Chapter Four

## What Lies Beneath

KIDA SWANSON is released from the hospital earlier than the others. Assigned to light duty, she takes advantage of her situation and spends most of her time in her apartment, alone with a bottle of wine. Several nights into her self-imposed banishment from reality, things go sideways: she starts hearing strange noises, shadows move of their own accord, and the glass of her mirror bends and cracks along a single line. As the electricity goes out in her apartment, she hears intruders suddenly in the building with her. Attempting to make it to her room in the dark where her revolver is, a strange woman steps out of the shadows and blocks her path. The woman seems impossibly tall with feral eyes that glow an eerie green. She slams KIDA back, striking the agent with the flat of her hands square on her chest. As KIDA recovers, she finds five more women in the room with her, one of them DANI. DANI tries to reassure KIDA that everything is going to be alright, that these women are here to help her. Interrupting DANI, the other four women descend on KIDA, alternately holding her down while the other tear off her clothing. Their leader slices her own palm and drains her lifeblood onto KIDA's bare torso. While the others hold her struggling form down, the strange woman begins drawing in her own blood all over KIDA's body, all the while chanting in a tongue the agent does not understand.

Something inside KIDA twists and for a moment—a moment longer than any she's ever felt—agony courses through her body and she releases a monstrous growl. She feels and her bones twist, tendons snapping back and forth as her body undergoes something horrifying and altogether alien. As her vision goes black, she thankfully succumbs to the unconscious world of dreams where she, for now, finds peace.

In the morning KIDA awakens to the smell of fresh coffee, sausage, and eggs. Her bedroom betrays no signs of the previous night's happenings (even the mirror is unblemished). Making her way cautiously to her kitchen, KIDA finds DANI cooking breakfast. DANI smiles up at KIDA and says, "We need to talk..."

## Case File: Leidecker

KILLIAN and NEMO are released from the hospital after nearly a week of convalescence. KILLIAN is assigned to desk duty until he fully recovers, but he and NEMO decide to go back into the field early and begin a covert investigation into LEIDECKER himself—in their mind he seems to be holding information back from the team and they believe that arming themselves with information about him will protect them. Little do they know that DOM is following them.

Together they meet a snitch NEMO's street sense identifies named SKEET and they negotiate with him for information. SKEET is a self-stylized ladies-man and he not-so-subtly hits on NEMO, a proposal she easily rejects. Still, SKEET promises to get back with them within the day, but KILLIAN dislikes dealing with the snitch and backs out of the deal, leaving NEMO to pay for the information alone. As the two leave, NEMO very angry with KILLIAN, DOM approaches and decides to interfere by making a scene. To his credit, he thinks he is doing them a favor by "arresting" them since at least KILLIAN looks very much out of place. NEMO runs. After a brief scuffle, KILLIAN in handcuffs is loaded in the back of DOM's car where DOM proceeds to berate the younger agent for going off on his own and not informing his team.

While DOM and KILLIAN work through their issues, NEMO seeks out LALEH and they decide to visit NEMO's mentor, CHABIKHAN, for information. LALEH ends up discussing several issues of personal import to her. CHABIKHAN, someone with much more knowledge than she appears to have, agrees to answer the Probie's questions for a price. Not truly understanding what she is agreeing to, LALEH makes the deal and CHABIKHAN answers several of her questions, including a list of all the mediums in San Francisco. As a result, LALEH feels something in her change ever-so-slightly, like she's lost something precious, and she wonders what sort of deal she just made...

SKEET gets back in touch with NEMO and gives her the name a location of a another contact that has the information she was looking for. Downtown in the Financial District is a multi-level dance club named Hell 99. On the third floor is an S&M scene, and in the back is an information broker named TRINITY. NEMO teams up with DANI and together, dressed the part, they enter TRINITY's den—a "palatial" room filled with half-naked people in various states of intoxication and sexual acts—where DANI pays handsomely for the promised information. TRINITY tells them of what she knows of NORTON LEIDECKER and the powers that truly run San Francisco. Below the surface of the city is a circle of power with many seats, of which LEIDECKER claims one. These seats are all owned by powers that defy logical explanation. TRINITY calls LEIDECKER a mage, though she herself is unsure what that means, and the he represents one of the groups that make up the tenuous Council (as she calls it). The Council, through something called the Accords, was established in an effort to maintain peace between the various factions in the city. There are many rules, of which she is unaware, that make up the Accords. The entity on Alcatraz also holds a seat on the Council, as does DAMIEN KINGSLEY. Others, also, hold seats, but she is unaware of their identities.

## Return of the BNG

DOM spends his week preparing for the worst. Through his relationship with LEIDECKER he starting to realize how much he doesn't know about this city he calls his home, and how badly unprepared he is to handle it. He loads his car up with many different types of weapons, including silver and dragon's breath rounds. He even manages to obtain one of the AK-47s his team had acquired from the BNG members on Alcatraz.

Still, loading, polishing, and sharpening weapons aren't the only way he enjoys himself. DOM also decides to test-drive a Porche...after all, he's just recently been promoted, why shouldn't he enjoy the perks? While out on his joyride, he fails to notice a shadow tailing him. As he returns the sports car to the dealership, a dark SUV drives slowly by and three BNG members pull assault rifles out and empty their clips into DOM.

DOM wakes up in he hospital with his team around him, discussing their various adventures that week and what they've discovered. Unfortunately DOM is unable to take part in the conversation as a ventilator fills his mouth. DANI does something to his body as she lays a hand on his shoulder, and some of the pain in his chest subsides while wounds open up on DANI's chest. This sparks a series of questions from the group as to DANI's true identity and motivations. DANI admits her real name is ASHTON MIKAELSON, explaining that she took her current identity to escape her brother, who has been trying to find her since she fled London 18 months ago. DANI shares a little more about her history, but the team knows she still hasn't shared everything. Aside from that brief interaction, the team seems to ignore DOM and is rather flippant about his near-death escapade. His anger smolders...

 The Story Continues...

Current Developments - Chapter Three - Chapter Five