Stone-Fist listened carefully to a man giving out orders. He turned back toward Officer Sula. "Looks like you and me are going to be partners for this case."
"Emily is me, but I don't mind rather my name didn't precede me too much." says the athletic looking, black detective. "Thanks for backing me up in there. I just wish we didn't end up going the extra mile on our own so often."
Turning to Pious she gives him a smile "I've a partner who will get us back the results for DNA, we'll have to track down the CCTV hub and check the hotels cameras. Can you have someone badger the police into providing those tapes?"
Stone-Fist strode up beside Reverend Pious. "Uh, sir? What about getting a team to check the Vanguard building? They're situated right next to the hotel. It's possible that an inside-man within the company let a few villains slip by security"
(( I haven't explored all of Paragon yet, so tell me if there is more than one Hotel Geneva and I will delete this comment 
))
"I hadn't thought of that" Pious admitted, replying to the golem. "Why don't you decided between yourself and Sula who checks out Dr Aeon and who talks to Vanguard. They're situated right across the road to the Atlas Park branch of the hotel, some of their guards may have seen something out of the norm. Agent Emily, I'll go talk to Lieutenant Hicks, I think I know a way to calm him down a little, get him back on the case. Meanwhile, Gnash made an interesting point concerning how the killer coordinated so effectively with the car-borne shooters. With all those gadgets, do you have a way of tracking radio communication signals, maybe even tapping into a cellphone conversation, perhaps? If that's at all possible, I would suggest you and Gnash return to the crime scene and carry out some secondary investigations. How does that sound?"
Stone-Fist turned toward Officer Sula, "Do you want to take Vanguard? I have some...unfinished business with Dr Aeon." He clenched his fist.
With the follow-up investigation well on the way, the young priest Reverend Pious Hunter returned to the streets just outside Hotel Geneva to evaluate the gunmens escape. Hovering high up above the main roads, he had a clear view of the route the black Cadillac had arrived from, where it picked up the killer and how it had circled around the block to rescue the remaining gunmen before disappearing into thin air. Pious replayed the events in his mind and concluded that the vehicle had escaped either by cloaking or teleport, possibly effected by one of its passengers.
The power-changing mutant hero descended from the sky and began to morph out his telekinetic abilities for enhanced senses. With improved vision, he was able to detect the tyre marks left behind by the Cadillac having sped off into the Steel Canyon tunnel. Twenty minutes later, a yellow cab pulled over at Independence Port, dropping off the reverend where the tracks approach a dead end. Hidden in a nearby bush was the plateless black Cadillac, empty and abandoned.
Emily could indeed with time tap into a mobile phone, but she wasn't keen to announce that fact inside a police station and so she shook her head at the question. When Hicks was roused once again she went with him to look over the tapes.
It took a while to pick out all the faces and only three were of any real clarity, the Hotel VCR's were cheap and poor quality and Emily's own recorder hadn't been activated during the fight. It took up power and she'd been hoping on the tracer being more useful. Eventually she managed to get a good shot of three of the gunmen, but running it through police records turned up nothing.
Returning to the investigation room Emily pinned the three pictures up and grabbed the rooms attention with a two fingered whistle. "Listen up, these three were flunkies for the incident. I was thinking anyone with contacts in the underside of the city try narrow down who they are, I'll be visiting a few myself. Don't give out the faces to anyone who'll blab, they go to ground we'll never dig them out."
Officer Gnash reappeared in the briefing room before most had noticed his exit , his long Police coat dripped fresh rain water on to the already damp floor.
Gnash worn his grim face as he called over the Crime Scene Techs
his left arm was raise to reveal a clear plastic evidence bag , containing one small cell phone..
Gnashs voice was low and even toned , and yet it seemed to impart , very clearly ,a pent up fury about to reach boiling point
Ok this is what you will get for me , where it was sold , who paid for it , if by card I want a full trace , then I want it entire history , ever call , with addresses , i want to know ever Cell it talked to on its travels .
I want every surface checked for prints , spit , ear wax what ever , and DNA traces .
I want the thing to have a full psychic scan , heck drag out the tarot cards and read its future ..
And I want all the above in 30 minutes , or you can explain to the Captain why a mass murderer is still at large , MOVE !
Gnash left the bag and its contents hanging in mid air , as he strode to the coffee and poured himself a overfull cup , which , in total disregard to its temperature , he downed in one long draught . Digging into his long coats pockets he pulled out the leather bound note book and gold pencil and started to scribble .
[ QUOTE ]
Stone-Fist turned toward Officer Sula, "Do you want to take Vanguard? I have some...unfinished business with Dr Aeon." He clenched his fist.
[/ QUOTE ]
Vanguard. Great. Jennifer nodded. "Alright, let's go see what we can get out of them." She was no fan of Vanguard, but something about Stone-Fist's manner told her his issues with Aeon Corp were rather more serious. She made a mental note to do some reading on Aeon; she'd never heard more than vague rumours about his misdeeds, but then she'd thought the same about Crey, once.
* * *
The Vanguard operatives were rather begrudgingly cooperative. Jennifer did her best to mask her hostility as they talked to the soldiers who'd had guard duty outside the DPO in the past few days. They admitted having seen a man come and go from the hotel, frequently jumping from a sixth-storey window and returning the same way. They'd basically ignored it, on the grounds that it was common behaviour for some super-types, and much as Jennifer wanted to call them on it, they did have a sort of point. She noted down their description - a large, dark-skinned man usually wearing a black suit with a yellow shirt - and they returned to the station to deliver their findings to Hicks.
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
(( Pious wrote this story for me as I didn't have a clue what to write. I only edited the words to fit my writing style. All credit goes to Pious =] ))
Dr Aeon. The doctor lived in the Rogue Isles, the breeding ground of crime, he must've known something at least. Stone-Fist payed him a visit at Architect Entertainment, not too far from Hotel Geneva in Atlas Park.
Security was not a problem as most workers were occupied with the new arrivals to the Architect project.
Stone rushed into Aeon's office and pinned the Doctor onto the desk. "Where is he?!" Stone-Fist asked in a rough voice.
"I don't know! We lost him when he cut his tracker out. He could be halfway to Mexico by now!" He could tell the Doctor wasn't lying. Not when Stone could break his neck so easily.
Stone-Fist kept the Doctor pinned down and asked about the Police Case. After some 'persuasion' he reluctantly gave Stone some useful information. He said the twelve-man gang were notorious bank robbers known as the Rogue Isles Dogs but that was all the knowledge he had. Stone-Fist returned to the PPD and reported to Hicks.
The following day, the team was reassembled back at the Police Station for briefing. Lieutenant Hicks stood in front of the room with three images and a sketch drawing hung up on the wall behind him. "You guys did a good job yesterday. All of you, well done. With all the information we've gathered, we've got a strong enough case to find the killer and nail him good." He pointed at the picture of a black Cadillac. "The getaway vehicle was found abandoned in Independence Port, Reverend Pious offered a theory that the driver somehow cloaked the whole car in order to escape undetected. This means we're up against a shape-shifter and an invisible person, among the dozen." Lieutenant Hicks pointed at the three images on the wall. "Stone Fist acquired reliable information that this gang is well known in the Etoile Islands as the Rogue Isles Dogs. Thanks to Agent Emily we were able to isolate three of them from the hotel's CCTV footage. This one is called Mr Scarlett, that's why he wears red. This one wears an orange shirt and this one wears grey. They are Mr Orange and Mr Grey. Their true identity is as of yet unknown."
Hicks pointed at the sketch image. "This is an artist's impression of the killer. Officer Sula did a great job convincing Vanguard to give us eye witness descriptions. He is a large, dark-skinned man who was seen frequently climbing in and out of Room 4 at Hotel Geneva. I've done a little research on this son'ova bit*h myself. In this little gang of bank robbers, he is the one that wears dark yellow. When he escaped from Hotel Geneva, the car driver referred to him as 'Gold' so I put the nickname together with the sketch and voila!" yelled the lieutenant, excitedly lifting up a mug shot photograph high up for the whole room to see. "Behold, this is Mr Kwame Gold, ex-professional boxer from New York. He's been living illegally in the Etoile Islands these past months after fleeing from the states. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our killer, and thanks to Detective Gnash and Agent Emily, I can prove it!"
Lieutenant Hicks began distributing a new copy of the case files. "Inside you will find results of DNA testing that links the shapeshifter's shed skin to Mr Kwame Gold. In addition, the cellphone that was found discarded on the second floor was laced with saliva matching the super strong pro-boxer turn bank robber turn murderer!" The lieutenant slammed the last copy of the case files down onto Detective Gnash's table with a triumphant smile, his spirits was evidently lifted. "We've had the cellphone's history lifted and it's only ever made two calls. The first one originated from Port Oaks in the Rogue Isles an the second one was received at Port Oakes in the Rogue Isles! Ladies and gentlemen, right now, as I speak, my men are raiding a warehouse at that very location. Any questions? If not... last one there, is a rotten ring doughnut with maggots on the sugar!"
Stone turned towards Officer Sula, "This seems too easy. It's like the killer WANTS us to catch him. What do you think Officer?"
"I think if he wants us to catch him we shouldn't disappoint. We expect a trap of course, but we shouldn't pass up a lead like this." says Emily matter of factly.
"Have you got transport arranged for us?" she asks Pious.
"Helicopter is waiting on the roof" said the lieutenant. "Lets go"
Stone-Fist directed his attention at the Lieutenant, "If that is the case, then I'd best stay here. I would be too heavy to fly and a car would take too long." He looked at his feet, ashamed.
"I'll take you" said the Reverend. "In golem form, I travel through other realms, a sort of teleport medium"
"Thank you. What is your name? I'm afraid we haven't bn properly introduced." Stone-Fist held out his hand
"Pious Hunter" said the reverend, collecting the stone handshake. "I am a priest of the Anglican Catholic Church. I was born with supernatural gifts with which I aim to avert disaster and maintain balance in the universe. Are you ready go? I think the others are leaving now."
"So, a right-hand of God, in a way? Yes, I'm ready." Stone-Fist gestured his hand to allow Pious to lead.
Gnash sat in a pool of silence inside the copter , saving his energies , both his hands where plunged deeep it to his long coats pockets , his monocular eyepiece passive , his face bland and calm .
The priest held Stone Fist close at hand and began muttering in Latin. The floor beneath them seemed to fade away and the surrounding Police Station swirled from view, replaced with darkness and shadow. "We won't be here for too long, don't let go of my hand" whispered Pious, but it was too late. The inhabitants of the spirit worlds had been alerted to their presence and they came by the thousands, hungry for the loose souls of the intruders and the flesh they dragged with them like luggage. "We've been made" said Pious. "Don't panic, I'll get us out of-" he managed, before being knocked down by a giant spectral ghost.
"I won't, don't worry." Stone made a seal of rock around his and Pious' hand to prevent immediate seperation.
Stone-Fist was stunned at the sight before him. Thousands of ghouls and ghosts making a streamline to him and Reverand Pious.
He noticed Pious' weight drop in his hand and turned to see a ghoul flying off and the priest lying on the floor (or what could be called the floor).
"Dammit" He picked Pious up in a fireman's carry and began to run from the spirits. "C'mon Priest! How do we get out of here?"
The priest leap into the air from Stone's shoulder and withdrew a long silver sword from thin air. As he descended, he brought the point down with force and slammed it hard onto the ground. He remained poised and began muttering prayer in Latin. "Deus caeli, Deus terrae, humiliter majestati gloriae. Tuae supplicamus ut ab omni infernalium spirituum potestate, laqueo, deceptione et nequitia, omnis fallaciae, libera nos, Domine. Vade, Satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis. Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei!" The surroundings slowly faded away and the cloud-dimmed sunlight of Port Oakes snuck back into view. The air cleared and behold, Lieutenant Hick's helicopter began it's final landing.
Picking an adjacent roof to Gnash departed the 'copter in a subdued flash of psychic energy . Cloaking himself in a obscuring mist and raising all of he defences , Gnash made a rapid search of the roof top , then when sure it was clear , he teleported himself to the next roof again to search , Gnash repeated this until he was certain there was no one sneaking a overview of the PPD ' actions .
The reverend looked across the room towards Detective Gnash, acknowlegding his cunning monologue. "That's not a bad plan detective" said Pious. "How about we call the others back in and the six of us pan out in teams, follow up with this manhunt. You and Agent Emily have worked well before, you two should check surviellance cameras and get an ID on some of the shooters. Sula and Stone Fist will liaise with you on any other information found at Grandville. I'll err, I'll think of something."