April 4, 2011

Police Chief Allen was a busy man. Being the police chief in a city overrun with gangs and supervillains was a hard job. The lack of government funding was also a big problem since the PRT showed up, leaving the police with barely enough supplies, and a lack of manpower. All that meant that the boys in blue were beginning to become nothing more than the PRT's glorified clean up crew as they took all the major crimes.

What the police did still have an ample amount of though, was paperwork, lots of paperwork.

Releasing a tired sigh, the police chief leaned back in his chair, finally finished for the day. It had been getting busier lately, the ABB had been acting up and there's even been word of Lung himself moving around. All together it made work much busier than usual.

Allen stood up with a grunt, and made his way out of his office. Whenever he had the chance he liked to talk to everyone in the department, the detectives, street cops, everyone he could. It was the best way to understand what was happening in the city, paperwork and reports could give him an idea, but Allen knew that hearing it from the people would give him the clearest picture, short of seeing it himself.

Upon leaving his office, the police chief quickly caught sight of a group of officers talking around a table and made his way over to join them.

"What's going on over here?" Allen said, his aged voice catching their attention.

"Oh hey chief," Jamie was the first to speak up, always was, talkative guy he was, but a damn good detective, one of the few left in the Bay, "just finished interrogating those E88 thugs we brought in earlier."

"The ones you found tied up in that old warehouse?"

"Yeah those are the ones," the detective confirmed with a nod, "we had a few of our guys check the place out, turns out the warehouse was one of their crack houses, the place was absolutely filled with drugs. But that's not the most interesting part."

Allen's eyebrow rose, reaching towards his receding hairline. Finding one of the Empire's storehouses for anything was considered a big win for them, but there was more than that? Jamie leant forwards, as though he was whispering a secret to them.

"When we questioned the guys on why they were tied up they told the most fascinating story," Jamie began, a sly grin on his face. Out of everybody in the department, Jamie was by far the most restless, jumping at any chance for entertainment, "four of the thugs all say that the guy who took them out moved so fast they couldn't see him, and he took them all down in one hit."

Allen's other eyebrow moved, rising to meet its twin. That was interesting, a possible new parahuman in the Bay, if what the thugs said is to be believed, which in itself is doubtful, but still interesting.

"And what about the fifth?" one of the street cops finally spoke up, one of the new ones, "Weren't there five guys?"

"Ah, the fifth one was the first to go down, doesn't even remember what happened, he's got a pretty nasty concussion too, just keeps muttering about some jacket."

The group continued the conversation, but Allen wasn't paying attention anymore, too deep in thought. A new parahuman in the Bay could mean any number of things, but one thing was for certain, it meant more work for everyone.

The police chief briefly considered telling the PRT directly, but quickly dismissed the thought. The police weren't the only ones that were busy, and the words of five thugs in a crack house isn't much proof, it's far more likely they got high off their own product and hallucinated the whole thing. But…

"Alright get back to work! And keep an ear out, this could be a new cape and if it is then we need to know as much as we can."

And with that Allen went back to his office. He had a feeling things would only get busier from here.

"I'm back!" Anika yelled into the apartment, the old door creaking to a close behind her. She had just finished another long day at Winslow High and was glad to be back home.

Winslow wasn't a good school by any means, the teachers and staff just didn't care about what happened as long as it didn't happen in front of them, and even then most of them don't care, allowing for bullying and gang recruiting, among other things. Not that she could ever tell her brother, Winslow's the only half decent school they can afford.

"Welcome back." Speaking of her brother, she walked into the living room to find their glass coffee table shoved off to the side and Jude swinging around…is that a spear?!

"Uhh… What are you doing?" She questioned, pointing at the spear. It was bone white with a blade that looked to be about a foot long. Where did he even get that thing?

Jude stopped his swinging, practicing? And straightened out, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Um… a new hobby?"

"Sure…" Anika said dryly, before a teasing glin entered her eyes, "trying to be the next Armsmaster with that spear of yours?"

It was for just a moment, but Anika could've sworn that she saw Jude scowl for a moment, before quickly smoothing it over and ruffling her hair, "Armsmaster has a halberd, not a spear, and besides, if I were a hero I'd be way cooler than that guy."

Her brother briskly made his way to the kitchen for some water, laughing off the glare Anika sent his way. He stretched with a grunt, arms above his head, shirt lifting up with them, letting her catch a glimpse of something.

Moving quickly, she walked up to Jude, grabbed his shirt, and yanked it up, exposing a solid, chiseled, six pack.

"I hope you don't do this to all the boys."

She straightened, and looked up, her head only coming to her brother's chest. When did that happen?

"Gross," Anika responded, a look of mock-disgust on her face as she shoved her brother away. "I've got homework so don't bother me."

"You?" Jude questioned, genuinely confused, "you're the best in all your classes, how do you have homework."

"Mr. G," She said, making air quotes with her hands, "assigned another group project and I got stuck with someone who decided they don't want to do the work, so I'm doing everything now."

"I see." And there it was again, that quick scowl that disappeared almost instantly before being replaced by a small smile, "Well, let me know if you need any help"

"Nah it's fine," you have enough on your hands as it is.

Jude made his way to the door of the apartment and put on a jacket. Since when did he have a leather jacket?

"I have an… errand to run, I probably won't be back for a few hours. Good luck with the homework, love you, bye," and with that Jude left, leaving a slightly confused Anika.

Wait, where'd the spear go?