They were just passing floor twenty when something materialized in the elevator car. The two reports varied drastically-predictably-but some features corresponded. First, the thing was a bipedal creature, definitely not human or metahuman, and second, it was terrifying. It paid no attention to either of the witnesses, but lashed out with an arm and quite literally tore Naomi's head off. Then it vanished. End of show. Nobody knew what the frag it was or where it came from, or- more important for Lone Star-how it made it through the arcane defenses of the headquarters building. The official conclusion was that some terrorist group had decided to slot up the Star by sending in some magical nasty-a city spirit, the report surmised-to cause terror. Naomi Takahashi died simply because she was unlucky enough to be near at hand.