Mid-West Campaign
Session Seventy-One

Monday, 5 February 2001 (continued)

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Jack Burchill returns to active duty for the west coast evidence response team at least two months ahead of schedule. It is just shy of seven weeks since a possessed Jane ripped him from sternum to stomach, and he was forced to endure nine hours of life saving surgery. However, Burchill had the wisdom to keep abreast of recent case reports and chose to spend his convalescence in Winterset. He is now fit and ready for duty.

He has arrived just in time for case 0015-GCF. Dominic explains that the case has been handed to the west-coasters by Artemis Black, and they have a duty to find out what is preying on the homeless. Dominic's plan is that this evening he and Burchill will disguise themselves as homeless people and prowl the streets in the area of the disappearances. Ecks, O'Connel and Campbell-Robson will remain at HQ for back up.

A thousand miles west, and a few hours before the carnage in Joplin (see session 48), the west coast team begin their work on case 0015-GCF. Dominic Rocaan takes some considerable time preparing himself for the evening. With his crisply ironed (and symmetricall ripped) jeans and his highly polished shoes he is the world's best turned out hobo. Burchill on the other hand hasn't really dressed down from his usual clothing, and looks far more comfortable in his homeless role.

In a taxi en route to the library, Dominic tells Burchill that all the disappearances have been in a straight line running from the library toward the docks. Their best lead seems to be a loss of contrast and interference on one of the CCTV cameras in the area. The pair arrive and sit for a while in the door way of a shop. A couple of vagrants try to move them on, but Dominic's size intimidates them.

After nothing happens for an hour or so, they decide to go on patrol. The disappearacns have occurred over three parallel streets that are connected together by dark and foreboding alleys. The area seems relatively deserted. They find two separate cludters of homeless people on two different streets (one group of four and another of five). However, they spot the fact the pair are cops instantly, and Dominic sees no point in mixing with "their sort". There is no sign of Pitcher, the contact made by Artemis Black two weeks ago.

Eventually, they have wandered around long enough that Dominic needs the toilet. They both go to the nearest public convenience (Dominic isn't urinating in alley), which is conveniently located in the red light district. As Burchill turns down numerous solicitations from the women of the night, Dominic descends into an undergroudn toilet. It is while he is busy at the urinal that he notices something quite odd.

Everything has turned grey, as if the colour has been leeched from the world. Dominic is also gripped with a terrible feeling of foreboding. His hand starts to shake (not a good thing in his current circumstance). Dominic looks around the room and sees a 7'5" outline of a thing in the room. It seems to be creeping into his mind. Dominic flees, banging his head on the low door on the way out.

Dominic rushes over to Burchill and insists that they both go back into the toilet together. This strikes Jack as a bit odd, but he comes anyway. He notices that Dominic now smells quite strongly of wee. There is nothing for the pair to find in the lavatory. Dominic notices that one of the cubicles is occupied. Dominic leans over the top to speak to the man busying himself within. The man is, rather unsurprisingly, annoyed at this intrusion. However, after a quick interrogation the agents are satisfied that the man saw nothing.

Putting the bizarre events in the toilet behind them, the pair continue their patrol. They are now in a very seedy area of the city replete with sex shops. Eventually, it is Burchill's time to relieve himself. He has no objection to using an alleyway, and slips form view. Dominic politely turns his back, but when he looks back Burchill has gone He has disappeared!

Dominic draws his gun and hurries over to the scene. Dominic notices that Burchill was standing on a rusty man-hole cover. Before Dominic can have the epiphany that the stright line path of these disappearances is following the sewer system, the cover gives way and the agent plummets thirty feet straight down, landing very heavily in a vaulted tunnel in a foot of sludge.

Pulling out his torch (and covering his mouth) Dominic views his surroundings. The rungs leading back to the manhole corroded away decades ago. There is no easy way out of here. The sewer runs in two directions from this point. Dominic picks a direction and heads off. Unfortunately it is the wrong way.

Burchill awakens. His head is pounding and he feels drained. He seems to be imbedded in some sort of foul-smelling goo. He is suspended off the ground somewhere, but he doesn't know where as it is pitch black and he cannot see a thing. He manages to wrench an arm free, dislocating his shoulder in the process. The weight of his body is now enough to pull him from the goo. He slips free and falls, and falls. He drops thirty feet to land slap in some very deep and very smelly sewerage. He has no purchase and starts to be sucked down. He calls for help.

Dominic (who is busy heading the other way) doesn't hear this at first. Eventually, he does here Burchill's last gasps and hurries back the way he came. He feels he is being watched. For a moment his torch gave out a greyish light. He hurries onwards. Using his torch light Dominic picks out a lump in the sewerage before him that could well be Burchill. He drags his companion to the surface, saving his life.

Looking around, the pair now get a better idea of where they are. They are in a chamber about thirty feet high. The walls are caked in refuse, runnels of waxy residue and stalactites made from the filth draining from above. But there is more. Trapped into the ceiling, set into the waste as Burchill had been are several bodies. The pair can see hands and heads, but all the fluids have gone from their bodies. Their mouths are open in pain. One of the hands twitches. It is a horrible, sanity shredding sight, that doesn't seem to bother Dominic in the slightest.

The cavity inside of the figure's stomachs writhes. There is a pod of something in its torso. It is this movement that is making the corpse twitch. Dominic concentrates his torch light. Suddenly the pod splits and something falls from it. It drops into the sewerage a little way from the agents and swims away through the muck. This is too much for Burchill who immediately has a psychotic episode.

He has to get away from this place. He has to get clean! Jack Burchill turns and runs off randomly through the sewers. Dominic runs after him, but he has to stoop to pursue and Burchill begins to get away from him. Fortunately, Burchill stops at the first ladder he finds and begins to climb toward the surface. Dominic follows him.

Burchill throws back the man hole and climbs out onto a busy street. He narrowly avoids the on-coming traffic and rushes to the side of the road. Seeing a fire hydrant, he shoots it repeatedly with his hand gun until it gushes clean water that he can use to wash away the grime. He starts to remove his clothes.

Dominic sees the terrible sight, but he is having trouble getting out of the man hole to avod the oncoming traffic. He manages to eventually roll to the side of the street uninjured, arriving at about the same time as police cruiser. The local police officers immediately take charge of the situation. They are not inclined to believe that Dominic is an FBI agent, and demand that Burchill lower his weapon. Of course, Burchill is still quite mad and doesn't want to do that. Eventually, Burchill is overpowered and handcuffed and thrown into the back of the police car with Dominic.

On the journey to the police station Burchill continually tries to fight his way out of the car to get away from the unclean Dominic. Once they arrive at the station house, Burchill tries to run but is brought down by four policemen. He and Dominic are then hosed down. It is only at this point that Dominic can fish his ID out of a pocket and prove who he is. Burchill is given some pills to calm him down and locked up, as telephones his headquarters.

Tuesday, 6 February 2001

It is a little after midnight when Dominic's call arrives at the west coast headquarters. Dominic orders Ecks and O'Connell to head over the police station and pick them up. Ecks despairs as they were both in the middle of watching the Star Trek episode about the giant space amoeba. Dominic takes a shower and is soon collected his agents. They return to the west coast mansion.

After Burchill has washed and donned a CDC encounter suit, the five members of the west coast team sit down to consider their next move. Dominic believes the creature is a temporal demon of some kind, caught out of time by Nathan Harlow's actions. It is using homeless victims to create more offspring.

Dominic asks Bruce Campbell-Robson if he is capable of making an explosive device that will incinerate all organic matter in the chamber, but not structurally damage the sewer walls. Bruce is delighted that such an idea has been voiced. He replies that he can and mutters something about napalm and agent orange. He suggests that he also strap six claymore mines to his back and equip them with a motion sensor. In the event the creature creeps up behind him, it will be blasted. The mines won't kill him because the blast radiates outward.

Ecks is concerned that they plan to kill all these creatures in the sewer. Shouldn't they attempt to capture one? Dominic considers this. He also considers that they may not have the means to easily kill the temporal demon, at least not in its own doman. He hatches the following plan:

All the agents will drive back to the sewers. Burchill will remain in the car as a means to quickly get away. The other four will go back to the chamber. They will open up one of the pods and capture one of the offspring, locking it in an empty ammo chest. Campbell-Robson will then set the explosive and they will hastily depart. If the entity attacks, Bruce will hopefully subdue it with his mines. They will then return to HQ. Hopefully, the entity will follow them in the hope of recovering its child. As soon as it enters the HQ grounds, SCHULT can trap it in the maze. Then they will be able to deal with it on their own turns.

Todd and Ecks are not mad about this plan. Todd thinks that Burchill should be taken off active duty on account of the fact he is mad. However, Dominic is in charge and he over-rules them. It all depends on the explosive doing what Bruce said it will. Bruce smiles and says "no problem".

In the early hours of the morning, the west coast agents head back to the red light district in the team's white stretched limousine. It was the only vehicle where Burchill could hermetically seal himself from the rest of the party. They return to the alley where Burchill was taken. Bruce sets up a gurney and lowers rope into the open hole. Dominic gets tangled up on the way down, but eventually the four of them are in the swer tunnel and making their way to the chamber. Bruce is bringing up the rear.

Ecks wonders what will happen if something creeps up behind Bruce, and Bruce turns around to see what it is. In that case, the blast from the claymore mines will wipe out the rest of the party. Dominic sees the wisdom of this and turns to tell Bruce to turn his mines off. He sees that something is indeed creeping up behind Bruce. It is an indistinct shape. Suddenly, all six mines fire with an enormous bang. Bruce is picked up and thrown thirty feet down the tunnel, knocking over the rest of his team.

Bruce has a couple of cracked ribs, but he is alive. There is no sign of whatever it was that crept up behind him. Bruce says that in order to set the mines off, it would had to have been about the size of a dog. They are now in the main chamber. In lieu of anything else attacking them, Dominic suggests getting on with the plan. He shines the light upward to the concooned corpses. Fortunately, no reacts in the same way that Burchill did earlier in the evening.

Dominic assembles a long fishing rod with a very sharp blade attached to the end. As Ecks and O'Connell stand under one of the bodies with a large shrimping net, and Bruce is ready with the ammo case and some heavy gloves, Dominic swings the rod attempting to pierce the pod. Eventually he does so, but slightly too well. He also kills whatever is inside. It falls in the net.

The creature is wormlike, and about a foot long. It has a series of very sharp, moray-like teeth. They dump it in the ammo box and move under another body. This time Dominic hits true and live creature plummets to the muck. It completely misses the net, and begins to escape. "Catch it!" yells Dominic. Ecks manages to leap forward and drop a net over the creature, but he lands in the slime himself. Bruce manages to force the worm into the ammo box. However, it is very strong and shakes the steel box, even when it is locked.

Now it is time to go. Bruce plants the explosive, giving the agents ten minutes to get clear. They return to the hole they came down. Unfortunately, the blast from the claymore mines blew away the bottom of the rope. Using his height, Dominic manhadles his fellow agents up the rope. This takes a long time and soon Dominic is left alone in the sewer. With great effort he grabs the rope and hauls himself up the surface.

Dominic bundles into the back of the waiting limo. "Drive! Drive!" he yells to Burchill. Jack puts his foot down, and momentarily forgets he is a trained pursuit driving by wedgign the vehicle in the alley. Bruce is looking at his watch. He is getting nervous. Burchill reverses, tries again and this time manages to acclerate to the main road. There is a muffled explosion behind them.

A column of flame shoots up through the open manhole where the car was parked. The limo hurries forward. Something heavy strikes the roof causing a massive dent to appear. It is a flying manhole cover. All over the block, man-hole covers are being shot twenty feet in the air by the explosion in the sewers. Columns of bright blue flame are searing upwards, all around the neighbourhood. The car swerves as fire leaps up in front of them. Dominic begins to chastise Bruce as to exactly how much explosives he used.

The limo returns to the west coast HQ with no sign of pursuit from the entity. Bruchill runs inside before his filthy companions can follow him. Inside, SCHULT reports that there as an explosion in the toilet while the agents were out. A blast of flame caused some damage to the bathroom. Dominic is shocked. The HQ was more than four miles away from the centre of the blast! How much damage has Bruce caused? He turns on the television.

Reporter Jonathan Coleman of Channel 12 is reporting on the explosions that are throught to be the product of methane build-up in the sewers. The initial explosion hit everything in a two mile radius with secondary explosions accounting for damage furhter afield. At the moment property damage is estimated at $52 million dollars. But that is likely to rise.

However, recriminations must wait as there is still work to do. They still have one of the young in the ammo box. It is currently trying to eat its way out of the bottom of the box. They head down to the lab and (with difficulty) trap the creature to the table. It has eaten the corpse of its brethren and more than doubled in size. It has developed a collection of chitinous tentacles.

They begin their experimentation. It is obviously very suseptible to radiation. A small X-Ray very nearly kills the thing and leaves it listless. They conduct an MRI scan, but they do not have the medical knowledge for a full vivisection. Dominic calls his old partner, Dr Pako Baker from the east coast team. Pako is a little stilted on the phone. He tells Dominic that there is not much he can do from New York. The creature probably isn't a polyp, but could be a young of one of those big monsters the other west coast team discovered in the desert. He suggests that they contact a much nearer pathologist. He suggests Jane Munroe.

Dominc was unwilling to turn to Jane considering, Todd's feeling for her. And he knows that she is probably busy with the business in Joplin. However, he realises that he has no choice if they want the information and tells Todd to phone Jane. Jane takes the call en route form Joplin to Wichita. The mid-west team are returning with Agent Drake's body. She listens to what Todd has to say, and says that she will come over to Los Angeles as soon as she is able.

Jane hails a taxi and heads off to the airport, where she catches a flight to Los Angeles. She arrives at the west coast headquarters utterly exhausted at about 11:00am. She goes to the lab and vivisects the creature, making all the necessary medical notes. Ecks assists her.

Jane notices that tentacles of the creature retreat into its mouth. As it grows these will articulate, and become evern more heavily armoured. The body of the creature seems to have more in common with a centipede than a worm. It is developing an extremely tough hide. She writes up a report on the matter. In her opinion they are probably the same creature encountered by the original west coast team, that they could only kill by driving a jeep loaded with explosives into its mouth. Later in the day, Jane leaves Los Angeles and returns to Wichita. She plans to spend her down time with her mother.

Meanwhile, Jack Burchill is taken away and given some heavy psycho-analysis by Todd. By the end of the day he is able to leave his encoutner suit and walk around the west coast HQ. Todd suspects that psychotherapy to cure him of his aversion to filth will take a couple of months.

Dominic is not certain that the case is closed. They still do not know if the entity is dead. Dominic decides that if no more homeless people have disappeared in the next month he will assume the blast from the claymore mines killed the temporal beastie. Of course, that doesn't answer the question of what this creature was and what it was doing down in the sewers.

Wednesday, 26 March 2001

One month after the enormous explosion in the Los Angeles sewers, there have been no further reported disappearances of the homeless. After contacted the Bay and Sunset Strip shelters to confirm this, Dominic Rocaan officially closes case 0015-GCF. Pending more information on the nature of the displaced creature, there is nothing more than can be done.

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