The man was wearing Brook's Brothers, custom tailored and very expensive. The sort of suit you'd see on an investment broker on thw way up, successful but not there yet. Problem was, despite the three figure haircut and suit, he still looked like a soldier in a uniform. He sat down in the booth and drummed his fingers on the table as he waited.

In a way he was an investor, though it was more proper to call him 'Purchasing Officer' than investor. His 'company' was more than happy to buy any of a variety of things. Most of them less than legal and definitely not ethical in any way.

"Excuse me sir, this is for you." A messenger came up holding a manifest with his alias on it. He signed for it and nodded to the young man, making note of his features and company to find him later. He discretely slit open the package and pulled out a tablet, already on.

Nice to meet you. You come well spoken of. Text scrawled across the screen as the camera lit up and showed his face in one window. Three other windows opened up.

"Melodramatics won't make a sale. You want my superiors to buy your tech, we'll need.. proof of concept at least and preferably a deployment over a specific time frame and area. Your project looks promising but..." He shrugged as he paused to let the waitress drop off his meal and depart.

I have more than proof of concept. Observe.

Two of the windows lit up. One contained a 3d model of a brain and the other showed an alley where a woman was unloading a minivan. The last window popped up and showed a second camera leading up to the alley. A heavy set man walked into the alley, pulling a length of chain from his biker jacket and started walking towards the woman. The approach screen switched to show the man's record. A killer through and through, starting with his time in service and refined by more than a decade as a legbreaker for an outlaw bike gang. He had nearly 150 pounds on the woman.

Then she turned and the brain scan went wild with lights as the biker moved quickly towards the woman. Whose eyes lit up, literally, at the sight of the man. She slid smoothy to one side as he slung the chain at her.

Combat wetwire enhancement of muscular tissue. She's three times faster and four times stronger than a normal human of her mass. The text explained as she moved to meet the man's follow up punch, doing a clean chop block followed by sliding under the extended arm and slamming her free hand upwards in a savage strike that snapped the biker's arm.

He watched as the woman quickly, and violently, killed the man in stages. Hammer blows highlighting her augmented strength and speed. Till she smashed his face in with a double fisted blow that sent his body across the alley like a rag doll.

Total control of implanted persona, the perfect sleeper agents. You can turn them on, get special forces level soldiers with augmented physical capacities. The text explained as the woman's eyes dimmed and she started to freak out.
And just as easily turned off. The woman twitched and collapsed to the floor, her eyes, ears and nose erupting in a gush of blood.

"I like what I'm seeing but I have some questions about the .. assets though." He said calmly as he considered the uses his superiors could put to this. Specifics came up as the alley scene faded from the screens. Several options came to mind as he considered what the bosses would want. "I have an.. extended field test. Care to put five or six of your toys in the field for an operation as a proof of concept to ... my employers?"

I am open for options.

'Nobby' got out of the car with a groan. Standing at 6'4" and too many stone of weight made the fleet vehicle he'd checked out a bit small for his liking but his 'partner-slash-boss' had won the coin toss.

So she got the SUV and he got the 'midsized' sedan. He looked around as he showed his ID, the cop on watch let him in.

"Fusco, what do you need me here for? I mean this is what..." Nobby said in his 'lord of the manner' accent, a sprinkle of Sandhurt showing through as he joined the city cop.

"You're here to consult, you told me to get you on the 'weird'." The heavy set cop said as he gestured around the alley. The morgue attendants were standing by but not moving towards either body.

Nobby frowned at the Ex-New York detective as he moved down the alley, two decades of military and civilian policing, with a focus on the parahuman, coming to play. He took in the ruined body of the biker. Who had all the markings of a 2%-er killer. Nobby bent down as he fished out some gloves, pulled them on, and examined the body. Glancing at the petite soccer mom on the ground ten feet away from time to time. Several minutes passed as he looked around the alley and over the body.

"This is a joke right? If I'm seeing this right, a soccer mom literally beat a man 3 times her weight with something like 20 years of fighting experience under his belt, then just dropped dead?"

"Yeah, got it in one your lordship.. so, my captain is wondering.. can we borrow your forensic examiner and get your and your boss lady helping us figure out how that happened?"

"Oh don't worry mate, we'll be there to help you cuff whoever did this and happily let the state of North Carolina kill him for whatever the hell it was he or she did." Nobby said as he pulled off the gloves and motioned for the attendants to go ahead and pull the bodies. "I'll call Raleigh and get Leigh to come down and do the cutting for you."

"Heya Ms. Hughs." Theo Jacobs said as she walked in. "Think we got the weird type for you. This ex-douche was one Lincoln Pope. He, among other things, was a scum bag hedge fund manager who robbed his clients and laundered money for some very very dirty folks... till this morning when his head exploded."

The body was definitely the type, manicure and with a tan that spoke of work and effort on it, dressed in a good suit that was clearly tailored. She drummed her gloved fingers over the desk as she looked around.  Her ice blue eyes looked over the room. Taking in everything as she scanned the room. Tempered hybrid polyglass, reinforced doorframe and walls, massive security systems all stood out The kill was a shot from a custom round. Her glance upward explained it all.

"Who did we piss off? Someone very very rich? Organized crime? A dictator?" She asked as she took in the hole in the glass. "The killer took a shot from somewhere around a mile or so. Parabolic shot. The bullet was a custom job and came down from nearly vertical direction." She pointed to the hole in glass. "A custom bullet, Set to blow in the time between breaking the only non-ballistic grade glass in the room and impact with his skull. You're not going to find the shooter's nest, odds are it was a van. You will find a couple cameras along the tree line though. Set to see through the window here.

"You know the shooter?" Theo asked as he nodded. The investigator found in under two minutes what had taken him nearly thirty minutes and a lucky glance upward to figure out the same. "One of the cape crowd?

"Maybe.. more of an urban legend than a cape." Catherine looked down at her phone as it buzzed. "Good news, you'll be seeing me around for consulting. We got a definite .. something going on in the case Nobby is looking at. She said as she stepped out to take the call.

"Yeah, you got a case for us? Bet mine is more interesting. I think Ballistic just came out of retirement.",

Tessa Tyler was a 'premmie' Soccer Mom at 26. She had finished school, married her boyfriend from high school (Dwight Tyler, Junior Ad Exec and former track star), got a van and did a little business out of her house as an author of paranormal/steampunk fantasy that appealed to the Tween crowd. She did a little aerobics, some jogging and had bought the minivan in hopes of having a child towards the end of the year.

That was why she was at the mall; her plan of attack for the weekend for a maxi/pedi, new hair style and something from the 'Secret'. She smiled as she slipped on her shades and looked out on the parking lot. Dwight was coming home tonight and the plan was to work on the baby.

Twenty yards away a man pulled out a smart phone and pushed a screen mounted button. In most relevant ways that was the point in time where Tessa Tyler died.

The woman who walked into the sports store five minutes later only looked like her.

Big Ed's Sporting World

Big Ed's Sporting World wasn't a chain store, but had the look. Lots of gear, lots of goods covering literally dozens of hobbies. Knives, guns, bows, specialty gear for all of the former as well as tents, camping tools and on and on. The day had started off slow, with Big Ed and most of the staff having the day off after doing a massive restock and renovation of the store. Louis, the trainee day manager, was there with a few of the new hires who were getting extra hours while the rest of the staff recovered from 2 days of manic moving everything around.

So, by the time Tessa pounded Louis' head into the gun safe after breaking his fingers, the other three members of the staff had been ambushed by the quiet pretty woman. Who was quick with the knife and had inhuman strength.

Then the first trio of cops who arrived at the frantic call of a woman to 9-11 about someone killing people in Big Ed's. They came in, alert and ready for anything. They survived the shotgun blast that dropped them in the entrance way, calling for support and medical assistance.

Simon pulled into Big Ed's parking lot bleary eyed and grumbling. He'd been at work late the day before restocking all of the shooting and hunting supplies but unlike the others he was expected to come in today because none of the new guys were qualified to handle the massive inventory of ammo that Ed had ordered.

So while Ed was fishing Simon would be chatting with every tactical timmy in town about how to off somebody with the widget laden left handed can opener AR they had recently purchased because the twelve gauge their dad had given them just didn't kill burglars dead enough.

He rolled out of the truck with his owner mandated holstered Sig 227 .45 in one hand and his od green canvas duffle bag in the other.

There was a hint of trouble by the doors as Simon got of the door of his truck. A police car was right in front of the store, and there was a unmarked 'zone' around Big Ed's that screamed trouble. The ambulance that roared into the lot and stopped by cruiser was a big hint.

It said 'trouble is here'. There was something.. off though Simon realized as he spotted the two cops behind a concrete planter bleeding and shot. Blood trails from the store front to the fallen policemen spoke of a shoot out in the store.

That instinct of trouble was confirmed as the EMTs rolled out of their vehicle and dashed forward to the downed patrolmen. A pair of objects flew through the air from the darkened store front, one landing between the patrolmen and the EMTs. There was a split second to recognize the shape a small compressed natural gas cylinder with a lit flare taped onto it as a shot rang out and the cylinder detonated with a muffled <crumph> and the two EMTs dropped like puppets with their strings cut. Not dead but clearly hurt by the near miss.

The second cylinder was very familiar to Simon, as he watched a canister of what looked like prime grade powder bounce into the open window of the ambulance. A second later there was a <crumph> as the ambulance exploded in a roar of flame and jumped into the air and came down with a bigger roar of flame as the oxygen cylinder detonate inside the ambulance.

OOC: The first one was a 'nearly miss' and the second one was a crit (I couldn't get the die roller to work on my tablet so I had to use real dice)

"Damn.."

Simon tumbled back behind his truck and shrugged into the harness he kept in the beat up duffle bag. By this point he was so accustomed to the weight that he felt less encumbered with the gear on.

Geared up Simon disappeared and The Yeoman rolled out from under the truck and ghosted toward the building moving from car to car scanning for the attacker. The bow was ready and his hand was on an arrow.

Normally the Yeoman held himself to a standard similar to law enforcement when it came to use of force but Big Ed's was like his home and someone had attacked it. The flames and explosions took him back to the war. This was soldiers work and someone was going to die.

From where he can see, through the smoking bodies and debris, Big Ed's is a wash. The interior of the store is blacked out, there are tarps covering most of the wide doors and window. The case display of a sporting bow and arrows are missing though. Worse yet, Yeoman can make out the body of Deke Tully laying just inside shattered doorway. He lays unmoving with a massive gash along his throat that looks like someone nearly removed his head in a single slash.


OOC: Gimme a Stealth and Perception check please and thank you.

22:48, Today: Yeoman rolled 15 using 1d20+12. Notice Roll.

22:48, Today: Yeoman rolled 26 using 1d20+14. Stealth Roll.

There is something off about the body by the door. Deke's body isn't sitting quite right against the register station. He's bait, most likely an IUD under his body. There is very little lighting in the store beyond the small spots of emergency lighting. The last telling point to Yeoman's keen eyes was this.

There were at least five different ammo casings around his body. 10 Gauge shotgun,several small arms casings and one very chillingly big bullet casing. A .50 long rifle round from the small set he'd been hired to set up for a target shooting demonstration next month.

Back entrance

Yeoman scooted like a ghost around the building to the electronically locked back entrance.

The back entrance was quiet, as usual. There was a spot that Yeoman could find easily enough to survey the scene while moving through the very slight gap between camera coverage. Only someone who had a hand in designing the store's security system would know that gap was there.

Like Yeoman.

Now he was having to hit the store that had been a home away from hime, getting in the building he'd help to make as defensible as possible and not get shot by any number of foes within.


Gimme a Stealth, a Perception check please
Sorry about the delay.

15:03, Today: Yeoman rolled 24 using 1d20+14. Stealth Roll 24.

15:03, Today: Yeoman rolled 27 using 1d20+12. Notice Roll 27.

Sorry for the delay.

In Backk

Luckily for Yeoman, he had been involved (in his alter ego) in setting up the back room area of the store. The security door for one thing. A strong security door, well oiled and smooth in action. The foyer to the back room was normally well lit, though not now, but it was also positioned well enough to let the outside light come in and show enough light in for one detail.

A long tapering tripwire of mono-filament line that hung just a bit too loose to be completely effective. A stealthy man, with a sharp implement, could cut it and slip in unseen.


In Frontk

"So O'Reilly, care to use those super awesome 'insights' of yours to tell me how to breech?" Lt. Tom Pauly, the team leader for Charlotte's SWAT team. His second, Sgt. Bryan 'Radar' O'Reilly, was technically still on the disabled list. Very tellingly since he was still able to walk only by dint of the cane he was leaning on. Thus he'd been pointedly told he was staying in the staging area. The Sergent leaned on his can and let his eyes go unfocused for a moment before nodding.

"Yeoman is here.. I think he's going to find our target for us.." He said.

"Target.. singular? This was all done by one person? Pauly asked in surprise as he gestured towards the bodies by the door.

"Yeah.. scarey thing in there with him. It makes me.. itch like during the invasion." The Sergent hadn't ever spoke of what happened during the invasion, but he also referred to anything tied to it as 'itchy'.


<orange>OOC: You're (so far) unseen by the perp inside, and have spotted the tripwire as you entered the building. Feel free to describe Yeoman cutting the wire and slipping into the backroom.

Yeoman flicked his Habilis made french trapper knife out if his right boot and sliced the sagging tripwire as he ghosted into the back room.

Once inside he moved immediately to the left behind the recently dismantled "Duck Commander" display and scanned the interior for threats.

The room was badly lit, from where he was it was clear that someone had speared or smashed everyone of the emergency lights in the main room, the overheads were turned off and there was a tarp over the store front. It was a kill zone, plain and simple, as he spotted the two cylinders of CNG sitting by the door.

For second, it didn't make sense to the Carolina Bowman to use something with a small blast zone..even if it was festooned with nails and gorilla tape. Unless you wanted to wound and disable, not bring down the whole store. He could also see from where he was at a foot lying in a pool of blood by the knife section.

Other concerns were secondary once Simon saw the body. He crossed quickly and as stealthily as possible to the knife section to see who it was and if they could be helped.

The store was a mess, Simon could see several things that stood out. The cluster of pressurized gas they kept in back for grills. Some of the smaller hand sized cylinders were set up with the reloading power tins by the door, classic ad-hoc claymore mines.  The one at the door was nasty and there were several spots where the mines were placed in buckets of metal items like screws and brickabrack to make them even nastier.

Moving slowly thru the store that used to be a home from home, the Carolina Bowman spotted her for a split second. She was dressed in a hunting camp outfit, carrying one of the custom long arms from his workbench. One that could be easily modified to full auto. She was carrying at least three knives and two additional guns, a semi auto pistol and shotgun. All that gear aside, she looked like a house frau or soccer mom. Except for one thing.

Her eyes glowed a lambent orange in the darkened store.

Then she was gone in the clutter of the sporting goods store.

What the hell? Some sort of metahuman housewife serial killer?

She looked about as dangerous as a a teletubby but evidence suggested otherwise. Simon nocked a web arrow and proceeded to check on the injured person behind the knife counter.

"Are the one this host knows as Yoeman?" The voice came from the darkened shadows of the store, the cadence and accent of the voice was chillingly familiar..and inhuman. No one that heard the few times a Haldane spoke English, even on tv, would ever forget it.  Coming out a mouth not designed for it didn't make it any less unrecognizable. "Your artificers have started dabbling in our war arts. This host was .. how do you say... proof of concept. She was primed, my ..awarness buried under a crude copy of a human warriors mind and unleashed on this place..It was.. amusing." The chuckle didn't belong in the throat of a thirty something soccer mom.

"The girl child freed me, with a blow to the skull. Had this host not been.. augmented that would have been the end of things. Sadly all she did was free me from the crude fascimile of what I am. Now I feel the artificer frantically trying to kill me before I can disclose his plan... I'd rather die in noble battle, such as one as yourself can offer, than being indignantly snuffed out."

Yeoman also did not reveal himself.

"What the hell are you talking about lady?"

"Some kid punched you in the head and that made you come attack these people? That's insane."