Author’s Note: I still haven’t got around to properly writing up this adventure, but I herewith present the notes/script I wrote to run the game the day we played it… so enjoy a “peek behind the curtain” while I work on the finished tale.
Thorson Conglomerate HQ, New Atlantis, NJ
Thursday 15 June 2017
In the aftermath of what the world in general believes to be the latest attempted invasion by Chronos and his Weldian forces, a grateful city throws a party for the heroes of the day, Astoria’s Vanguard. Everyone who’s anyone in New Atlantis is there, including Mayor Erik Thorson, who awards them a ceremonial key to the city.
Urbana stays away, ostensibly to maintain her monitor duty in the Overwatch, but really so as to not steal the Vanguard’s thunder in their moment of triumph. The Sampson Family, of course, are on Europa with Vitruvian.
Sarah Thorson, the mayor’s daughter, was already a civil rights lawyer before the recent influx of aliens to Earth in the wake of Entropy’s destruction of the planet Halicon and the subsequent upheavals and military losses in the Confederated Union of Words, and has recently been making waves as a leading alien-rights advocate.
Given that her father, recently (if very narrowly) elected to his third term as mayor, has made some questionable legal moves to seize “illegal aliens” – and their technology – and hold them without trial or recourse to counsel, this has put her at loggerheads with him. Tensions are running high with them both there, given that she has led many of the protests against his actions, and won two court victories so far.
With her at the celebration is K’ora-thyn, a blue-furred, hulking behemoth of an alien. He stands over seven feet tall and presents a frightening appearance to most humans at first glance. In fact, he is highly intelligent, a scholar on his home planet of Jevasik. He was already on Earth as part of the Union Ambassador’s entourage when the Stellar Protectorate (very recently officially re-named the Stellar Empire) overran his home system. He now works with Sarah Thorson in defending the legal rights of alien refuges on Earth (or at least in the US), and is currently studying to get a law degree himself. He plans to eventually seek US citizenship, once the courts sort out extraterrestrial immigrant’s rights.
Ella-Va, rescued by the team (and later, on Earth, by Artemis) has recently moved to New Atlantis to accept a job as advisor to the Union Ambassador / Observer, Manga-Tor. Both aliens are at the party, and pleased to see the Vanguard again.
Manga-Tor is accompanied by Daily Star Senior Editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Louise Lancaster. The two seem to be romantically involved, to the discerning observer, although their behavior is so circumspect and proper that they just might be good, old friends enjoying one another’s company.
Meg Halcyon is also at the event, on the job as a reporter for the Vanguard’s home state newspaper, the Oregonian. She’s been in town as long as the Vanguard, having traveled with them on assignment to cover their gig as the Liberty Alliance’s designated replacements.
John Quest and Hadji Singe were in town during the big event, and stayed on specifically to come to this party. They spend some time with Cooper and Meg, and have little liking for Mayor Thorson, which they make abundantly clear to their friends – if off the record, of course.
Protesters are the other major “guests” at the celebration. Two groups have managed to infiltrate a handful of partisans each, trying to use the event to catch the mayor’s (and more importantly, the press’) attention.
The anti-alien crowd want Thorson to keep on “doing something” about all the illegal aliens “flooding” New Atlantis, robbing, murdering and “taking our wimmin!” They are supportive of the mayor’s questionable legal tactics in rounding up aliens – in fact, any and all aliens, legal status be damned!
The others are in favor of giving the alien refugees all the rights and protections of American law, and letting them immigrate and integrate into American society. They oppose the mayor’s “fascistic” attempts to “disappear” the already traumatized visitors, and his seizing of their property, all without due process.
THE FACTS
Erik Thorson is a corrupt, amoral monster, although he’s been good at hiding it for years. He is a puppet/front man for The Forgotten and the Crucible. In 1989, at the age of 28, he murdered his father, Charles, as the price of “admission” into the criminal organization, making the death look natural. He took over as head of Thorson Technologies, changing the focus from tech to bio-pharmacutical and medical research, and the name to Thorson Conglomerate. The company has been a successful legitimate front for the Crucible ever since.
Recently he has been funneling captured alien tech to the Crucible via one of his subsidiary companies, Regal Fabrication. The Forgotten has been very enthused at having new alien devices to study and reverse-engineer in his on-going drive for world domination.
Even more reprehensible, however, is the fact that some of the more “interesting” aliens arrested have also been shipped of to another subsidiary, Helix Labs, and a more dire fate. Thorson has long been in the business of finding ways to “empower” humans – in fact, the infamous Ascendance process was developed by one of his subsidiaries, the now defunct GeneJump.
He’s begun to feel the heat, and been forced to back off considerably, in recent weeks, not least because of the legal victories his daughter has won. Increased federal scrutiny has made it much more difficult to “disappear” both the aliens and their tech.
Sarah Thorson runs a non-profit law center aimed at both traditional Earther immigration and civil rights, and the very new emerging field of off-world refugee rights. The Pavonia Law Center is run out of modest offices in the North Canal district of the city.
She knows nothing of her fathers ancient crimes, barely remembering her murdered grandfather who died when she was just three, nor of his association with the Crucible. She does, however, have her suspicions regarding his possible connections to organized crime. She also despises his politics, which she’s seen firsthand when she worked for her his administration fresh out of law school.
After less than two years she quit and joined the law firm of Keldan & Reese, well-known champions of civil rights in New Atlantis. She’s had a distant relationship with her father ever since. The last six months have been especially rocky as her new practice, less than a year old, has scored two victories in court opposing his administration’s policies concerning treatment of alien refugees and their property.
Sarah was inspired to get into the alien-rights arena after reading the eight part series on the destruction of Halicon by Meg Halcyon and Louise Lancaster, which ran in September of last year, and makes that clear to both when she meets them tonight.
Recently Sarah and K’ora-thyn have been is some disagreement in how to proceed after the two injunctions their Pavonia Law Center has won against the city administration. He wants to go after the mayor in person, to hold him accountable personally for the crimes committed by his administration; she worries both about the legal precedents and the personal costs of completely dynamiting her relationship with her father.
Ted Harper was a former intern at the Law Center, an intense young man with a passion for justice, but also a great impatience at the slow turning of the wheels of the legal system. Four months ago, at age 23, he was diagnosed with a severe case of Hashimoto’s disease, a devastating and potentially fatal condition.
Three months ago he left both graduate school and his internship to pursue a potential cure, via a revolutionary gene-therapy being developed by TheraGene, a division of biotech giant Helix Labs. His friends and former co-workers knew what he was seeking, but he was fairly quiet about specifics, at the request of the company, who claimed trade secrets were a concern. Three weeks ago was the last time any of his friends saw him.
In fact, TheraGene is a front, providing real gene therapy but also stealing patients’ genomes for their own research. Since acquiring several aliens, they’ve been developing a new method of hybridizing alien and human genes, seeking a new method for creating controllable super-beings. Ted was one of three patients who met their criteria of: genetic compatibility, no close family, and a certain specific psyche profile; he became their third test subject…
TIMELINE:
18:00 – Thursday 15 June 2017
The soirée to celebrate the Vanguard’s defeat of Chronos begins in the Grand Lobby of Thorson Conglomerate’s headquarters building.
18:00 – 21:00
The Vanguard meet various guests, notably Mayor Erik Thorson, activist-lawyer Sarah Thorson, alien scholar and law student K’ora-thyn, Daily Star editor Louise Lancaster, Union Ambassador Manga-Tor, John Quest and Hadji Singe, and a slew of alien-rights protesters, both pro and con.
19:38
The festivities are interrupted by a group of pro-alien protesters who managed to infiltrate the event to put their arguments to the mayor directly. Anti-alien protesters also managed to sneak in some partisans, and the two groups confront one another. Security belatedly moves in to break it up and ejects the first set of protesters (but not the second).
Mayor Thorson is obviously in sympathy with the anti-alien group, despite his politician’s attempt to at least appear even-handed in front of the press. The confrontation re-ignites an obvious long running argument with his daughter.
This in turn sparks a disagreement with her associate, K’ora-thyn over the tactics they should pursue against the city – he wants to bring suit directly against the mayor, personally, but she prefers to keep it strictly policy-based. The exchange is heated, enough so that it draws some attention from other attendees, but could not reasonably be called a “fight.”
K’ora-thyn leaves in frustration shortly thereafter, and the whole event winds down on a rather sour note.
20:17
Ted Harper escapes from the secret TheraGene lab faculty, killing five people in the process – two fellow experiment-victims, a med-tech and two security guards – and injuring several more.
20:42
Harper accosts several teen gang members, stealing a cell-phone, which he uses to call Sarah, leaving a desperate voicemail at 20:46, demanding her help.
21:35
Sarah Thorson arrives at her North Canal condo, but it isn’t until 22:45 that she listens to her voicemails. She is disturbed by the rambling, difficult to understand message, but attempts to call Harper back, only get some Hispanic kid’s voicemail (in his frustration, Harper destroyed the stolen phone after leaving his message).
23:06
Harper scales the side of Sarah’s condo building to reach her 12th-floor balcony. He manages to restrain himself enough to not smash the glass sliders, and Sarah lets him in. She is horrified, but her compassion overrides her fear as he disjointedly recounts his horrifying story.
23:32
Harper, exhausted, eventually falls into a doze. Sarah phones K’ora-thyn and insists that he come over immediately. She refuses to go into details, and speaks in strained, hushed tones, but claims “it’s so much worse than we thought.”
23:34
Harper wakes up to hear Sarah whispering into her phone and his already paranoid mind snaps. Sure that she is betraying him to “them,” he attacks her, killing her almost instantly. Now thoroughly panicked, he crashes through the glass sliders and vanishes into the night.
22:36
Worried neighbors call the police.
22:39
K’ora-thyn, who resides in a small apartment above their law clinic just a few blocks away, arrives. Getting no response, and his alien senses smelling human blood, he breaks the door down. Shocked to see his friend dead and mutilated, he futilely attempts emergency medical aid.
22:41
The NAPD arrive to find a monstrous-looking alien, covered in blood, pawing at the savaged corpse of a human woman. In the time-honored tradition of police restraint and professionalism, they taser him before he can do more than turn and raise his hands. Within five minutes the condo and street out front are packed with police cars, ambulances and TV trucks,
23:02
The first televised reports of a “viscous alien killer” go out over the local Fox affiliate; other outlets are more circumspect in their language, but don’t hide the fact that police have a “non-human alien” in custody. No outlet immediately identifies the victim, as the police release no names, but it is quickly known that the victim is Sarah Thorson, the mayor’s daughter and champion of alien rights.
23:41
Unable to resist the delicious irony of it, Fox interrupts their late-night programing to break the news of just which alien-loving lawyer was murdered by an alien. This is when the Vanguard will learn of what has transpired.
00:07 – Friday 16 June 2017
Erik Thorson arrives at his daughter’s condo just as the coroner is preparing to leave with her body. The resultant breakdown in front of the cameras is media gold, and the half of the city that’s still awake sees the mayor vow to end “this alien scourge on our city, whatever it takes – and to hell with anyone who gets in my way!”
His lawyer and aides hustle him away quickly at that point.
00:19
Ted Harper, freezing even in the East Coast mid-summer heat and humidity, seeks warmth. He finds it a mile or so southwest in the West Side Industrial district, in the Fitzmeyer Industries steel processing plant. He sneaks past the skeleton night crew and collapses in the shadows on a catwalk above the furnaces, where he’s finally comfortable. He drifts into a deep sleep.
09:00
Sarah Thorson’s associates, backed by lawyers from her old law firm of Keldan & Reese, appear before Judge Ellen Gordan to demand access to K’orathyn, who has so far been denied access to counsel. The DA argues that the alien suspect has no expectation of human legal rights, and besides it’s too dangerous to produce him in open court, as witnessed by the growing crowds already beginning to gather outside the courthouse, threatening mob justice.
The Pavonia Law Center and K&R lawyers argue that there at least as many gathering to demand ACTUAL justice, and a fair trial, and since when do mobs dictate the decisions of the court and the legal system?
09:24
Judge Gordan rules that the city has until noon to produce the accused, healthy and unharmed, for a proper arraignment in her courtroom. They are also to immediately allow the accused access to the legal team here representing him, without further hindrance or delay.
10:00
Darren Krosden, one of Sarah Thorson’s Law Center associate, and Karen Reese are allowed in to meet with K’ora-thyn. He relates the events of the previous night as he knows them, adding that the wounds he saw on Sarah could not have been made by his relatively thick, dull claws – they seemed more razor-like – and surely the forensic evidence must acquit him.
If the Vanguard have not yet involved themselves in the case, this is when the lawyers will call them in to help.
11:00 – 12:00
Rumors swirl across the city, and the crowds around the Justice Center continue to grow, becoming increasingly restive. Clashes between the pro-alien, justice-for-all crowd and anti-alien, hang-‘em-all crowd begin with verbal confrontations, but become increasingly more violent as themorning wears on. Police are out in force to try and keep order, and Judge Gordan grants a one hour extension. She also agrees to a video arraignment, as long as the defendant has counsel present with them at the jail.
13:45
K’ora-thin is bound over for trial, not least because the judge fears for his safety in the current climate if he is released. Given the mayor’s own incendiary comments, she also grants the defenses motion that K’ora-thyn be held in the Liberty Alliance’s detainment cells, under the watch of the Vanguard and Urbana (who agrees to return from the Overwatch to take personal responsibility for the prisoner).
14:05
K’ora-thyn is moved into a cell in the Alliance’s high-tech detention center, via teleport.
14:00 – 18:00
Unrest continues to grow, as do physical clashes between pro- and anti-alien groups. Resident aliens, even one’s who have been in the city for years, are attacked in several cases, as are humans who “look” alien. The Mayor’s Office issues a mandatory curfew, beginning at 18:00 and lasting until 07:00 the next day.
18:00 – 00:00
The curfew lessens, but does not eliminate, the disturbances, as not everyone obeys it. “Humans First” groups prowl the streets in several neighborhoods, while pro-alien groups mount protective watch vigils outside known alien-owned businesses or homes. The police enforcement of the curfew is sporadic and uneven – some officers ignore the anti-alien “patrols” and disperse or arrest the pro-alien factions, while others back up the defensive groups and actively disperse or arrest the anti-alien agitators. This leads to some tension within the police force itself.
17 June 2017
This is going to be a bad day for New Atlantis if the Vanguard hasn’t solved the case yet. Continuous news reports on the attacks on alien residents inflame passions, and a full-blown riot will occur in Alliance Park in the late afternoon unless other events occur to defuse the situation.
CLUES AND INFORMATION:
Scene One – The Féte
Mayor Thorson recently squeaked out a narrow victory in his third run for the highest office in the city.
Source(s): Sarah Thorson, John Quest, Louise Lancaster
Mayor Thorson placed all of his corporate holdings into a blind trust nine years ago, when he first ran for mayor. He has no day-to-day contact with the business, beyond collecting dividends like any stockholder.
Source(s): Erik Thorson, Sarah Thorson, Louise Lancaster
The tension between the two Thorson’s will not be obvious to strangers on first meeting without a DC 30 Perception Roll. After the protesters’ interruption, however, the tension will be palpable – noticed on a DC 10 Perception Roll. But any emotion sensing (or successful DC 15 Perception Roll) will determine that under the anger there is still love on both sides; and in his case a deep, genuine sadness.
Source: Observation
Sarah Thorson was inspired to start her Pavonia Law Clinic eight months ago by the moving eight-part series that Halcyon and Lancaster wrote last year. She was encouraged in this by her former employers at Keldan & Reese, especially her mentor Karen Reese.
Source: Sarah Thorson
K’ora-thyn is a large, physically intimidating being. His voice, deep and rumbly in normal conversation, has harmonics that trigger instinctive fear in many humans, especially when he is angry or upset.
Source: Observation
K’ora-thyn and Sarah seriously disagree about the future tack to take in opposing the city’s stance on aliens. The alien will leave after they argue publicly about it, but Sarah will assert that he’ll cool off soon enough, it’s just their way.
Source: Observation, Sarah Grant
K’ora-thyn is not a warrior, nor are most of the Jevasiki (natives of the planet Javasik), although a few do go for a mercenary in their youth. They are, in general, a contemplative, non-violent race, and he himself is a scholar of some repute in the Union.
Source: Sarah Grant, K’ora-thyn, Manga-Tor
Ambassador Manga-Tor and Louise Lancaster are rumored to be dating. They neither confirm nor deny, but only smile.
Source: Observation, Meg Halcyon
Sarah Thorson went to work for her father’s administration straight out of law school, but quickly became disillusioned with his politics and policies, even before the alien crisis. She left to take a job with the civil rights law firm of Keldan & Reese, which proved to be much more her style.
Source: Sarah Thorson, K’ora-thyn, Louise Lancaster
Scene Two – The Scene of the Crime
The condo is on the 12th floor, out of 15 floors, with no security to speak of, including no cameras in lobby or elevators. The latter was a selling point to privacy-rights advocate Sarah.
The front door has been kicked in by a powerful single blow that shattered the lock and door frame and took it partially off its hinges, so that it cannot now be properly closed.
Blood spatter on the inside of the door indicates it was kicked open after Sarah was killed – there is not a drop of blood on the edges or outside of the door. DC 20 Perception or Investigation Roll.
The slider to the balcony was shattered from the inside – almost all the glass is outside of the living room, on the balcony. DC 10 Perception or Investigation Roll.
Downstairs neighbor heard a scream, cut off, followed by breaking glass, “around eleven-thirty” and called the police. Police logged the call at 23:36.
Examination of the railing will reveal fresh scratches to the metal; further examination will reveal narrow, deep gouges in the stonework from the ground up, in a roughly hand-shaped pattern. Examining the ground shows something heavy landed, three-point spread. DC 15 / 20 Perception or Investigation Roll.
Sarah’s voicemail can be accessed legally by a court order, or extra-legally by hacking the phone company. DC 30 Technology Roll (or similar, if a player can justify it).
Her last voicemail is: “Sarah, please, you have to help me! I didn’t mean to – they did this to me – I hate them! Please, you can save me from them! This is Ted, Ted Harper, please, your were always so kind, help me! Oh, why don’t you answer—” The call ends abruptly.
Sarah’s phone shows two attempts to call the number associated with the message, at 22:46 and 22:47, neither call lasting more than 15 seconds.
Calling the number brings up the voicemail of a young Hispanic man: “Yo, you got my machine, so hit me up wit you message and you digits and I get back a’ tchu. Maybe.”
Phone records indicate it belongs to Hector Lagunista, a 16-year-old middle-class Latino kid with pretensions to being “gangsta.” If found and questioned he reveals that he and his “homies” were out last night, coming back from a late movie (Baywatch) and were jumped my some maniac on the Esplanade. “Dude jumped out of the bushes, threw us around like we were little kids!” He can show a series of cuts on his shoulder and arm, and his ruined hoodie, shredded as if by knives. All the dude wanted, though, was a phone (if pressed he’ll sheepishly admit he’d just been on the phone with his mom, explaining he was on his way home, when attacked).
Getting a description will prove difficult. Neither Hector nor his friends can give much beyond an impression of grayness… it was dark, the guy moved so fast… big, wide, white eyes and a face “like Voldemort” is the best they can do. Once he had the phone he vanished into the greenery along the river as fast as he’d appeared.
The phone message should lead to either the Pavonia Law Clinic, and the questioning of the grief-stricken staff, or Ted Harper’s apartment:
If questioned, the staff can report that Ted was a graduate student at Bensalem University, and started as an intern at the Law Center about six months ago.
Four months ago he was diagnosed with Hosimoto’s disease, and three months ago he quite both school and the internship to pursue some sort of treatment.
He was fairly reticent about the treatment, but one person, another intern named Katie Walsh, will remember that the clinic he went to was in Queensport, because she drove him there for his first appointment.
He’d seemed very excited, but after that visit he seldom mentioned it again, would just mumble that it was “going well.” A week later he was gone.
She thinks the name of the clinic (it was very discrete, just a little plaque next to the door) was something like Theraputic Genetics.
If the gang search Ted’s apartment in the North End they may discover that he hasn’t been there in three weeks, based on the backed-up mail. Neighbors will confirm that they haven’t seen him in about that time.
Amongst his papers are literature from TheraGene gene-therapy clinic, advertising the benefits of modern gene-therapy in curing many previously incurable conditions. There are also several invoices from the clinic, starting in March, all paid except the last one, from May, which is amongst the unopened mail accumulation.
One of the most recent bits of mail, delivered two days ago, is a past-due notice from the clinic.
A DC 10 Investigation Roll will reveal that the clinic is a legitimate, if low-key, business that was founded in 2005. It has a good reputation for delivering on cutting-edge gene-therapy techniques, but nothing extraordinarily good – a success rate about 7% higher than most competitors.
A DC 20 Investigation Roll will reveal that it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cryodyne, a medical research company specializing in cryonics.
It will take a DC 35 Investigation Roll to reveal that Cryodyne shares some board members with Helix Laboratories, and both are owned by Thorson Conglomerate Holding Company, .
Scene Three – TheraGene Clinic
Presumably the Vanguard will investigate the clinic as soon as possible. Assuming it’s the next day, they will find the business closed, although clearly there is activity within. Two sheets of plywood cover the main doors, on which is a “closed” sign.
Once inside, it’s fairly obvious that something has gone wrong… the receptionist is looking a bit shellshocked, uncertain that she should be letting costumed heroes in, but too intimidated to really object.
She will confide, when asked, that a gang of thieves broke in last night, obviously under the mistaken impression that they had drugs on hand. They didn’t get anything, of course, but they killed the two night guards – poor Marty and Bruce. She’s so grateful Dr. Kieth hired these new security men!
A DC 10 Investigation Roll will reveal that one of the elevators appears to have damaged doors – scored metal and a slight crumbling along one, so it doesn’t quite close. A security guard stands next to it.
There is a surprising number of security guards around, actually, and not just any security – Underhill-Hart men! This is rather a surprise for a small boutique medical operation, even one in New Atlantis.
One of the security men will quickly approach the heroes and demand to know their business.
The Underhill-Hart Security lead will insist that nothing here can have anything to do with their murder investigation, and that he will have to ask them leave… unless they have a warrant?
If the heroes ignore the security and insist their Federal Marshals credentials allow them to pursue leads wherever they may take them, there’s not much the man can do to stop them. He’s already alerted his clients that heroes have arrived…
This is a legally risky move, unless they can determine true probable cause – such as using super-senses to detect the patient-prisoners downstairs, or other such exigent circumstance. It will take at least an hour to 90 minutes to get a physical warrant, but contacting Karen Reese will get a phone warrant in less than 15 minutes.
If the heroes act quickly, they will catch the geneticists of TheraGene in the act of trying to destroy the evidence of their research and can stop them before they completely succeed. Some electronic evidence will be lost in any case, but plenty remains. If the heroes wait an hour or more, the scientists will have incinerated the poor dead test subjects (killed by Harper in his escape) and the living aliens they used to create their hybrids.
Once in the subbasement they will find the two cells where various alien “stock” were kept, and the one cell that held the human-alien hybrids. The hybrids’ bodies have already been removed, but the aliens have all been crowed into the last cell, awaiting disposal – Underhill-Hart won’t do it, and the scientists are too squeamish to do it, so they’re wait on some independent “fixer to arrive.
Most of the scientists and techs will clam up and demand lawyers, but persistent questioning and a search of any surviving (paper) documentation will reveal the key fact that Ted Harper was chimeraized with two alien species, the H’uruuk and the Sarveen, in an attempt to create a very stealthy super-soldier.
Basic facts to be found on a DC 20 Science or Investigation Roll are: he has chameleon-like powers that allow him to blend in to his surrounds, if imperfectly; razor-like claws and various arm and leg spurs utilizing various metallic elements; enhanced strength and toughness, as well as reflexes; superb low-light vision as well as a nictating eye membrane that protects against bright light.
His greatest draw-back, from the scientists’ point of view, is his blazing body temperature and high metabolism. The first was the more serious, as he was constantly complaining of the cold, no matter how high they turned up the heat; the latter issue was not quite as relevant since he could now ingest various metals and other inorganic chemicals to fuel his metabolism (and help with bone, spur and claw development).
He’d been growing increasingly paranoid, and last night he lashed out and killed the med-tech who had been trying to sedate him (the med-tech had violated policy by going in alone). He’d then turned on his “roommates,” killing them in a savage and bloody burst of speed and fury. He proceeded to kill two security guards and severely injure two more before escaping up the elevator shaft.
Scene Four – The Steel Processors
The heroes can find Ted Harper in any of several ways – search for major heat sources in this part of town (it’s a safe assumption he would avoid the river, given his heat issue); the knowledge that he needs metals and silicates now as “food” might lead them to such facilities; scanning the police bands for any unusual reports will bring up a report of workers at Fitzmeyer feeling like they’re being watched; they can have Urbana seek their target via her connection to the city (although this is a last resort if they need the help); tracking the direction of his known movements might narrow down the search area; and hopeful others the players will come up with.
After the fight and Harper’s (presumed) capture and confession, they Vanguard will have the evidence to prove K’ra-thyn’s innocence and defuse the immediate anti-alien rancor by showing that it was a human, mutated by other humans, that committed the crime.
When faced with this knowledge and the responsibility he shares with his employees for his daughter’s death, Mayor Grant will publicly confess to knowledge of the project to create “better humans to face the growing alien threat.” He does this at a live press conference, and against his lawyers and advisor’s advice, but before he can say more (even assuming he planned to say more, which is unclear), the assassin Drive-by appears, racing across the city hall rotunda on his motorcycle, guns blazing, and kills Erik Thorson. Before the heroes or anyone else can act, he vanishes on the far side of the rotunda.
The press names Harper the Killer Chameleon.