S101_Up_Against_The_Law Recap: Monday January 7, 2019 Daily Bugle
Evening Edition Big Tuna
and other members of the Brigade have questions about Cassandra Clemons, the
former patron of the team. As her story is told, with undeserved negative
emphasis cast on Paladin, the group’s curiosity about her and the murder
accusations against her increases. Cherry
Darling, a current guest at the Bunker, comes forward with a letter that was
delivered to the Bunker a week or so ago. The letter is from Pearl Ivy and says
that Andrew Rufus is a bad guy. Ivy pleads for the group to help Cassandra. Ivy
admits that she is not a nice person but she does not deserve to be sent to
prison for murders that she did not commit. Resume: Tuesday January 8, 2019 Impact
goes to see if Aardwolf and the animen are okay. Revenant tags along. While
they are there Impact delivers the stabilization formula. Aardwolf wants to
know if Bloodmoon has been 'neutralized'. Impact tells him 'not yet but soon'.
Aardwolf accepts this as fact and says that this completes their agreement. He
also expresses his gratitude for Okina, Big Tuna brokering a peace between him
and the Tsukihama-gumi yakuza. As
a token of his appreciation he offers the prostitute Chiasia to them. Revenant
declines but Impact accepts enjoying her company of the afternoon. Paladin
checks in with Director Canfield to make sure that PRIMUS was taking care of
the unlicensed nuclear power plant that Bloodmoon built in the Waterview
Nursing Home. She assured him that it was being taken care of along with the
Glove Cleaner production laboratory. Paladin
in order to prepare for Governor Endicott's speech tonight reaches out to
Harold Leland his lawyer. He has Leland prepare various injunctions to prevent
the governor from attacking the Brigade. Paladin then calls on Jacquelyn Lydick, Cassandra's Public
Defender, to find Cassandra. Jacquelyn tells Paladin that she has not heard
from her client since she was released on bail. She provides as much detail as
she can on Cassandra's activities. She was arrested for the murder of her
brother Wade and the deaths of her parents (David and Tiffany Clemons) October
11. Her
bail was 5 million dollars. It was not paid by a bondsman, the entire sum was
paid by an anonymous donor. Paladin wants to know who put up the money. Paladin
contacts Harold Leland again and wants him to find out who ponied up the money
for the bail. Lelend is a member of the Prestige legal firm so he puts the
firms investigators on the task. Since
Cassandra did not show up to her trial the 5 million dollar bail was forfeited.
Network
uses he special skillset to enter the judicial system networks and discovers
that the bail was put up by the Caffeine Culture Espresso Bar. Digging into the
records of CCEB is when things start to get convoluted. CCEB went out of
business within a week of opening. As far as anyone can find they had never
served even a single customer. The physical location was on pier 12, but the stall
number was beyond the end of the pier. The
bank the money was drawn on was Harlan, Fisk, and Stone. The account was opened
by Amalgamated Investments, the signing agent was Johann Schmidt. Amalgamated
Investments is a hedge fund with ties to financial powerhouses like Prometheus
Medical, Lexcorp, Abraxas Inc., Global News Service, Wayne Enterprises, and Hammer
Industries. Along with several hundred smaller investors. The money for CCEB
was identified as a new business loan. Sometimes funds like Amalgamated
Investments will fund prospective companies like CCEB. If they succeed it was a
good investment, if the prospect fails it is a great tax write-off, a guaranteed
win-win. Paladin
is convinced that this maze of intrigue makes no sense at all. When
Impact finishes with Chiasia he goes on patrol. Meanwhile Revenant makes a date
with Amy. They are going out to dinner, a movie, and maybe a little light
bondage afterward. Paladin
calls Pearl but she can’t talk right now. She says she will call him back as
soon as she can. About
an hour later she keeps her word. She says she is calling from the cellar of what
used to be Cassandra’s house. She says she is basically a prisoner. Andrew Rufus,
her boss, is a bad man. He is vindictive and cruel. Rufus told her that he won’t
rest until Cassandra is working the docks of Singapore having sex with the
locals for fish-heads and rice. He told
Pearl that is she defies him in any way she will be whoring on the docks with
her old boss. Paladin
and Network decide they will go and get her. When
they exit Pearl Ivy’s phone they find it is being held by a man dressed in black
plate mail armor speaking with Pearl’s voice. When he sees them he says (still
in Pearl’s voice) it took them long enough to show up. He then crushed the
phone. Paladin
demands to know where Pearl Ivy is. The man invites them to come upstairs so they
can talk about it. They decline. The man says that his employer only wants the ‘heroes’
to do nothing in regards to Cassandra and everything will be okay. For the
moment Pearl is on assignment ‘elsewhere’ and it unreachable. The
black warrior and Paladin exchange veiled threats back and forth until Paladin
and Network realized they were in a Mexican Standoff. Paladin had Network get them
out of there. Impact
while on patrol has found a large number of police gathering at various points
in the city. He alerts the team. Revenant decides to join him. Revenant uses
his invisibility to overhear what is being planned. He discovers that PART and
SAT are working in conjunction to arrest a dozen super powered crime lords. The
raids are going to be initiated simultaneously sometime after Governor Endicott’s
speech tonight. Revenant
was able to get the list. It includes; T he Brahma Brawler, Digger the Gamma Zombie, the Hobgoblin,
Ice Breaker, Jack Hammer, Kono the Sumo, Mr. Fixit, Savage, Silvermane, Slyde, Spike,
and Stretch Perverto. Paladin
contacts Lt. House (commander of PART) to offer help. He is told that they have
it handled and the Brooklyn Brigade can stand down. Paladin knows this is not
going to end well. He is certain that this will be a PR nightmare and that Endicott
will do his best to point the blame at the Brigade. He
decides to do some preemptive damage control. Paladin calls the Governor’s
office and offers the team’s help. The bureaucrat tells Paladin that law enforcement
has it handled and there is no need for the team to get involved. Before
letting the call end Paladin tells the bureaucrat that he recorded the call and
if the Governor changes his mind they will be waiting for the call. Within
15 minutes the Governor’s office calls Lt. House. Revenant, who is still
watching the preparations for the raids, overhears the call. The Governor
directs Lt. House to reach out to Paladin and use the Brooklyn Brigade for
support on the raid of Mr. Joe Fixit’s brownstone. During
the call with Paladin House tells him the raids will happen at 3AM on Wednesday.
(To Be
Continued)