You can't follow a cold trail...

Having been summoned back to Hanslope Park after six years, Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, the living shadow; and Sven Hyse, the Norwegian shapeshifter have found themselves pulled into an investigation into sabotage and an event that has created some newly enhanced individuals. The trio have been joined by one of the newly enhanced Alfie Baldrick, the one man rifle section, as the investigation continues.

Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, England, February 1948

We paid a visit to the now conscious Doctor Jakobi in the medical facility and found him to be mostly befuddled with moments of clarity. The medical staff had wrapped him in bandages like an egyptian mummy from the moving pictures so we could at least see him. I questioned him about his work with the camps enhanced individuals and that brought him back, briefly, to his senses. While he was talking I held his hand and used my power to borrow his knowledge of enhanced biology and categorisation processing.

Madeline questioned Jakobi about the explosion, but all the Doctor could remember about the auditor was that he was a nondescript man in his late forties of military bearing and wearing glasses. Not a description that was of much use. He did remember that the auditor had arrived at the gate checkpoint and demanded unrestricted access to the enhanced laboratory, Jakobi remembers being annoyed that he and his staff had to leave the auditor to it and that the auditor was throwing his weight around. At that point the Doctor became distracted by his own bandages and lost focus and so we left and headed back to Hut 20.

As we walked back Madeline reminded both Sven and I that Doctor Jokobi had been part of the original team that had worked with us six years previously, I don't remember him, but I guess he was just as invisible back then. When we got back to the hut I used the blackboard that I had requested to chalk up all of the elements that we had discovered to date, and all of the lines of enquiry that were still open to us. I also sketched a rough map of Hanslope Park and the surrounding area and marked all of the relevant locations. While I was busy doing that Madeline and Sven discussed with Alfie how best to test his powers and Sven began to devise a number of training sessions to test his more mundane physical abilities. I was just finishing up when Major Sawdon entered the hut and informed us all that Commander Travis, Hanslope Park's Director, had called a general meeting that evening and we were to all attend.

We freshened up, and I tried to tidy up Corporal Baldrick's appearance. But no sooner had got him parade ground sharp he seemed to become somewhat disheveled again.

The officers mess had been set up for a board meeting and as we entered thirteen people turned to look at us. There was a mixture of officers and scientists within the room, several of them smoking, being served drinks by pristine looking batmen. I offered around my cigarettes and when Alfie took one and put it behind his ear I was forced to snatch it back and give him my best disappointed frown. We seated ourselves at the end of the table opposite the Commander and while we waited I pushed out with my senses and detected that one of the batmen was an enhanced. I discreetly informed the others and Madeline took the time to memorise the soldiers face.

Commander Travis called the meeting to order and everyone took their seats and settled down. Travis began;

I have called this meeting as an introduction for the three of you.

At this point the Commander finally spotted Baldrick and a moment of surprise crossed his face, but with the surety of an old war horse he ploughed on;

I apologise for the delay in meeting you all, but given the unique circumstances I am sure that you will understand. This facility is primarily an SIS initiative and as you may, or may not, be aware the SOE was absorbed into the Special Intelligence Service at the end of the war and so technically you are still operating under the same procedures as during the war.

Travis introduced those around the table, including both Professor Vincent and Doctor Tutte, as well as Commander Cohen who was in charge of the camps training. One of the things that struck me as different from when we were last here was the cross branch nature of the camp now, with both naval and army officers working side by side. The Commander went on to say that we were there to consolidate information and asked us what we had learned so far. I looked sideways at Madeline and, ever the consummate professional, she began a thorough debrief.

When Madeline describes the explosion of the enhanced device, Professor Vincent speaks up and confirms Madeline's deductions, he also confirms that whoever sabotaged the equipment had to have had prior knowledge of its operation in order for them to be able to overload the system. Doctor Tutte also adds that the entire stock of Cobalt-60, approximately two pounds, which is enough for thirty applications in the enhancement process. He goes on to admit that the saboteurs also stole numerous files, accounts, and ledgers including personnel files relating to all known enhanced tested at Hanslope Park. That means that the saboteurs know more about us than we know about them.

Commander Travis stepped in at that stage;

Let me elaborate on that point. After the war the country was in a great deal of debt, and so to pay off some of that debt the Government chose to sell the enhanced services to a few chosen nations. As part of the deal Hanslope Park would enhance chosen test subjects, but we did not share the knowledge of the enhancement process.

The Commander goes on to explain that currently there are four enhanced mastiffs on base all with enhanced armour, alertness, strength, and speed. There are also four enhanced soldiers on base all with different enhanced abilities. A further eight enhanced individuals hold positions within the British military or political appointments. Doctor Tutte cut in at that point and stated that most of them are classified as Category One or Two. When Madeline asked what that meant Tutte stated that the four of us would be classified as Category Three or Four, and that the chances of a Category Five or Six were very low. Commander Travis continues;

France has four enhanced from this programme, not including Miss Dubois, and the Americans also have four. One of the American enhanced may well be a Category Seven.

The Commander pulls the conversation back to the recent incident and tells everyone that the auditor was one General Barguest, and he was accompanied by a pair of MPs by the names of Comer and Machin. The General did most of the speaking, but when the MPs were heard to speak they both seemed to have London accents. The General's papers were all in order, and if they were fake, then they were expertly completed. Travis confirms that there is no record of a General Barguest, or indeed anyone in the military by that name. The Commander summarizes that the explosion killed two immediately, four died later due to uncontrollable mutations, eight are injured and then there are the newly enhanced that we have already seen. The Commander then informs us that there is something else that is concerning about the sabotage, he then gestures to Professor Vincent who continues;

It is now clear that the explosion was a deliberate attempt to spread the devastation of the blast, including the enhanced effects, as far as possible. It was a intended to create new enhanced individuals.

Commander Travis confirms that he believes that the trail has gone cold and that Whitehall are of the opinion that it is probably the Russians that were behind the attack, but Travis disagrees with this because he believes that the Russians are of the opinion that it is the Americans that are behind the enhanced technology. Sven, who had been quietly smoking his pipe throughout the proceedings, spoke up and asked;

If the trail has gone cold, what is it that you wish us to do?

Commander Travis looks at Major Sawdon and the Major restated that they want us to train the newly enhanced. He also confirms that, barring any setbacks, all of the newly enhanced will have recovered consciousness by the morning. And with that, the Commander brings the meeting to a close. As the four of us were walking back to Hut 20 Madeline stops in her tracks and says;

That's where I remember it from! A Barguest is a mythical monstrous black dog with large teeth and claws in Northern English folklore. I wonder if that is important? I'll catch up with you all later.

With that, Madeline left us and headed towards the camps carpool. The rest of us discussed what we had learnt, and I updated the blackboard with our new information, the London accents kept coming up and I wrote the words 'London gangsters?' in one corner. I also added two names to the board under the heading 'Location Unknown'. Those names were;

Franklin Fort

Doctor Henry Jackal

The following morning over coffee we agreed how we were going to progress. Alfie would use his power to split into three Baldricks, one of which would assist me in assessing and categorising the newly enhanced individuals. One Baldrick would work with Madeline and the third with Sven. Madeline would test Alfie's skills in the field while Sven would push Alfie through physical and weapons testing. We realised that it would be very confusing if every Baldrick was called Alfie, and so Alfie came up with names for the others. I would be assisted by Billy, Sven would be putting Charlie through his paces, while Madeline worked with Alfie.

Over the next few days I used the remnants of Doctor Jakobi's documents to reverse engineer his classification process and carried out a variety of tests and activities, using the skill borrowed from the Doctor himself, to assess and classify the newly enhanced. They were mostly Category One or Two, but some had potential to increase that classification. I have included some of my rough notes below;

Patient MD002 - Doctor Jakobi 

As is clearly visible at first sight, or rather what is not visible, Doctor Jakobi has been rendered completely invisible and shows no ability to ‘turn off’ this enhanced state. What is less obvious is the effect that this seems to have had on his mind. Doctor Jakobi struggles to focus and displays a lack of coherence of thought interspersed with moments of sharp clarity. Unfortunately these moments of clarity are currently short lived.

Recommendation – long term psychiatric help and medication tests to help with focus of thought.

Patient MD003 - Lance Corporal Uppton

Uppton has manifested fur and claws similar to canis lupus. The thickness of the Lance Corporal’s fur imbues him with some limited resistance to damage and his claws appear to demonstrate focused sound waves allowing him to penetrate armour plate.

Recommendation – focussed training on the use of Patient MD003s enhanced abilities alongside rigorous physical training regimen.

Additional note

Patient MD003 has started to suffer from significant nightmares, the theme of these terrors are the transformation of the subject into a hideous monster. Further recommendation that subject undergoes psychiatric assessment and reintegration therapy.

Patient MD004 - Private McIntosh

Patient MD004 has transformed into a creature of earth, his entire body is now composed of rocks, mud, and earth. This has imbued him with resistance to damage, the level of which will need to be tested.

Recommendation – focussed training on the use of Patient MD004s enhanced abilities alongside rigorous physical training regimen.

Additional note

Patient MD004 suffered an injury during training and seems unable to heal. This has severely set back patient MD004s training and I recommend light duties only until we can fully assess this discovery. 

At the end of that first week, and when we couldn't fob him off any more, I was called in to debrief Major Sawdon on my findings on the newly enhanced. Having relayed all of the information Sawdon commented that I had managed to move faster than Doctor Jakobi, and he wondered aloud if that was due to my particular enhanced abilities. He then questioned me on my own powers, which I found very uncomfortable and was not very forthcoming with my answers. Also during that week it was very obvious that there was significant construction work taking place within the footprint of the enhanced testing facility, and judging by the volume of earth coming out of the site it was clear that they were digging out a subterranean facility.

Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, England, March 1948

Three weeks passed, during which the newly enhanced started to return to their usual jobs with the exception of Private McIntosh, who was retired due to ill health, and Lance Corporal Uppton who found himself shunned by his colleagues. The construction work continued and security was visibly tightened around the camp. One morning, I think that it was the 28th March, Madeline and Sven were out testing the range of Alfie's ability to communicate between his duplicates, and so it was only myself and Billy, and therefore I guess Alfie and Charlie heard it also, who were there to hear the radio news broadcast discussing what they were calling 'The Battle of London Airport'. According to the news reader the Metropolitan Police had suffered a severe defeat at the hands of a criminal gang, the gang had made it off with three quarters of a million pounds worth of valuables from a warehouse at London airport.

That evening a Military Police vehicle screeched onto the base and pulled up outside the manor house, soon afterwards we were all summoned to Commander Travis' office. Once we are seated the Commander starts immediately;

As you may be aware, there has been an audacious heist at London Airport involving the Flying Squad. Intelligence is limited, but we strongly believe that there may well have been enhanced individuals within the criminal gang. We are therefore sending the four of you as official observers to ascertain more. You will travel to 1 Dorset Square in London, and once there they will equip you with all that you require.

Travis then looks at Baldrick and says;

One of your Baldricks can stay here so that we can remain in contact with your team in the field.

And so it was that the new SIS Enhanced Team headed to London for their first mission together.