Night Shift

Volume 3, Episode 3

Friday, November 19th, 1999.  The DNA results are in: the victim was Rachel Pryor, a mutant and fast-food clerk at McRaney's, with an address in Snowtown.  The other swab, containing mucus from the perp's sneeze, contained no usable DNA but showed traces of high-grade immunosuppressants.  In addition, a background check among the numerous suspects picked up at the fight reveals three Hypermart employees. 

Mortis gets his body back from the morgue, covered in Sharpie pen markings indicating cutting marks for an autopsy never performed.  He re-examines the drop scene at the abandoned school using post-cognition.  He gets an unsually detailed and powerful vision, perhaps thanks to the additional information obtained from Therius' time-travel, or to the recent indignities he has been through.  He views the body drop like a film run backwards, sees the suspect get back in a van, to Hypermart in Snowtown, in the butcher's area; sees Rachel Pryor with her throat cut wide open, wielding a knife and cutting herself, then moving backwards to the sink, cutting her own throat over the sink, then getting dressed in her McRaney's uniform, then coming in with the suspect — who turns and looks directly at Johnny.

Katie Landsen is back from D.C., but the Vermillion Terror Alert is still in force and Sgt. Fischer remains on detail there.  As greetings, she learns that the investigation is taking the team to Snowtown...

Snowtown was around before Neopolis was built, and was more or less absorbed by the science city.  It now exists on the lowest level, perpetually shadowed by the gravity rings, and often shrouded in cold fog from the Neopolis weather control devices.  Powers DO NOT WORK in Snowtown, and advanced technology breaks down rapidly.  Nobody knows why (super science analysis doesn't work there either).  Snowtown is inhabited by the down and out who either a) don't have powers but want to live in Neopolis anyway, b) have powers but hate them and want them gone, c) were living here when Neopolis was built, or are the descendants of people who were living here when Neopolis was built.

The SOB team arms up, get body armour, and contact the Health Department for an inspection of the Snowtown Hypermart.  After a series of rapid resignations, they finally get Oliver Puny, whose micro-vision is usually very helpful to his work as a Health Inspector.  Puny is the only one dedicated enough to tackle Snowtown.

Wary of any advanced technology's performance in Snowtown, Therius picks an unusual choice from the vehicle pool: the old Stewart tank haunted by Jeb Stewart himself.  At first, Jeb Stewart is happy to see some action, but he is... disenchanted when he discovers that the team is headed for Snowtown, as he cannot get in this area.

Parker teleports with Eulalia to the edge of Snowtown, and they await the rest of the team.  When the team in in sight, Parker attempts a teleport into Snowtown, down the street, and discovers that this is perhaps the hardest jump he's ever made.  Katie feels no ill effects going through, nor does Therius, though Selene's amulet appears worthless and Katie does not dare use her gadgets to find out whether they keep functioning.  Eulalia's mind feels sluggish, and Mortis... 

Mortis, who is driving the Haunted Tank as they cross into Snowtown, suddenly has a violent seizure.  After shaking madly for a few moments (nearly causing a deadly accident), he falls to the ground, motionless.  When his team mates check on him, they discover that he is... alive.  Just a normal, breathing human being, like he hasn't been in decades.

The SOB team, with Oliver Puny along, first heads for McRaney's.  Parking the Haunted Tank near the most dismal, graffiti-covered fast food joint in Neopolis, the SOB team walks into Rachel Pryor's last known place of employment, except for Parker who takes position on the roof to watch the surroundings, while Oliver waits in the vehicle. 

Rachel's photo is still appearing on a tawdry "Employee of the Month" board.  Behind the counter is a pimply, sullen adolescent who grudgingly asks for their order.  Therius flashes his badge and asks him when he last saw Rachel, which turned out to be the previous day after lunch, at the end of her shift.  She left alone, though she sometimes was met by her boyfriend after a shift.  In her employee locker are small items of little value, such as a make-up kit, a change of clothes that needs to be laundered, a pair of beat-up running shoes, a photo of her with her boyfriend, a picture of Smax cut from a magazine, and a diary scribbled in multicoloured pen.  Segama dusts everything for fingerprints, but with little hope of something useful.  They also talk to the manager, who seems mostly interested in getting them out of the place as soon as possible, since they frightened off all the customers.

From his perch on the roof, Parker spots a couple of prowlers sporting the insignia of the Fanboys, the largest street gang of Snowtown.  The Fanboys are reputed as pretty feral and predatory, and delight in catching science hero types on their territory.  They are seldom seen by day, and tend to favor travelling by alleys and sewers.  Rumors of cannibalism have not been confirmed.  Parker yells at them to get away from the vehicle, and starts running after them for a short distance.  When he returns to the Haunted Tank, it's now sporting the Snowtown tag in bright red paint.

When the team tries to get back in the tank to head for the Hypermart, they have to convince a frightened Oliver Puny, who locked the hatch, to let them in.  They have to coax him out when they reach the Hypermart store; but once he's out and in charge of the health inspection, his demeanour changes progressively.  He squares his shoulders and lengthens his strides, framed by Neopolis' finest; by the time he reaches the front door, he is marching firmly.  He spots the beefy, greasy slob of a manager and announces his inspection in a ringing voice.

The manager is incredulous and less than cooperative; no one remembers a Health Department Inspector actually ever looking at anything in Snowtown.  While he and Oliver argue the finer points of Neopolis health ordinances, with Nitro and Parker as backups, Therius escorts Mortis and Segama to examine the butchery area.  Mortis recognizes the location he saw in his earlier vision at the scene of the body dump; Segama finds traces of human blood in the sink, the floor drain, and on most of the knives.

While the action in the back of the store heats up and the manager is being inerrogated by Lt. Therius, Hypermart customers decide to declare a spontaneous 100% off sale.  Parker tries to keep the place under control while his colleagues conduct a forensic examination of the butchery – and runs smack into his own mother, busily shoplifting!

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