Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

For those who have a way with words.
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Shadowmask
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Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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4:00 AM:

It was the usual Chicago morning weather regardless of what the smiling lady standing in front of a digitized map had said on the news: Grey. Grey skies, grey clouds. Even the sun looked grey.

Policewoman Helen Paladino grimaced as she finished off the last of her lukewarm coffee and tossed the empty styrofoam cup out of the open window of the police car. Doubtless someone watching might complain to the brass and they might give her a citation for littering.

Not in this industrial neighborhood though. Here no one who even bothered to live in this pesthole cared enough to report anything bad to the cops especially to one of their own.

Especially one who is a public Sunstormer, one with a deserved rep of not taking any crap from anyone including sunstormers who she treated more harshly than the normal (aka human) criminal scum in the city.

Granted there were others with powers like her who supposedly used their abilities for "good". But Chicago PD didn't truly believed in that comic book BS and neither did Helen for that matter. So official policy was to treat them gently, politely like rabid sleeping dogs or potential ticking time bombs waiting to go off.

Unofficially, those sunstormers who get out of line are taken cared of. Gently, politely and quietly as possible. If left alive, the Sunstormer involved was sent to "The Crypt" where he or she was heavily sedated and strapped into hospital style beds being fed intravenously at the same time in a windowless room lined with thick steel reinforced concrete. Which suited Paladino just fine as the incident which had "awoken" her own gravity control powers also left two people dead and the one responsible becoming a sort of martyr in the eyes of the basement dwelling comic book shut-ins and teenage groupies looking for icons to solve all their problems for them until the next fad rolls in.

It turned her stomach just thinking about it so she picked up the file in the seat next to hers and read it to keep her mind busy.

Headquarters had been receiving reports of assaults on several people in various areas in the city in the past week, six cases in total. No witnesses to the actual attacks but in one case, a man's apartment was thoroughly trashed and traces of human blood was found. The man's name was Steve Cassidy, an surgeon working at Northwestern Memorial and with no criminal record. In another case, a woman, Roberta Jefferson was severely beaten with a broken hip and in a coma. Her family was no help. The big question was whether or not sunstormer activity was involved or if even sunstormers were the victims or the perpetrators.

Of course HQ would send the one uniformed cop with powers to deal with this mess instead of the usual plainclothes detectives.

Gently, politely and quietly of course.

As Helen got out of her vehicle, she noticed a freshly made graffiti mark on the nearby brick wall:

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Below it was the words spray painted in garish red:

"Humanity shall prevail!!!"

Swell.

To be continued:
Last edited by Shadowmask on Sun Mar 26, 2023 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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After staring at the somewhat ominous image and words on the wall for a few seconds, Helen turned away and walked over to the crime scene. She ducked under the yellow tape. As far as she can tell this neighborhood wasn't affected by blackouts that plagued many parts of Chicago during the massive solar eruption that danced across the sky.

For most people at the time, the solar eruption itself was relatively harmless. But a very small portion of the world's population began to exhibit health issues beginning with nausea, fevers, disorientation and finally loss of consciousness not unlike Covid. For three days, those afflicted could not be woken up until, after exactly 72 hours had passed, every afflicted individual opened their eyes, feeling fine. They quickly found themselves possessing strange, superhuman abilities. They were soon tentatively called the Sunstormers. More privately the sunburned freaks. Of course, Paladino reluctantly counted herself among them.

Hey everybody! Welcome one and all to the greatest freakshow on earth! Helen shook her head to clear these somber thoughts and continued to survey the site.

Several officers and crime lab technicians scrambled all over the area like a pack of headless chickens though apparently the expected ambulance was already gone. Helen recognized one of the techs, Sally Newkirk and called her over.

"Morning, Sal."

"Morning yourself, Officer Paladino."

"So what ya got for me, Sal?"

"It's bad. Two bodies. One male, the other female. Caucasians. No bodily fluids or waste materials nor can we find any type of blood splatters on the ground large enough so they were most likely killed somewhere else and the bodies dumped here. They're already headed to the morgue. Hopefully Forensics can tell us more. Sgt. Burke can tell you more as he's in charge of this case. The rest of us are just wrapping things up."

Helen frowned at this. She knew Angus Burke from the Homicide division, while a capable detective was also ambitious and gunning for promotion for Louie rank or higher and therefore was not above stepping on anyone who could give him either good press or bad. The bad ones wind up transferred to parking and traffic detail while the good ones get no credit or praise. Only a patronizing pat on the head and departmental exile into obscurity anyway.

Helen crossed paths with the glory seeking fat Irish bastard a few times in the past even before the solar event that somehow granted her superpowers.

Needless to say, there was no love between them. Only a thin veneer of professionalism shared by two people working at the same job.

Helen thanked Newkirk and proceeded to find Burke.

Burke was easy to spot: a beefy man in his late forties with the stereotypical red hair, thick beard and green eyes of his Gaelic ancestors. All he lacked was the Irish accent and the height to be a leprechaun.

"Well, well." Burke sneered as Helen approached. His weatherbeaten face gazing at her with a mixture of mild lust and disgust. "Paladino, almost didn't recognize you without your cape and tights. Leave those at home, huh?"

Helen resisted the urge to punch Burke in the gut and send him floating all the way to Lake Michigan by altering his weight to make him practically weightless. But such actions would only further fan the flames of anti-Sunstormer hatred.
Not that she cared all too much about the stormers, it was just another needless complication in her life that she didn't need right now.

Besides she have to be close enough to touch the jerk for her power to work. Definitely not worth the effort. She liked her hands clean.

"Screw you, Burke errr…i mean Sergeant, sir. In case you hadn't noticed, this uniform you see me wearing is my costume. I'm a cop. I work at it. I don't cosplay at it. Now if you're done undressing me with your eyeballs, you can tell me why i was called in. This isn't my patrol route or jurisdiction."

"You're right on all counts, i do outrank you and this isn't your jurisdiction. I can report you to IA for interfering with a crime scene but as i hate those headhunters as much as everyone else on the force, i am going to do you a favor. I don't know whose ass you kissed to even be here…"

Helen interrupted. "Cut the bull, sarge. I'm not like you nor i am out for your job. I am just an old fashioned, take no nonsense beat cop. I don't kiss ass, i kick it. Now that the obligatory flirting is done, tell me the facts and you can go back munching down on boxes of Lucky Charms."

"You got what i got: which is nothing. No witnesses as usual but then again this is an industrial center not residential. The few businesses that are still running close early. No ids on the victims though we're running fingerprints and dental records. Other than regular clothing, nothing else was found on the bodies including cash or jewelry.

Now normally this would be labeled as a robbery gone wrong and turned bloody but all indications points to them being killed some place else and taken right here. And another thing…their tongues are missing. Cut out."

"Christ." Helen swore. "This happened before? None of the previous assaults left any dead and certainly not with mutilations."

Burke frowned. "No. While graphic that is not all." He jerked his finger toward the brick wall with the image Helen saw before. "That wonderful piece of trash art was also near the scene of three other attacks. Not much but we have been seeing more and more of this stuff. Train stations, bus stops, alleyways. You name it. Could be a hate group but the victims were all of different nationalities including white."

"Hey Sarge!" A policeman shouted from the other side of the taped off area. "A couple of guys from the press. Took them long enough to finally show up."

Burke ran his right hand over his face in frustration. "Alright. I'll handle them. Paladino, make yourself scarce. If these vultures find out you're here, the Department will be overrun with conspiracy theories all week. Just remember this is my case, are we clear?"

"Crystal." A-Hole.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

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Helen barely managed to reach her police car and avoided the reporters just in time as they ascended towards Burke like eager house flies in a pile of horse manure.

The fact that her superiors left out the possibility of deaths in the reports she received didn't surprise Helen in the slightest. They screwed around with her before, expecting her to stumble about blindly and fail. Good on them. What's one more cop fired or suspended from the force to them?

Her cell phone rang.

"Hel? It's me, Desmond. Can we talk?" the nervous, hesitant voice came.

Helen rolled her eyes. "What's going on, Des?"

"Please, Hel." Des' tone became even more whiny than usual.

"Alright, where?"

"By the Bean."

"What? Why there and not in a nudie bar instead?"

"Hel…."

"Don't get your underwear in a twist. I'll be there. One hour." She abruptly hung up.

The Bean was located in Millennium Park in The Loop. Helen liked the structure. It always reminded her of a gigantic drop of quicksilver.

Desmond Alexander was sitting on a bench near Michigan Avenue. His dour face looked even more so. Helen sat down next to him and handed a Starbucks cappuccino. He sniffed it tentatively.

"Relax, Des. It's not spiked or anything. Too early to get drunk." She took a sip from her own cup, ruefully wishing she added vodka to the caramel latte. "Been a while."

"How's your old man, Helen?"

"He's doing rather fine given his latest thyroid surgery. Still living in his condo timeshare in Miami with mom. But you have my parents' phone number and dad says you called him just last week. You didn't need me to tell you what you probably already know. Why did you drag me here, Des?"

Des hesitated before answering. His body suddenly stiffening and his eyes intent upon the small crowd of tourists milling about the Bean. Helen tensed as she saw the pupils glow bright blue.

She quickly turned to the group of people. "You see one, don't you? Which one?"

Des pointed to a rangy redhead woman in a beige casual business suit rushing past. Oddly enough, she was wearing pink sneakers and a blue knapsack over her shoulder, probably where she kept her matching shoes when outside her office.

"Have a lock on her?" Helen said as the young woman disappeared into the crowd.

Des' eyes turned back to normal and shook himself from his trance. "Yeah, i got her aura."

"You also didn't call me to show off your tracking ability either." Helen said flatly. "What is the range of your power anyway?"

"Once i can see them by the auras they radiate and have a mental lock, i can track Sunstormers up to maybe a half a mile. One mile if i concentrate hard enough although that gives me a damn headache."

Des sighed and the both of them drank their coffees in silence.

"Hel, did you ever wish that all this was before there was even a city? No pollution, no crime, no noisy crowds…"

"No jobs neither." Helen said sarcastically. "I like things the way they are, thank you very much."

"I don't know if i can do this anymore, Hel. Hunting our own kind, bagging and tagging and locking them up like animals."

"We talked about this, Des. We are not a separate but equal master race. Nor are we aliens from another planet. We are humans. Humans with superpowers but still human nonetheless. Try to take it up with the Government and Homeland Security and spending the rest of your life in 'The Crypt' will be the least of your worries. I'm assuming you've discussed to your wife about this?"

Des finished his cappuccino. "No, Deirdre does not know anything. About me. About this mess."

"Read my lips, Des. We are not superheroes out to save the world and this isn't a comic book wet dream. This is real. You are more than free to go across the Canadian border. Of course Uncle Sam will extradite you. You honestly really think that we are the only Sunstormers the government has in their pocket?

...Or have you forgotten about the Warden? You know the one with the hockey mask who makes sure no one ever leaves the Crypt. John will really like to meet you. You want that, Des?"

Des blanched. "Will you be the one to turn me in if it comes down to it?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Des. If it did come to that, I'll be the one comforting Deirdre in your funeral unless your corpse was never found to begin with." Helen stood up, her face pale and tired.

"Go on being our bloodhound and tracker, Des. Safer for all of us. This conversation never happened."

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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The Coasters: https://youtu.be/zEdj8J-Wods

8:39 PM:

Once her shift was finally over, Helen went over to her small third floor corner apartment in the West Side neighborhood.

She really just wanted to unwind after the unpleasantness of talking to pompous jerks like Burke or nervous old wrecks such as Desmond. She quickly disabled her answering machine and put her cell phone on mute though she left it on vibration. After a quick hot shower, Helen dried herself while singing loudly and off-key to The Coasters' "Down In Mexico" blaring on her living room dvd player. She even did a little dance which, like her singing, was quite off balance.

"All of a sudden in walks this chick.

In Mexico!!!

Joe starts playing on a Latin kick.

In Mexico!!!

Around her waist she wore three fishnets.

In Mexico!!!

She started dancing with the castanets.

In Mexico!!!

I didn't know just what to expect.

In Mexico!!!

She threw her arms around my neck.

In Mexico!!!

We started dancing all around the floor. And then she did a dance I never saw before!!!"

Soon afterwards, dressed in a red Chicago Bulls jersey, black running shorts and pink non-skid ankle socks , Helen settled down on the leather couch recently brought from Goodwill, armed with a bowl of leftover reheated chili, a platter of tortillas and a six pack of Guinness beer liberated from the fridge. She briefly concentrated and watched with mild amusement as one tortilla chip floated from the platter and hovered a foot in front of her face.

She was not a telekinetic of course. All she could do was manipulate gravity wells of objects by displacing their mass i.e. making them lighter. Nevertheless she tried and failed to grab the chip with her mouth. It wobbled and fell to the carpeted floor.

Oh well. she thought, taking another deep swallow from the beer bottle in her hand and already feeling the mild euphoric buzz in her head.

The joys of alcohol.

The television had nothing good tonight as usual. Cop shows, lawyer shows, doctor shows. Nothing like in real life of course. No one really wants to see normal looking people doing boring thankless jobs, especially doing the same type of jobs over and over again 24/7, just oversexed supermodels solving every crime within an hour or less. The parts where the so called forensics team cutting up cadavers without masks or protective gear is hilarious. No big sport games were scheduled neither. Bummer.

Helen was on her fourth beer and watching a rerun of America Got Talent when she heard her phone move slightly when its on vibrate mode. Picking it up with unsteady hands and raising the volume, she tried not to slur her words.

"Hey-loo?, who dish spicking?" Well maybe not really trying.

"We know what you are." the muffled voice answering sounded rather tinny. Even in her drunken state, Helen can tell it was digitized. Hard to tell if it was male or female, then again Helen was not in the best condition at this moment to think clearly.

"Goody. Wha' am i are?" *Hic* "Excusie moi." Helen struggled to focus and managed to press the record function of the phone despite the fact of the blurry vision.

That was damn good beer.

Silence.

"Ya caut mee ata a bad time, Off duty a-and drunk. Or off d-drunk and duty…"

"You're a sunstormer."

"Tha' why the weddin' proposal? Wha' elsie new?" Helen felt her eyelids becoming heavy. "Can yu talk tomorro? Mebbee?..."

The call was cut off. Not that it mattered as Helen quickly fell back on the couch in an unconscious stupor, muttering "Nite, nite…"

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

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https://youtu.be/vSu-JBaMIcI

Twenty Four Hours later:

Helen disliked patrolling the projects even before she became a sunstormer. As a white female who was also an uniformed cop, the life expectancy of such individuals was low indeed.

Having superpowers will never change that, especially as some living in the hood were Sunstormers as well and their tolerance for non African-Americans and Latinos, superpowered or not was even lower.

Luckily (or unluckily), Helen was given a free pass, an invitation of sorts. Otherwise she would be just another corpse.

Oh joy...

She parked her car at her destination: an abandoned meat packing plant.

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Helen feel hostile eyes peering at her from the shadows and she was not reassured when she saw three gangbangers armed to the teeth, standing guard in front of a door to, which she assumed was a former meat locker. The hate radiating from them was suffocating.

Of course the feeling was mutual.

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"Yo! Paladino! Long time, no see. What's up?" chirped out the mellow toned voice of Tyrone Briggs known on the streets as Ty-Rock. He stepped out of the doorway grinning like a jackal.

"Hey, hey guys. Chill, no need for violence. Point your guns to the ground. She is a guest in the VFW* zone."

Helen wasn't fooled by his easy going nature. Ty-Rock was a ruthless pimp, drug dealer and occasionally a snitch for both sides of the law: criminal or otherwise.

"Why did you bring me here, Briggs?"

Ty-Rock kept smiling. "A courtesy call. You remember Bettina, right? One of my dealers, just turned 17 with a baby on the way. Anyway, she had a run in with one of the 'stormers, one of those high and mighty outsiders crawling out of the suburbs and never spent a day in the projects in his entire life but somehow he thought he can just come over and civilize us poor folk. He came over and used a screaming attack which ruptured both of poor Bettina's eardrums. Then he told everyone present he was making a citizen's arrest. We all laughed at his ninja costume and skull mask. We stopped laughing when we beat the crap out of him and took Bettina to the hospital.

Normally i would've skinned this bastard alive and fed chunks of him to my pet corgis but today I'm feeling generous and give him to you."

Ty-Rock made a mocking bow as he showed Helen what was inside the meat freezer.

Helen reeled and vomited on the floor. Hung upside down by the ankles with laundry rope upon a meat hook was a man, battered, bruised and naked with blood running in torrents from his mouth, pooling on the floor several inches below.

"Yeah, i cut out his tongue and vocal cords. I guess he wouldn't be doing no more sonic booms anymore." Ty-Rock drawled.

Helen wiped her hand across her mouth. Her hand reached for her gun.

"GIVE ME A FU@$!!&!! REASON NOT TO BLOW YOUR GODDAMN BRAINS OUT, N@$!&#!!" she shouted.

Ty-Rock shrugged and nodded to the three hoodlums who had their own weapons pointed at her.

"Now, now Officer. Like i said this is a courtesy. Also it's a message. Tell Chicago PD to keep sunstormers who is not one of us out of the hood. Otherwise there's going to be another turf war and we both don't want that, do we? Seeya."

With that, Ty-Rock walked straight into the masonry wall as if it was merely air which to him it was.

Having the power to turn into an insubstantial ghost can do that.

The thugs slowly backed away, disappearing into the shadows, leaving Helen all alone with a mutilated sunstormer.

*: VFW: Very Few Whites.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

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11:01 AM:

As the field trip into a inner city neighborhood wasn't bad enough, Helen had to go inside an even worse cesspool: The Chicago Sun-Times building.

After arranging to have an paramedic team (a near impossible task in itself as most first responders would rather stick their heads in a vat of battery acid than to go into the projects.), and then escorting them to the hospital. The sunstormer barely made it to the emergency room in time.

Helen spent all night filing reports about the incident at the station. Of course she included Ty-Rock as the perp in the report and of course the report will be filed away and eventually shredded as Briggs spent money like it was water.

And there are many cops in the city who were very, very thirsty.

The lab boys didn't pick up anything useful from the brief recording of the strange call that she received the night before and after reviewing the assault cases again without success, decided to call an early lunch.

Helen went to her locker and rummaged through its contents, fishing out an card given to her less than a year ago. A blank business card with a picture of a solar eclipse.

An hour and a half later, Helen had arrived at one of the newsrooms of the Sun-Times and stopped an intern rushing from one end of the room to another.

"I'm looking for a cockroach masquerading as a human named Faustino Rodriguez. Seen him around?"

The intern blinked twice and pointed.

"Thanks, Jimmy Olsen. Say hello to Superman for me."

Rodriguez apparently got promoted from trash reporting to guard duty as he hovered over the corner water cooler like it was his second home.

"Roddy, we got to talk."

Roddy's eyes grew predatory. "Do you have any spicy tidbits for my readers? I'm willing to pay on the dirt for any sunstormer suspected as being a pedophile. I mean why even bother with codenames and secret identities am i right?"

Helen grimaced. "Spare me. You know about this?" She tossed the card at his face.

Roddy gazed at the card which bounced off his face and onto the floor. "What about it? I gave that to you a long while ago and you just bring it up now?"

"The picture on the card matches the one that has been all over town. Coincidentally some of them were spray painted near violent crime scenes. If you are involved in some way, then the next headline in the 'Times will read: 'Reporter charged with Assault and Battery, Torture and Murder.' Who knows maybe you'll get a Pulitzer while in prison."

"Yeah, Paladino, I've read up on the reports but i didn't cover that story also i have alibis and witnesses during the time of the latest attack. Don't give me that look, it's true. You can talk to them."

Helen rubbed her eyes. "Then what is this eclipse crap that you are involved with?"

"The Seven Thunders is a religious order and no not crazy religious nor are we a cult. We believe that Sunstormers are a affront to God."

"And that includes me."

"Yes, especially you. But leading attacks on innocent people isn't our forte. And why should it when we can convince people with the word of God and social media. Why beat up a sunstormer when it is a lot more convenient to publicly expose their dirty secrets? People in their ignorance love so called superheroes but they love to see them fall and fail in disgrace even more."

Helen couldn't take anymore of this nonsense and walked away in disgust. "You're not even worth a bullet in the groin." She muttered darkly.

Roddy continued to talk behind her retreating back. "A war is coming, Hel. A holy war. You're going to have pick a side, the big question you have to ask yourself is: How much of humanity is left in you to care?"

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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Helen stood outside the Sun-Times building, sitting on the hood of the police car, her mind mulling over the recent events. This case was becoming more and more sordid. She didn't bother checking on Roddy's alibi. Half of the 'Times staff will vouch for him even if they weren't with him at the time while the other half would file an harassment suit against the department if she took them in for questioning.

Roddy had the motive but not the opportunity while Ty-Rock had the opportunity but not the motive as none of the victims had absolutely no known association at all with him, they owed no money or anything like that. If they did, Briggs would already cut his losses once he knew that the heat was onto him and his operations after the second or third attack. Granted both of the douche bags could've gotten others to do their dirty work while they were elsewhere but then why kill and cut out the tongue of the last one?

Paladino wasn't a detective. Not by a long shot. She hadn't the clout, equipment or skills to solve this. She was just a neighborhood beat cop with a superpower that wasn't as impressive and flashy as those possessed by many other Sunstormers.

Then it suddenly hit her: the last victim was the key, the others were just a smokescreen. Helen will investigate the person further.

But first she will have to go to church.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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4:23 PM:

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Reverend Luke Butler continued with the closing sermon of the afternoon services: “And it is stated in Revelations 10:4 - 'And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.'

Do not be deceived by these demons in human flesh. Proclaiming themselves as false idols, as gods to be worshipped and respected. They say unto to you: Behold for i am born of the sun and shall do great works. These sunstormers are liars! Monsters!” The Horsemen of the Apocalypse! They would create false religions to worship them and turn people away from faith in Jesus Christ.

The sunstormers would bring about a war in which the earth would shake, the sky would burn, and the oceans would be as blood. They were the destroyers, servants of Hell!

But we shall prevail! Humanity shall prevail! For we of the true faith are not afraid of these false gods. These sunstormers! For soon they shall burn in the fires of perdition like the very sun they claim to spawn from!!!

Hallelujah!"

At the end of the sermon, the crowd of roughly three
hundred people shouted back in unison:

"HALLELUJAH!!!"

Helen sat in the back row, trying to stay awake. Like all meetings regardless it was a civil rights/affirmative action protest march against police brutality, political campaigning or even a religious gathering such as this; it was all a load of bullcrap to her. A case of the boring leading the bored and Reverend Luke Butler was no exception.

She idly wondered what Father Delgado would make of all this. First he will subject Helen to a stinging lecture for not attending Sunday services at church as she should, then give Butler a real tongue lashing.

Those who ever thought Helen Paladino had a sailor's salty language had obviously never met Father Xavier Delgado of The Holy Name Cathedral in Wabash.

Luke Butler and his congregation, The Holy Church of the Seven Thunders was easy enough to find. It was a building converted into a church in the heart of Northside.

Information was a little harder to come by but Helen made some calls to her contacts prior to coming here. An evangelical Christian religious sect located mostly in Wyoming although smaller chapters were founded in Idaho, North and South Dakota and Nevada. Apparently they were recently established here in Chicago as well since the Sunstorm.

Led by Reverend Luke Butler. The Seven Thunders believe sunstormers are agents of Satan and will bring about the Apocalypse. According to the FBI, Reverend Butler had some sort of fit during one of his fire and brimstone sermons, accompanied by a "spiritual" vision, not long after the Sunstorm. The direction of the Seven Thunders sect is driven by this vision.

Federal authorities have reason to believe the Seven Thunders are connected to acts of violence against sunstormers and their supporters outside Chicago, but have no clear evidence against the sect or its leader. Helen didn't know how to feel about that.

There were many Sunstormers in the city who did not like Helen, regarding her a traitor to her own "kind".

The feeling was mutual: Helen didn't care much for them either. As long as the publicly known and hidden sunstormers didn't blatantly break any laws or cause trouble, then both Chicago PD and the government generally left them alone. It was those people that can never shut up about being sunstormers or demanding legal rights putting them above the law and the rest of the human race; those are the ones Helen has to contend with on a regular basis. Police were rarely popular but then to Helen it was never a popularity contest. She didn't have to like someone in order to put her life on the line for them.

She made a brief stop at the station to shower and dress in civilian clothes. Not to go undercover as she had no doubt Roddy would already blab everything he knew to the Reverend including her description but because she was technically off duty. Wearing a black leather bomber jacket, white t-shirt, cowboy boots and blue jeans, Helen looked like a poster girl for a redneck motorcycle gang.

One of the congregation members came up to Helen as the crowd began leaving in droves.

"The Reverend will see you now in the backroom."

"Oh joy." Helen said sarcastically. "Am i just in time to watch Davy and Goliath? I'm more of a Moral Orel fan myself."

Her remark was met with stony silence as the older woman led Paladino out back to meet with Butler.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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The Reverend was seated comfortably in one of the rear dressing rooms. Butler was middle-aged and retained much of his good looks and charm but Helen still wouldn't buy a used car from this guy even if he paid her.

"I am grateful for you seeing me on such short notice, reverend." Helen said as she sat in the opposite chair. They didn't bother to shake hands.

"Not a problem at all, Officer." Butler answered smoothly. "Of course if this was not an official investigation then such things are usually handled by my lawyers. But it is official so i must indeed comply."

"Yes, reverend. You must. It sure beats going downtown in handcuffs to have an interview."

Butler blinked a few times. "I was told you are quite blunt."

Helen didn't respond. It seems that the entire city of Chicago was better informed about everything except her.

"Alright. Then you already know that I'm investigating several attacks that occurred in the last few days. Maybe the assaults are sunstormer related either as victims or perpetrators. Chicago PD isn't sure."

"That's an odd attitude given your reputation of zero tolerance towards sunstormers, Officer Paladino."

Helen gritted her teeth in frustration. She really did not want to explain or justify herself yet again, especially to this self righteous jerk.

"You're right up to a point, reverend. I don't have much sympathy towards sunstormers but i reserve my disdain for those who break the law, threaten the public, destroy property or being general nuisances. But believe it or not there are those with superpowers who want to lead normal lives. Those i leave alone and as my job as a police officer, will protect them even though i won't be missed if i get killed in the line of duty. Now that's out of the way, we can continue with the questioning. For starters. What's your relationship with the reporter Rodriguez?"

"He has been a loyal member to our church from the very beginning. At the time he was on assignment in Laramie when our order was just gaining momentum after the Sunstorm. He didn't immediately join of course but eventually Rodriguez 'saw the light' if you'll pardon the cliche."

"I can't see him as devout. He'll skin a panda alive with a nail file if it sells more papers."

"Faith can move mountains, Officer. I trust that this line of questioning does not imply that he or any of my congregation is somewhat responsible for these brutal beatings of innocent people? It may shock you to know that one of our members, an intern was among those assaulted."

Helen looked at Butler sharply. This was news to her.

"I see… Why didn't you report it or offer any information once this mess got started in the first place?"

"We did. We even had filed a missing persons report with the nearest precinct after the allotted two days. It was a day later when i received word of poor Jacob and his disfigurement. His tongue, really. It's all very disgusting."

"You've got that right, reverend. One more thing, was Jacob a sunstormer?"

Butler hesitated for a few minutes before replying.

"Yes."

"Out of character for you to have someone like that in your flock. I thought the 7 Thunders believe that sunstormers are children of the devil or something."

"Even those tainted by Sin can be redeemed."

Helen stood up to leave.

"Redeemed huh? Meaning he was a tool. A holy weapon. But he made the mistake of crossing one of the biggest crime bosses in the city when he interrupted a drug deal that got a pregnant 17 year old deaf and possibly brain damaged for the rest of her life. The other guy who got his tongue cut out. You didn't even bother to go and id him once you were told, didn't you? You already knew that he wasn't your guy. Don't worry, reverend. Jacob is alive and most likely won't finger you even if he could."

"I believe this interrogation is over now, Officer Paladino. You have no evidence of wrongdoing against us anyway."

"Yeah. Go to Hell, reverend."

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

The next afternoon:

Back at the precinct, Helen stared at the computer screen with bleary eyes. Which wasn't surprising as she sitting at the desk since for over three hours already. She had been reading and rereading the information about the two people who were previously mutilated and had both of their tongues severed.

Forensics had finally identified the bodies: Donna Westwood, age 22 and Roger Sheridan, 39. Both were listed as indigents aka homeless. Given that the Pro-Sunstormer propaganda machine hasn't as of yet raised their whiny voices all over on social media, it meant that most likely the victims did not have any superpowers whatsoever.

In short it's not news a lot of people would give a damn about.

Helen felt a presence behind her back and turned to see Lt. Omar Hobbs standing there.

He was a large African-American with a bullet-like shaved head. He wasn't well liked among many of the cops in the precinct as he is a little too cozy with the higher ups especially those connected with City Hall.

Helen didn't like him much either as he reminded her too much of a bald Bill Cosby pretending to be a cop while selling Jello pudding cups. As things stand, she merely tolerated him.

"Something on your mind, Lou*?"

"I just received a call from the captain, Paladino. He is anxious to have this case you're working closed or turn the whole thing over to Burke."

Helen rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on.

"May i ask why, Lou? You know Burke as well as i do. If i turn the case over to him, it will be at best a cold case. He can't or won't even try to solve this and eventually its gonna wind up in obscurity."

"Because you haven't got much of a case, Paladino. In the past several days since i handed you this case, there had been three assault and batteries, one homicide and four domestic violence incidents in this district alone.

The FBI were keeping a close eye on Butler and those 7 Thunders kooks and apparently he and many of his staff members already left the city this morning and are flying back to Wyoming. The guy, Jacob Garrison, is still in intensive care. The doctors aren't talking but we've picked up a paper trail. The medical bills are discreetly being paid for by the church."

"What about Briggs? Don't tell me he is off the hook too?"

Hobbs frowned at this. "Our street informants are saying he left town too. Last night as a matter of fact. To where, nobody knows and ain't no one with common sense is going to ask. Believe me, Hel, i want nothing more than to see that scum rot behind bars. But we can't touch him without any proof.

Nobody who is present at the time is going to testify and his army of lawyers will ensure he will never stand on trial."

Helen leaned back on her seat, her hands behind her head and both feet propped up on the desk. She closed her eyes. She felt twenty years older.

Maybe she can retire and get her gold watch by dinnertime.

Nope. Not that damn lucky.

"So." she replied in a weary tone. "Two people are dead. A lot of bribe money gets spread around and nobody is going to shed tears because they aren't even sunstormers, huh?

Just a couple of homeless people. It must really crush the expectations of all those comic book nerds, sunbathers* and social justice warriors when there isn't a crime they can meddle in and post a blog about or find a target they can blame on. Fine, give the files to Burke then."

"I'm sorry, Hel."

"No…..you're not, Lou."

To be continued:

*:
Lou: police slang for lieutenant.

Sunbathers: a derogatory term for those who hero worship Sunstormers and give support (unwanted or not) to them to the point of fanaticism.
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

Image

"Get those hoses in there, now!" Mikayla Jones shouted as the rest of her squad of firefighters were just finishing putting out the office fire. "And you! Put that camera down and stop blocking my crew." It didn't help matters much as some of the so called "press" or vbloggers were getting in the way, trying to get selfies while recording the event. Mikayla noted that some of them were looking at the sky; probably hoping some misguided sunstormers would show up and save the day. One youth got persistent and was threatening her with lawsuits for not letting real superheroes do a better job than her and the other first responders in the city...

...and found himself floating helplessly a dozen feet in air. He screamed but the scream turned into a whimper when he saw Paladino's angry face.

"The lady said to get out of the way, nicely. I am not nice, so once i let you down, start running and pray i don't see you again, understand me? Oh the camera stays with me."

Mikayla's nose wrinkled in disgust as the kid literally soiled himself. She quietly approved though as he and the rest of the thrill seekers quickly left the scene.

"You needn't have done that, Helen. I gotten this situation under control."

"Could've fooled me, Mai. When is your shift over? We have to talk. Well i talk, you listen while we both get drunk."

"Give me about twenty minutes to wrap things up here, Hel. And you're buying the first few rounds."

"Figures."

Across town:

Darnell was scared.

He tried to remember the codes Ty-Rock had given him. Not the one for police, Code Blue, which went off pretty frequently at month's end, especially when the cops were trying to fill arrest quotas in order to justify their salaries.

Chicago PD weren't the problem, however it was the other "unofficial" cops that worried him. The ones allied "unofficially" with the Feds. The ones who sometimes drove around the city at night in unmarked black minivans and armed with hypodermic needles loaded with enough chemicals to knock out an elephant (in theory) once it pierces the skin and enters the bloodstream. Of course, they often use a half-dozen of those things just to be sure the target was really down for the count.

Where the vans go with the people, no one can say…or dared to. Fortunately they usually go after guys like Ty-Rock and his dumb as a bag of hammers cousin, Pig Iron.

In other words, they police and deal with sunstormers.

However this was new. The cops were looking for Ty-Rock for reasons Darnell could guess but since he and Pig Iron skipped town, they had to settle with his subordinates.

Like Darnell.

He tried to stay unnoticed in the alleyway but found himself blocked.

"Time to repent, you drug dealing blasphemer." came the cheerful voice before it suddenly became a scream which hit Darnell with such force that his brains poured out of his mouth and nostrils.

The figure stood above Darnell's body made the sign of the cross. "Thou art forgiven for as God loves and forgives you, as do i."

To be continued:
Last edited by Shadowmask on Mon Jul 03, 2023 7:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

Image

Normally Helen would go to drown her sorrows at the local cop bar, Bar None. But as Mai was a civilian albeit one who worked for the fire department, it wasn't a good idea.

Cops can be quite territorial about their favorite watering holes. Of course Chicago politicians often tried to make the police sign morality clauses, forbidding them to engage in potentially disastrous public displays such as going into bars even while off duty.

Chicago PD's as well as the police union representatives answer was a big loud FY to City Hall and did what they damned well pleased anyway.

In the meantime, Helen and Mai went to a sports bar on West 47th street and began to enjoy the drinks even though they were quite pricey.

The women started talking after the second round. Or was it the fourth? No one cared.

"Whatever happened to the quarterback from the football team when we were in high school? He was hitting on me and you at the same time hoping for a threesome. The horny creep. We instead took turns beating the living crap out of him. What was his name anyway?" Mai babbled, her voice a slur after a couple of tequilas.

Helen took a long gulp of her pint of German beer.

"Joey, yeah. He signed on with the Bears straight after graduation but had to be dropped from the team after his kneecap got busted within six months. Last I heard he owns a used car dealership down south in Evanston."

Helen went quiet for a moment, then ordered another round. "A year ago, if you asked me what would happen if people had gotten superpowers, then I would look at you funny then put you in a straitjacket. Now though it seems I'm the crazy one."

"The brass told you to drop the case, huh? Big deal. It's not the first time, Hel."

"Sure. Sometimes I feel like quitting. Let this city deal with the freakshow the Sunstorm had spawned…"

Mai interrupted. "Hey, you can't quit. I mean what's the brass, the mayor and the full of crap lawyers from the Civil Liberties Union going to do, huh? What are they going to do about their ulcers and migraines? Who the hell are they going to complain to while handling the PR guys and hordes of paparazzis constantly kissing their asses? Asses that you personally kicked? The paramedics will be out of work if you're not on call.

Nah, long story short, you are a cop. You will always be a cop and you'll eventually gonna die as one. Old age is not an option."

Helen smirked.

"Mai, if I do die in the line of duty, promise me you'll bury me next to a brothel."

They both laughed out loud much to the annoyance of some of the bar patrons who promptly and wisely minded their own business when they saw Helen's uniform. A few even recognized her after her public revelation as a sunstormer a year ago, but they knew enough about her to leave the superpowered police officer alone while in her cups or else receive a trip to the emergency room.

Helen's cell phone vibrated. Annoyed, she gazed drunkenly at the texted message.

It was from Hobbs. Helen didn't really want to talk to the bastard but knew if he, of all people, called her at this hour, then he will pester her all night. Reluctantly she answered.

"I'm off duty, Lou…" she growled in reply.

"Paladino, we have a situation. One of Ty-Rock's crew got hit tonight. A possible connection to the 7 Thunders."

"So what? I'm off the case, remember?"

"Not anymore. You're back on. Get your butt over here right now!"

Back to what? Helen thought as she finished her lager.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

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Image]

36 hours later:

From a safe distance, Helen scanned the very small crowd of mourners gathered around the gravesite. Barely a half dozen or so. Apparently, Bettina didn't have any close family or friends.

The news of her death in the clinic last night was diagnosed as resulting from her injuries from the sunstormer using a type of sonic attack. Tragically despite the efforts of the doctors, her unborn child died as well.

Hours later, while setting up a security detail (over the protests of the medical staff) in the ic ward where Jacob Garrison, the one tortured by Ty-Rock was residing in, Chicago PD discovered that somehow he recovered and left the hospital.

Of course the hospital administration had blamed the department in order to cover up their own incompetence. But was Garrison actually severely injured at all in the first place? Helen who was present at the time and the surgeons tending to him swore that he was. With the medical board cutting off any links to the whole affair, the doctors and paramedics were being pressured to keep silent.

APBs on Briggs and now Garrison were sent out all over official channels in the state. The only silver lining in the city wide dark cloud was the fact the FBI finally got off their lazy butts and made moves against Reverend Butler and the 7 Thunders, going so far as to freeze the religious order's assets and confiscating records, both digital and physical.

The attorneys from all sides: the hospital, police, feds, Briggs and Butler are having a field day. And because a suspected sunstormer is now attributed to several assaults and homicides throughout Chicago, the Pro Sunstormer faction were raising "concerns about yet another American Government conspiracy against sunstormers." on the Internet. Of course the sunstormers, especially those in hiding didn't give a crap, much less even mention about the people being attacked or killed by said 'persecuted' sunstormer.

At the other side of the fence, those who were anti sunstormer accused the government of allowing the sunstormers to have preferential treatment while 'the freaks' were going on a rampage in Chicago against decent human taxpaying citizens. Many all over the country were also angry at what they had perceived as religious discrimination against the 7 Thunders.

All of this Helen took in stride but once she gotten the news of Bettina's and her unborn child's death, she made a few calls to find when and where the funeral services if any was occurring.

And now she was here. Suddenly Helen felt cold metal on her neck even though she was leaning with her back against a tree.

"No time, no see, Briggs." she said coolly without turning her head.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

Image

"You have three seconds before i pull this trigger and splatter your brains all over the place, bitch."

"Drop the Gangsta' vibe, Briggs. Do you really think I'll go anywhere without informing headquarters about my location first? You're in enough trouble as it is. Not that we ever need an excuse to slam your ass."

Ty-Rock hesitated for a moment then reluctantly released his grip on Helen. Tucking the gun into his jacket, he backed slowly away.

"You don't give a f@$! about anyone or anything. Why are you even doing this for? For money? To please the politicians?"

Paladino sneered.

"Yeah, Briggs, i itch for money like a crack addict. I'm so goddamn greedy that for a few thousand dollars a year minus income taxes, rent, food and other utilities, i put up with petty crooks, sanctimonious sunstormers, the hatred of the public and the press. I risk my life, the lives of my coworkers and my career daily without expectation or even need of praise and reward. I do all that for my lousy salary. That's how greedy i am.

Now, if you're done pretending to be my f@$!#&×g
psychologist, maybe you can tell me the real deal between you and Reverend Butler."


Ty-Rock didn't answer at first. He silently watched the funeral being concluded.

"When the holy highroller came to town, i didn't pay much attention to him and his crazies until i heard rumors on the grapevine that he had a lot of money and was looking for firearms."

"Why?"

"Most likely he wanted to supply his thugs with weapons. And before you even ask; yes, Paladino, i knew Butler was gonna use them against sunstormers eventually."

"I take it the deal went sour."

Briggs frowned. "In more ways than one. The deal was made through third parties but then the shipment got jacked overseas…"

Helen let out a grim laugh. "The Reverend stole the weapons and stiffed you."

"Yeah…so i didn't like being played like a sucker and put the thumbscrews on him and his people until the 7 Thunders sent their screamer to strike against my crew."

"That explains the recent various assaults on widely different people. They were working for you both in one capacity or another. Which one of the Reverend's were the ones your punks attacked?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. I'm telling you all this because you or Five-O ain't got no hard evidence on me or the Thunders anyway, Paladino. The main thing you should be worrying about is the screamer running around Chicago. Butler cut him loose once the Feds raided their so-called 'church' here.

As for me, it's really getting too hot here. Not healthy. I was only here to pay my respects to Bettina. You won't see me again for at least a few weeks. Aruba awaits. Want to come with me? We'll have a ball."

Helen did a facepalm. "Get the hell out of my sight before there will be another corpse sharing Bettina's coffin."

Ty-Rock made a sardonic bow at the waist, then left.

To be continued:
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Re: Eclipse: A Tale Of The Sunstorm.

Post by Shadowmask »

Helen watched Briggs as he left in his usual arrogant stride , the temptation of shooting him in the back was extremely strong and she barely managed to keep such desires under control.

Perhaps one day but for now she was already running late for another interview.

It was no coincidence that one of the victims of the not so secret war between Ty-Rock's gang, the Legion and the 7 Thunders happened to be one of the hospital staff at Northwestern Memorial who was tending to the escaped sunstormer, Garrison: one Steve Cassidy, a surgeon.

Cassidy was easy to find. Despite the veil of silence surrounding Northwestern, there will always be people who talk besides doctors and nurses. Janitors, orderlies and first year interns for example.

Apparently Cassidy wasn't popular enough as he was quickly sold out about his whereabouts for only twenty bucks. He was having a late lunch at a vegan restaurant near the hospital. Cassidy was a thin blond man in his early thirties with fashionable glasses that probably cost more than Helen's weekly paycheck. He put down the salad as soon as he saw Paladino.

"I am not supposed to talk to the police without my lawyer present." He stated flatly with a equally flat nasally voice.

Helen grinned. It was not a pleasant smile.

"Give it up, Cassidy. Reverend Butler pretty much cast you aside. You're now a loose end. Hospital administration won't protect your sorry ass against Garrison."

Cassidy blanched at this.

"Look, that big metal thug was the one who broke into my place and beat the snot of me..."

"Who cares? The fact you didn't report it in the first place and are just now telling me this means your testimony is worthless, inadmissible in court. Pig Iron, along with his cousin has already created airtight alibis which the prosecutor found impossible to prove or disprove.

Which brings us back to you. You were the one who tended to Garrison although you waited until after I've delivered him to the hospital and was gone before you lifted a finger.

And it doesn't take a fu@$!#ng genius to know that you helped him escape. Does he have regenerative powers as well? He was pretty cut up when i found hi..."


"Can you protect me if i make a deal?" Cassidy interrupted, his pale thin face had lost his snobbish veneer. The fear radiating from his body was palpable.

"You are really in no position to make such bargains otherwise you'll lose whatever limited protection the hospital has given you. You are not only a loose end the Thunders want nothing to do with but you're also like a albatross around Northwestern's necks. Sooner or later they will cave in and just fire you. That is if Garrison doesn't get you first.

So are you really ready to go into protective custody? In so doing, the hospital won't back you anymore and hopefully drop the lawsuits they are trying to make against the city.

Or would you settle on being the screamer's next victim?"


"Alright alright! I agree! Happy now?"

"It's a start. Now tell me about Garrison while we drive to the station."

To be continued:
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