[TCT-Prelude] Cause

[Sailor OOC]

reference note

You can zoom into the areas mentioned through this link... http://mapsengine.google.com/map/view?mid=zGlvFMTNd15Q.kNh4sf6mXSMw most of the story will take place in the uptown area, centered around Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue.

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3 months after "The Event"... September 3, 2013, 12:00 PM

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She walked what was at one time a busy economic center, now nothing more than a din of rubble movers and demolishers. The Uptown Neighborhood was home to thousands of people.

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She was stuck in practically a bomb shelter when the tornadoes came... most spoke as if it was just one, but this was a massive complex. A central tornado, EF-5 in power, which had smaller EF-2 twisters that seemed to dance around it like crazed berserkers.

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That was beside the point now.

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She looked about, seeing the tired look on everyone's faces... many of Uptown's landmarks were in shambles. The newer buildings, while their glass fronts were gone, their structures somehow miraculously survived the direct hits... what was inside was a different matter.

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The once glittering landmark of Minneapolis was a warzone.

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And everyone looked to her... for an answer she couldn't give.

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"Ms. Masters!" A police officer runs over... "Sorry... Ensign Minneapolis, there... there is something you should see."

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The moment of her receiving a greeting by her old handle was... something bitter sweet. Some 4 years ago, her father died, the great Captain Minnesota himself. Died of a disease she had thought he couldn't catch... Cancer... She was so stricken by the loss she retired, hanging up her sidekickish outfit at 16 years old. She just couldn't bear remembering.

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Then the tornadoes came. And now here she was, wearing the same uniform. The same damned nautical themed monkeysuit... and now she felt like she was presiding over another funeral... a funeral for her home.

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"So... what is it this time?"

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The officer pointed over to a rubble pile as they walked over to it. "We found it a couple minutes ago. It... didn't seem in place, even for Tornado debris."

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There was a chunk of had plastic and cloth, it didn't seem to fit in at all, in particular that the plastic was coated in Graphene, as well as the cloth.

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"Well... that is unusual." Mary said... "This isn't something that is from a normal building..."

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She takes a knee and picks up the fragment. "Has the BCA arrived yet?"

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"No... this isn't a crime scene..."

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Mary places the fragment on her shoulder, it fit almost perfectly. She quirked an eyebrow. "What you think now?"

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The cop's eyes became wide as saucers over the implication. "Also, everyone... this has become a matter of national security... what you saw here..." She puts the fragment into a black static-free bag. "...wasn't here. I will be handling the lead on this investigation... this needs to be kept under wraps, as it could jeopardize the rebuilding process."

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Everyone nodded. Mary's national security clearances were re-instated only recently.

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She pulls out her sattelite phone after making sure she walked away our of people's earshots.

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"Mayor... this is Ensign Minneapolis. I'm going to need to call in a NSA team down here to check on something. Remember that protocol that Dad helped develop for security in town after 9-11? You're going to have to enact it."

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"Yes, Protocol 1."

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"Right, yeah... Oi! Don't bring my damn father into this! I didn't ask to come out of retirement to recapture old glories!"

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She growled a curse under her breath. "Sorry... I'm not doing that, I'm not my father. That was his identity, not mine. I'll never take that responsibility on. Period! Stop asking!!"

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She hung up her phone, and turned it off.

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"Dammit... Everybody acts like I'm some sort of successor to my Dad... Captain Minnesota was his thing now and always... crap I gotta think about this case, not some extracurricular garbage."