In the summer of 1934, a wave of bank robberies took place across the South and Midwest. The robbers were Active, and easily took their targets in small cities. They even robbed a bank guarded by a famous Brute, Dollar Bill Washington. Now the Grimnoir Society is interested in the gang, but not for the same reason as the BI.
Originally, the gang consisted of at least two Actives:
O.K. Hennesey, of Sparta, Tenn. Brute. Mid-thirties in age. No military record; arrested for disorderly conduct and bar fighting, but no convictions.
Nick Voinovich, 43, of Sparta, Tenn. Icebox. Veteran of First Volunteer Brigade (Active) in the Great War. He learned to work with other Actives to maximize their effectiveness in the trenches; the BI pegs him as the gang's leader.
Also present, pointing a pistol, was Christine Tane, 25, of Sparta, Tenn. Former French tutor, former waitress. No criminal record.
When they hit Texas, they'd picked up a Torch, Aloysius "Scorchy" Muldoon of Lubbock. Then in Tulsa, they added a woman with twelve-foot-wide wings. This gang is adding Actives every four or five jobs, which works out to about one a month.
This makes all Actives look bad, as the gang is robbing bigger banks with more violence every time. It reinforces the image that Actives can do whatever they want because society's helpless to stop them.
Also, we're concerned about the woman with wings. There have always been stories of Shifters, who could actually alter their shape, but so far all of them have proved false. There have been really good Ringers who looked like they could grow extra arms or a dragon's head, but this one is different. A reporter for the Kansas City Star took a photo of the bird woman swooping away from the scene of the crime. There hasn't ever been a Ringer born who can fool the camera.
The Atlanta charter of the Grimnoir Society doesn't have an Elder, not yet. But Mr. Browning has appointed Ronald Richter of Texas to head up this investigation. Mr. Richter is a Finder, and the spirits at his command believe the gang will next make a try for the First Federal Savings and Loan of Omaha, Neb. This isn't actually a bank, but a loan institution formed as part of President Roosevelt's financial reforms. Savings and Loans are all startups (they were only authorized a year ago) and are believed by gangsters to have inferior protection to regular banks. Whether or not that's true, FFS&L is probably not proof against ice, fire, strength and wings, which is why we're planning to be there when it happens.
(If you're part of this game, comment on this post and I'll incorporate your statements into the next post! Or send me an email.)
A young Asian woman dressed in dark purple silk slips out from the shadows as quietly as the airship in which they are traveling: "How many have they slain?"
ReplyDelete"None so far," says Mr. Richter. "They shot a lot of guns in the air, and since they added Muldoon he's been belching fire into the air. Makes everyone shut up and pay attention. But they've shot AT guards, tellers, a customer in Lubbock ... it's really just a matter of time before they ring someone's bell."
ReplyDelete"Sky" Masterson is a dark-haired youth whose footstep is so light that he seems to dance when he walks. with twinkling and dancing gray eyes that seem to change color under different light, now hazel, now dark, now yellow like a beast of prey. Something in his glace seems supercilious but zany, as if silently saying either 'come out and play' or 'I double-dog dare you'.
ReplyDeleteHis features are strangely magnetic without being exactly pleasant. He has narrow face, a cleft jaw, cheekbones like a fashion model. He is dressed in an expensive but loud suit: a narrow silk tie of bright colors, a checkered coat with sharp lapels, a green fedora, which he wears at a tilt. One bulge in his coat is his heater, the other his roll of c-notes. He has the quirk of smiling with one side of his mouth only, the side without a cigarette dangling from it.
"I got a Benjamin says one of them beefs some Joe before the week is out. Lay you twelve to seven. You'll cover me?"