homeless men who were paid to fight. The deaths were the result of the drug and alcohol fuelled fight going wrong.

However they rapidly discovered that the three teens were the offspring of some of the cities elite.

• Chase Addison (Grandson of Charles Addison, the Senior Partner of Wallace & Addison Attournies at law)
• TJ Radcliff (Son of Billionare entreprenour Ted Radcliffe, CEO of Electrical & Mechanical Components Ltd. Better known as EMC one of the largest electronic accessory maneufacturers in the state.
• Jason Prentice (Nephew of current Police chief Elliot Tyler)

They carefully applied for arrest warrants with the on-call judge, which they managed to get passed

However in order to make the raid work they needed some solid cops to work a bit of unpaid overtime. So they called in Sid "Columbo" Routman to help them out. He pulled in a few favours even getting out of bed at 4am to come down to the station. He also pulled together a handful of reliable cops to help execute the arrest warrants without spilling the beans.

They quickly hit Jason Prentice the film-maker first, then Chase Addison the lawyers grandson and finally TJ Radcliff the computer expert.

They entered Jason's home (a large walled town-house in the middle of the city) to be confronted with the housekeeper and then Mrs Prentice, who inspected the warrant and began making calls. They arrested Jason and took him away then searched his room. The film was not there, but on his computer James found that the website www.midwaybumfights.com had been registered about a week ago.

Chase Addison was not in the city, when they got to his house they were able to search his largely clean room, dug around and were unable to find much of interest.

TJ Radcliff had a studio appartment near the university where he was found and arrested. His computers appeared to have been magnetically wiped by advanced little Gizmos attached to the computer cases. However a detailed sweep did come up with a damaged partial file that was still left on his camera.

(James Whittle Snr, the PCs Father urges him to consider the politics of his decision, but James Whittle Jnr decides to carry on regardless to the damage to his career)

Talking with Sid Routeman they clear up many of the lose ends of the case and find the station to be awash with reporters and senior police officers. John Bishop makes a show of shaking a reporters hand and gains a good many scowls from some of the Senior officers.

James Whittle goes out and talks to the Midway Tribune Reporter Erik Blattner and confides in him the nature of the case.

Burl goes out shooting and bumps into Sgt. Richard Bucknell at the range, They manage to get off on a good footing and discuss his politics.

John Bishop gets a second date with Katy Garriga who mentions that somebody called John Groat has been trying to put pressure on her, by suggesting political favours.

Criminally Negligent Homicide (6 months - 2 years + $10,000 fine)

Session 6: (30th October 2012)

The night started very convivially in Baily's with a reunion with Sarah Long, but rapidly went down hill during the briefing at the station, where Captain Soren Jacques informed us that we were going to be doing a turn & turn about with training and night duties.

Despite that the squad went straight out to patrol Switchtrack Alley. James and John take Church Street and Burl and Sarah took Switchtrack Alley itself.

John investigates the congregation in the church and talks to one of the gang members who reveals that the locals are afraid of 'serious supernatural shit' that is threatening people indescriminately, or so he claims.After a short conversation, the gang member left the building.

Meanwhile, in the alley, all was not welll in car 3. Patrolling, Burl & Sarah hallicinated snakes in the footwell of the car and decided to 'abandon ship' (Burl hurled himself out of the car window believing that the car was stationary, whilst Sarah cautiously opened the door and as she realised the car was still moving she tucked and rolled as she fell. As she was doing so, Sarah saw the words 'Thou shalt not blaspheme!'. The car shot off and got wrapped around a lampost. They had said a few mild swear words in the car beforehand, but nothing overtly blasphemous.

The accident was called in, and Burl was treated for the injuries he sustained jumping clear of the car, and driven to hospital. Sarah was discharged on the spot.

John remained with the crashed vehicle, and James went with Sarah to the station.

Sarah Long was worried that she was under the influence of drugs, and tester herself on her return to the station and tested positive for opiates. Duly concerened, the team decided to test Burl as well, and so they went to the hospital. Burl suggested that the results for opiates might be caused by eating poppy seeds (which of course is what opium is made from) and that Sarah has probably not been drugged.

Burl tested negative, but while they were there Bishop called in that he had seen Lay-Z. The squad decided to back him up, so Burl discharged himself & accompanied the squad to Lay-Zs house.

Visiting Lay-Z in his home the gang member still seemed to be running with other members of the Switchblades and wearing the Hassanamo war-paint. They buzzed his door and asked to speak to him about the ghost and the things that were hunting him. Lay-Z expressed his doubts that the cops could help and they pressed him for information. He eventually revealed very reluctantly that he and some others had urinated on the site of the preachers death which may have been part of the reason for the ghosts emnity against him.

However John Bishop having gotten this piece of information burnt his bridges by insulting Lay-Z and not providing any help.

They stood outside and debated what to do, with officer Whittle suggesting that they stake Lay-Z out for the vengeful ghost and let nature take its course, whilst the others talked him down from that course of action.

They got a low-priority call from 13 Zebra 1 asking them to visit a Mr Martin Adelman, a local property developer in one of the older middle-class suburbs. He complained about some tresspassers on his property and quite politely asked the cops to see the intruders out.

Investigating the building at around 5:30am they discovered the whole place was largely deserted, with only one man remaining (A strong-looking, unkempt hairy man whose name was not asked). He reluctantly agreed to leave the premesis, and said that none of the others were present. John and James investigated the basement where they found a discoloured cirlce of green in the soil floor of the building along with some rotting detritus in mouldering cardboard boxes)

Taking a small soil-sample from the circle without stepping into it (Lab analysis would later identify it as soil heavily mixed with copperoxide, a common enough substance found in nature that is naturally green.)

Burl and Sarah meanwhile investigated upstairs and found 3 rough bundles of bedding and an animalistic musk in the air, but little else aside from a home-made shiv.

Getting some sleep in their cars they tried to catch a few hours before they would be expected to attend the university for the start of their training.

The first day was pure theory. Working on the new OTSBII (Oxygen Theraputic Substitute B2) in the morning alongside the crew of Ambulance 130 and a number of paramedics and fire-fighters with Professor Steven Mullen (which everybody managed to stay awake for) Mullen revealed that the device has undergone laboratory human tests and that in about 6 months they will be introducing the unit into the equipment of emergency services in Midway as part of their field trials.

Then a coffee break and Diversity and Sensitivity in the workplace with the fine blonde-haired Dean Golden and finally after-lunch a marathon 4 hour session on State and City laws and ordinances, in which Burl Kane was unable to keep his eyes open for long enough and eventually put his head down to sleep at the back of the class.

They had a full days rest thankfully (if they worked longer it would count as overtime) but people largely just rested for the day before going back onto a night shift the following day.

The first call of the night was to Midway University its self, in the Medical Sciences laboratory building. The janitor was there to meet them with the keys saying that two students had signed the guest book and gone up (Jack and Naroon) and they went up in pairs covering opposite stairwells.

Edging in carefully they heard the sounds of a damp squelching and quiet counting. John Bishop rushed in quickly realising that this was the sound of somebody performing CPR and immediately began to assist. There were two injured males (Jack and Naroon) and Mary (another of the post-grad students) performing the CPR.

John and James took over the CPR whilst Burl quized Mary about what she had seen. The shocked post-grad wasn't able to provide much information except to suggest that whoever attacked her friends was after the blood subtitute.

Mary then started to hook her colleagues upto the OTSbII systems in the hopes of improving their chances as John and James continued to work.

Sarah however had located a bloody footprint and went off to follow it. Burl followed her out when he realised she was trying to act alone. They followed the trail out of the door and upto the roof then down a fire escape and across the grassy fields. Calling in back-up they attempted to corner the perpetrator, but rapidly lost his trail as it blended in with the trails of dozens of people who crossed back and forth through the campus.

Calling in back-up the patients received excellent care by the cops, but Jack had been without care for about 10 minutes (and wasn't recussitated successfully for a further 9 minutes), which is normally cause for significant doubt about their long-term recovery chances. However the OTSbII might have improved his chances.

In the aftermath it was discovered that little if any of the equipment or samples had been taken, the attacker had struck with what seemed to be a small blade and savaged the victims and most disturbingly the CCTV footage of the attacker leaving the building was distorted by a strange blur that followed them across the screen, similar to the blur seen in the gas-station robbery.

Session 7: (12th Novemberr 2012)

The squad were lucky to have some down-time efore the next shift, and their next sessions of bullshit training.

James Whittle got an invite to the prestigous Republican fundraiser for the Midway mayoral election. Where the two major candidates competed for funding and support from the rich and influential backers. He expressed a desire to see a greater ability to sentence serious criminals for longer sentences and to protect police funding. He also gound out that both candidates were seriously considering legislation to prohibit sacrifices in the City.

Sarah Long went for a walk in Mungford Park (North East of Precinct 13) where they found an old neglected statue has suddenly been surrounded with small "gifts" with little wishes attached. Bouquets of flowers with wishes for love and small sealed tobacco tins with a wish of a lottery win. The statue its self is of a weeping girl whose hands cover her face cast in bronze. The plinth is now unreadable due to the errosion of time. The only thing Sarah recalled off-hand was that Mungford Park was at the centre of what was once a seperate town that was enveloped by the expanding Midway City and could date back as far as the 16th Century. Still she and Jenny gathered a few flowers and on the back of the receipt Sarah wrote a wish for a long and happy life with Jenny. (awww...)

Burl Kane meanwhile was helping out with a local youth centre where he frequently teaches boxing and helps give young kids a purpose in life. One of his young students (who was from Switchtrack Alley) confessed to having heard of his earlier exploits in the alley and mentioned that he was worried about his family. He said that when the preacher tried to organise the community against the gangs, he had gathered people en-mass to confront Lay-Z in the hopes of pushing the gang out of Switchtrack alley peacefully. However the will of the people faltered in the face of the well-armed gang an whilst his gang kept the people cowed with their automatic weapons, Lay-Z beat the preacher to death in full view of the assembled crowd. None of them had the spine to stop it until the preacher finally died. The kid Jake Mirez asked Burl to look out for his elder brother Carlose Mirez who spent a great deal of time sheltering in the church or staying away from the Alley most of the time. But he admitted that the main problem was the "weird stuff" in the alleyway that would need to be stopped before things got any worse.

John Bishop meanwhile spent some time cruising for ladies of the night in the red light district of Precinct 1 and was propositioned by Detective Sergeant Janessa Burch. Who expressed her disapointment in Bishop for his use of prostitutes. Janessa said that she would say no more about it if Bishop kept an eye out for people abusing the local prostitutes. She mentioned Stewie Green and Wade Witfield particularly who would often harrass and sometimes beat up homosexual and hispanic prostitutes. However as deplorable as their actions were there was something else hurting the sex-workers of the city. She didn't say what it was but suggested that he should be on the look-out for a group that might have access to medical equipment as being responsible.

Eventually the team convened at the station for their evening brief.

Maxime Gordon was due to be executed that night at midnight (midway through their shift) Mal Lesperance asked for volounteers to cover the final night of the protests, Sarah and James pointedly refused on ethical grounds, and others (including Stewie and Wade) were selected for the post. Mal promised that after this shifts should ease up a bit. On a side note, Sgt. Kane was not going to get Car 3 back until he had retaken his defensive driving course.

Paul Nelson Calhoun the precinct Chaplin stopped them on their way out. He wanted to get a few answers about Meadow house. He had been called over there because of his "experience" in dealing with "Spiritual unrest". John Bishop opened upto him a bit about the fire and also mentioned about the hauntings of Switchtrack alley. He hinted that the reference materials he had read suggested that ghosts could rarely affect the physical directly and relied upon deceiving the senses. He said he would look into Switchtrack Alley when he had finished with Meadow House and when he was available.

Starting the shift they went out and after a chat were asked by 13 Zebra 1 to do a welfare check-up reported by Jamie Byron's Neighbourhood watch group on a man called Robert Taylor, who James rapdily discovered was renowned as a prominant carpenter, specialising in elaborate custom-made set-pieces for the homes of the rich and famous (including Arnold Schwartzneger's mansion in California)

They pulled up to the house and discovered it was a large fenced off house with an extensive well manicured garden. They called into 13 Zebra 1 and confirmed that they could enter the property without a warrant in order to ensure the safety of the owner as long as they didn't break anything in the process.

So they pulled the car upto to nearly 2 metre tall wall and after a few false starts managed to climb over and open the gate from inside. They rang the doorbell, without checking the rear of the house and a monstrously large rotweiler with bunched and deformed muscles and a red glint in its eyes came up and tried to savage Sarah. James mentioned that dogs are usually only this aggressive if they are either rabid or starved. As the owner was not around the later was more likely.

Bishop manage to stun the dog with a blow to its skull from his baton and seperated it from Sarah's leg before it could drag her down and get access to her throat. Then with a heroic leap from Burl and strong efforts from both John and James they managed to restrain the dog by force and tied it up with plasti-cuffs so it couldn't do any further harm.

Round the back of the house they managed to find a fractionally open window and with the aid of a bit of wire from the garden Burl managed to open the rear door and get access to the house, whilst James called animal control to pick up the dog. The house alarm was active, but a quick call to 13 Zebra 1 persuaded the alarm company to deactivate the alarm. They also noticed what looked like dried blood mixed with something spread around the doors and window frames of the house on the inside and outside.

Then the split up to search the house. Burl took upstairs, James took the ground floor, Sarah the garden and John took the basement.

Burls search revealed very little of interest, except that there was no computer where you would expect to find one and several personal memetoes had been removed..

James found the fridge emptied and defrosted. the owner had clearly left the place with plenty of warning and carefully cleaned up before vanishing.

Sarah found the dog kennels and swimming pool in the garden. The dog bowl had fresh dog food in it, mixed in with something else unidentifiable mixed in with it. Possibly steroids?

John paused at the basement his keen eye for detail picking up on a small piece of razor sharp wire beneath the door handle. Calling the others together before descending, he checked carefully for the footprints that led down to the basement, finding that they carefully avoided a spot on the stairs he too stepped around it. However reaching the bottom he found a steel cage spring up around him. With a bit of effort they eventually freed him with bolt-cutters from the car. Meanwhile Sarah and James tried to find another way in and located a skylight that led to the basement, but peeling off the wooden cover with a crowbar revealed that beneath that was a strong steel cover that their ram barely scratched.

By the time they had tried that Burl and John had cut away a number of bars and they all carefully entered the basement. Having decided that taking out the motion sensor trigger would probably not help.

Finding an extensive workshop and storage space, they also located a crudely cut entrance to the sewers that led to a sewage pipe large enough for a person to walk down, but slick with sewage. The tunnel would lead eventually to the sewage processing plant by the river, Possibly for dumping something illegally? Beneath the stairs they foun a collection of sturdy sharp wooden poles and that a section of the stairs had been intentionally weakened.

The other notable discovery was a sleeping bag and bed roll in the basement, did the owner barricade himself down there? What was he afraid of? There was plenty of (apparently untainted) dog-food, but no human food.

Having few answers, they retired back to Sloppy Joes to write up their report. They got a call in from the animal welfare officers that the dog had been euthanised after it broke its restraints and attacked an officer. But otherwise the night passed peacefully, with a car crash and a couple of late night domestic disputes.

Finally a day later they had to be up bright and early for additional training.

They met the three instructors at the Precinct 1 gym and shooting range.

Carla Banders, a short South American instructor who teaches Brazillian wrestling and close-combat defence, Escrima (Baton fighting) and arrest procedures

Hun Lao a skinny thouroughly Americanised Chinese gentleman in his mid 40's who teaches ofensive techniques, grapples, holds and throwing.

Mark Radpole, a slightly podgy tall man about 6 foot 2, with a military bearing who teaches firearms safety and close quarter battle.

They started off with a bit of light sparring to get a gague on their skills with John Bishop eager to get pinned by Carla.

After pairing off with each other they call a break. [to be continued]

Session 8: 20th November - Training Daze

Continuing on from the earlier training session Carla got the cops to pair off against each other

John and Burl paired off, with Burls greater strength and boxing training making him quite a formidable opponent. Burl immitated a drunken thug and after a few pointers from Carla, he managed to pin Burl. Switching places Burl easily managed to get John into a headlock.

Sarah and Whittle paired off together grappling each other with James quickly taking advantage of a mis-step to get her in an arm lock to begin with followed by Sarah throwing him to the floor and pinning him.

A few more rounds of wrestling and compliance holds and Carla called it a day.

Next Mark Radpole had the team in firearms simulation training. Using paintball replica glocks, nearly identical to a real police issue glock in function. Mark gave a firm warning about safety on the range and split the group into two. A "cop" team and a "criminal" team. The cops had 2 minutes to find and hit both criminal targets. The lights were dimmed and the criminals had free run of the arena to begin with. Sarah and John teamed up as the criminals first.planning to ambush the Burl and James and take their guns. They split up.

Burl and James hearing sounds of movement closed in on the sound of movement in a fake shop. Sarah escaped through the back door and lurked in wait, whilst John tried to outflank the "cop" team. Burl was distracted by an imagined sound on the rooftop and James took out Sarah in a short close-range burst of fire.

Meanwhile John stumbled across a piece of debris on the road and was caught out in the open by Burl a few seconds later.

Then they swiched teams. Sarah and John became the hunters, with James and Burl hiding at the far end of the range. James hid underneath a burnt out car whilst Burl tried to go around the back of the building. John snuck up close and laying prone was able to target James beneath the car and subsequently almost ran into Burl, taking him down with a clear chest shot.

Finally wrapping up they have about 10 hours before the start of shift.

John Bishop hits up his contacts trying to find out who is abusing the prostitute community

Burl goes to the precinct 1 gym where he gets a couple of hours to work out with Wade Whitfield. Who agrees to help spot Burl and keep him in an exercise routine every Monday at around 4,

Sarah meets Jenny, who has cooked her a lovely meal to celebrate her getting a raise at the school where she works as a gym teacher.

James heads down to the firing range to meet up with some NRA buddies and talk about the shooting range, relaxing with some friends.

They all get some rest before heading on shift, where Mal announces that the Maxime Gordon has been executed and that the shifts should start getting less frantic now. He also mentions that there was some news of the students who were attacked at the university. One of them (Jack) was pronounced dead whilst Naroon was still in hospital, he was predicted to recover.

Outside the briefing room the precinct Chaplain Neil Calhoun was looking rather shaken but wanted to talk to the team about Meadow house again. He believed that the fire all those years ago was caused by a cigarette dropped by the Supervisor at the time (The supervisor has long-since quit smoking and seemed to have old burn scars from where he tried to save people in the building). Calhoun drew parallels between ghosts and those suffering from extreme trauma. They would lash out wildly, unthinking. He said that ghosts seemed to be similar in some respects. They also talked about Lay-Z and Switchtrack Alley, but were called away by a report of a domestic on 5th and Oak.

Arriving at the brownstone building the ground floor had a very pregnant woman, her husband and sister. Both were arguing about if she should have an in-utero test to see if she should test the foetus for cystic fibrosis (as she has a genetic predisposition towards the disease). The husband arguing that yes they should, as a child with CF would not live long and require life-long treatment, the sister arguing that the test its self could be damaging to the child.

James Whittle tried to raise the pro-life agenda, but Burl quickly cut in and they both moved outside. Meanwhile Sarah took the pregnant woman (Maria Hansen) to one room, whilst John took the husband and sister into another.

Sarah stressed that this was Maria's decision and that she should make her own mind up, recomending that she also go for a walk and let the air clear, whilst John convinced both the husband and sister to relax a little and ease off on Maria.

Giving the whole thing time to cool down, they left them in peace after Maria came back from her walk.

Then they decided to split up, with James and Sarah taking car 7 for a ride, whilst John and Burl went back to Switchtrack Alley with the beginings of a plan.

Speaking the Issiah Neely, they explained that they knew about the communal guilt of Switchtrack Alley and urged him as a comunity leader to unify the alley in a vigil for his son. However Issiah was reluctant as he feared both that the gangs would intervene and that the community were too ashamed to come forward and admit their complicity in Lay-Z's crimes. People would need something to rally around first.

Meanwhile Sarah and James found the domestic disturbance was strange. The wife standing outside confused and dazed in her dressing gown. She said that her son and husband were still inside.

Making their way in Saran and John were assaulted by flying objects all around the house. Going upstairs Sarah found the husband under a collapsed bookshelf, she dragged him to safety and patched up a deep bleeding wound on his leg before ambulance 130 arrived. John found the young boy and helped carry him outside onto the street to be with his mother. When he went back inside with a camera, everything appeared to be still and motionless. Despite looking around he couldn't see any indication of occult activities. A records search pulled up no signs of any ancient indian burial grounds on the property and talking the the wife and son revealed very little except that there had been signs of things moving around the house before this,but nothing before like this.

With yet another mystery they headed back to the station to write up another strange day on the force.

Session 9: 4th December - Blue Moon

Coming on shift the team gathered in the station, with Bishop asking Wade Whitfield about the abused prostitutes. Wade expressed a degree of scorn for them and mocked Bishop's frequent use of them, but mentions that the Lieutenant has some follow-up for them.

Disparaged they discover that there's been a further disturbance at the property they chased the vagrants out of a while ago. Heading down the place looked as abandoned as ever from the outside, but going around the back they found a large trail of thick red blood that led off into the nearby woods and back into the building. 

Carefully searching room by room they followed the blood trail downstairs into the basement, pondering on the significance of the lab-report that said the green material they had found earlier was Malachite (a mildly uncommon substance that forms when copper ore is exposed to organic acids, it has some tenuous symbolic association with protection and healing, but nothing terribly noteworthy)

In the basement they saw the trail of blood end abruptly at the edge of the circle and a strange alien-looking three digit clawed hand that appeared to have been rended off (by something at least semi-sharp) however the hand seemed to decay unnaturally quickly leaving behind only a black caked residue (which they took samples of)

Bishop decided to step into the circle. The  three torches in the basement spontaniously failed for only a few seconds. When the light returned Bishop fell backward out of the circle, a large gash having carved through his armour vest and given him a nasty cut across his torso. However as the torch-light returned, there was no sign of his attacker.

James decided to experiment with the circle some more, igniting a rag and throwing it into the circle, the burning cloth twisted as it fell and moved twisting around until it suddenly vanished still burning. Further attempts at experimentation were forcefully stopped as the lights flickered briefly again.

Deciding to retreat they headed back outside and called for assistance. Ambulance 130 came by and Hariet Stockwell mentioned that the rest of the city was incrediby busy as she patched up Bishop (who repaired his armour temporarily with duct tape)

Declining to call in sick despite the injury Bishop agreed to continue his shift. They went out back and followed the blood trail into the wood. Where they found an emancipated young woman who had died naked from severe bloodloss, They needed to call in the corroner whilst they heard reports about a series of vandalism attempts in Precinct 1 and a shooting in Precinct 2.

The coroner Dr Peter Crane a young floppy haired man from the corroners office took the evidence and helped carry away the body. Mentioning that the video they took of the claw (despite being filmed hastily in bad lighting) might be the ideal thing to win the weirdness sweepstakes they have at their offices. He also mentioned he was run off his feet at the moment due to two unexplained deaths of post-grad students (One electrocuted by a low-power electrical system, the other strangled to death on top of a phone mast, by the phone wires)

The team followed up by heading to Precinct 2 to look at a mysterious death reported there. Wade and Stewie were on site already. The target, Michael Carver, was a local businessman who owned a chain of hardware stores in the city. He was killed by what looked like a powerful hunting rifle using frangible rounds, but the window was shattered and there was only one perfectly placed bullet, meaning that something did not add up. There was nowhere for the sniper to have shot from and no way that a single bullet could have broken the window and caused the damage to the victims head at the same time.

Leaving Wade and Stewie to clean up they headed up to investigate the vandalism and found a library which had a large stone book outside with "Knowledge sets you free" on one side and the city seal was on the other, but somebody had used a potent household acid-based bleach to scour the seal fro the page.

Travelling North upto the town hall they remained vigilant for any further vandals and located Moses the homeless woman who they first came across when investigating the Cultural Centre. This time she was carrying a baseball bat (for defence). She spoke incoherently and cryptically about the city and the perfect future in which it encompasses the whole world. As well as the bad people with things in their heads and that the team could not see.

Burl tried to get her to be more forthcoming, but she threw her bat at the car and he arrested her for possession of an offensive weapon. Loading her in the back.

Despite the odour she was able to direct them to another vandalism site, where they found an elderly man in his 80's spray painting over the protective cover of another city seal. When confronted he was confused, dressed well, with a layer of cheap clothes for a younger person over the top (A hoodie and jeans). He mentioned his nephew Carl and tried to go home, but the team arrested him and took him back to Precinct 1 to help him.

The Precinct 1 desk Sergeant told him that the whole city was having some strange vandalism problems. With about a dozen instances reported at the time and a good number of people arrested for it.

Curiousy he revealed that the people who did this were predominantly emotionally disturbed homeless people and a few elderly people.

They handed over Moses (and her bat) and John to the local precinct and went to get some coffee. Upstairs they were able to relax for a bit, whilst the other inhabitants of the much larger precinct 1 mulled over the weirdness of the night. 

They picked up another vandal on their way back to precinct 13, a young homeless woman who found a discarded hammer and who dregged up an old memory of a man she hated, somehow she connected this memory with a seal of the city emblem. They threw her away with the rest and went back to the locker-room to clean up. There they bumped into Lance, and quietly discussed the idea of sharing some information between those of them who have exprience of the weird things. Lance and Father Calhoun were first on the list of people to invite and there was some debate about inviting more people.

Just as they came to a conclusion and were about to pack up, Arthur Delgado came in saying that Burls wife.had been tentatively identified by fingerprints in Precinct 1 after her 20 year disappearance. 

Session 10: Switching Tracks (9th January 2013)

Shortly after his shift John Bishop fell seriously ill. Sarah Long ended up working in Boston for most of the Christmas period and visiting some of Jenny's relatives before working over the New Year. James enjoyed a family festive period, whilst Burl spent the majority of his free time visiting his recently returned wife in Miday Research Hospital as she recovered from her malnutrition and general neglect.

They finally met up for a shift in early January. 

Exchanging greetings they settled down for the meeting. Mal Lesperance gave the shift briefing and advised that all forensic samples now have to have a report attached as the lab waiting list was now upto 4 weeks. Also he team have their final exams the next day for the extended training. They also heard reports that a drunk had been hit and injured when a car crashed into him.

However on their way out they were accosted by Agent Friendly the FBI officer they met previously around the highschool gymnasium incident. She invited them into the captains office and asked a few details about the recent vandalism of state property. During the interview a civilian contractor associate of hers in rough clothes called Charles Leatherman stepped in handing her a file and leaving again. Although giving a cursory nod to the Federal Agent.

Leaving the office they decided to knuckle down and try to deal with Switchtrack Alley. Investigating the area they found a grounds keeper/verger from another parish, named Mitch, helping to keep an eye on the late night visitors to the church (to give Rev. Neeley Senior a chance to sleep). They made several inquiries about holding a candle-light vidgil, but the heavy blanket of guilt and avoidance that hung over the community made it difficult to get any traction with that idea. They were called to a few very minor incidents including a few late night appointments and a  call out to a pensioner who thought she heard a murdered downstairs (but all the doors were locked)

The next day they came into their final exam. Despite not paying close attention Burl managed to scrape through almost as well as the rest of the team on the state law and diversity courses. In the practical exam,where the team was called to a simulated domestic. Interupted by a snatch and grab outside James and John tackled the SWAT team member playing the role of the mugger.

The following day they met up in Sloppy Joes between calls and set out their plan. Realising that the candle-light vigil was too ambitious they instead focused on a more modest clean up the streets day. 

Burl managed to get his youth-club kids involved offering up the prize of a set of new boxing kit was enough to whoever collected the most trash. Getting 20 or so eager young volounteers.

Sarah ended up going back and talking to Lucy who worked at the homeless shelter offices. She was initially uncertain but was willing to provide some volounteers and encouraged people from the shelter to help by putting up the mobile soup kitchen in the back of a van and having it on site to feed the volounteers.

Bishop talked to Mr Khan and Joe Wazowski (who helped provide cleaning supplies and a bit of funding) and to the local Staples store who printed off fliers and posters for free in exchange for a bit of sponsorship.

James spoke to his father who was dismissive of actually doing anything himself, but he did suggest that Charles (James's Father's campaign manager) provided some of the administrative help. He ended up organising city refuse  collections and skips to pick up the results of the hard labour.

On the day the whole community pulled together for the clean-up effort. Slowly and reluctantly at first, but the volounteers were soon joined by local residents. Bishop seemed to see something and seemed to fall over with a start, but didn't talk about it.

Whilst the whole neighbourhood was part of the clean up, the locals in particular began to work together and scrub away the blood stain with bleach and brushes, working quietly.

The group stayed until the late hours with John Bishop placing a wreath on the site of the now-faded blood stain before he left.

Dozens of other bunches of flowers were placed overnight and in the morning the blood stain had vanished.

With that, for the first time in years, people slept a little easier in their beds. Although the shade of Ishmael Neely is quiescent for now, it is far from gone.

Session 11: 20th January 2013

The 21st is Martin Luthur King Junior day and so as he started his beginning of shift brief Mal Lesperance warned about potential dangers with drink drivers in the evening.

The first shift call was to St Michaels Church where Father McCoy and his groundskeeper Mitch (last seen in Switchtrack alley helping out) who reported a disturbance at the graveyard attached to the church.

A dead dog had been found hung and mutilated from a tree by the edge of the graveyard with a crude pentagram carved into its head. A quick investigation revealed that the dog was well groomed, likely a pet but had no collar and that the nearby wall held a stain as if somebody with blood on themselves clambred over it. Meanwhile Burl determined that the dog was likely dead for around 24 hours 

Father McCoy was visibly upset, as this meant that the previous days funerals were technically held on unhallowed ground and they would have to be re-buried.

He suspected that it was either Santeria followers (whose practices he had spoken out against) or somebody with a grudge against Maxime Gordon.trying who was buried there that day.

They called in Sammy Atkinson (The Precincts K-9 specialists) who tried to follow the trail, but the trail ended at a car-park. The only thing they could do was to keep a close eye on Maxime's grave as James feared that this could be part of an occult act similar to one that took place in East Texas where the hand of a murderer buried in unhalowed ground was used by a cult to try and recreate a hand of glory (an occult artifact with a broad range of rumoured powers)

They were also called to another animal-related incident in Mungford Park, in this case a cat had been found killed.

On their way there Burl pulled over a woman with a partially concealled number plate. He found a gun in her glove box and anti-depression medication in her purse. Meanwhile Sarah ran the plates discovering that the car was reported missing by her husband from their shared home in Boston. Claiming she was going to visit her sister, Burl booked her for driving a car reported stolen and took her down to the station, to which she responded by breaking down into tears.

Losing his temper to an extent with the rest of the squad, he got Burl to drive her car back to the station and took the woman in Car 3, whilst Sarah and James went to deal with the cat in Car 7.

At Mungford park they found the dead cat infront of the weeping statue. The statue was covered in various offerings and written wishes. The cat had its throat slit and was simply left there. With very few clues they covered it up and called it in. However the park looked cleaner and more vibrant than it had in years, 

Fed up Burl and John went to a coffee shop to get something to drink where Sarah and James joined them later.

Session 12: 12th Feb 2013 - Crimson Night

Roll-call

Moving in for the evening roll-call, Mal Lesperance makes a pointed note about the importance of not doodling in official police issue notebooks, which can be used in a court of law against you. He also points out that Mungford park is going to be cleaned up of the detritus that has collected around the statue. Sarah Long was announced as being off due to a special occasion.

After the briefing, they resolved to check on the cemetary at St. Michaels church which was recently desecrated. Finding Mitch the (extremely tired) groundskeeper on duty there patrolling the grounds, they talked to him for a bit and discovered that he had been sent the identification of the dog that has the chip rather than Burl's unit. (Strange but not entirely unheard of in a messy bureacracy.)

The dog belonged to a local 9-year old named Mickey Osborn (his parents Mary and Joe Osborn). Visiting they talk to Joe Osborn and explain about the mutilation of the dog in St Michaels church. Mickey makes a brief appearance and they lie to him saying that the dog was run over by a car, sending the distressed youth running for his room. His father consoles him, whilst Whitle headed outside to look at the yard where the dog was tied up. He found evidence of somebody scalling the back wall, but little else. 

When they leave the property Bishop gets a call on his personal mobile from Sally, one of the many prostitutes he knows, and to whom he spread the word about letting him know about any mysterious assaults.

Heading inside he found another young lady in streetwear called Becky, who was found collapsed in an alleyway. Sally could not afford the healthcare insurance, so didn't want to go to the emergency room. She was pale and apparently suffering from shock and anemia, but otherwise unharmed. Bishop talked to the others and they took her to the hospital saying that they found her collapsed on the street. When she recovered she mentioned having no memory of her attacker but a feeling of blissful euphoria around the time.

However they were quickly called away to a report of drug dealing in a local down-market pub called the Moon and Stars. The barman called them over and told them about an Eastern-European gang of 6 people with shaven heads in the beer garden openly dealing in drugs.

Burl agreed to go through the pub, whilst Whittle and Bishop took the back gate. Whittle and Kane secured the exits, whilst Bishop confronted the suspects. However it almost instantly started going wrong. 

Seeing the police closing in on them, the people in the beer garden who were not in the gang began to panic and tried to leave, one of them throwing an unsuccessful punch at Whittle. However they were blocked by Kane and Whittle. Bishop approached the suspects and tried to talk them into co-opperation. However one of the thugs picked him up by the lapels and menaced him, throwing him across the room (although Bishop skillfully kept his footing without breaking a sweat).

Seeing this, Burl and Whittle abandoned attempts to contain the other people and moved in to assist Bishop. Whittle drew his pepper spray and used it on the nearest thug. Burl and Bishop opened up with guns and took down one each. The remaining two thugs pulled out machine pistols and one-handedly sprayed the area, catching Bishop and Kane across the bullet-resistant vests. 

Meanwhile Whittle was assaulted by the older leader of the group who grabbed him, using him as a human shield against the others. The last two thugs finally went down in a shower of bullets from Bishop and Kane. The leader wrestled with Whittle and threw him at Bishop, entangling both of them.

Kane moved in hot pursuit of the leader who moved with uncanny speed. Picking up one of the machine pistols he sprayed after the group leader and caught him several times in areas that should have been lethal, however he ducked around a corner and vanished.

Back at the beer-garden Bishop and Whittle tried to control the scene, handcuffing the remaining suspects. Bishop rushed into the bar to grab the first aid kit from the barman, whilst Whittle tied up the man who was only maced and disarmed the others.

Several of them had packets of a red powder on them and there was even more in a briefcase nearby.

Bishop found a medical student in the bar and between them began treating two seriously injured bystanders who had been sprayed in the firefight.

Kane came back having failed to catch his suspect and began to take command of the scene and slowly ambulance personelle and other police officers arrived on scene. Gene Buehler, a Narcotics Detective arrived first and helped out. 

Eventually they were relieved and sent off to hospital and put on paid suspension for a minimum 3 day period as per regulations whilst the Internal Affairs Board investigated the situation.

Whittle who had stolen some of the drug from the crime scene analysed it and found it most similar to Crystal Meth. Bishop spoke to the prostitutes who had been victims of the attack and asked them what the drug was, they identified it as probably being crimson, a recently arrived street drug and promised to keep an eye out for it.

Eventually they were called before the Police Comissioner (whose nephew they had recently incarcerated, but thankfully the IAB did most of the talking)

They were chewed out variously for misleading and inaccurate reporting (Bishop), Failing to obey their superiors orders and trying to mislead investigators (Whittle) and picking up and using a discarded fully automatic weapon against the fleeing, unarmed suspect in the back and then lying about it (Kane).

Kane mentioned some of the strangeness that was involved in the incident including the inhuman strength of the suspects, the extreme speed and resilience of their leader and other anomalies. The IAB uncharacteristically agreed to drop the charges as long as he did not go to the media or anybody else with his story. 

They were cleared of charges and asked to report back to duty with the knowledge that Internal Affairs and the Comissioner would be watching them in the future.

Session 13: 16th Feb 2013: 

On the last night of their suspension the team go out for a few well deserved beers. Kane even gets a large beer tower for everybody.

They talk about their concerns of their superiors motivations and question what they know about the drug Crimson and why nobody is talking about it.

Kane sends a text to the Enigmatic Agent Friendly "Burl Kane, 13th Precinct, Unnatural occourances we have found a substance that we would like a second opinion on, can we meet?" She responded that she would be down in three days time.

Whittle meanwhile searched the mysterious Network Zero site. Where he found footage taken in some form of gym, of a bulked out weight lifter, who notched up the weights to maximum when others left. The video also showed an inspection of the locker room with a trace of red powder on the shelf of one of the lockers. When James contacted them, he asked about the drug. The other person didn't say much but requested a sample, stating that the drug was a complex mix of compounds which he could get analysed if he had a better sample. James sent off a quarter of a gram in the overland post to a PO box in New York.

Bishop on the other hand sketched out a scene of blurred figures reaching over the defenceless figure of Becky the prostitute. He got a call from the Vice Sergeant Janessa Burch, who wanted to talk to Becky about her attack. Despite a few drinks John introduced them, and Janessa's street savvy was enough to win their confidence.

Coming into work the next day they were greeted by the ever cheerful Sgt. Mal Lesperance and Det Sgt.Gena Buehler who came in to brief people about Crimson. Admitting that they currently don't have much to go on, but that it does grant hysterial strength. She described it as causing highly emotional rages and a loss of control. Something that seemed at odds with the teams encounters at the pub shoot-out. They theorise that this may be due to them trying to connect the drug with steroids.

There are reports of crime and disturbances in the normally peaceful Mungford Park area and they all engaged in a bit of banter.

Heading out they responded first to a call from St. Michaels cemetary where a distraught and exhausted Mitch explained that grave robbers had gotten into the cemetary and exhumed the body of Maxime Gordon. Bishop clambered into the open grave to discover that the corpse was most likely that of Maxime and that she was missing her left hand. Disgusted they investigated the area and Whittle managed to expertly piece together the events. Four sets of teenaged footprints were in the area, most of them in expensive shoes. he also came across some cigarette butts and an empty packet, with a nice partial fingerprint on it. They called in the crime scene lab and speculated on possible motives. Recalling the mention of the "Hand of Glory" from an earlier investigation into an incident in Texas, they speculated on what the hand might do. Bishop wasn't sure but was convinced that most of the legends surrounding a hand of glory were false. Whittle on the other hand dug up an old spanish transcript about an evil sorcerer who used the severed left hand of a murdereress buried on unhallowed ground to summon up a great demon called an Accomoth to do his bidding (before being slain by a heroic priest)

Leaving Mitch to his own woes, they carry on with their own patrols, catching a few petty criminals in the act. 

Towards the end of the shift Bishop tries to call Janessa Burch. However she oddly picks up, but then cancels the call. This prompts them to look into it further. They get a trace on her cell outside a dive bar called the Gin & Tonic. Where they find a crowd of gawpers. 

A man has been shot three times in the chest. Whittle works crowd control (Finding a friend of the decesased who described his friend as a bit of an asshole, but noboy special) Burl looks around the surrounding area  (he locates her locked and empty car), and Bishop examines the body. (which has a wallet with $100 in it, keys drivers licence for a William Stone and other assorted nick-nacks, there was also a clean knife on the floor for which the suspect had a sheath) Sid Routman arrived a bit later taking charge of the scene and gathering up all the evidence, expressing his concern that Janessa might have done this. Pointing to the fact that the shots were point blank and indicating to some heel indentations.

After a bit of searching they find Janessa curled up still clutching her gun behind a dumpster. She nearly pulls the trigger when they approach her, but Whittle is able to calm her down and they arrest her in the gentlest way possible. She was shaken and confused, but grateful for the sympathy.

Back at the station th booked her in and Arthur Delgado the desk Sergeant shared his sympathies with the team.

Bishop ran Janessa through a basic drugs test which came back negative and agreed to stay with her in an interview room rather than putting her into the cells.

In the station Whittle bumped into one of the crime scene techs from Precinct 1 named Jean. She told him the fingerprints had a partial match to a local kid named Troy Wilkinson. 

Burl and James high-tailed it to the Wilkinson residence, not far from St. Michaels (infact it has a direct line of sight over the wall and into the cemetary).

Troy was home, but hid behind a chain on his door and called his mother when the team tried to get in. She adamantly refused to allow the officers access without a warrant and would not allow her son to be present until he was there (which would be another three hours from now) Burl kept Troy's phone, and Troy angrily rang hm mother on the house phone.  

They tried to get a warrant  from a notable civil liberties specialist, Judge Desilva who was on the night shift that morning. However she rebuffed them saying that the evidence they had would not stand up and that a three hour wait was reasonable under the circumstances.

They left the scene and snuck back trying to catch Troy as he fled. However he apparently stayed in his room, along with several others. After only half an hour the silence was broken by a scream and the cops bust down the front door and raced upstairs. Three of the four teenagers in the room were dead or dying. The fourth, Troy had black eyes and seemed strangely detatched. Burl threw a mag-light at his head and gave him a powerful uppercut using his gun as a set of brass knuckles, but Troy stepped to the side of the torch and whilst he was lifted off the ground by the force of the blow, it did not seem to harm him, Whittle tried to use pepper spray, but with Burl in the way he had no line of sight and so missed. Troy fled the scene by jumping out of his window, apparently uninterested in the officers. Whittle found one of the teenaged victims was still alive (barely) so he tried to keep them alive, when he was carried off in the ambulance he appeared dead, but the paramedics were working on him furiously. Burl saw a Latin book on the window-sill, old and thick.

Finally Hariette Stockwell showed up to help bag and tag the remaining bodies. Disappointed that every time she saw Burl it was somewhere near civilian blood.

Session 14: 17th February. 

At the crime scene still Burl and James have a brief chance to search the scene for clues. James bypasses the password on the computer by going through the set-up menu and using the default root password for that operating system, whilst Burl idly noses around the room searching for anything of interest in a lazy manner and examines the occult text called the Niveah Codex (which appeared to have been part of the Midway Central Library special collections at one point)

The computer has partial translated extracts of the Latin text from Google Translate. 

 

 The Nineveh Codex contains a ritual called the “Clavis Caecus” (The [blind/sightless/unseeing/dark/lightless/hidden]  [key/bolt/bar/lock/fastener/fastening]) a ritual requiring the severed hand of a murderess buried on unhallowed ground.

The book tells that the Achamoth (“Lower Wisdom”) will hunt down all those that are touched by “praecantatio” [magic/sorcery/witchcraft] and destroy them, requiring only a glance to incinerate them.

The book does not specifically mention a hand of glory but it is quite specific in requiring the left hand of a murderess buried on unconsecrated land. It also mentions that if successful the Achamoth can be bound to grant your hearts desire. 

 

There are some details about the consequences of a failed ritual, but clearly Troy did not get as far as translating these.

The crime scene clean-up team arrives shortly afterwards along with Bishop and the K-9 officer Sammy Atkin and his dog Kita.

They left the house and tracked the scent through the streets, the trail was heading towards the city centre, but suddenly vered off back into the suburbs towards the appartments where they encountered the squatters and the green circle in the basement. Kita the dog was increasingly jumpy at this stage, and refused to go near the building without a great deal of kajoling from Sammy.

Going inside carefully they found evidence of two incinerated human corpses and that the green circle was now little more than a stain on the floor.

Heading back out they followed the trail into the woods where it intersected a stream. Thankfully Burls keen woodsman skills allowed them to pick up the trail a short distance down stream. 

However the trail was finally lost when it went back into the city and through an industrial complex that had a variety of acrid smelling substances in the area.

They called it in and Sid Routman urged them to come back, get some sleep and rejoin his homicide task force the following day.

Burl got some rest inside the station, John went home but tried to contact the prostitutes who had been attacked, but they were sleeping after a hard night as well.

Burl got called in to see Agent Friendly whose was in Baileys (The cop bar next to the station) and she candidly asked him why she should give him The Crimson Dossier that her agency had acquired.

He explained that he was trying to shut it down. She warned him about Bishop and gave him the File.

She also mentioned that she found fire killed most things in general and that she carried a small flare gun and some vodka with her.

Bishop woke up having scrawled all over his sheets, a picture of a large room decorated with vaulted gothic architecture. With dancing figures and showing a smartphone being held out at arms length revealing some of the figures to have a demonic visage.

They meet up at the incident room on the top floor of the precinct house which they are sharing with a handful of detectives.

Sid told them about the first three victims. All Troys close friends and associates.(and also seemingly his only real friends) Doug Guthrie (alive in critical condition thanks to prompt first aid from James), Sam Randolph (dead) and Lisa Griffin.(dead)

Sid gave a rousing speach about how much he trusted and respected the people in the team and set out his plan.

Whilst the detective side of the task force did the investigative work at the crime scenes and offices, Burl's team would wait in two pursuit cars in central locations ready to respond to any reported sightings.

So they set to work. It didn't take long for a reported sighting to be called in at "Paradise" an upmarket club with a full crowd playing host to two big indie bands Furrow and Stalagmite. 

James and John got into the gates but the vast crowd made searching difficult, so they decided to wait for backup fro Burl who had been caught in traffic on the way over and took a good 10 minutes to arrive.

Bishop thought he saw the suspect around the back of the building, so the team went searching. Finding the fire doors crudely nailed shut, they began to worry about arson attempts. However the suspect was outside.

They approached the bouncer on the door who was initially quite hostile to their demand that the club be shut down and called out his boss. However James then spotted Troy in the crowd and tried to follow him in (Followed by Burl).

Then things started to happen quite quickly.

Bishop tried to get people to leave, but encountered hostility from the club-goers.

Meanwhile there was a burst of fire from the main floor as somebody combusted rapidly.

James and Burl tried to lunge for Troy who tried to scurry away through the crowd. Burl hand-cuffed himself to Troy to limit his movements. whilst James tried to use a taser (narrowly missing Burl). They tried the CS spray, Tasers and even guns to very little effect against the nigh unstoppable Troy. 

Bishop was greeted by Sid Routman who arrived with a megaphone and started clearing the exit and Bishop went around to open the fire exits to allow people to escape.

James managed to get the attention of the bouncers at the edge of the stage and they pulled the plug on the music and handed him a megaphone. Allowing him to usher the dancers out.

Troy ignited another person as people left and Burl continued to try and subdue him (with the taser having some effect). One of Burls bullets accidentally hit a nearby dancer who went down in a pool of blood. 

Meanwhile Bishop having opened the fire escape stopped and checked people as they came out with his camera. One of them, a man with a black shirt and wide lapels showed up as a blur in the image. Bishop tried to stop him, but the stranger demanded "Leave me alone" which temporarily made John turn his back whilst the blur hid in a crowd of girls. Then recovering his wits he warned off the civilians and used his CS spray, to some effect, Driving the blur to run away with Bishop in hot pursuit. Bishop took a shot at first with a flare gun which missed and tried to catch up but the Blur was too quick and made good his escape.

Back in the club, the fight had reached something of an impasse. Burl and James were clearly unable to subdue him, but Troy couldn't easily escape the hand-cuffs. Troy pleaded that he did not want to fight them and that he was after "The Tainted". Burl asked Sid to fetch some four point restraints and as Sid left, asked Troy to clarify that he would not hurt normal people. Troy agreed and Burl helped him break out of the cuffs.

Troy ran off out of the fire escape as Bishop was coming back havng failed to capture the Blur. They met briefly and at the same time Bishop tried to shoot Troy whilst Troy looked up and pointed to him "Burn!".

Bishops shot hit but did not even slow Troy down, but Bishop suffered terrible burns across his body. Troy advanced quickly, thankfully spotting something further off of more interest and left with a single parting shot (causing serious and deep burns all over his skin). Bishops own parting shot unfortunately went wide as a reult of the burns and hit a bystander.

As Troy escaped after the Blur, Bishop limped over to help the injured man who called an ambulance for the two of them.

Burl explained to Sid that the suspect escaped due to his incredible strength. and James treated the dancer who was shot.

Sid put everybody on mandatory suspension (due to an incident in which shots were fired) and told them to go home.

Bishop was transported to hospital where his extensive burns left him in a serious condition. Due to the severity of his wounds, he was not investigated heavily at the time. 

James called his parents whose lawyers painted him in a sympathetic light. Heaping all the blame on Burl (as he was the officer in charge). James lost his job as a result and went off to become a poltical analyst.

Burl had all of the blame heaped upon him, and accepted it gracefully, being discharged and his reputation ruined. However Agent Friendly spoke of a job for a resourceful individual like himself and urged him to join her group as a contractor. As a result he escaped criminal charges.