First Duel at Forest Park

Jawhara Al-Saleh

Wyatt Mason

The **First** **Duel at Forest Park**was the first open confrontation between the Reapers and the Black Widows.

## Background

In the wake of a series of brutal murders on September 11, 2019, as well as the attempted kidnapping of Evergreen Institute student Leah West, the St. Louis community grew uneasy, and students at Evergreen University were on edge as they commuted to and from campus.

It wasn't until a second attempted murder at Central Park that the world woke up to the reality of the Black Widows.

## Duel

On the afternoon of September 19, 2019, eight days after the September 11 Homicides, Ryan Foster and Ava Clancy were having a chat about the homicides and whether there was a connection between the killings in Philadelphia and the attempted kidnapping of Leah West, since they were carried out by the same people.

Ryan offered his two cents, believing that they were connected, whereas Ava believed the two occurrenced were coincidental.

As they continued their conversation, Ava noticed a team of masked gunmen wearing black cloaks, eerily similar to the ones who kidnapped Leah. She notified Ryan, who immediately pulled out his phone to call the police. Moments later, one of the masked gunmen ambushed Ava from behind and held her at gunpoint, attempting to kidnap her in broad daylight in front of hundreds of people. However, just as he was about to drag Ava off, the gunman was shot in the head and killed by an unknown assailant behind Ryan, who immediately took over.

The shots came from Chapter X operatives Jawhara Al-Saleh and Wyatt Mason, who opened fire on the masked gunmen as Jawhara drove by in her car. The masked gunmen immediately returned fire, disabling Jawhara's vehicle and causing it to crash into a tree near the park. Jawhara and Wyatt immediately called for reinforcements, while the gunmen advanced towards the vehicle with the intention of killing the assassin.

Just then, Ava was able to disarm one of the gunmen and subdue him in a hand-to-hand fight and knock him unconscious. The rest of the gunmen immediately turned their attention on Ava and began firing on her instead of Jawhara. By this time, police units responding to Ryan's 911 call arrived and engaged in a shootout with the masked gunmen, one of which pulled out a grenade launcher and used it to destroy an arriving police car, killing five officers and two nearby pedestrians who were unlucky enough to be within the blast range.

Immediately afterwards, however, Wyatt was able to kill the assailant by throwing a knife to the back of his head. He and Jawhara continued shooting at the masked attackers until he ran out of ammunition, after which they immediately resorted to hand-to-hand combat to defeat the gunmen, demonstrating an uncanny set of skills that left Ava and Ryan wondering if they was ex-Special Forces.

Wyatt, Jawhara and the masked gunman Ava knocked unconscious were later apprehended by the police after killing the last gunman, while Ava herself and Ryan were taken to the police station for questioning.

## Aftermath

The police investigation into the attempted kidnapping and ensuing shootout led to the discovery of the Black Widows, a terrorist group comprising of former Special Forces soldiers. It also led to increased security at Forest Park and around the Delmar Loop area.