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Action!
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"Who in the sweet name of baby Jesus and Santa Claus's cousin decided we need to run a house fire as the lead tonight?" D. C. Klein spoke in an even and measured tone, barely louder than normal conversation, but the news staffers within pitching distance winced.
"Sir," Emily Stafford, an intern working with the assistant to the under-secretary to the associate editor of the boroughs section was the first to make eye contact. "It is in the Hampshires. And appears to be arson."
"And? Since when has a torched a antique castle been worth a whore monkey's nut?" Those regularly exposed to Klein's colorful language were convinced he tried hard to make it painful to endure.
"In this case, you're right about it being a castle. It's one of the 4 Century Court estates, with a name and everything. Falconsroost Manor. It's a major historical landmark that predates the city itself."
"Bah, it's worth reporting on, but that isn't going to sell copy."
"It's Frederich Rachmanov's house."
D.C. Klein somehow managed to gulp back whatever he was in the process of saying and plugged his lips with his cigar to catch his stride. "Drachen Group?" Klein was warming to this new girl.
"Yes, sir. Rumor has it he's been around as long as the house, if not longer. Immortal, perhaps even a vampire."
Klein stuck out his tongue as he laughed. "Perfect! Run it on the front page: HampsFIRE!!! Dracula Foe Attemps Suicide. Something like that. Use Hampsfire for sure though. And send somebody out to get images. See if Moorelle is around, he gets good angles somehow. Dismissed!"
Emily scowled at Klein as he stormed off to hassle another department, disappointed that he hadn't assigned her to the story. Then again, he hadn't told her to stay off of it and the current copy wasn't heavy on the vampire angle. All the journalism wonks said that taking initiative was the key to breaking out. She'd have to convince this Moorelle guy to take her with him on his photo shoot.
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Tony was cruising in his cab again. He had been hanging around Horizon as Compression for a few days, hoping to make use of downtime to get to know some people and maybe even make friends, but their turned out to be very few heros around and even fewer Uselesses with time to spare. He shouldn't have been surprised, he realized, and after killing another day hoping to run into the ULTRA-PATRIOT or the Dancer with no luck on either account, he was back on the meter, snapping shots and lending a hand when the opportunity presented itself.
He was waiting at a red light when his cell phone lit up, indicating a call from Horizon.
"Yeah, this is Tony." Identifying himself by name established that he was busy with public identity stuff.
"Busy for long?" Tommy 14-Fingers asked.
"I've got plans for the next hour or so, actually, but I'm flexible." Tony ignored the gasp from his rider sitting in the back seat but noted that she was eavesdropping.
"We were hoping that you might be available to help us follow up on something. It can probably wait until you're finished with whatever you are doing now, but Dr. Mars specifically asked for you to look into this."
"No problem, Tommy. I'm on my way to the Hampshires now to get some shots of the house fire for the Sentinel. Got a reporter with me but I doubt we'll be able to make much headway with whatever security or PR these folks are likely to have ready to run interference. Once I'm done there and drop her off back at the office, I can do whatever you need. What's happening?"
"You're talking about the fire at Falconsroost manor! That's actually what we need you to look into. I'll upload the details to you, but the deal is this. Falconsroost was clearly arson and we've been asked to do the investigation. That sounds atypical for us, but there's a lot more to it. Falconsroost is owned and maintained by a Frederich Rachmanov, rich and powerful corporate bigwig."
"The vampire guy, right? Emily explained some of the rumors and stories about him to me. The Sentinel wants to run some sensational tripe about vampires and suicide attempts or something."
"That might be a shot in the dark, but they've scored a hit on that lead," Tommy explained. "As far as we can discern, Rachmanov really is a vampire with a pretty distinguished pedigree. He is tough shit, and having a runin with him will make for a bad day. Do not, repeat DO NOT engage him should he appear on the scene. He's dangerous and capable, but he isn't the main reason we are interested in this fire."
"We've got wind of a former Horizon employee who might be with Rachmanov, or at least at his mansion. We don't know if its really her or not, nor do we know what she is doing there if it is her. We do know that she is wanted in connection with a multi-million dollar jewelery robbery not too long ago though, and her appearence here, now, is highly intriguing."
"So what is it you want from me then?" Tony pressed for details.
"Find out if it really is Susanna at the premises and determine to what extent she is under Rachmanov's control. It doesn't make sense for her to be there of her own doing, but Rachmanov is out of the country for a few days and she has opportunity to escape that she isn't taking. So find her and get her out, if you can. But you can't tip your hand that that is your goal. Use the cover of the fire investigation to snoop around. We're hoping you can double your cover with the Sentinel here, but if you need to, show up as Compression and you should be able to get access. We are officially hired as investigators now. We don't know if anyone else from here is going to be able to work it or not, so you might be on your own here."
"Sounds find with me, mon. I'll see what I can find out. You let me know if this Rachmanov character gets back though."
"Will do, Tony. Be careful. Seriously. Rachmanov is known to have a penchant for killing supers, but he is probably pretty safe as long as you aren't a threat to him. Assuming he even enters the pictures here."
"Gotcha. We're almost there now. I'll be in touch."
"Who was that?" Emily inquired from the back seat of Tony's cab as they turned onto the road designated as 154 Century Court.
"A friend of mine, trying to help us scoop this story. He says the vampire aspect might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. Horizon might be sending some people out to check out the fire too, so maybe we can get some interviews or photos with them too. Klein will eat that up."
Emily's response died out as the mansion came into view. Vast tendered gardens lead up to the immense building, evoking an awe similar to what the Emerald City wrought on Dorothy and her companions. The west end of the massive main building clearly had been burned and scorch marks were plainly visible through the windows. Tony surmised that the stony walls had attoned for their insufferable cold withstanding the heat of the flames.
Tony stopped in a large gravel parking lot pulled out his camera bags. "Emily, you go on up and see if you can find anyone to talk to. I want to shoot some pictures before we get any explanations and will catch up to you in a couple minutes."
The two parted ways and Tony began lugging he gear towards to the burned out section of the mansion. He took his time and fired off a few shots, keeping an eye on Emily until she disappeared into the shadows of the foyer. Tony then quickened his pace and moved around to the side of the mansion and slipped into a jumble of dense hedges.
His suspicion was confirmed in a few moments when a pair of men walked by murmuring about where Tony could have disappeared to so quickly. It was clear they were being watched.
Tony stashed his cameras under the hedge and slipped out of his cabbie vest and the rest of his street clothes. He was glad that he'd worn his suit with the Horizon logo on the outside today. He pulled the hood up and over his head and eyes before compressing down to about 2 feet tall.
Without worrying about Emily, Compression slid out from the bushes carrying a camera and shimmied up the wall in a flash before disappearing through the smoke stained window and into the dark fortress of the vampire Kaspien.
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