-----???/Our Protagonist-----

-----Back alleys of Brockton Bay, CT-----

-----??/??/????-----

Deciding that I needed an edge on the technical side of things, I moved my coterie to begin seeking out two sets of targets. The Telepaths would be on the lookout for Humans who possessed the sufficient knowledge I required, while my 30 Phantoms would begin raiding hardware and electronics stores.

-----Officer James Lopez-----

-----Streets of Brockton Bay, CT-----

-----01/05/2011-----

Well, looks like tonight's going to be a quiet night. Well, quiet for Brockton Bay that is. Sure, we got the damn Asian rage dragon, the literal Nazis, and the Merchants I suppose, but I guess everyone's more or less decided to take the night off.

Not that I'm complaining, it's not like we'd be able to do anything about those bastards. Fucking PRT waving their jurisdictional bullshit all over the place, stopping us regular cops from bustin' heads.

All of a sudden, my radio crackles to life as dispatch radios in an announcement. "All units, be advised. We're receiving multiple intruder alarms at a number of hardware and electronics stores in the vicinity of the Trainyards and Boardwalk. All patrol car officers are to respond to the nearest location immediately."

Huh. Guess tonight's not going to be as quiet as I thought. A new Tinker? Couldn't be. Not for simultaneous hits like this. Probably some thugs looking to score. The timing's a bit suspicious though.

I look over at my partner, Ramirez, and ask him "you ready for this?"

He gives me a cocky look as he replies "anytime."

With that, I switch on the sirens and make for Joe's Electronic Shop.

*A Few Minutes Later*

Pulling up to Joe's Electronics', I see something straight out of a fever dream, or a sci-fi induced nightmare. A small group of shadowy things that vaguely resemble people. Their bodies seemingly made of some sort of oily slime giving off a black gas with piercing white holes that I guess pass for eyes.

"Uh, Lopez? You seein' this shit?" Ramirez asks me.

I nod in response. "Call it in. This clearly reeks of Parahuman involvement."

Ramirez looks at me in disbelief. "Really? You don't say. But they're right there!"

As he says that, a little too loudly for my liking, the things all stop what they're doing and turn to look at us.

The closest one then speaks, for lack of a better word. "̸̤̮̠̺͈̽́̌͘͘Ţ̶͖̰͓͗̐̋̒h̶̙̮̓̇e̶̱̒r̶̼͎̂́̅ȩ̴̮͍̇̀'̸̢̟͂̉̎s̵͇̖̻̻̦͒ ̵͉̳͗͂̒͝s̷̮͓͍͍̓́͝ͅŏ̸̘͕͛̂̓m̶̫̭̓ͅé̴͖̟̈͌t̷̝̱̆ḧ̸̟̮͍́̃͋́ị̵͓̘̮͑ͅn̴̦̳̪̔̕g̶̪̻͔̯̾̒ ̶̨̡̟͎͊̌̏͒ͅō̸̗̗̐͘ṽ̵̲͚̹̯̯̎͗ë̵̱͔͖́̀̔ͅr̶̢͋͌̒͜ ̸͓̯̭̼̪͊̉͌t̷̼͂̀̚ḧ̵̫̦̜́͊̔̀̇͜ḛ̴͓̭͘r̶̡͖͓̤̚͝é̷͓̭͇́͊̃̕!̶͎̺̤͚͒̎̑͆"̸͓̓̑͒̽͘

It came out all scratchy and distorted, but it sounded like it said "There's something over there."

Another one then responds. "̶̥̐W̷̰̓h̵̭̹͗y̸̪̼̋̕ ̶̲͊̏a̴̲̍͋r̷̼̗̈́e̵̞͒͘ ̵̥̓̓y̴̦͇̍̚o̸̹͊ù̶͔̗ ̶͚͝ͅĥ̶̘̌é̶͔̯r̴̫͛̑ȅ̷̹̉?̵͍̼̈"̶̰̩̒̎

Why are we here? "We are with the Brockton Bay Police Department! Cease and desist your illegal activities immediately!"

A third one then responds. "̶̡̪̫͉̾̃͛E̵̦͐̄́̕s̸̡͈̜͈̩͐̓c̴̙͖̬͎̤̎̑a̶͍͚͉͈̳͆͛̀͋͝p̷̻͎̘̒̽͊̽e̷̢̟̐͒ͅ!̴̬͚͍̦̘͒͊͊̚̚"̸̢͙̝̮̪̊

With that, things pop off immediately. They extend their arms into a number of shadowy tendrils to grab bags full of stolen loot and make for an open manhole cover.

Ramirez shouts "freeze! Hands! Er, tendrils in the air!" Only to be ignored.

Ramirez then fires his service weapon into the air, immediately causing the creatures to stop and look at him. It's very disconcerting looking at the ones who paused mid-step and are holding that position, as though looking at pictures.

Ramirez shouts again. "This is your last warning! Put down the bags, get down on your knees, and put your hands behind your heads!"

The lead creature cocks its head to the side, then shouts "̶̼̞̜̮̍̉͂͐͘͝G̴̠͍̖͍̭̝̒̊̑ͅe̷̢͕̺̺̽͛̅͊͗̕ͅt̶̢̢̩̳̝͍̀ͅ ̶̧̧̻͚̺̱̩̩͕͋̊͂͂̿͌̈́̂̄͜o̶̬̖̮̣̙̦͙̺̓͊̊́́͜u̶̙͍͚̳̰̝͓̔̈́̈̓̍͊͌͝ͅt̵͈̓͛̆̿̒̓͝ͅ!̴̖̘̆̿̒̈́̚"̸̢̹̗͓͚́̓̑́͛̂͛̕

With that, the four of them then start producing some strange yellowish glow from around where their hearts would be.

I then shout to Ramirez "duck!" Before the creatures unleash bolts of energy that explode on contact with violent force. I was lucky enough to get behind the car, curling up into a ball as the glass from the windows shattered and rained down around me. I didn't see or hear Ramirez.

I tried to peak and get a better look at the situation, but the creatures kept firing at the car. However, I did notice that the frequency of the attacks was steadily diminishing. Eventually, it stopped all together, at which point I stood up to look towards where I last saw the creatures.

They had seemingly all escaped into the sewers. "Ramirez! Sound off!" Only to be met with silence.

Looking around, I saw an alarming amount of blood, with a trail of it leading down into the sewers. Shit! They took him!

I reach for my radio and shout to dispatch. "Officer down! Repeat! Officer Down! Joe's Electronic Shop! Hostiles have captured Officer Ramirez!"

"Lopez?! Where the Hell've you been?! We've had similar reports from all of the reported burglarized sites. The PRT is responding along with EMS. Are you injured?" Dispatch replies.

"Negative. I'm uninjured. I don't know about Ramirez though. They took him."

"Understood. Stand by." Right. Sometimes, I hate my job.

-----Officer Ramirez-----

-----???-----

-----01/05/2011-----

Ugh. My fucking head hurts. Attempting to get up, I'm immediately made aware of the excruciating pain in my, well, everywhere, so I decide to remain motionless. It hurts to breath.

I groggily attempt to recall the sequence of events that led to my current state, and eventually recall responding to the burglary at Joe's Electronics', encountering the creatures, one of their attacks clipped me, and I guess I was knocked out.

I then hear some rather loud stomping, and taking a look around, I see that I'm in some dimly lit chamber somewhere. Probably in the sewers if the smell's anything to go by.

More disconcertingly is the number of those shadow people stomping around, dumping a number of tools and electronics in vaguely defined piles. Then there's the floating creatures. Most are these black blobs with dangling tendrils with a glowing purple light in the center mass.

There's this one rather small one though that's just a black writhing mass levitating in the air surrounded by a yellowish membrane of light. This one seems to steadily approach me before extending one of its lower tendrils towards me. The last thought that passes through my head is a sharp pain and something being drained from me.

-----???/Our Protagonist-----

-----Sewers of Brockton Bay-----

-----01/05/2011-----

I finally bothered to keep track of the date. Not really sure why it's important though. But it feels significant for some reason. Not this date in particular, but the general time frame.

I'm rather annoyed at my existence being even remotely exposed, but it couldn't be helped. I knew that making a move like this was bound to draw attention, but it's fine. I'll manage.

Draining the neural energy of this "Officer Ramirez", I finally had enough for some Human Neuromod-equivalent modifications.

Thankfully, knowledge of maintaining ones weapons was compulsory for the BBPD officers I consumed. We were also fortunate to capture the owner of one of the electronics stores we raided for me to consume.

Unfortunately, it's not enough for my purposes. Thankfully, I accounted for this. I had a couple of left over Mimics that I ordered to conceal themselves at the locations. I only need wait for the Mimics to report the presence of the owners, then send the Phantoms to capture the owners.

-----Director Emily Piggot-----

-----Director's Office, PRT Field Office, Brockton Bay, CT-----

-----01/06/2011-----

Being woken up in the middle of the night was not one of my favorite activities. Being told that I need to come into the office before the sun comes up even less so.

"This had better be really damn important." I all but growl at my Deputy Director, Renick, as well as Armsmaster, leader of the local Protectorate Branch.

Renick replies. "I'm afraid that this is a matter of grave importance. Earlier, in the late hours of the fifth, the BBPD reported simultaneous burglaries of a number of hardware and electronics stores in the vicinity of the Trainyards and Boardwalk.

They didn't feel that this was the work of a Tinker due to the simultaneous attacks, and didn't believe it to be the work of the gangs since there were no reports of gang movement in the areas in question. They chalked it up to some unpowered thugs looking to make a quick buck.

However, this is not the case. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding officers all reported more or less the same thing. Each of the stores was being robbed by a small group of "humanoid shadows", is the term they used.

Armsmaster then flicks on the projector to display dash cam footage, only it's incredibly low resolution and staticky as all hell. "What's with the garbage resolution and static? Surely the BBPD isn't that broke?"

Armsmaster then replies "no, they aren't. And this is after Dragon and I attempted to clean up the footage from the BBPD's dash cameras as well as CCTV in the area. The cleanest footage we have comes from cameras nearly half a block away."

The displayed footage then shows a distant view of the stores being robbed by shadow figures of some sort. "Due to the absence of reported Tinkertech, we suspect that these beings possess some sort of Stranger/Shaker Power that interferes with electronics, as it wasn't just the cameras, but also all nearby electronics in their vicinity that displayed signs of interference."

Ah, the flickering street lights are being caused by them? I thought the city utility services were just slacking off again.

Armsmaster then continues. "Initially, the creatures seemed to ignore the presence of the BBPD entirely, seemingly content to just continue looting the stores without a care in the world. However, when the officers finally attempted to call out to the creatures, they finally acknowledged the presence of the BBPD, and attempted to flee. Once the officers displayed the willingness to escalate to using firearms, the creatures responded with coordinated Blaster attacks. The most alarming part was that any officer that was sufficiently wounded, was then taken by the creatures down into the sewers with them as they retreated."

Watching the footage of the creatures laying down suppressing fire on officers that managed to retreat into cover while they made a very disconcerting tactical withdraw, complete with abducting any wounded officers, I was forced to suppress a violent shudder at the flashbacks to Ellisburg that were creeping their way into the forefront of my mind.

Nilbog's monsters, for all of their terror, were little more than mindless beasts. Sure, there were indications of more intelligent monsters among his ranks, and they did display pack-hunting capabilities similar to wolves or lions, but this? This was something that more closely aligned with the tactical acumen of humans in my mind. Which made it that much worse.

"I suppose then, that we are to operate under the assumption that these creatures are the products of a bio-Tinker due to their uniform appearance and power set as opposed to a number of Capes with alarmingly similar appearances and Powers?"

Armsmaster grimly nods. "That would be the more likely scenario, yes."

Sometimes, I really hate my life, and the prospect of just putting myself out of my misery sounds oh so tempting. Unfortunately, I'm a soldier, and I've got a job to do.

"I want these things to be given the utmost priority. The other gangs are problematic, but if we're looking at a second Nilbog in the making, then I'll be damned if I let this shithole of a city become a second Ellisburg."