After The Storm:Plot Points
Ironsight appears to be the only major mercenary company – or “military subcontractor” – in the state. But browsing the online services of American Mercenary and similar sites brings up a number of private individuals who do mercenary work. Some also work as private investigators or personal bodyguards. A few of those even list Ironsight in former career experience. As for AI research, it appears that such research that is posted publicly is mainly done in local universities.
There is enough street crime in the city that “a passerby helps victim” stories crop up every once in a while. But most of those are mainly about a helper happening by rather than active vigilantism, and vigilante action easily drowns in the noise. A couple of stories stand out, however.
There is a very recent “A masked woman in a crescent symbol outfit saves old lady from muggers!” story in Staten Island. However, on careful reading, the masked woman bit may be a bit embellished. In the interview, the old lady refers to the “mask” as a niqab. So it was a Muslim woman wearing a face-covering garment and a shirt with a crescent symbol… She did knock a pair of muggers on their asses though.
There is also a story from upstate a couple of years back. It is actually listed as carjacking, not vigilantism, but there are strange details. Three young men picked up a hitchhiker who battered them severely, left them in a ditch and stole their car. To call the battering severe does not appear to be an overstatement. Two of the men lost an ear each, and third had most of his front teeth knocked out of his mouth. And the hitchhiker in question was a young teen girl. The car was later found abandoned in New York.
Where is Patrick Hall?
The gossip media in Manhattan has taken note of real estate mogul Patrick Hall’s extended absence from society and business events. The man is apparently not exactly missing, but for some time now he seems to have been practically living in his office, not leaving even to visit his home. Members of his staff have seen him but he mainly communicates through his personal secretary and has so far refused to comment on his absence. The speculated reasons include a terminal illness, a secret affair, a publicity stunt, and various others.
He was killed by Grey Death assumingly, read IC thread page 42 post 420
Brooklyn nightlife under a shadow of fear as three young women turn out missing within a week
Rumors of a possible serial abducter have caused fear in Brooklyn club scene after a rapid string of similar disappearances. All three vanished women were aged between 19 and 22 and disappeared from a different nightclub. None of the women were at the club alone. One was with her boyfriend and two others in a group of other girls. In all cases, the woman momentarily separated from her company and was then not seen again. And neither eyewitness reports nor security footage has provided sightings of anything suspicious or of women being carried or escorted away.
The three women did not only vanish from the clubs. They haven’t shown up at home, college or the place they work. Also, there does not seem to be much in common between the vanished women. Even their ethnicities were different.
Is the ghost of Typhoid Mary haunting Bronx?
Sightings of mysterious lights and dead birds near the ruins of Riverside Hospital have sparked rumors of the ghost of Typhoid Mary at the riverside communities of Bronx. Riverside Hospital is not actually in mainland Bronx but on North Brother Island, one of a pair of islands – North and South Brother – on East River, between Bronx and Rikers Island. It was originally used to treat quarantinable diseases, Typhoid Mary being a particularly famous or infamous patient, and later to treat drug addicts. Today the island is uninhabited and designated as a bird sanctuary. A high number of dead birds have apparently been reported by people visiting the sanctuary, and people from passing boats have spoken of strange lights in the ruins of the hospital at night. According to the news, a boat patrol did visit the island, finding nothing suspicious.
We went to South Brother Island to investigate the dead animals and bumbed into the Death Masks smuggling weapons. Did not find out if this was the reason for the dead animals, though we suspect it might be the Basilisk killing them
Three off-duty police officers murdered in Queens. A terrorist group "Death Masks" claims responsibility.
Hillman has the media in Queens under media censorship, so details about the event itself are scarce and the reporting is mostly from media in other boroughs, but apparently three of Hillman’s officers have been killed while off duty, and a badly shot video has been released. In the video, a man in a cheap, plastic, skull-like Halloween mask rants about strikes against occupying forces and vows to end Hillman’s tyranny, claiming great numbers for his cause and ends with a pompous: "We are Death Masks!"
A hospital targeted in a ruthless heist: Staten Island University Hospital faces a shortage of medical supplies after unknown robbers struck at the medical storage.
Robbers appear to have targeted the hospital during the night, surprising two security guards and knocking them out with a drug of some kind, after which they practically emptied the medical storage. Several people are assumed to have been involved due to the sheer amount of supplies taken. The robbers apparently weren’t very picky. In addition to the usual pain medication stolen, everything from antibiotics to laxatives were accepted as loot. Due to the state of restoration in Staten Island, the hospital had no operational security cameras, leaving little clues for the police to work with. Although the hospital is due to be restocked by the City authorities, said authorities have demanded increased security measures before the restock, and the slow response has caused public resentment.
Contents
Who is Jade Mask?[edit]
The leader of the Death Masks, with a classically trained voice. Has a super-pet the Basilisk. Long-Knife is his second. We have a landline phone number for Long Knife
Grey Death[edit]
Kills people using videosurveillance as his eyes, does not miss
"Well, I'll be," Dumas said. "So there is a back door to the Domain Awareness System, Gray Death knows of it and has access to it, and he started out by killing the pair of his victims who might have been able to figure it out and possibly do something about it?"
Read more on IC thread page 47 post 465
Ironsight[edit]
Made the drone, that was after Knight Sky. Investigate insured people and places, see Ironsight
The Hangman[edit]
a bird-like super vigilante, who prefers to hang rapists and men who hit women
We think this might be Rick Macho from the Defendo-teaching gym. We are currently setting a trap for him
The Abductor[edit]
Someone has been abducting beautiful women from each race, a white, a black, an asian
We suspect next victim might be a latina
The Nazi Computer[edit]
This magical apparatus is misplaced
Geneticly Manipulated Bulbs/The Gardener[edit]
See IC thread page 41 post 409
Someone has been altering various flower bulbs and thus making them a drug of sorts
we think it is a super villain with plant powers
The bulbs, however, are likely to contain a much more potent poison. Eating one would result in hallucinations or unconsciousness at minimum. The plans were cultivated, but not for food. The botanist I sent the data to suspected that the bulbs can be distilled into something. Perhaps a drug. Perhaps a toxin. Perhaps both. Either way, this is starting to sound shady. The greenhouse where the flowers were grown may be hidden.
The toxicity was not what startled the botanist though. The plant is scientifically impossible. It is likely that a tiger lily was used as a base when cultivating it, but that plant does not normally possess this kind of qualities. It has been combined with other plants, some of which should not be compatible with it. We are talking about crossbreeding a bear with a buffalo – level strangeness. To quote the botanist, “It is like someone took a handful of different plants and just fused them together.” If it was genetic engineering, the person who did it is at least a decade ahead of what we can currently accomplish.
But there is a possibility that the plant was not cultivated using science. If the flower looks like it is scientifically impossible, then I posit that a person who has power over plants might be able to create it.
No matter how it was created, the person responsible now has access to some rather disturbing chemicals. And perhaps other kinds of weird plants as well.
Torch and Wrench[edit]
Are responsible for the tower-building fire, they are still at large
We need to find out who paid them for the arson
Giant Wolf on the road[edit]
See IC page 65 post 645
