In search of the Hound of Hyde Park...

Following up on a news article on an attack by the mysterious Hound of Hyde Park, MI6s recently reformed team of enhanced individuals have headed to the green heart of London to see if they can track the beast. MI6s 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, England, June 1948

Sven looks through the pictures taken by the police surgeon of the tourists injuries and with his zoological background is able to ascertain that it was definitely a canine attack, but based on the size of the bite marks the canine would have been roughly four foot tall at the shoulder, so no normal hound. He is also able to determine that the beast could have easily savaged the tourist, but the bite was far more tentative as if it was testing it's bite. We also discover that the attack had taken place near the bandstand within Hyde Park, and so we agree that as our next destination.

Knowing that Doctor Jackal is masterminding the recent criminal activity, and on the advice of Madeline, she and I disguise ourselves and Sven transforms into an Alsatian dog. I always found it curious that Sven liked to change into what is essentially a German breed of dog. Once we arrive at the bandstand Alfie 'walks' his dog around the area, while the dog Sven casts about for tracks. Madeline and I head off for a constitutional stroll around the south east corner of the park, and as we do I continually push out with my senses to make sure that there are no more enhanced in the surrounding area. Madeline and I discover nothing, but Sven is more successful and discovers the tracks of a very large dog to the north east of the bandstand and Alfie's sharp eyes spot a patch of blood staining the grass.

The Alsatian that is Sven hunts backwards and forwards with his nose to the ground and then drags Alfie east towards the Statue of Achilles where again he picks up the trail of the massive hound. Later on, when he was back in human form, Sven informed us that he was sure that the hound was stalking people through the park and was using both the bandstand and the statue for cover while it did so, he also tells us that the southeast area of the park was devoid of the normal animals that you would expect to see.

Next Sven drags Alfie west of the bandstand to the convergence of several of the parks pathways and again he discovers tracks of the hound, it is as if the beast is stalking prey all along the north side of the Serpentine Road that runs through the park.

We agree to stake out the park that night and so head back to Canning Place Mews to eat and rest. I am devastated when my soufflés don't rise, but Alfie still seems happy with them. Just before sunset we head back to the park and get Charlie to park up in Hertford Street at the south east corner of Hyde Park while Sven takes to the sky in the form of an owl to provide over-watch. Madeline and I leave Alfie with a packet of French cigarettes and a bottle of English beer on the steps of the bandstand as, having borrowed Madeline's dark vision and shadow form, we retreat into nearby trees as shadows.

The evening passes very quietly. Alfie is spoken to by a bobby on his beat, but when the policeman realises that he is not a drunk he bids him a goodnight and moves on. Sven, who is a little bored, spots a fox sniffing the hound tracks near the statue and follows it as it moves further east towards the edge of the city. He spots the fox sniffing the ground intently once again in the woods near the edge of Hamilton Place opposite Hertford Street before he loses sight of the nighttime scavenger. As the sun rises and we decide to call it off Sven lands where the fox was sniffing and finds more tracks of the beast. The tracks show that the beast seems to have been heading into the city. We get Charlie to take us back to Canning Place Mews and all head to bed, leaving Isy awake to monitor the telephone and keep watch.

That afternoon we agreed that as we had no other leads we would keep the park under observation. We got Isy to notify both Hanslope Park and Dorset Square that we were shifting to a nocturnal watch, Major Sawdon and Special Agent Philby just asked to be kept apprised of any findings. I served the team my signature omelettes that evening before we head out, and I am pleased to say that they were far better than my soufflés, Alfie wolfed them down like he hadn't eaten in a week, but then he always seems to eat like that.

This time I stay in the car with Charlie and push out with my senses in the hope of catching the hound entering the park from the direction of Hertford Street while the others assume their positions from the previous night. Once again the night passes without event and we retire back to the safe house. And that pattern continued for another five nights. On the fifth night, Sven widens his flight pattern and heads east to search Green Park and discovers that the wildlife there has also been pushed east as if a large predator had stalked the park, but it was now starting to drift back inwards. We gather back at the car and Charlie drives us up Hertford Street and turns right into Down Street heading back to the safe house. As we turn into Down Street Madeline says;

That's interesting, there is a disused underground station on this road that Churchill used as a bunker for his War Cabinet.

As soon as the words have left her mouth we all realise that the proximity of such a relevant, and probably abandoned, location cannot be a coincidence. We get Charlie to pull over opposite the entrance to the disused underground station and can see that everything is locked up tight. As always, that just seems like a challenge to us. We get Alfie to contact Isy and ask him to contact Dorset Square to see if he can get any information on the current designation of the location. As well as any detailed maps of the underground station.

Corporal Isy Baldrick picks up the telephone and puts a call through to Dorset Square. After a long pause the telephone is answered by the tired sounding smartly dress man. Special Agent Philby's assistant, somewhat irritably, asks Isy;

Do you have any idea what time it is!

Isy is quick to respond;

Yes Sir! It is currently six forty five am Sir!

There is an audible sigh on the other end of the telephone. As Isy is unintentionally frustrating the smartly dressed man, two shadows detach themselves from the team's car and slip quietly under the locked door at the rear of the station entrance. The car drives away as Alfie, Charlie, and Sven head off to find some breakfast. We find ourselves in what appears to be a maintenance room, which then opens up into what once must have been the main entrance into the underground station. In one corner is a structure that would have served as the ticket office and at the far end are a pair of old, rusted elevators. Beside the disused elevators is a spiral staircase that descends into the dark. And at the top of the staircase I find a single paw print the size of a dinner plate.