Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
Mirov spends the night draped over a clotheshorse in the living room of Mother Bear's apartment.
General Winter selects one of the thirty bedrooms he has access to in his mansion and sleeps soundly.
It is a nice sunny morning, although freezing cold with a slight breeze blowing.
Mirov has created a couple of scatter cushions to replace the manky old ones in Mother Bear's house (they are no longer part of him after he sheds them). Then he wanders around as Napalm for a bit, but naked. Mother Bear has to insist that he grows clothes and/or changes out of the form of Napalm, otherwise she will have to throw him out! He agrees - much to the disappointment of Mother Bear's two sons.
The whole extended Karolevna family, plus Napalm and Mirov, eats porridge with curd cheese, tea and bread for breakfast. Mother Bear explains all to her husband - including the idea that their offspring will evolve and populate the world. "Result!" is a paraphrase of his response.
Mother Bear asks her husband to continue covering for her by saying that she is still in Krasnoyarsk to the people at the tractor factory.
Adrik brings breakfast and a freshly ironed newspaper to General Winter. He opens the curtains to the bright morning sunshine and lays out a fresh suit for the General to wear. In his newspaper General Winter reads that:
Akula wakes up in his flat and immediately reflects on what has happened. He makes a decision - all this almost getting killed for the sake of the world and getting no thanks or reward is getting him down, and will not continue (resentment of the rewards received by American super heroes compared to the paltry rewards the Moscow Superheroes get are more than a small part of this!) He gets up, new purpose in his actions.
Napalm and Mirov, on discovering the news about the Northern River Terminal, leave the Karolevna's apartment for a quiet back alley then fly off there to investigate. Mirov flies as a formation of ten small different-coloured rockets, each leaving a different coloured rocket trail.
General Winter makes a (rather confused and slightly drowned out by Mirov's rocket motors) conference call to get the rest of the party together. Akula and Mother Bear take the Metro to Police Headquarters. General Winter takes his limousine. On the way, Akula decides to quit his job and make money instead by taking it from the criminals he apprehends. They, remarkably, do end up meeting at the Moscow Police Headquarters, in Taganka.
At Police HQ, Akula, General Winter and Mother Bear declare who they are to the desk sergeant and ask to speak to Captain Ostranko. We are sent right up (on Ostranko's standing orders). We climb the stairs (the lifts are out of order again!). General Winter creates an ice slide up the stairs and speeds upstairs. People dodge aside. The General leaves half of the staircase as a baby Cresta Run.
"Bloody hell, you're a sight for sore eyes," says Ostranko as they enter his office, "where have you been?!"
"When have we been may be more appropriate," replies Mother Bear.
Napalm and Mirov (now in glider form for stealth although this is slightly spoilt by his being with the highly un-stealthy Napalm) circle the remains of three and a half warehouses on a quay at the Northern River Terminal in the Tushino district. The whole area is cordoned off with police barricades. The remains of various crates are scattered about the place, and there is a lot of rubble. The concrete itself has also been smashed up in places. A man hole cover has been smashed open to make it big enough for a monster - the creature apparently escaped through a storm drain.
A more detailed examination of the warehouses reveals:
In all cases there are nowhere near enough remains to fill the warehouses - some of the stuff has been taken away. However, quite a lot of stuff is also smashed under the rubble.
Mirov shifts into a form with a sensitive nose (a huge nose on legs, in fact) and traces the narcotic smell towards the smashed open drain entrance. A variety of human type scents go in the same direction. He determines that it would be hard to follow the scent through the storm drain - a fresher trail would be easier - but he thinks it won't be impossible to do. Looking around in the drain it seems that the monster's trail heads westwards, away from the waterfront.
He comes back and uses his shapeshifting to flow down under the rubble and poke about. He finds a single body under the rubble - an armed, well built thugly chap, in a tracksuit, apparently crushed to death. Mirov and Napalm decide to try following the scent - with Mirov still in giant nose form!
Back at Police HQ Ostranko is wondering where Mirov and Napalm are. He seems not to know about Nut yet. Mother Bear explains. She also describes our recent adventures with DEMON, The Rose in particular, and the time travelling forests. Ostranko nods sagely, taking careful notes by tape recorder, and thanks us politely for the briefing.
He then describes the recent background to the monster attacks. We sit, drink tea, and listen:
Back in the storm drain in Tushino district, both Napalm and Mirov can tell that despite its being a storm drain it also smells as if it has been used as a sewer. Mirov can just about follow the trail - the fact that the monster could not fit down any of the small side drains helps them track it. There are also marks where it scraped along the walls and roof.
The drain goes on for several hundred metres before they come across a rough, smashed, canoe-helmeted monster sized hole in the side of the drain. The hole goes on for a few metres through the earth and then emerges into a Metro tunnel. This is probably the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line. As they come to the end of the rough tunnel a Metro train narrowly misses them.
Mirov detects the scent heading northwards. They follow it carefully, every now and again ducking into niches in the walls to get out of the way of Metro trains as they go. They can see large scuff marks in the dust and dirt on the tunnel floor. The next Metro station is Skhodnenskaya. People on the platform boggle as the two emerge from the tunnel onto the platform.
There is no sign of the monster, and the trail is lost in the thousands of scents of people who have been through here since the attack (which took place early in the morning, when this station would have been closed). The monster would have been able to fit in and out of the station through the steps out without damaging it - certainly no damage is evident anywhere.
Napalm goes up to the ticket hall. She has a look at the station gates (now folded back out of the way) but sees no signs of damage. She then questions a nervous looking station attendant who calls over another, fat, middle aged attendant. He tells Napalm that the gates are closed every night, and were opened routinely this morning at 5AM, showing no signs of damage. He shows Napalm the padlock, and she investigates it. It shows no signs of damage, but does have some fresh scratches on it. It could have been picked, but shows no real signs of tampering. A station service entrance is mentioned.
Mirov, still a giant nose on legs, stays on the platform and looks around. He investigates the far tunnel and determines that the scent trail does not continue in that direction. He has to duck under a Metro train that comes by as he does this. The only other canoe-helmeted monster sized entrances are the two main tunnels between the platform and street level. The monster must have entered the station as the scent goes right up to the platform before being masked by the thousands of scents of commuters. He examines the walls and roof of the tunnels (as people won't have been touching them) and does detect a whiff of a scent on the roof of one of the stairways to street level, as if the monster brushed its arm or something on the wall. He follows the scent (there are a few other traces here and there) and meets Napalm. He is still in big nose form.
Mirov investigates the inside of the padlock with a little eye on a tentacle. He finds scratches and things consistent with normal use and others that do not seem consistent with normal use that seem recent. It could have been picked but there is nothing conclusive.
They both investigate the station service entrance (with the station attendant in tow). The door is small and armoured with three sturdy looking locks. Other than graffiti and a bad smell as if someone used it as a toilet, it is intact.
They conclude that the lock on the main station entrance was picked, the monster entered the Metro tunnel, crashed through the Metro tunnel to the storm drain, emerged and wrecked the warehouses before retracing its steps, at which point the gates were closed behind it. This is curious as the attack we witnessed did not seem as carefully organised.
Back at Police HQ, Captain Ostranko shows us a map of the monster attacks - around 15 of them, scattered but obviously focused on mafioski haunts. Also on the map are the Black Butterfly attacks - she does not seem to leave collateral damage and chooses her targets carefully. The canoe-helmeted monster attacks, on the other hand, have inflicted significant collateral damage and civilian casualties.
The only clue appears to be unmarked black vans that have been seen in the vicinity before or after the attacks. Some have been destroyed during the attacks (like the one at the attack we witnessed). The particular make of van has been investigated and the specific details of those left behind have been followed up, but false identities have been used and no connections have been made. The vans are purchased by phone, from various dealers, and are picked up and paid for by cash. A security video of someone purchasing a van is shown, but it is of such low quality that the sex of the person cannot be determined, yet alone their identity. It was definitely not a canoe-helmeted monster though! Dealers have been asked to contact the police if any more phone orders are placed, but this cannot be relied on.
Napalm phones Mother Bear and tells her about their investigations, what they have found out and their conclusions. Captain Ostranko is surprised - the police had not investigated far enough to find the where the monster broke through into the Metro. Napalm asks where another attack happened so that she and Mirov can go to see if the same type of escape route has been used before. Captain Ostranko says the attack before last was at the Voykovskaya Metro station. Mirov and Napalm get all the information they can about the attack from Captain Ostranko, then they ring off and make ready to make for the area of Voykovskaya Metro.
We see a dark coloured van go by as they do so, so Mirov goes to examine it, just in case. It is full of window frames. No other dark coloured vans can be seen at present (Mirov checks for any hidden courtyards full of them), so they fly off to the scene of the last but one attack.
Mother Bear asks what we can do to help with the investigation. Ostranko suggests "giving them a brutal beating next time you get the chance". We decide to monitor the police radio frequencies on our headsets, but otherwise to join the others at the Voykovskaya investigation scene. A squad car is laid on for the journey, and off they go.
Mirov and Napalm arrive at Voykovsyaya Metro. They immediately see a cordoned off area nearby. It looks like a bar on the corner of the ground floor of a tenement building has been smashed out. Props now hold up the corner of the building. The bar is totally devastated and now occupied by the homeless. Another storm drain manhole cover has been smashed open into a monster-sized hole...
Akula, Mother Bear and General Winter arrive in the squad car, which then leaves. Akula splashes down into the sewer and heads in the direction of the nearest tube station (south). He glows cherenkov-blue to light the way for the others, who follow him after Mirov makes a rope ladder for them to go down. Napalm stays outside (to avoid methane explosions if possible) and flies towards the station by air - it is only a hundred metres away or so.
In the drain Mirov smells the remnants of the trail of a canoe-helmeted monster, but it is faint and hard to detect over the stench of the sewer. Mother Bear turns to bear form (Mirov tells a joke about a Bear and a Squirrel appropriate to the scene), instantly getting excrement all over her paws, and can also detect the scent of several people. They follow the scent, which actually goes away from the closest Metro station, northwards. They can also see scuff marks in the dirt on the walls.
After about 500 metres a large hole in the drain wall is found, as in the previous scene but this time heading upwards at 45 degrees and joining with the tunnel of the Zamoskvoretskaya line. We enter the Metro tunnel and follow the line northwards, dodging Metro trains as we do so. Mother Bear turns back into human form to enable her to fit into the niches in the walls we're using to get out of the way of the trains. The scent is till detectable in the tunnel, as is the smell of the sewer the monster has tracked into the Metro tunnel (along with some muck for the first few metres) which makes it easy to follow, as do the scuff marks in the dust on the floor.
Napalm makes it to the Voykovsyaya Metro station entrance. It is similar to the Skhodnenskaya Metro station she and Mirov were at previously. This is not the same station as the one the others are heading for. She reconfirms that the gates here were opened as usual and not damaged. The lock looks to have similar tamper like markings to the last one (she confiscates it from the attendant, signing a receipt). Then she goes down onto the platform and looks around, ignoring the looks of the startled Metro users. She cannot find any scuff marks on the tunnel floor as were seen in the last tunnel, so flies off down the tunnel towards where the others would have gone into the sewer, avoiding the Metro trains as she does so.
She finally finds the hole - she smells it before she sees it. But she gets there before the others emerge from it. She sees the scuff marks going off northwards, turns around and returns the lock to the Voykovsyaya station attendant, then flies back. At this point the others have emerged into the Metro tunnel, and she quickly catches up with the rest of the party.
Napalm flashes past them and goes on to the next station - Vodniy Stadion. The rest of the party jog along after her. The scuff marks and scent trail enter but do not leave the station by the train tunnels. There is no trace of scent on the platform or the passenger tunnels, but as before it could easily be masked by the scents of thousands of commuters (especially as the scent trail is older here than at the previous place).
Mother Bear suggests the possibility that the monster boarded an unofficial train to arrive and escape. Napalm goes out of the station to ask the neighbours if they heard any late night trains on that day. The concierge of a nearby apartment block did not notice any such train noises. Several other locals are asked, both concierges and homeless people. None noticed any late night trains but one of the homeless people says that, "Boris noticed some sort of monster come out of the station and get into a van." His friends think he was drunk.
Napalm has them take her to Boris. He is woken up from under a pile of newspapers, and confirms the story when Roubles are waved under his nose. He (rather blearily) says the van was dark coloured, and headed eastwards after the event and contained a couple of uniformed figure. He says the uniforms were dark and tight fitting, like super hero costumes, and involved helmets. They prodded the monster into the van with sticks but it did not seem to struggle.
Back in the station, Mother Bear smells the roof and walls of the place and detects the monster scent again. The gates and lock are investigated by Mirov and show signs of possibly being picked, like the last one.
Napalm comes back into the station and takes Mirov to meet Boris. Mirov offers three of his hands to be shaken. Boris is confused. Boris is then subjected to Mirov's human photo-fit party trick in order to get the best possible idea of what these uniformed people look like.
Akula and General Winter watch.
Mother Bear goes off to try and clean herself up a bit. She uses the toilet in a little café close to the station, but has to buy a coffee.
After a while Boris is happy with the shape, which does not look like anything we have encountered before. The helmet is round like an open face motorcycle helmet with a visor covering only the eyes. Boris is rewarded again, and staggers off to a nearby shop to celebrate by buying more alcohol.
Napalm phones Ostranko to see if he can help with the identification of these uniformed types. He does not recognise the description but promises to investigate further.
Napalm then flies off to follow up her investigations into the Wulf Security training compound by visiting some of her friends who did not fail the entrance checks. General Winter follows her and waits nearby just in case she needs assistance.
Akula catches the Metro and heads for the University to see if any medical staff may have shown an interest in the sort of surgery involved in the creation of the canoe-helmeted monsters. In particular the new doctor at the Afghan Veterans Foundation, Doctor Victor Xavierovich Stregoi, is to be investigated.
Mirov and Mother Bear split up to investigate the other attack scenes and see if they all use the sewer/Metro escape route modus operandi.
Napalm arrives at the Wulf Security compound on Prospekt Andropova in the south of Moscow, near the old Kolomanskoe Estate. She is welcomed by her friends. She is given Budweiser beer (Bud is a rare and precious thing in Moscow). She asks about the veterans that were made into the last canoe-helmeted monster. No one has heard anything about them. The friends politely refuse to discuss their work - "more that our jobs are worth," they say. Dr Borodinsky is remembered favourably by them. They do not think of Dr Stregoi all that badly either. Lunch is served and Napalm joins them for a meal.
General Winter waits patiently outside. He may not feel the cold but it is boring.
Akula arrives at the university. In his Akula form he heads for the medical department. He enters the teaching hospital and asks the receptionist to contact someone to speak to someone about transplants. He is directed to a Dr Sunislav, who heads to the Transplant Department, and is directed to his office. No patients have heart attacks or anything from his strange appearance as he heads for Dr Sunislav's office.
Once there he is admitted to the doctor's office and meets him. Akula introduces himself, and explains that we are investigating the monster attacks across the city, and would like information on transplants given how the monsters seem to be surgically assembled. The doctor says rejection of the body parts would be a bug problem, although for very short periods it could be possible, as long as you didn't mind the creature dying. But the techniques are far in advance of anything they do at the hospital. He cannot think of anyone who would do this kind of 'work'.
Akula thanks Dr Sunislav and leaves. He then contacts Captain Ostranko and asks him to look into any dodgy transplant activity listed in the police records. Ostranko says he already has people looking into it. Akula then goes to the records office but they cannot help without written authority to do so, so he goes back to the receptionist. He checks whether Dr Stregoi is on the staff here. He is not. He heads for the University library.
Mother Bear and Mirov continue searching the previous scenes of monster attacks:
Searching all these attack sites takes most of the remainder of the day. Mirov and Mother Bear return home, via bathhouses to clean themselves off.
Napalm gets thoroughly drunk with her friends - so as not to blow her cover, of course!
General Winter gets on his mobile phone and discusses with Adrik presents to buy for the whole team. Given that he is far and away the richest person in the group.
In the University library, Akula searches for articles by Dr Stregoi. The index says that there are no articles by Dr V. X. Stregoi in the last ten years. The Russian Institute of PsychoTherapists (RIPT) has a membership list in the library. Dr Borodinsky is in the list but Dr Stregoi is not! Akula phones Napalm and tells her this. She does not take it well and immediately leaves for the good doctor's place of work - the Afghan Veteran's Foundation.
General Winter is warned by Akula (just as he sees Napalm leaving) and pursues. Napalm is too fast though and gets to the Veterans Foundation first. She politely asks the receptionist if she can see Dr Stregoi. But he is not in for the afternoon. She makes an appointment for 2 o'clock the next afternoon. Just as she has done this General Winter zooms up on an ice slide, causing a great deal of fuss.
Napalm slips away into a cupboard, though General Winter sees this quite clearly - her drunkenness is impairing her stealth capabilities at the moment. But he ignores her and asks to see Dr Stregoi. He tells the receptionist that it is quite urgent, that we suspect he may need some protection - his life may be in danger. He is offered an appointment for 10 o'clock the next morning, so he speaks directly to Dr Stregoi's secretary and explains the situation. She offers him an appointment at 8 o'clock tomorrow! He emphasises the danger that the doctor is in again...
Akula goes on to search the records for doctors who have been struck off the medical register. No Stregoi is listed for the last ten years. References to the word transplant pick up five names: