Evidence of the criminally enhanced...
MI6s recently reformed team of enhanced individuals have headed to London Airport as part of their investigation into a daring raid with possible unknown enhanced involvement and a link to the sabotage at Hanslope Park. The team consists of Alfie Baldrick, the one man rifle section; Mimi Dubois, maîtresse of skills; Madeline Forsyth, the living shadow; and Sven Hyse, the Norwegian shapeshifter.
London Airport, London, England, March 1948
As Charlie steers through the London traffic Madeline leafs through the various police reports to try and identify any gaps or anomalies, and the most obvious thing that she finds is that by any measurement the reports are light on detail. The information about Teddy Machin’s involvement in the planned robbery was very detailed as well as the detailed plans for the for the Flying Squads operation to counter the raid. The various reports also agreed that Jack Comer exited the gang's truck, which had been driven around to the rear loading bay of the warehouse, and knocked on the loading bay door. Machin had answered after a couple of minutes and then an argument between the two men ensued. At this point all of the reports agree that an explosive device was triggered, causing the surprised members of the Flying Squad to act and a gun fight broke out. After this the level of detail within the reports drops to almost nothing.
The closer we get to London Airport, the more miserable the weather gets. Why is it that London seems to be constantly shrouded in fog and drizzle? How I long for printemps à Paris! There is a police car parked right outside the front entrance to the warehouse and Charlie pulls our car up alongside, Madeline gets out and talks to the two bedraggled looking constables flashing her SIS credentials. While she is busy we get an opportunity to stare at the front entrance to the warehouse through the cloaking fog, and are surprised to see what appears to be a waterfall frozen in time covering the pedestrian entrance. I looked at Sven and raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.
The constable points Madeline to the rear of the warehouse and when she asks for the keys to access the building the policeman smiles and responds;
Oh! You won't need keys.
When Charlie pulls the car up to the side of the warehouse facing the runway it is obvious what the constable was alluding to, the rear loading bay doors have clearly been subject to the explosion that was noted in the police reports. There are another couple of officers stationed at the rear of the warehouse, stood to either side of the permanently forced ajar opening. We climb out of the car and Charlie pulls it around into a parking space next to another police car, looking into the interior of the warehouse it is obvious that there is no power and with the closeness of the fog visibility is low. I convince the bobbies to lend us a couple of lamp packs and step inside with Sven while Alfie and Madeline inspect the outside to see if they can determine the type of device used to blast the loading bay doors.
As I step into the gloomy interior of the warehouse I push out with my senses to check if there are any enhanced in the area, and am relieved when I only receive four returns corresponding with Madeline, Sven, and both Baldricks. Sven drops to one knee and casts about with the light of his lamp pack around the inside of the loading bay door, after a minute he looks up and says;
There were more than ten individuals passing in and out after the explosion and they clearly used one of the trolleys to move something heavy. It's obvious from the debris that the explosion was from the outside inwards.
Madeline and Alfie had come to the same conclusion, and in addition had discovered that the explosion looked more like a flame thrower pattern than something caused by a demolitions device. Once we were all within the warehouse and out of sight of the policemen I asked Alfie to search the building carefully, he quickly duplicated into eight Baldricks and began a systematic sweep of the large room, it wasn’t long before Corporal Georgie Baldrick shouted out that he had found something.
When the rest of us reached his position we found him examining something on the floor in the gloomy light. Madeline looked down, and with her enhanced dark vision, was able to discern that it was the rough outline of a footprint burnt into the concrete floor. She moved slowly forwards and could see several more leading further into the warehouse leading towards the side of the building that faced out onto the Bath Road. As we followed the unusual footprints I dispatched one of the Baldricks, I think that it was Billy but who can tell, to search the loading bay area for shell casings.
The light is terrible the further we get into the warehouse, and with only two lamp packs it is a struggle for me to see the footprints, so I look over to Madeline and ask if I can borrow her dark vision. As ever we had slipped back into our war habits and she was only too pleased for me to do so, and so within a couple of seconds I could see just as well as she. The burnt outline of footprints lead into another significant patch of burn damage, and within this one there are clear signs of burnt blood on the floor. Enough blood to suggest that someone was very badly injured, or died, there.
As we were investigating the second area of burning one of the Alfie stepped over and snapped off a quick salute, I looked up at him and he stated;
Report from Billy Ma'am! He has found shell casings from mostly shotguns and pistols but also evidence of the gang using at least one sub-machine gun.
Located just to the right of the front entrance was a small office and inside there were signs of heavy burning and ice damage. There were also two areas of heavy blood stains, with so much blood that it could only mean two more dead bodies. I raised this with Madeline as up until that point we had only been informed of Teddy Machin dying in the robbery. Madeline quickly referred back to the reports and informed us all that two Metropolitan police constables, not attached to the Flying Squad, who were posing as night watchmen had also been murdered in the raid.
Upon further investigation it appears that one of the bodies had been attacked with both fire and ice, and the other with fire and gunshot wounds based on the blood patterns and bullet hole patterns.
In the left hand corner of the office was a large safe and when Madeline tries the door she finds that it is unlocked, but she remembers that the police reports stated that when the first respondents arrived on site they discovered the safe locked. It was when they gained access that they found that it had been emptied. Sven stepped over to the safe and gave it a through inspection and declared that it was not damaged and had not been forced. Madeline looked thoughtful for a moment and then pointed out that the gang possibly had an enhanced with the ability to phase through solid objects.
Once again I turned to Alfie and asked him to relay a message to Corporal Jonny Baldrick at Hanslope Park. I launched into my message but he looked quizzically at me and said;
Sorry Ma'am he can't find his pencil.
After a moment he nodded at me and I continued;
Relay to Major Sowden. Involvement of enhanced individuals in the Battle of London Airport confirmed. Suspected three possible enhanced. Subject Alpha with fire based abilities, including full bodily immolation and flame projection. Subject Beta with ice based abilities, including the ability to create ice in a large area. Subject Gamma with insubstantial abilities. Investigation continues. End message.
After a second, Alfie nods again to let me know that Jonny has got it all down. We walk slowly back through the warehouse towards the loading bay and discuss what we believe happened based on our findings, that discussion leads us to ask Sven to search the outside of the building for signs of unusual activity, while he is doing that Madeline gathers her camera and takes photographs of the evidence for our records. Sven trots back to us and and informs us that he has found footprints beneath the ice that struck him as odd, he also confirms that the tire tracks from the truck used by the robbers were very similar to those of the truck that had waited in the grove of trees during the Hanslope Park sabotage.
We jump back into the car and Charlie drives us back to Dorset Square. We are admitted by the smartly dressed man and shown into the same waiting room were he proffers us with schooners of brandy and cigarettes. After a short wait we are shown up to Special Agent Philby's office and Madeline briefs him on everything that we have discovered to date, including our strong suspicions of enhanced involvement and the fact that Jack 'Spot' Comer was identified as one of the MPs that visited Hanslope Park by Alfie. With that last piece of information Philby sits forwards and says;
That is very interesting indeed.
Madeline went on to say that we planned on interviewing the injured officers from the Flying Squad next and that we may need to issue D notices to get them to talk. Philby said that he would prefer that to be used as a last option and if we had any other ideas, I suggested that they may be more comfortable talking to Sven if he was in the guise of Superintendent Chapman or one of the other members of the Flying Squad team.
Sven asks who else has the level of expertise to create enhanced individuals outside of Hanslope Park and Philby responds that he does not believe that it would be any of the war time German scientists, but he doesn't expand on why he believes that. I point out that if it is not external then it must be a leak at Hanslope itself and Special Agent Philby nods;
And that is why we need you to find out what has happened. Now that we know that the secret of enhanced creation has slipped the confines of our grip I just hope that the Russians don't get a hold of the information. That would be disastrous!
Charlie pulls the car into the ground floor garage and we lock the doors behind us. The property is four stories with three bedrooms, and as soon as we are within and have made sure that it is secure I started cooking a cassoulet to feed everyone, really hoping that I only had to cater for one Baldrick, while Madeline started to lay out all of the details and reports that we had gathered so far building a timeline of the crime.
The following morning we headed back to Scotland Yard to meet with Superintendent Chapman. Madeline briefs him on what we found at London Airport, sticking to nothing but the facts, and keeping him engaged in conversation so that Sven can observe him and learn his mannerisms. The more Madeline details, the more visibly surprised Chapman becomes and eventually he admits that part of his fear had been that he was concerned that his men had been involved in the crime, but he is pleased that our evidence clears them. He is also very concerned about the gang still being at large. Madeline asks if there have been any other crimes with unexplained phenomena, and Chapman says that this is the first. Sven says that he can expect more and the Superintendent responds;
Then bring me some results!
Madeline asks if we can see the officers personnel files, just to double check that there are no connections between them and the gang, and Chapman begrudgingly agrees. The six Flying Squad officers all have exemplary police records and Sven notes that none of the officers are back on duty yet and so I make a note of the home addresses of the three officers who have been released from the National Hospital, I also notice that John Franklin is not married and realise that might be useful to us later. We dispatch a couple of Baldricks, one to watch George Draper's address and one to watch over Don McMillan, while the rest of us head to John Franklin's. It is time for the Superintendent to make a home visit.
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