Faithslinger Chronicles – Shadow Games

Detective James M Earp looked at himself in the mirror one last time before heading out to work. His tired blue eyes looked back at him with that 'Call it a day and go back to bed' look, a look that he has become all too familiar with over the last four months. Since Gentleman Jim Marcone's visit six months ago, James hasn't had much rest due to his new found position as Knight of the Mortal Court. If his job as a detective at the Supernatural Activities Unit wasn't enough responsibility, his new found fame as a Paranet sensation kept him even busier. Even though he detested Marcone for claiming that he was his knight, Earp realized that there were a lot more people out there that needed his help fending off the big bads of the supernatural world.

He looked at his scruffy stubble on his face and longer brown hair and thought to himself,' Only Chuck Norris could make this look good.' He walked to the door, grabbing his badge, gun, and lunch and headed off to work. Just as Gentleman Johnnie said, IAB dropped the case against Det. Earp after 2 months into the investigation citing 'there was no tangible evidence between him the Chicago Crime Lord'. He could have mentioned the meeting they had, but Earp knew that it would have just complicated matters further.

Earp drove down to the SAU Department in Downtown Phoenix, located beneath the 5th Street Jail where all apprehended criminals are housed awaiting their day in court. It's a sizable office which is conveniently located underground, which is convenient for the nonhuman personnel employed by the department, and is within close proximity to the apprehended criminals in case things go awry during a court hearing at the Phoenix Municipal Courts. Walking into work, Earp noticed that there was a lot more activity than usual and made haste to his desk to find out more.

Approaching his desk, he found a young man in his late 20s loading bullets into a magazine at his desk where a M14 was resting. The man was wearing a blue bowler shirt with white Hawaiian flowers under an armored vest, blue jeans, and sneakers. He looked up at Earp and said," What took you so long?"

"Carter, what's going on? And why are you at my desk? Don't you have your own?" bellowed Earp.

Carter simply motioned to his own desk, which was currently being covered by a map and surrounded by three men. Warner, Carter's partner, was blonde haired man in his early 30s, dressed up in a button down white shirt, khaki slacks, brown dress shoes, and sporting a pair of wire rimmed glasses. The second man was the infamous Marc Tremere, a man of Polynesian descent dressed in finer business casual attire, blacks and reds in his clothes. The third was Marc's apprentice, Aiden, a younger man in his early 20s dressed more fashionably, much like a wealthier college student.

"The Knight of the Mortal Court has finally presented himself. Now we can go save the world", announced the Polynesian man.

"I'm not in the mood Marc. Now will someone tell me what's going on?"

"They came to us Earp", said Warner. "They have a lead on Ricky and Lucy and asked us for help apprehending the perps."

"We heard a rumor that they are planning to heist a set of urns from the Egyptian exhibit at the Arizona Science Center. Some nut job wants to awaken a 6700 year old mummy and hired them to grab the goods." said Aiden. "We thought it best to call in the SAU instead of trying to take these two on ourselves."

"And cloak the presence of the White Council with local law enforcement and publicity grabbing government officials?" snarked Earp.

"Or Aiden and I could go ahead and tackle this problem on our own. ", replied Tremere. "However the countless amount of property damage, undesired attention that it would draw since it is Downtown Phoenix…not to mention the time needed to spin doctor the situation into something more reasonable."

"You made your point, Marc. Is the source reliable?" asked Earp. Marc shot him a quick look back, which meant that the source was beyond reproach.

Earp looked back to Carter,"SWAT?"

Carter replied, "No such luck. They're dealing with another problem, a driverless sixteen wheeler running wild on the US60. They're trying to find a way to take it down without using a bazooka."

Warner said," We don't have much time to set up shop before they show up. I'll drive us there. "Warner handed the files over to Earp for review as they five of them gathered their things and left the precinct.

Earp gave the file the once over as they drove down to their destination. The duo known as 'Ricky and Lucy' had not been identified as of yet, but their exploits were somewhat famous. Lucy was a petite gal, approximately 5'4" with a slim build, blue eyes, and black hair with red dyed bangs that rolled down both sides of her face. Ricky was built more like a quarterback, 6'1" with a lean muscular build, brown eyes and brown hair pulled back to a short ponytail, and a scruffy goatee. According to the reports, they were part of cult of sorcerers from Ft Lauderdale, FL that hooked up and decided to take their act on the road. They fancied themselves as the Bonnie and Clyde of the supernatural world, robbing from the rich to support their lifestyle. Their act was simple, fire and ice with a lot of flash and pomp to daze and confuse the police while they made their escape from their latest robbery.

The vehicle pulled up to the Phoenix Civic Plaza parking lot and the five walked across the street to the Arizona Science Center. As they passed the Phoenix Museum of History and Heritage Square, Warner and Carter were looking out for Ricky and Lucy while Earp checked his watch. "9AM, good. ", said Earp. "People won't be showing up until about 10, so we won't have to worry too much about crowds."

As they turned the corner and proceeded up the stairs to the entrance, there was not much sign of life on the street. The Light Rail pulled up just down the street, but there was not much pedestrian traffic getting off at the stop, mostly business suits shuffling off to work.

They entered the building and surveyed the entrance to the building. The Greeting Court was empty and there were a few people in the lobby and Compas Court. Carter said, "I think Warner, Aiden, and I should clear out the building floor by floor and try to exit through the back. Tremere and Earp, you guys take positions just past the Lobby. When Ricky and Lucy show up, we can surround and arrest them in the Greeting Court." Earp was going to say something, but knew that Carter's time on Phoenix SWAT gave him good instincts on tactics.

"Those are some sound plans for taking down two sorcerers, shame they won't work", a man's voice said from behind them. Their attention turned behind them to the entrance to face two individuals in black business attire. The smaller one was a petite woman with her hair tied back in a bun, a pair of red streaks vanishing beyond her ears, and sporting a pair of half frame glasses on her face. She was fidgeting with her hands on either side of her vest. The second was a taller man, clean shaven, with a well groomed business haircut.

For a moment everyone froze trying to get a bead on who what going to react first when Carter said," Sign Language?"

Tremere questioned, "Sign?.. AIDEN! SHIELDS!" Tremere and Aiden both stepped in front of the trio of cops and through up a pair of shields to protect them as Lucy threw her hands in an upwards arc and gouts of flame raced across the room towards them. The shields were up in time to intercept the flames, deflecting them in all directions.

The next thing heard was the low hiss as the fire sprinklers were triggered raining water on everyone in the room. The fire alarm sounded just then, and with that the right corner of Ricky's mouth curled into a sinister smile.