May 12, 6:43 A.M. Amtrak Station, Explosion Area

Detective Gumshoe opened his eyes, and found that policemen, EMT's, and firefighters surrounded him. He saw one of the firefighters attempt to use a fire hose that was mounted inside of a cabinet nearby, but no water came out of it.

He said, "This line's dead."

Another firefighter yelled, "What?! The only reason that would occur was if... the water main was fractured!"

Gumshoe thought, "This fire could last for hours, or even days! i've gotta help someone, somehow!"

He raised himself off of the spikes that were on the floor. Upon inspecting himself, he found that several puncture wounds were present, and has tore through his trenchcoat and into his back, but the wounds were relatively shallow.

The other escalator had been stopped and could be used to access the people in the secondary terminal.

He asked a policeman, "Sir, I work for the police department. My name is..."

"Dick Gumshoe?"

He yelled, "Of course it is, pal! Now, is there a chance that I could, well, help out?"

The policeman said, "Sure. Here's a radio. Go up and survey the damage."

Gumshoe climbed up the escalator. Already, he could tell the the explosion had been massive. The walls has been covered with blood spatter and soot, and a horrific smell filled the air.

As he walked into the terminal, he saw dead bodies lying on the floor, intermingled with people who had dismembered limbs, and other people who were severely injured and lying there, moaning words the ranged from, "Mommy..." to "Help me..."

Further down the hallway, there were flash burns present on the walls, which had partially collapsed due to the explosion, and a fire was raging at the end of the hall, and was growing with intensity, but just shy of it, he saw a large, black object. It had a rectangular shape.

Trudging down the hallway, he grabbed onto the object and ran, hoping not to step on a body or another person. When he finally reached the bottom of the escalator, he set it down on the floor and examined the object. It had a matte black finish. Gumshoe saw the logos SONY and VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDER on it.

He wondered, "Why would someone leave a VCR sitting there?"

He pressed the eject button, and strangely, it ejected a tape. The tape did not have a name on it, so he assumed that it was a black VHS tape that had been inserted into the unit, but it would have to by played back to make sure it was indeed blank.

As he dug inside the "mouth", he felt an object stuck between two of the recording heads. He felt around for a bit and pulled it out. He gasped, "It's a letter!"

After opening it, he found a single sentence, written in blocky, all capital letters. The note read: AMTRAK CORP THIEVES: THIS IS FOR YOU.

Gumshoe thought, "Amtrak Corp. thieves? Since when? Who wrote this, anyway? It could've been a disgruntled employee, an angry customer, or even a Communist sympathizer!" A policeman reached over him and used a screwdriver to break into the housing of the VCR.

Upon penetrating the housing, Gumshoe found several sticks of dynamite inside, attached to a wrist watch, which acted as a detonator. He snipped the detonator wires and pulled out the dynamite carefully.

He noted to the policeman, "Take this dynamite to somewhere where they can safely detonate it. Tell them that there's a Mad Bomber on the loose."

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him, and he turned his head. There, he saw Phoenix and Maya, who were standing there nervously.

Phoenix asked, "Detective, where's Pearl?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I honestly don't know, pal. The paramedics may have her, though."

Upon walked over to the upstairs level, they found the paramedics, and raced to them, finding Pearl and Iris securely strapped down on stretchers. Maya examined Pearl, and was amazed. She lay upside down on the stretcher with severe burns. Her kimono had almost been completely burned off, with only a small amount still on her.

Her notable brown hair had been incinerated, and she was almost completely bald. The hair that saw left on her scalp was charred black. She placed her hand on her, only for no response.

Phoenix sighed, "They're unconscious. I wonder if they'll ever wake up from their comas."

He found Iris, and found most of her hair burned off as well, but her kimono was largely intact. It was when he rose her left hand when he almost passed out. She had 3 fingers that had been partially severed.

He walked back to Maya. She groaned under he breath, "Fucking sikkos..."

Phoenix asked, "What, Maya?"

She sighed, "I don't know why some man has to wake up every other day and decide to change the world with dynamite!"

The attorney agreed, "I don't know either. But I know that they are both OK, as is Gumshoe. I know it..."

Maya wondered, "Nick, you know, is there a chance that we could..."

"Eat burgers for lunch? Of course."

She sighed, "Thanks... Nick..."