Disclaimers: The main "Law & Order franchise" characters are owned by Dick Wolf, and are only borrowed for this story suggestion. This is based in part on robberies that happened after the PlayStation 3 machines went on sale on November 17, 2006 and is also a follow-up to the season 17 episode "Deadlock."

Title: Game Off

The story opens on a clear and mild Friday evening before Thanksgiving in November with temperatures around 60 and Det. Nina Cassidy quickly walking out of a restaurant on University Place and 12th street, clearly upset at how a date she was on was going (and dressed for such, wearing a tanked, above-the-knee dress under her leather trenchcoat with black, 4" stiletto pumps and a white headwrap/hairband in her hair). After walking very quickly for a block north, Nina would be amazed seeing a line of people that had the end east of 13th towards Broadway, west on 13th, up University Place from 13th to 14th before turning east on 14th street and then down Broadway back to the entrance of a mega electronics store on 13th street that had a special midnight opening scheduled when the latest electronics gadget, GameSet4 was to go on sale, with a limited number available at a cost of $600 each, but expected to garner much more via online auctions. Nina's looking at the line and her amazement of such was enough of a distraction for her when she was about to walk east on 13th street to see what was going on, she wasn't concentrating on the street and the heel of her left shoe gets stuck in the subway grating.

"Damn!!", was Nina's reaction to realizing what happened as she first carefully stepped out of her shoe before turning around to get it out of the grating, but before having a chance to heard what was gunfire and a sudden scene of panic, with Nina leaving it there, ditching the other shoe (kicking it to the side of a building for it to be as much out of the way as possible) and running barefoot with her gun and badge out while seeing a car make a sudden turn onto 13th street and speed west as people told her two or three people had been shot on Broadway between 13th and 14th streets. Uniformed officers had joined Nina before she had a chance to call this into the 2-7 (including reporting the car speeding, after doing so calling Ed to alert him), and in the aftermath, there were three people dead and two others injured in the shooting, along with several others who were injured in the mad scramble to get out of there that followed where a fourth person died after being accidentally pushed down on the subway grating and then being trampled over by people fleeing.

"Can't believe one of the dead is Luann Carter. I doubt she'd be in the line waiting for this game, especially the way she's dressed" (wearing a knee-length skirt suit with a pair of flip-flops she apparently was wearing with the suit laying next to her dead body), said Ed Green to his new partner upon seeing the body. Also there was Dani Beck (dressed as she customarily would be for work), who was filling in for Olivia Benson in the Special Victims Unit as Elliot Stabler's partner, but was about to complete her tour of duty there and was expected to return to the warrants division once Olivia officially returned. Dani happened to live a few blocks over on 13th street and 3rd avenue and was on her way home when the shooting happened.

"As in the daughter of Dena Carter?", asked Dani.

"Yes, the one who is about to stand trial for her involvement in the murder of Leon Vorgitch. You know Nina and I had to deal with that killer that led up to her defending the man who shot him after his daughter was murdered in the school", then said Ed as he backed up, almost stepping on Nina's foot, then turning around after Nina had to jump out of the way, with Nina saying while holding her hands between her hips and shoulders in a bit of a defensive pose, then pointing to her feet, "Whoa, Detectives, you forget I don't have any shoes on and have to be very careful moving around here, as that grating and bare feet are not a great mix", referring to the subway grating closest to the curb.

"What happened to those?", asked Ed.

"If no one grabbed them, they're still on 13th and University Place, one of them in the subway grating that I was about to pull it out of when I heard the shots, the other outside a back entranceway to a building that isn't used at this hour", then said Nina, as one of the uniformed officers went to see if her shoes were still there, returning with them to Nina's relief a minute or so later (equally amazed that no one tried to take them nor there being any apparent damage to them) and putting them back on while the Detectives began talking with witnesses as to what happened, of which there were many from the line for the GameSets.

"There were people trying all night to try to cut in front of us in line, and we had been here since about 6:30 last night. Some of the people in front of us had been there for two, three days even. We all wanted to get that new gameset in the worst way, though I think the ones in front of us wanted to be absolutely sure they got it, as some of them had been saying how it was worth doing as there were those who didn't want to wait in line forever willing to pay five figures for the new gameset. Absolutely ridiculous", said one of the persons who witnessed the shooting, with Ed asking her if she saw the shooter and her then responding, "Come to think of it, there was something odd. It wasn't anyone trying to cut into the line that caused the trouble, there was a woman that I think, no I'm sure now was your one of your victims walking south on Broadway and clearly not dressed like most of us were, as she was wearing a suit with flip-flops and carrying a pair of pumps in her hand" (the pumps still laying on the subway grating not too far north of where her body was found when they spoke). "A car seemed to be following her, and when they got to where she was, that's when the gunfire went off", then pausing for a second and then yelling "Oh my god! Whoever did this had to be going for her and shot at us as well to make it look like it might have been a fight for the GameSet machines!"

Nina and Dani both overheard the woman while talking to other witnesses, with Nina running over to the one who yelled, with Nina asking, "Are you sure?", and the witness saying, "Postive! Whoever it was in the car only shot at her when they were up close. They clearly were going for her and not any of us on line!", then giving Nina the same description of the car Nina had previously given when calling this into to the 2-7 as Anita Van Buren shows up at the scene, quickly brought up to speed, and a little surprised to see Nina suddenly look taller until realizing it was the first time she had seen Nina wearing more than a kitten-heeled shoe. Anita was also introduced to Dani, who explained she happened to be walking back from having pizza at a well-known place on University Place between 12th and 13th streets under the legendary (to that part of Manhattan) Bolmar Lanes when she saw the commotion of people running from 13th street and ran over, also having seen the car speeding, but at the time not realizing it was potentially part of the crime at the time.

Other witnesses who were near where the trio was shot then confirm that no one had really moved until they saw the gun, and for the two besides Luann who died in the shooting they didn't realize until it was too late what happened, with a total of around 25 shots fired, some of the bullets from which were imbedded in the walls of the building. After finishing with the witnesses, Ed would ask his partner what was with the dress-up anyway, with Nina explaining, "I was on a date with an attorney, and thought it might be something that would go further, but he was really being annoying and after finishing dinner I didn't say anything and quickly walked out while he was in the bathroom. I then saw the line going around the block when I got to 13th and University Place, and was so amazed by it that I forgot about the subway grating, and that's how the heel got stuck", lifting up her leg to show Ed the heel of her shoe.

"No wonder it got stuck in there", then said Ed as all three Detectives then left and headed for St. Vincent's Hospital (on 11th street where 7th Avenue South and Greenwich Avenue meet), where those injured were taken for the most part. Most of the witnesses there confirmed what was said about the car, including some who noticed a car looking suspicious the way it was moving as Luann was.

After finishing with witnesses at the hospital (and Nina having had brought to her from her locker at the 2-7 a more comfortable pair of slip-on flats per her request), Dani, Ed and Nina head for the morgue to console family members of the other two who were shot to death, Richard Carter (no relation to Luann or Dena) and Steve Hammond, as well as a man who was trampled to his death in the stampede to clear, James Berman.

"So, whoever killed my son was actually aiming at that daughter of a b who used that man who killed Vorgitch to try and futher her own political gain? I hope she and whoever did this rots in hell!!", emotionally yelled the mother of Richard Carter to all three detectives, with other relatives of those killed (excluding those of Luann Carter, who were nowhere in sight). Shortly after finishing with them, Dani, Ed and Nina were going to call it a night until they get a call with the license plate number of the car that was used in the shooting and that it was found abandoned on 11th and Washington Streets in the West Village. There, they would interview witnesses who noted a couple, both white and in their 40s-early 50s ran from the car that had blood splattered on it that later would prove to be of the three victims who were shot. Further descriptions and what they got from photos led to sketch artists being called in while all three detectives walked up Washington Street with other witnesses along the way giving them and uniformed officers similar descriptions of people who had run up 12th, Jane, Horatio, Little West 12th and Gavensroot Street before reaching the loft where former ADA Serena Southerlyn lived at that covered the last full block of Washington Street from 13th-14th. Serena just happened to be out walking her dog (and dressed like she was doing so in a sweatshirt, sweatpants and UGG Boots) when the detectives spotted her and vice versa.

- In that part of Manhattan, there is both a 12th and Little West 12th Street.

"I heard about what happened on Broadway, and I was one of those who in called in seeing a car with what looked like blood on it because...", with Serena's voice trailing off until she suddenly yells, Oh my god!!"

"What is it?", asks Ed.

"Don't tell me they went through with it?", then said Serena in a rhetorical question.

"Who went through with what?", then asked Nina.

"James and Nancy Fusco. Their daughter was among those murdered in the restaurant shooting in '97, which they saw in person", then said Serena.

"I do remember them. That was their only child", then said Ed, who then asked Serena how does she know them.

"They live directly above me, but were away when Vorgitch escaped while in custody and murdered those schoolkids. When they heard about what happened, they were among those from what I understand who wrote Arthur and demanded Robert Purcell not be tried at all, and then were furious when they found out about Dena Carter's antics to try and use the case to gain her own political career. They were yelling several times about wanting Ms. Carter to suffer in some way besides jail, which I know because it woke me and others in the building up more than a few times, and you can ask them. I realized it was their car because I've seen them come out of it before", then said Serena while Nina and Dani both received confirmation from sketches run with photos that it was in fact James and Nancy Fusco who were running from the car.

Serena was then thanked, but knowing the Detectives were going to have to arrest the Fuscos, Serena asked if she could knock on the door first to try and explain the situation to them to make it as peaceful as possible.

About 45 minutes later and after dropping off her dog in her loft, Serena knocked on the door of the tenants who lived above her, then once they came to the door asking who it was, Serena said, "It's Serena from downstairs. There are Police Detectives with me, they know it was you who shot up the line in front of the Megastore at 13th and Broadway and killed Luann Carter and two other people, plus caused the death of another person in a mass panic to get away from there along with several other injuries. I saw your car on 11th and Washington when I was walking my dog and saw the blood on it. They are here to take you into custody as they will momentairly have a warrant for your arrest. I only knocked on the door to talk to you to try and keep trouble to a minimum on this, you can come out now and turn yourselves in or you can wait and once they get the warrant, they can force themselves in and arrest you", with Serena then backing away from the door, quickly walking to the entrance to a stairwell in case for some unexpected reason they came out with guns.

After slowly opening the door, Nancy followed by James, still dressed in the clothing they were wearing from the shoot-up then came out with their hands up, taking Serena's advice and turning themselves in, with afterwards Ed thanking Serena again before she returned to her loft and Nina asking Ed how he knew her.

"Serena was often the prosecutor we dealt with in the 2-7 before she was fired almost two years ago by Mr. Branch. Big firm then hired her not even 12 hours later because they knew she was a lesbian and that firm has a lot of clients who specifically want "their kind" working with them", then said Ed.

"So, she worked with you and Fontana?", asked Nina.

"And Lennie Briscoe, god rest his soul before Joe. Lexi Borgia, god rest her soul replaced Serena as McCoy's assistant, and Joe retired because after Lexi's death and his own scare in trying to capture the men responsible for her being murdered. He decided he had enough, plus right before that he hit a pick-six at Aqueduct for close to $3 million and had more than enough to retire on, deciding to concentrate on the horses full-time", then said Ed.

"So Fontana is now a professional horseplayer?", asked Nina.

"Most definitely. Even before he retired, he had quite a few major hits on pick threes, pick fours and pick-sixes. I even went partners on a few pick-fours with him, including a couple that paid over 100 grand each and another that paid over 50 grand. He hit another pick-six in fact a few days ago that paid around 600 grand", then said Ed, with Nina surprised at hearing that part as did Dani, who said to both Detectives, "At least this was a straight homicide after the horror I went through with that girl on my last SVU case".

"That's right! She tried to burn down your apartment!", then said Ed.

"I know, learned a really valuable lesson there. Only had to replace the couch and some curtains, and at least I had the foresight to have renter's insurance anyway", then said Dani as they headed for the 2-7.