04 - Spearhead

Luci was still running up the stairs in her mind, but in reality, she was running across the drug lab. She ran straight into a lab table. The impact pulled her out of the memory.

Beneath her feet, she noticed the crack on the floor. It had grown, and it was growing visibly as she stared at it. She looked around the room and realized that William and Owen were both back from their memories too. Aaronson was not far behind Luci, he had been trying to spot her as she darted across the room before waking up.

“Where were you this time?”, Aaronson asked. Luci explained that first they were in a corridor, then they went down to the East Entrance Lobby, and from there she gained access to a security terminal where she saw Aaronson running down a hall towards the Cooler.

Before Aaronson could respond, Luci asked him, “What were you really trying to accomplish down there?”

“I've told you this already,” Aaronson replied, “I was trying to shut the program down, to end it for good.” Aaronson continued, “It started with deleting the data, but I needed to remove all physical traces of C-1011 as well. That's why I needed to be in the Cooler. That's why I needed to vent the chemical.”

“Who you running from?” Luci questioned him. Aaronson told her that he was running from Jackson, herself, Owen, and William. Luci was confused and Aaronson could tell from her face. He continued saying, “You were there every step of the way, you're the one who locked us in here, and you're the one who stopped me back in the server room.”

The server room, Luci thought. She had no recollection of it. When she didn't respond, Aaronson asked her, “You don't remember the server room do you, you haven't reconsolidated that memory yet have you?” Luci shook her head no.

Lucy knew that Aaronson was trying to sabotage the C-1011 program by deleting the data and destroying all of the chemicals in the storage tanks. However, based on the memory from the Cooler, it seemed clear that Aaronson had not been successful in destroying the chemical in the Cooler. It also seemed as though he have been foiled in the server room, but how? She couldn't recall. Aaronson was still fighting though, she could sense it. What was he still after, she wondered.

By that point Owen and William had walked over and were inspecting the growing crack. Suddenly without warning, Owen had a flashback. He was being escorted into an interrogation room after his clinical trial the previous week.

A guard was holding him up. Owen was weak and could barely stand on his own. Behind him he could hear the shuffle of two others. Once in the interrogation room he was sat down on a chair and a young man was assisted into a chair next to him by another guard. The two guards left Owen and the young man alone in the interrogation room.

Owen looked at the young man beside him, his leg was positioned at an odd angle which looked very uncomfortable. The young man appeared to be feeling woozy too. “Who are you”, Owen asked the young man, “how did we get here?”

“My name is Jackson”, the young man replied, “I'm here on the loan.” Then the memory faded and Owen was back in the drug lab, Jackson's words ‘on loan’ still echoing in his ear.

The flashback had him caught on off guard, but then again, he remembered his first experience with C-1011 and what that memory reconsolidation process had been like. In the hours after the interrogation room following the clinical trial, Owen recalled his brain feeling like it was bouncing to and fro, making connections, and remapping itself thru a series of seemingly unconnected and random memories in an attempt to make sense of his temporary amnesia.

“What did Jackson mean when he said he was on loan?” Owen blurted out. To everyone, the question was completely out of context, but Aaronson had obviously been through enough clinical trial debriefings to recognize the signs of memory reconsolidation. He answered Owen without batting an eye.

Aaronson explained that by the time Jackson had finished his clinical trial with Owen, that he had been with Spearhead for months and had conducted three previous C-1011 trials. Luci and Owen only knew fragments of Jackson's past, but the history that Aaronson proceeded to reveal was nothing new to William.

Jackson was a Marine. He had caught his leg in a lift on a Navy ship. The lift forced Jackson's leg back upon itself at the knee and nearly tore his leg off. There was not a square inch of Jackson's leg from his knee up to his groin that wasn't covered in scar tissue from the accident. Immediately after the accident, Jackson was operated on by Navy surgeons onboard the ship.

During the operation the surgeons discovered that Jackson had an extremely high pain tolerance and an even higher resistance to anesthetics. At first they considered amputation, but Jackson's tolerance of pain and fighting spirit convinced them to leave the limb attached. Jackson was then turned over to another team of surgeons who were given high level clearance to perform experimental reconstructive surgery on his leg in an attempt to restore functionality.

Jackson went through countless surgeries and months of excruciating rehabilitation. In the end, the best the surgeons could do was to give him limited mobility, which in and of itself, was an incredible accomplishment given the severity of his injury. Jackson's mobility was not without consequence though, he was in an incredible amount of pain 24 hours a day which required a considerable regimen of pain medications.

As Interesting as Jackson's history was, it still didn't help to explain why Luci, Owen, and William had been working together with Jackson against Dr. Aaronson just a few hours ago. The question was still nagging at Luci, so she asked the doctor, “Why were we working with Jackson?”

Aaronson explained that he didn't know why the three of them were working with Jackson, but he did know why Jackson was working against him. Aaronson said that he had seriously misjudged Jackson's character, causing him to turn on him, just before he began his sabotage of the program. Aaronson and Jackson had grown close over the past few months as the result of them working closely together. Aaronson had come to pity Jackson and the debilitating pain that he endured every single day. Both men wanted the C-1011 program ended, but as it turned out, the manner in which Dr. Aaronson proposed to terminate the program did not go over well with Jackson.

Before sabotaging the program, Aaronson confided in Jackson and explained what he was going to do. Aaronson also offered Jackson a way out, by way of ending his life. Aaronson figured, that with the end of the program, Jackson would likely be shuffled off to some other experimental program. Death would be a gift. That was Aronson's mistake, he misunderstood Jackson and the indomitability of youth entirely. Despite Jackson suffering he did not want to die, he still held on to hope that there was a way for him to be free of his pain. Furthermore, Jackson still had faith in the system and his government. He was still a soldier and he couldn't turn on his government and the system in which he still had faith in.

Jackson fled from Aaronson before he could stop him. Aaronson expected that to be the end of it, but Jackson doggedly resisted and found a way to foil his plot every step of the way.

At that point, William interjected, “Why do you hate this program so badly doctor? Can't you see that what we're doing here has the potential to benefit our soldiers in innumerable ways?”

Before Aaronson could respond, Luci jumped in saying, “PTSD is real and it destroys people's lives, C-1011 has the potential to eradicate PTSD. As a doctor isn't that a good thing?”

Aaronson seemed shocked by their questions, and responded saying, “Don't you see what we do here? We kill people. This program specifically assists in the killing of people.”

Aaronson's response made William hot. William launched into a diatribe about the importance of our military and its responsibilities to protect our nation. He called Aaronson naive for working on a military research project and being surprised that there could be deadly potential involved.

Aronson's rebuttal was simple. “A hangover is a symptom of drinking. PTSD is a symptom of killing. The intended consequence of such symptoms is to prevent the action from being repeated. By removing the symptom there becomes no downside to the action. No hangover and you can drink all you like. No PTSD, killing becomes easy. How doesn't that frighten you?” he asked.

Just then the floor audibly cracked beneath their feet, Luci used the distraction to step in. William was visibly angry and Luci knew where this was headed. Luci reminded William that getting out of the drug lab was more important than the argument they were having. William backed down and everyone turned their attention back towards circumventing the lockdown.

Luci returned to the door and doubled down on her efforts to bypass the lock. Even as she worked, Luci was still nagged by questions. She wondered, what she going to do when she got the door open, and perhaps more importantly, what was Aaronson go to do. The question was a distraction and she couldn't focus. She asked the doctor as she worked, “What happens when we get the door open doctor?”

Without hesitation Aaronson responded saying, “I’ll continue to do what I set out to do. I'm going to end this program.” Aaronson's response set William off again. William reminded Aaronson what our country does to traitors. Aaronson calmly explained that he had no intentions of living through this ordeal anyways. “I was resigned to die before I started this,” he stated without emotion.

Just then, Luci made a breakthrough, she discovered a security prompt. It required a password to unlock the doors and there was even a hint. The hint read: ‘Tell her I love her.’

Luci excitedly typed in her wife's name. Charlee. A red error code indicated that the password was invalid. Before she had a second to think of another password everything fogged over in her brain and she was transported from the drug lab back into a memory.

Luci was just stepping up to the security terminal inside the main terminal booth within the Spearhead server room. Owen, William, and Jackson were all crammed into the small booth with her. With a sense of urgency, she logged in and immediately found the files on C-1011.

There was a large bar across the top of the screen that was mostly green. The left side of the green bar was slowly turning red. Percentages listed on the bar indicated 95% green, 5% red.

“Someone is already here, they're already deleting files,” she said in a panicked voice. As she said that, another percentage went from green to red, there was no time to lose.

Luci needed to stay in the terminal booth and try to stop the data loss. There were 8 large racks in the server room, Luci was able to identify that there was an active breach on Rack 7. William and Owen formulated a plan to infiltrate the server room and physically locate the hacker and stop them as Luci worked digitally.

Jackson offered to assist, but William and Owen saw him as a liability and told him to stay put with Luci. Then William and Owen set off into the server room. Both men were unarmed as they made their way into the racks. Lighting was dim and the server fans within the racks were loud. Most of the light in the space came from the blinking lights on the server racks which spanned floor-to-ceiling, in long rows, across the length of the room.

They had come into the server room on the east end. In front of them was Rack 1. They split up on opposite ends of the racks and moved in unison down towards Rack 7.

Luci had no way to know who had logged in at Rack 7 but she could kick them off their session and lock them out of that terminal. She did just that. Then she began to set a trap in hopes that they would log in again at a different terminal. Her plan worked, another login occurred moments later on Rack 8.

The credentials indicated that it was Dr. Aaronson. Once she knew that it was Dr. Aaronson she was able to revoke his administrative privileges through the system and lock him out of the terminals for good.

Owen and William arrived at Rack 7, near the west end of the room, but found nobody there. They proceeded on and peered around the corner of the last rack and saw three people standing together about midway down the row. Two were armed guards, the other was Dr. Aaronson. He was standing at a terminal.

Owen and William were still on opposite ends of the racks. Using hand signals, the two agreed upon a pincer maneuver. Although they were unarmed, they had the element of surprise. Owen and William made their move. Almost immediately William drew the two guard’s attention, but he was quick. Using the tight space between the racks to his advantage, William engaged both guards and stalled them from drawing their firearms.

Dr. Aaronson abandoned the terminal, slipped through the melee, and exited the racks out the opposite end from where Owen was making his approach. Owen came in hard behind the unsuspecting guards. With a kick to the back of the knee, Owen was able to subdue and knock out one guard instantly. Then Owen joined the fray between William and the remaining guard.

Despite being outnumbered, the remaining guard slipped loose and drew his weapon. Owen and William threw up their arms in surrender and gave the guard space. Meanwhile, Aaronson was yelling something from the end of the rack but the server fans muffled his shouts.

Owen and William retreated back slowly. The guard, with his gun still fixed on the two, stepped back towards Aaronson to hear what he was saying.

Aaronson was telling him to shoot the server racks, saying he was locked out, and that he couldn't delete the data. “Destroy it,” he commanded, “destroy it all.”

Following his orders, the guard pointed his gun away from Owen and William and put a bullet into server Rack 8. As soon as the bullet hit the rack, thermite inside the rack ignited and the rack burst into flames, roasting the drives. Before long, flames rose up out of the rack and set off the fire suppression system.

After the first shot rang out, Owen and William turned and ran away from the armed guard and made their way back towards Luci and Jackson at the east end of the room. Argonite gas spewed overhead from the fire suppression system filling the dimly lit server room with a thick haze which covered their retreat.

Back at her terminal, Luci watched in horror as a huge chunk of the green line went red all at once. Rack 8 was completely obliterated along with all the data on it. Seconds later, Rack 7 went down too.

Luci quickly realized that there was little she could do to prevent the data from being destroyed. She changed tactics. Just as the Aaronson was able to delete files from his terminal, she could move files from her terminal. She pulled a flash drive from her pocket and gave it to Jackson. She told him to get out into the server room and plug into the nearest rack. She planned to pull files off the server to the flash drive before all the data was lost.

Jackson and Luci picked a channel on their earpieces to communicate and then Jackson scrambled out into the smoke filled server room. He plugged into the nearest terminal on the end of Rack 1. As soon as he was plugged in Luci began pulling files to the drive as fast as she could.

Owen and William made it back to Luci quickly. By that point racks 8, 7, and 6 were all down. The guard was methodically making his way down the racks putting bullets into the drives. He paused to reload at Rack 5 and noticed Jackson down the way at Rack 1. The guard slid a fresh magazine into his pistol and then made his way down towards Jackson skipping Racks 5 through 2.

Jackson saw the guard coming and pulled his flash drive. Then he slipped in between the racks, determined to head west and plug-in once again. In the haze, the guard lost track of Jackson. Instead of pursuing him, the guard began destroying the racks again this time starting with Rack 1.

The guard fired a shot into Rack 1 and it lit on fire like the rest. Another large chunk of data went red on Luci's monitor. As the rack burned the guard happened to look over at the terminal booth on the east wall where he spotted Luci, Owen, and William all huddled together. He made eye contact with Luci and the two held each other's gaze for a long moment. Her heart sunk, fearing he would come for them, but then the guard turned and headed back west towards Rack 2 to continue his destruction.

In cat-and-mouse fashion, Jackson hopped from terminal to terminal until they were all destroyed. Each time Luci moved has many files as she could to the flash drive before the rack went offline. Once all of the racks were down Owen, William, and Luci waited nervously for Jackson to return to the booth or answer Luci on her earpiece. There was no sign of Jackson.

The room was completely filled with argonite gas and the fires were beginning to be snuffed out from a lack of oxygen when Jackson finally spoke over Luci's earpiece. He had exited out the west end, fire had blocked his route back to them. He told them to get out of there. He told them they would meet up elsewhere.

03 - Spearhead

Luci, Owen, and William woke back up in the drug lab. They were in their phlebotomy chairs staring up at brilliantly white lights in brilliantly white ceiling tiles. Their minds felt foggy, they were still dealing with the reconsolidation of their memories.

Dr. Aaronson was talking to them asking, “What do you see, what do you see now?” They realized that during memory reconsolidation they must be speaking out loud or saying what they're experiencing; for all they knew they may even be responding to prompts from Aaronson subconsciously.

All three immediately wanted to get up out of their chairs. Aaronson cautioned them to take it easy, but they got up anyways. Once on their feet, Owen went and retrieved his gun and Luci retrieved her earpiece. Owen checked the clip, it was still full. Luci checked the earpiece for chatter, it was silent.

They had questions still about what they had experienced, about the Cooler, C-1011, and who they were with down in the Cooler. Before Aaronson offered any answers he urged Owen to provide an answer himself. Aaronson told Owen to focus intently in his mind on the figure that he had been following. It worked, suddenly Owen had a brief flashback.

He was lying on his back in the cleanroom. The cleansing mist had stopped and was just hanging in the air. Luci and William were passed out beside him. Owen was utterly exhausted. Just before the flashback ended, he heard a loud thud against the cleanroom door. Through the small window in the door, Owen saw Jackson's face. He had a horrified expression. Then he slid down out of sight still trapped inside the Cooler.

Owen told the doctor that it was Jackson who is in the Cooler with them, and that it looked like he didn't get out. Aaronson was pleased with Owen and praised him saying, “Good you can remember.”

There were so many mysteries still though and they wanted answers. So, Aaronson offered up his explanation of what had happened. He explained that he already knew that Jackson was down in the Cooler because Aaronson too had been there. He revealed that it was him who they were after down there. Aaronson admitted to opening the pressure reduction valve and flooding the Cooler with the chemical. He explained he was trying to destroy the C-1011 in the tanks.

Aaronson went on to tell them how it was him who said off the initial lockdown of the facility as well. The lockdown went into effect when he began erasing and overwriting files in the server room. Aaronson had destroyed all of the research files pertaining to C-1011 on the company’s server. It was his ultimate goal to eradicate C-1011 in its entirely, not just the data, but also all physical traces of it as well.

Aaronson explained that after several attempts on his part to shutdown the program he was denied and forced to continue on with the research. He continued, but he had seized to believe that there could be any good that would come of this project after seeing the effects that it was having on the subjects that they were testing. He was a doctor first and foremost before he was a government employee, and he was sworn to protect life. The program was wrong and harmful and an affront to everything he stood for. He couldn't live with it anymore so he took it upon himself to end it.

Upon learning that Aaronson had been the saboteur all along William became infuriated. William called him a traitor for turning on the company and also on his country. He asked him, “What right did you have to decide what was best?” The program was personal to William. “How dare you attack us and destroy our work,” he yelled at Aaronson. William defended the program and its goals citing the benefits of C-1011, such as its ability to eliminate PTSD and allow soldiers to better integrate back into society and be free from the scars of war. If William had had more energy, he likely would have attacked Aaronson right then and there, but he didn't have the energy, not yet.

Aaronson waited for William to settle down and then continued. He explained that he was not successful in destroying the C-1011 down in the Cooler. Jackson had interfered and prevented him from finishing his task. Then he was forced to flee before he was consumed, as they had been, by the chemical.

For some reason Jackson, Luci, William, and Owen were all working together to stop Aaronson. But they none of them could remember any of it, nor could they remember why.

For the past three hours Aaronson had been stuck down in the drug lab due to the lockdown. He explained that the current lockdown was not something that he had triggered himself, prior to entering the Cooler he had been able to move about the facility freely. The only person who could have triggered such a complete and full lockdown of the facility was Luci.

Aaronson could see that their heads were spinning with the information and that it would take some time for them to process it, so, he took the opportunity to show them something else in the room. He walked them over to one of the lab stations and pointed down on the ground. They looked down and saw a long snaking crack in the concrete floor. Aaronson explained that that crack had been growing over the past few hours.

The Cooler was directly below the drug lab. The Cooler was still being pressurized and the pressure had nowhere to go. The floor was beginning to buckle under the stress. If the floor gave way the drug lab would be flooded with C-1011. Aaronson had been waiting and hoping for them to wake up, hoping they could break the lockdown. They all needed to get out of that room.

The time for questions had passed and the three sprung into action scouring the room for a way out. None was able to find a way out. Their only option was to unlock the doors that led back to the rest of the facility. Luci borrowed Aaronson's tablet again and began to assess what it was going to take to bypass the lockdown that she herself apparently had put into effect.

If only the camera footage during the event were accessible to her through the network, she thought, then she could pull it up on Aaronson's tablet and understand what the parameters of the lockdown were and bypass them. However, Spearhead lockdown protocol was such that the camera feeds were cut from the network and routed behind a firewall on a separate server to prevent would-be attackers from using the camera system to their advantage in the event of an attack. The feeds were still active, but she would be have to physically be at a security terminal to bypass the firewall and access the camera log. First things first, open the door the hard way. Then, get to a security terminal.

Try as she may, Luci could not get the doors open quickly. Aaronson could sense the frustration growing in the room and said, “It's no use getting worked up over. We have some time. The floor hasn't shown signs that it is going to collapse right this moment. The best thing to do right now is to reconsolidate your memories so you'll know what needs to be done when we get out of here.”

Reluctantly the three agreed to cooperate with the man who seem to be more their enemy than their ally. Upon his suggestion they returned to their chairs and allowed the doctor to trigger another flashback.

Private Jackson was the trigger this time. Aaronson pulled up a photo from his dossier on the tablet and showed it to the three of them. Before they knew what had happened they were transported from the drug lab and back into a memory. They were moving down a corridor, their hearts were beating hard in their chests. Each had a sinking feeling in their stomach that they were being chased and that they mustn't be caught.

The corridor was long. Behind them on one end was an exit stair that they had come from. A ways away in front of them was another exit stair that they were trying to reach. There were strobe lights on the walls that were flashing indicating that a lockdown had been initiated.

Jackson's voice spoke in Luci’s ear through her earpiece, “I just got out of the server room, I got as much data as I could but I fear it's not nearly enough,” he paused breathing heavily. “Did you head him off yet?” he asked.

Luci replied saying, “No.” Jackson urged her to stay on him. Luci, Owen, and William were close to the east entrance lobby where there was a security checkpoint. The checkpoint had a security terminal, from which they would have access to the cameras. Using the cameras they could determine where their target was and where he was headed. Jackson agreed with the strategy and said that he too would make his way down there to meet up. Then they signed off.

As they made their way down the corridor a door in front of them opened and a guard stepped out into the corridor. Acting quickly, they ducked into a woman's bathroom and waited until the guard passed. Then they proceeded down the corridor and attempted to access the stairwell. Luci slid her access card over the card reader to unlock the door and the indicator light lit up red. Each of them in turn tried their cards but to no avail, their access privileges had been denied. Luci then tried to bypass the door while the other two made casual conversation to conceal her efforts in the event that someone else entered the corridor.

It wasn't long until another guard came out of a room and noticed them. He began walking quickly towards them. Owen and William maintained their cover, continued their conversation, and walked towards the approaching guard to head him off away from Luci.

As the guard neared William and Owen he cupped his hand up to his ear and said in a hushed tone, “I've got them. Send back up.” William and Owen knew they didn't have much time. As soon as they were close enough to the guard they attacked him. Owen snatched the guards gun as he drew it and William drove the guards face through a drywall wall.

As they were subduing the guard Luci began to shout, “I've got it, the door is open.” Without hesitation William knocked out the guard with a ruthless kick to the head. The guard was stripped of his key card and his gun. William and Owen began dragging the guard back towards the door where Luci was waiting but they were forced to leave the guard in the corridor after two more guards came out of the stairwell at the opposite end of the corridor.

The three went down the stairs and entered into the east entrance lobby. Luci rushed to the security checkpoint and used the stolen key card from the guard to open the door. Owen and William waited at the stair door to prevent the two new guards from getting through.

The lobby was a large two story space with glass walls on opposing ends. Outside, through the glass, they could see the parking lot on one side, and a picnic area on the other. There was only one way into the lobby besides the stairwell and that was through a corridor that dead-ended into the middle of the lobby.

As soon as Luci gained access to the checkpoint she ran to the terminal and put the entire east wing on lockdown. Owen and William could hear the bolt on the door to the stairwell click shut just as the two guards came barreling down the stairs and slammed into the door.

Before they could celebrate their temporary safety, William and Owen heard the heavy foot falls of more guards running down the corridor towards the east lobby. They tried the exterior doors but they were locked. The perimeter was impenetrable. The lockdown prevented anyone from leaving the building. There was nothing Luci or anyone could do to exit the facility. Their only escape routes were back up the stairwell they came from or the corridor where they would face the guards coming towards them. They shouted to Luci to hurry it up.

Luci rushed to restore her security credentials to the highest level on her card. As she was doing so, Jackson hailed her on her earpiece. He too had found that his access privileges have been removed and was not able to get down the stairs to meet them. Luci told him not to bother, as they were about to be boxed in themselves.

Jackson told her to use what little time she had to find Aaronson on the cameras and find out where he was headed. She bypassed the firewall and scanned the cameras. She found Aaronson careening down a corridor. She reported back over the earpiece to Jackson, “It looks like he's headed to the Cooler.”

“Lock him out,” he implored, but she was out of time, the guards were about to reach the lobby. The last thing she did before she left the security checkpoint was unlock a clear path for Jackson to the Cooler. Then she left the checkpoint and locked the door behind her.

Luci rejoined Owen and William in the lobby. By that point the men had formulated a plan to go back through the stairwell, deciding to face the two guards instead of an unknown number of guards coming down the corridor.

The guards trapped inside the stairwell were still attempting to pound down the door. Owen readied himself to pull the guards from the stairwell, William armed himself with a nearby stainless steel trash can, and Luci waited by the card reader for Owen’s signal.

They heard a guard prepare to slam himself against the door, Luci slid her card and the lock clicked open. Owen threw open the door and grabbed the guard as he stumbled towards the door that gave way before him. Owen threw the guard clear into the lobby where he tumbled to the floor. William followed up with the trash can, smashing it into the unsuspecting face of the second guard still within the stairwell.

The momentum of the blow carried William into the stairwell, trash can still in hand, where he landed in a pile with the guard he had attacked. Owen and Luci slipped inside the stairwell just as the guards arrived in the lobby from the corridor. They closed and locked the door behind them.

Owens subdued the solitary guard while William dusted himself off. The guard was relieved of his gun and it was given to Luci after William rejected it.

Even in his defeated state the guard was still defiant. The guard spoke, spitting blood, and called them all traitors. William mocked him and then threw his insult right back at him. The guard looked William square in the eyes. As the two men stared at one another William could see that something seemed off with the guard’s gaze.

With fury in his voice the guard told William, “It's do-nothings like you that let this program get out of control, you'll burn in hell for this.” Even as he hurled his insult, the guard seem distant, and William wondered what sort of indoctrination this man had been through.

Nevertheless, the guard had gone too far. Williams stooped down and grabbed the guard by his shirt and looked at his name badge. Bradley it read. “I know everyone in this compound Bradley. You have a family, I remember it from your dossier when you were hired,” William said. “This is my program,” he continued menacingly, “both you and your family are going to pay for your treason.”

Luci pleaded for them to keep moving, and for a moment, William seemed to back off. Then suddenly, with a savage kick to the back of the head, William knocked Bradley out. Then the three rushed back up the stairs.

02 - Spearhead

William, Luci, and Owen came to in a stark white room. Their heads were swimming and they had no idea where they were. They were seated in phlebotomy chairs, each of them were connected to IV bags. Groggily they looked around.  The room was a drug lab and there was only one other person in the room with them. The man was in a technician’s chair, and when he saw them starting to stir, he wheeled himself over.  The man had a small goatee and shoulder length hair, he wore a lab coat and looked to be about 40 years old. His name was Dr. Aaronson.

Dr. Aaronson was beside himself with happiness that the three were still alive.  He told them that he fully expected them to be vegetables because of the high dosage of C-1011 they had been exposed to.  Not even the lab rats have ever been exposed to that much of the chemical so he had feared for the worst.  According to the doctor they had been unconscious for almost three and a half hours.

William, Luci, and Owen couldn’t remember anything from the last few hours, there was no recollection of anything out of the ordinary, but somehow, something had gone terrible wrong for them to be here without any memory of what had happened.  They were full of questions even though their heads were still swimming.  They rattled off their questions each talking over the others. Where are they? What happened? Why are they connected to these IV bags? And, in Owen’s case, who were William and Luci?

Aaronson tried to soothe them and urged them to take it slow.  He tried to explain; the facility was in lockdown and the Aaronson had personally pulled the three of them from the cleanroom just outside the Cooler, which was nickname given to the underground chemical storage vault. Aaronson had pulled them out after they were exposed to the chemical. Beyond that, Aaronson couldn't answer too many other questions.

He explained that there had been some sort of sabotage that put the entire compound into lockdown and that all of the data concerning his research on C-1011 had been wiped from the servers.  There was no internet, no cell signals, and no way to make contact with the outside.  All the doors inside the compound were locked, no one had been able to get in or leave. As a result, it has been difficult for him to get around or communicate so he didn't fully understand the extent of damage that had been done.

Luci attempted to investigate the situation from surveillance video and records within the security system via Aaronson's tablet, but she search turned up little useful information. When the facility went into lockdown everything on the security system went black.  Based on footage before the lockdown there had been nothing out of the ordinary happening with Luci or William’s schedules.  Likewise, Owen had been back for his post-op memory testing and the feed cut out in the middle of his tests.  There was no way to tell what had happened in the black besides first hand personal experience.

Aaronson explained that he believed that the three of them had intimate knowledge of what had happened, but due to their exposure to C-1011, they could not recall what had happened.  He said that the only way that they could learn what had happened to them was to reconsolidate their memories just like the clinical tests that Owen had just recently been through.

The three were quite distressed.  William and Luci had never experienced anything like this before, but Owen had, and the memory of his clinical test was still fresh in his mind.  Dr. Aaronson and Owen explained how the clinical tests were conducted and how patients experienced memory loss while taking C-1011 and had reconsolidate their memories afterwards.  In Owen’s case, his memory had came back quickly, or so he had thought.  As Owen recounted his memory of his operation to Luci and William the doctor stopped him.  Owen had believed he had traveled to Mexico and rescued two Spearhead operatives, but Aaronson revealed that that was not entirely true.

The purpose of Owen’s clinical trial was actually to determine if memory reconsolidation was corruptible.  During the operation, Owen was never under the impression that he was in Mexico or that there were actual hostages; he knew it was an exercise.  However, C-1011 erases the subject’s short term memory.  After the operation he forgot all of what had happened.  During debriefing, Owen he was given a falsified account of the action. Then Aaronson checked back up on him during memory reconsolidation to see if his mind could determine what had truly taken place.  In the end, Owen couldn’t decipher between fact and fiction.  During reconsolidation, his mind filled in the blanks using the false info from debriefing and accepted that as the truth.

William, Luci, and most especially Owen, were shocked to learn the effects of C-1011.  They were facing the prospect of reconsolidating their own recent memories and now they couldn’t be sure of the integrity of the process.

Aaronson explained that memory reconsolidation began by using memory triggers to stimulate the brain and try to wake up the misplaced memories.  The three wanted to know what happened right when the lockdown happened, but Aaronson had nothing to work with in terms of a common memory trigger between the three of them before the lockdown.  According to the security footage they weren’t together when the lockdown went into effect. The only thing Aaronson was confident that they had in common was that they had all been in the cleanroom outside the Cooler because that was where he found them.  Therefore, Aaronson determined to start with that memory.

Before he triggered their memories Dr. Aaronson gave them all a beta blocker. He explained that the beta blocker would help dampened down the traumatic aspect of the memory and allow them to recall it more clearly without causing additional stress on their already taxed brains.  Aaronson told them it was perfectly safe. He even gave himself a shot of the beta blocker first, telling them that it was helping him to deal with the anxiety too.

The trigger the doctor choose was a training video for standard cleanroom procedure. As the three watched the video their brains began to latch onto shared remembrances of their predicament, and just like that, they were back in the cleanroom, reliving their memory it as if it was happening again.

They were in their same clothes that they wore presently in the drug lab.  Owen was the only one armed, Luci had an ear piece comm.  They were entering into the Cooler with a sense of urgency.

A voice on the ear piece made a brief transmission saying, “He's headed for the pressure reduction valve, stay quiet”. She recognized the voice on the ear piece as friendly.

The three proceeded into the space which was expansive. The ceiling was about 30 feet high and the entire space was filled with large white pill shaped storage tanks. The tanks stood on short stilts and were about 10 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall.  The tanks formed long rows that extended the full length and width of the immense space.  The tanks were all piped in sequence with one another and pipes criss-crossed the rows high up near the ceiling.

The space was dimly lit and visibility was less than 50 feet. The Cooler was rectangular in shape and they entered into it on its short side.  The rows of tanks dominated the space but they could see the side walls; the back wall however was buried in darkness.

Before long they heard the clink and rattling of a chain somewhere near the back of the Cooler.  Cautiously they proceeded down the rows in the room until a figure darted across one of the rows about 30 feet in front of them. The three split up, Luci and William going to investigate where the individual had darted across from, and Owen with the gun, giving chase to the individual who darted across their path.

When William and Luci arrived at the place where the figure had darted from they found that the spot had a good vantage over a gate leading to a chain link cage along the back wall of the room.  The gate was open, and a chain hung limp with a cut lock.

Owen quietly stalked the figure for a couple rows.  The figure lead him laterally across the room until he stopped and cupped his hand up by his ear piece. Owen crept closer in an attempt to hear what was being said but all he could hear was the end of the transmission, “I'm going after him.”

Luci and William where passing through the chain link gate at the back of the room when the ear piece squawked again, “The valve is already open, I’m close to him though.  I’m going after him.”

From within the chain link cage William and Luci traced the tangled network of pipes towards the center of the wall, all the while noticing a hissing noise that was growing louder and louder. At the center of the tangle of pipes was a bunch of unions and valves all which were hissing angrily. They had no more than a few seconds to stare in wonder at the hissing pipes before yellow warning indicator lights began to light up, one by one, over the dozen or so valves in front of them. They were too late, the system was over-pressurized and becoming unstable.  Just then, a burst of gunfire rang out not far from them and the two of them decided to get out of the cage.

Meanwhile, Owen watched as the shadowed figure broke from his hiding spot and gave chase after the unseen saboteur. Owen quickly and cautiously kept pace with their shadowed friend.  Their friend wasted little time pulling a pistol and firing at his enemy. Three shots were fired from a pistol, then silence for a second or two, finally a single loud shot rang out. Owen took cover.

William and Luci had already begun their escape, they were running back towards the gate when the ear piece spoke again. Their friend said that he was hit but that “he was okay,” he told them to get out of there.

The hissing sound seem to be following Luci and William as they ran from the chain link cage and back down the rows towards the cleanroom. William was out in front until a tank next to him made a strange noise.

The tanks around William were being ripped open by the mounting pressure.  As they were overloaded they burst and sent rivets flying. At first William thought he was being shot, but he soon realized that the sound was in fact the sound of rivets blowing out and ricocheting around the room. Just then, a tank right in front of him blew out and spewed C-1011 directly into William’s unsuspecting face.

The smell of the chemical was sweet, like vanilla extract, but the taste was bitter. The shock of the blast sent him reeling back and tumbling to the floor. The tank continue to gush the chemical and when Luci arrived she saw William flailing on the ground covered in a cloud of the sickly sweet smelling chemical.

She selflessly drove into the cloud and wrestled William’s body free.  Then the two got to their feet and continued their way towards the cleanroom as more tanks burst and saturated the air in the Cooler with the chemical.

Sensing the danger from the gun fire and the destabilizing tanks, Owen abandoned his pursuit of the shadowed figure.  To be safe, Owen put some distance between himself and the gunshots and then made his way back to the cleanroom.  The tanks near him were beginning to rupture as well and he recognized the smell of the C-1011 filling the room.

As William and Luci were about halfway back to the cleanroom the ear piece came alive one last time. “I'm hit but I'm okay, there's a switch for a large exhaust vent near me... I'm going to get to it, you need to get out of here... just get out!” That was the last that they heard from him.

Owen was the first one back to the cleanroom, by then the air in the Cooler was thick with the chemical.  Wasting no time he engaged the sanitation cycle on a keypad next to the door. The cleanroom doors opened and a timer begin counting down.  Owen nervously waited and hoped for his companions to appear in time.

With just seconds left on the timer William and Luci rounded the corner of the last storage tank and were sprinted towards the door.  Owen did his best to hold back the doors but they were too strong. William crashed into Owen forcing the both of them into the clean room and tumbling to the floor.  Luci slipped her body through the closing doors but her leg caught just as the doors shut. She twisted her ankle at an unnatural angle and pulled her foot through the vice of the door. Panting on the floor, she popped her ankle back into place.  Then the sanitation system above spewed its cleansing shower over them and they passed out.

01 - Spearhead

Background

C-1011 is the result of a neurochemical development contract between the United States Military and Spearhead.  The chemical has recently been developed into an aerosol drug that is administered through an oral inhaler.  C-1011 is currently in the midst of classified clinical testing.

C-1011 has been found to mentally dissociate a person's actions from their awareness of those actions.  Not unlike hypnosis, C-1011 creates a mental state in which the individual becomes fully engrossed in what they are doing to the point that they do not have to think about what they are doing; instead they just do it.  The current focus of the study is to assess the applicable uses of the drug as a combat enhancement.

Bios

Subject 17 - Owen Miller
Age - 45
Experience - Army (Retired)
Qualifier - Miller was blacklisted from the Army on account of being a whistleblower.  Subject exhibits strong tendencies towards “right” and “wrong” and is not afraid to report illicit behavior.

Subject 18 - Kyle Jackson
Age - 19
Experience - Marine (Enlisted, Pvt.)
Qualifier - Severe leg injury from a getting caught in a lift.  Underwent extensive surgery and physical therapy, during which the subject exhibited extremely high resistance to anesthetics.

Operation #8

Operation Coordinator - William Wright
Clinical Evaluation - Dr. Andrew Aaronson
Clinical Trial - C-1011
Enhancement - beta-adrenoceptor
Participants - Owen Miller, Kyle Jackson
Location - Spearhead (Mexico)
Objective - Rescue & extract
Result - Successful memory reconsolidation
Triggers - Imagery, Audio (augmented)

Pitch Session - Spearhead

According to their website, Spearhead is North America's most advanced private military research facility.  Beyond a few token photographs that look like they could have been taken from any Fortune 500's company website, there is little else in terms of hard information listed.  There is no mailing address, no contact tab, and no list of services offered.

Your characters are employees of Spearhead.  It goes without saying, you went through rigorous and surreptitious recruiting channels before landing your position within their organization.  Their non-disclosure agreement was immense and left no room for open discussion with friends and family about your involvement with the company.

At the beginning of the story you will wake up and be informed that you have been involved in an 'Event'.  You will have no memory of the Event. The Event, and the circumstances surrounding your apparent amnesia, will be the initial focus of your characters.

Your primary contact will be Dr. Aaronson.  The game will ultimately be about what your characters do in light of what they learn about the Event.  In order to understand what happened during the Event you will be working with Dr. Aaronson.  He will guide you through a series of psychological stimuli and triggers that will generate flashbacks to the Event.

During our initial discussions we as a group threw out a number of ideas.  For reference, these are the key ideas that I wrote down and have been wrestling with.  Please note that these are thematic only and may not apply directly to the story once its all in motion:

• Agents being activated
• Psy-ops
• Terrorism and terrorist motivations (what could 'new terrorism' look like)
• Secret research and the weaponizing of a chemical agent in aerosol form
• Dan Brown - Illuminati type underpinnings for government or private military groups
• Hypnosis, mind-control, and brainwashing

Regarding Fatecore and how I use the system.  I do not use Stunts, they didn't exist in the original Fate system.  I focus on aspects and skills only.  Regarding aspects, I like aspects that are both good and bad things.  'Impetuous' is a good example, it can be positive and negative depending on the situation.  'Respect for authority' is another good example, it could help you stay in-line or it could get you in trouble if you shouldn't have been so trusting.  Try to find aspects that are good and bad.  Three aspects is enough, but if you want a fourth you are welcome to it.

In terms of skills, I tend to err on the conservative side and not have my players assign tons of skills. Assign one skill at +2 and three skills at +1.  As private military contractors it can be assumed that you have a military skill set.  Therefore, using a skill slot for 'firearms' would be redundant.  When rolling dice I already assume your characters know how to handle a gun.  If you were scientists your rolls with guns would start at -1 or -2 depending on how nerdy you are.  A scientist is not expected to be good with guns.  That being said, do not spend your skills on things that we can all assume your character is knowledgeable about.  Instead, you should be clarifying what makes you special.  Maybe you are an expert in Linguistics and can speak lots of languages, maybe you were a Biology major before joining the military, or perhaps you know your way around Motorcycles.  Use your skills to define what makes your character unique from the standard 'soldiers' archetype.

A quick note about the function of your character sheet.  Think of your character sheet as a 'honey-do' list for me.  It's my job to look at your sheets and craft situations around the things that you list as critical to your characters.  Not that you would, but if you put windsurfing as one of your skills it would tell me that you would like situations to arise where you could windsurf.  Obviously I can veto random skills that I cannot see as applicable, but on the whole, your choice of skills heavily influences the types of scenarios that I craft for your characters.  Craft your character sheet as a love-letter to the game we are about to play; let it list what you would like to get out of the relationship we are creating.

15 - The Last Day of Magic

August 1776

It was days before the British and Hessian troops that were landed on Long Island took to the field of battle.  The movement of thousands of men, supplies, horses, and cannon was no small task.  More over, what the British had in store for the Americans required time and patience to setup and execute. With superior numbers, the British could afford to take as much time as they needed to get the job done right.  Meanwhile, the Continental Army, under the direction of Generals Israel Putnam and John Sullivan, dug in for the battle unaware of the fact that there existed a major flaw in their defenses.

It was well before sunrise, on August 27th, that Sullivan arrived at Kennedy Mansion to fetch his magician, Charlotte Rose.  Leaving Fisher to defend Manhattan with General Knox, Sullivan and Rose boarded a boat to cross the East River at the mile wide Brookland Ferry Crossing.  Upon arrival on Long Island the action was already brewing.  The British, under General Grant, were already marching towards Lord Stirling's men along the right flank of the American defenses, and six pound small shot from Hessian guns had just begun to rain in on Sullivan's main body of men in the densely forested center position of the defenses.  The British and Hessian forces outnumbered the Americans 3 to 1.

Sullivan rode off to tend to his lines leaving Charlotte to fend for herself.  Charlotte was assigned a horse and young solider, more of a boy than man, as an escort and she quickly got to work riding up to Stirling's men who were feverishly exchanging volleys with Grants forces.  Stirling's men were few but they were brave.  The bulk of the men were from the Maryland 400, they all wore bright blue field coats and were among the best troops that would take to the field that day.  Dug in behind their ditches, they held General Grant at bay until late that morning.

Charlotte spent most of her time attempting to boost morale and kick up favorable winds but she was limited in what she could do without Fisher.  Meanwhile, Fisher remained with Knox and Col. John Glover at the main battery on Manhattan Island to support the other other half of Washington's army.  From Manhattan Island the army could hear the incessant boom of the Hessian's cannon across the East River.  High tide was still hours away and the winds were calm for the time being.  The morning dragged on and Fisher found himself wishing he were on Long Island, attempting to make a difference instead of waiting for the tide with Knox and Glover to prevent a hypothetical attack from Admiral Howe's fleet.  Finally Fisher made it known to Knox that he wished to take the ferry to Long Island to support Charlotte and Sullivan.

Knox did not want to lose Fisher.  If Washington was correct, a full scale invasion of Manhattan was coming.  Knox argued that the battle happening on Long Island was only a distraction intended to split the Continental Army into two and if Fisher left, he would be playing right into the Howe Brother's hands.  Fisher eventually convinced Knox to let him go but only after he assured him that the winds would not be favorable for Admiral Howe to sail up the Hudson and land an invasion force on Manhattan.

Despite Fisher's efforts to assist with the fighting on Long Island, his presence would ultimately make little difference in the outcome of the battle.  In fact, the battle had already been lost the night before the battle even began.  In a daring move General Cornwallis, Howe's best military strategist, had marched all night with 10,000 redcoats up the coast of Long Island in a flanking maneuver intended surround the Americans and force a complete surrender of their forces.  The British successfully went undetected and by 9:00 am were in position to launch their surprise attack on Sullivan and his men.  With the addition of Cornwallis' 10,000 men the Americans became outnumbered 6 to 1.

Just as Fisher met up with Rose on the battlefield the drums of Cornwallis' army began to beat.  The drums were a signal to the Hessian's who had been shelling Sullivan's left flank all morning to begin their attack.  The American's up until that point were in high spirits, believing they were holding the British at bay.  However the opposite had been true, the British had been the ones keeping the Continentals at bay until their trap was ready to be sprung.  In a coordinated push Cornwallis, Grant, and the Hessian's converged on the American positions.  There was nowhere to run, Sullivan's men were flanked and their only route for retreat was blocked.

In the face of staggering odds Sullivan braced his men to stand and fight.  Stirling was commanded to hold his flank against Grant's men. Sullivan turned his main force around to face their rear to defend against Cornwallis' flanking army, and Fisher and Rose were sent to assist the left flank where the Hessian's were about to attack.

The left flank was commanded by Colonel Samuel Miles.  There were less than 1,000 men under Miles' command and they were facing the prospect of defending themselves against 4,000 Hessian troops.  The shelling they had received all morning was enough to cause a panic amongst their lines but the sight of German soldiers marching with fixed bayonets on their position terrified the men beyond measure.  It was fact that the Hessian's were the strongest fighting force in all of Europe but there were also rumors that the German's fought savagely in battle and would offer no quarter to the Americans if they surrendered.  As the Hessian's drew near Miles leapt to the front lines and shouted to his men for them to stand and fight until death.  Miles' words were not intended as encouragement, they were merely a reminder of the cold hard truth of their plight, fight or surrender, they were all dead men.

Fisher and Rose again found their skills to be of little consequence in such a large and tumultuous situation.  They had neither the time nor the materials to work any magic that would upset the scales in favor of the British.  The Hessian's made a straight approach on Miles' men, never firing their muskets.  The Americans managed two volleys before the Hessian's poured over their trenches and began the slaughter.  Most American's had no bayonets, and those who had a bayonet had never used it in battle.  Miles' men were cut down.  Some stood their ground and fought as best they could, some tried to surrender, but all were shown no mercy.

In a final stand, Miles regrouped behind the trenches and manned a six pound cannon with some men who rallied around him.  The cannon was loaded with canister shot, a tin can filled with iron balls the size of cherry tomatoes, and fired right into the ranks of the Hessians waiting for their chance to join the melee.  The shot was devastating,  when the smoke cleared there was a 30 foot wide mess of carnage where moments ago a company of Germans had stood.  Recognizing the threat, the rest of the waiting Hessians pushed through trenches and made to silence the cannon.

Fisher was distracted elsewhere but Charlotte was near the cannon when it went off.  As the crush of German soldiers converged on the cannon they forced Charlotte back too.  Charlotte was hemmed at Miles' position as the Colonel and his men were frantically reloading the cannon for a second shot.  Miles' eyes meet Charlotte's, his gaze was probing and ravenous.  Before she knew it he was on top of her, his hands clawing and tearing at her clothes.  He tore every last brass button from her jacket before his eyes locked on something hanging about Charlotte's throat.  It was Major Andre's locket.  Miles snatched the locket, chain and all, from Charlotte's neck and sprang to his feet.

Charlotte didn't understand what had gotten into Miles but she refused to let her locket go without a fight.  She chased Miles back to the cannon but arrived too late to stop him from throwing the handful of buttons and the locket down the barrel of the cannon.  Charlotte pounded Miles with her fist and shouted for him to return her locket but her shouts were drowned out by the roar of the cannon as it fired its second round.

Time slowed to a crawl as the blast went off.  Charlotte's attention was instantly pulled to the belch of fire and smoke that plumed from the mouth of the cannon.  Amongst the various scraps of metallic debris that flew from the cannon was Andre's locket.  Charlotte could clearly see it as it spun and collided with the other pieces of shot that were flying towards the oncoming Hessians.  Never once over the the split second flight did Charlotte lose track of the locket, even as it tore through fabric and flesh, she watched it as it made its way through the air and embedded itself in the soft earth of the trenches beyond.

Time returned to normal and the Hessian's crashed into the cannon and Miles' men.  Charlotte scrambled away from the fray just as Miles was run through by the bayonet of a German soldier.  Everywhere around her there was struggle and bloodshed, yet through it all, she launched herself towards the trenches with a singular purpose - to retrieve her locket.

The position was lost and Fisher gave up his attempts to work his magic and looked for Charlotte so they could retreat together.  As he scanned the battlefield he saw her charging into the fight like a mad-woman.  Fisher ran after her, throwing Americans and Germans alike from his path in order to reach her.  He pulled her to her feet just as her fingers found the locket.  Together they narrowly found their way out from the battle and headed back to Sullivan's position, suffering only minor injuries.  Those Americans who could did the same.  Miles was defeated; it seemed only a matter of time before Sterling and Sullivan suffered the same fate.

14 - The Last Day of Magic

August 1776

The Americans expected an attack in the wake of Washington's rejection of the Howe's ineffectual peace offering.  However July passed without incident and as August began to come to a close the American's wondered when the British would finally spring their attack.  On the eave of their mobilization to attack New York General Howe instructed his Royal magicians to launch a preemptive strike intended to soften and demoralize the Continental Army stationed in, and around New York.

It was a quiet evening on August 22nd.  Nicholas Fisher was sitting in his room making notes in his journal when suddenly he felt a surge of magical energy spring up all around him.  It was instant and overwhelming.  He jumped from his chair and rushed out into the streets to identify the source.  He quickly determined the source to be 3 British magicians using practical magic to drum up a massive storm.  By the time Fisher explained the situation to Charlotte and General Knox the sky over the bay had already turned as black as ink and huge thunderhead clouds were reaching like greedy fingers up and over the airspace of the city.  Lighting darted across the ominous clouds and a constant deep rumbling thunder shook the ground unlike any summer storm Fisher had ever felt.

There was nothing Knox or any of the Continental soldiers could do against the wrath of the Royal magician's attack.  On the other hand, Nicholas and Charlotte could do something about the attack, even though their situation seemed dire.  So began the magician's clash that lasted the better part of 3 hours.

Nicholas immediately attempted to counter the magic of the British magicians but they were too strong and had too much energy in reserve to be stopped.  The storm was inevitable but Nicholas was determined to foil their plot somehow.  In an attempt to feel out the storm and perhaps hold it at bay Nicholas asked Charlotte to discharge some of the storms energy before it reached the city.  Charlotte discharged one large lighting bolt from the storm and directed it back to Staten Island which set ablaze some of the British powder supplies and caused a white-hot explosion visible from the Main Battery on Manhattan Island.  The Royal Magicians quickly reacted and pushed the storm out off of the bay and over the New York City.

Fisher had never faced of against three Royal magicians before.  For once he began to feel that magic could not overcome the obstacle in front of him, in terms of practical magic he was terribly outmatched in this situation.  Charlotte too struggled to do anything with the storm, the storm wanted to be destructive, and everyone on the city expected the worst.  Any effort on Charlotte's part only resulted in further damage and mayhem in the city.  The breaking point for the two Continental magicians came when Charlotte coerced Fisher to channel as much energy as he could through her.

Fisher channeled as much power as he could through Charlotte.  The power was so great that it blinded Charlotte to the reality of the situation.  One moment she thought she was building up a lighting strike to destroy the British magicians, and the next moment she realized she was unleashing the storm's fury on three officers of the Continental Army.  It all happened so quickly she couldn't stop herself. A huge blue tendril of lightning burst through a small house in the middle of Manhattan and instantly killed all three men.

Fisher had no idea that he had been an accessory to the death of three men from his own army, but he could instantly from the look on her face that the power he had fed Charlotte was too great and that something had gone terribly wrong.  Fisher abandoned his scheme of trying to fight the storm head on, instead he formed a new idea to stop the British magicians.  Fisher had no time to explain his new plan.  All fisher told Charlotte before he charged off was to hold back the storm and keep it from harming the city as best she could.

For two hours Fisher rode though the streets of New York City shouting to anyone who would listen that there was nothing to fear, Charlotte Rose, the savior of the Boston and Quebec Sieges was here to protect them.  Slowly word spread and the mood of the men in the city changed just enough to offer a hope of fighting the storm back with some positive emotional magic.  Fisher returned to Charlotte exhausted, Charlotte herself was exhausted, as were her reserves of stored magic.

Just as the storm entered its third hour Fisher and Rose made their stand.  They gave it everything they had, and it was just enough to dislodge the storm's grasp over the city.  The black clouds rolled back out over the bay and just as the storm receded back to Staten Island the British magician's stopped feeding the storm and within minutes the clouds broke up and scattered back out and over the Atlantic.  The storm was over.

Charlotte woke the following morning from a fitful evenings rest.  All night in her mind she replayed the massive lighting blast that killed the three men in the house just a few blocks away.  Seeking to shake  the endless torment from her conscience she set out early before anyone else at the Kennedy mansion was awake.  She made her way across a few short blocks and in that small space of time passed by several burned homes.  The storm the previous evening had set many a fire in the city and in the thick morning fog the smell of burnt wood hung heavy in the air.

Charlotte made her way to the small house she had seen so many times by then in her minds-eye.  The small home was ravaged, the roof blasted away and most of the single story walls were charred black from the blast.  Standing in front of the house Charlotte was forced to accept that it had been real, what she had seen, what she had done, was real.  She was afraid to enter but at the same time, the house had a certain pull on her, an emotional gravity that pulled her in. She stepped inside.

The men were strewn about the small room that had been the dining room.  Their bodies were blackened beyond recognition.  The tip of one man's sword was complexly melted off and the coins of another man were reduced to puddles of metal that had pooled into a blistered pocket of flesh on the man's thigh.  The only thing to identify any of the men was an officers insignia which Charlotte took from one of the dead men's coats.  Perhaps she could learn the man's identity from the insignia, or perhaps she would simply keep it to honor the man and to serve as a reminder of what had happened; it was too soon to know for certain.  Charlotte didn't stay long, she was quickly overwhelmed by the smell and had to remove herself from the house.

Charlotte, still reeling from the aftermath of the storm, returned to Kennedy Mansion before breakfast was set.  Neither Fisher nor Knox were aware of her morning excursion.  Charlotte did well to hide her fragile state even as they all discussed the storm over the morning meal.  Warning shots were fired from the main battery just as breakfast was cleared from the table.  Everyone got up to see what new ill fate the British had in store for them.  Across the bay the British were loading men into small landing craft.  The portents of the storm being a precursor for the invasion were true.  The British were coming to fight, and from the looks of the mounting invasion force the fight appeared as though it would be a bloody affair.

Knox and the magicians watched as the General Howe sent forth his men.  As was typical during breakfast a knock could be heard at the front door.  It was about that time of the morning that General Greene typically came to call and delivered the days report, however the man who stepped through the doors of the dining room was not General Greene, it was General John Sullivan.  Sullivan seemed surprised and somewhat sheepish to find Fisher and Rose in the company of General Knox.  The last time the three had met things had not gone so well.  Fisher and Rose had been extricated, by order of the deceased General Thomas, from Sullivan's command hours before he foolishly lead his reinforcements, and Thomas' evacuees from the Quebec siege, back into battle with Guy Carleton and John Burgoyne's superior forces just outside of Montreal.  The battle was a blood-bath, the Continentals were sent fleeing pell-mell into the surrounding swamps.  Over half the men died in battle or from smallpox after being chased for days through the swamps by the British.  The battle cost Sullivan his command and nearly his place in the Continental Army.

However, on August 23rd, in the dining room of the Kennedy Mansion, Sullivan seemed to be a changed man.  He greeted the magicians with respect and apologized from his handling of the situation in Canada.  Perhaps the defeat had brought about the change of heart, or perhaps the scolding and demotion from the Continental Congress had curbed his arrogance.  Either way, Sullivan was to lead the men on Long Island into battle, not Greene.  Sullivan explained that Greene had fallen ill and that Washington had appointed him to lead so that Greene could recover.

Knox invited Sullivan to stay and discuss the plans for the battle.  Sullivan explained that Washington was being forced to split his Army in two.  When outnumbered, as Washington was - 3 to 1, it was never advised to split your forces, but Washington felt he had to.  He believed that General Howe was landing a third of his men on Long Island as a diversion and that the real invasion of New York would happen after General Howe's brother, Admiral Howe, sailed the remaining two-thirds of the men up the Hudson River and landed on Manhattan Island.  Washington had no choice but to defend against both attacks; if either one were successful they would be cut off and they would be forced to surrender the entire army.

Sullivan told Knox that he was being given command of New York.  It would be his responsibility to stop Admiral Howe and the British fleet.  Meanwhile Sullivan would defend Long Island.  After laying the grounds for the defense of their two positions the two generals turned their attention to the magicians in the room.  Seeing as the army was being divided they suggested that the magicians be divided as well.  That way each half of the army would have a magician support.  At first Fisher and Rose were opposed to the idea, stating that they worked best together, but eventually they agreed to separate for the battle to best serve whatever the British threw at them.  The battle for New York was to be the biggest and most important battle either magician, or the Continental Army for that matter, had seen.  Yet, Nicholas and Charlotte would have to face it apart from one another.

13 - The Last Day of Magic

July 1776

Things calmed down in New York in the days following the celebration over The Declaration.  Admiral Howe was still making his way across the Atlantic, and so the newly independent state militias settled back into their daily routines of reinforcing the city in preparation of defending their new country.

On July 12th at three in the afternoon, under perfect weather conditions the 20 gun Rose and 40 gun Phoenix loosed their moorings on Staten Island and set sail to round the tip of Manhattan and travel up the North River (Hudson).  Warning shots rang out from the American main battery once the ships intentions were clear.  The warning shots roused Knox and the magicians from their leisurely afternoon activities at the Kennedy Mansion.  The three grabbed their personal effects and rushed out into Broadway, within Bowling Green, just as the first volley erupted from Knox's cannons at the main battery.  The ground shook beneath their feet as 20 cannon erupted, sending over 500 pounds of shot hurtling towards the approaching British war ships.  The Asia and Phoenix quickly returned fire.  Nicholas had just enough time to grab Charlotte and duck behind the bare plinth, which until recently held the statue of King George III, as cannon balls bounced and barreled down Broadway, smashing through homes and shattering cobblestone streets.

People poured from their homes immediately. Broadway was choked with panicked citizens running for their lives.  The magicians and Knox tried to push their way through the throng of people but it was futile. By the time the second volley was fired from the battery, Knox had been separated from the magicians.  The magicians took shelter in homes when fired upon and moved up Broadway in between volleys.  It was several minutes and several volleys later that the magicians finally made their way to the battery.

Knox reunited with them at the battery and together the three climbed to the top of the walls to get a better view of their attackers.  The Rose and Phoenix were cruising at full sail and making their way swiftly out of range of the main battery.  Fisher went to work on slowing the ships down by trying to change the winds while Knox shouted commands to his cannon crews.  Charlotte was briefly pressed into service to assist one of the crews, but after the first shots rang out only feet from where she stood, she was so severely rattled that she was of no assistance to anyone from that point on.

Fisher and Knox worked tirelessly, leap-frogging on horse back from battery to battery up Manhattan Island over the next hour in a vain attempt to damage or even slow down the two massive vessels.  In the end, over 200 shots were fired from the American batteries, many of which found their mark, but the Rose and Phoenix slipped past without much trouble or damage taken.  The only casualties of the skirmish were 6 Americans who died when their cannon backfired and exploded as a result of improper loading.

At dinner that evening, Knox chided himself when relating the days action to Nathanael Greene for having not lead his men better.  Greene and Fisher attempted to encourage Knox for leading his men to stand and fire upon the enemy as they were heavily shelled themselves, but there was nothing that could be done to cheer up the young artillery general.  The passage of the Rose and Phoenix was rather inconsequential for the moment, but the ease of their passage highlighted a major weakness in the American's position on Manhattan Island - they could be easily flanked and cut off.  Greene and Knox made plans to scuttle ships in the river and create obstructions to funnel any future ships into killing zones to hopefully prevent the British from surrounding them and land-locking the entire army on Manhattan but both men feared the their efforts would deter further British movements.

Later that same evening warning shots were fired again from the battery indicating an incoming ship.  From the large windows on the second floor of the Kennedy Mansion, haloed by the blood-red light of the sunset, Knox could see the union jack flying high above the HMS Eagle - The flagship of Admiral Howe's fleet.  The long wait was over, action was certain to follow.

The following day Nicholas and Charlotte were surveying the main battery at the tip of Manhattan Island for damage with General Knox when cries of a boat approaching started from the men on the battery walls.  The approaching boat was a small landing craft flying a white flag and carried only two men.  The men were British Redcoats and they wore their full battle regalia despite the blazing summer heat.  The two men where pulled from their boat and held on the shore. Knox hailed the men from atop the battery walls, shouting down to them he demanded they declare their business.

The senior officer, a lieutenant, pulled from his coat a letter and held it aloft declaring that he wished to deliver a letter from Admiral and General Howe to "George Washington, Esquire."  Knox without hesitation replied to the man below that there was no such person in the army.  The lieutenant was dumbfounded by Knox's response, he stood staring back up at Knox not knowing how to respond.  Finally Knox shouted down to him again asking, "Surely you are a sensible man, have you not heard of General Washington?"  As soon as the lieutenant replied yes Knox pulled back from the rampart and ended the conversation.

Nicholas and Charlotte were just as confused as the lieutenant after the exchange.  They quickly asked Knox to explain his odd handling of the situation.  Knox explained that Admiral and General Howe were attempting to insult the commanding general by not recognizing his rank as general in the Continental Army and addressing him as an individual.  By not respecting Washington's rank the Howe Brothers were dismissing the validity of his command, and in turn relegating the men under his command to little more than an angry mob instead of a proper army.  Before Knox left the battery that afternoon he gave instructions to his men that they were to refuse any correspondence not properly addressed the General Washington.

Two days later the same men approached the battery, again with a letter in hand.  This time the letter was addressed to "George Washington, Equire, Etc."  The letter was refused by Knox's men.  Again two days passed and the men returned for a third time.  The same letter was presented, this time addressed to "George Washington, Equire, Etc., Etc."  The Knox's men quickly dismissed the letter bearer.

The game was finally put to a stop on July 20th when a new messenger arrived at the battery.  His name was Colonel James Patterson and he requested an audience with General Washington to personally deliver the letter.  Washington agreed to meet with Col. Patterson.  The meeting was arranged at Knox's residence, the Kennedy Mansion.  Refusing to be insulted by the British, Washington assembled a room full of his closest officers, and instructed them to dress in their full uniform.  Washington intended to meet with Col. Patterson and send a clear message back to the Howe Brothers that he too could play in their game of gentlemanly posturing.

With the help of the magicians, the reception served to belittle Col. Patterson and empower General Washington.  Indeed the atmosphere of dominance in the room was so strong that the Colonel acted as if he were addressing royalty when he spoke to Washington.  Patterson attempted at first to apologize for the confusion in properly addressing Washington, explaining that Esquire and Etc. were often used to imply everything that ought to follow when the exact rank or title of a gentlemen was uncertain.  Washington deftly deflected the thinly veiled insult by announcing that he was familiar with that line of etiquette but that Esquire and Etc. may also imply nothing at all or worse, anything at all.

Patterson once again attempted to deliver the letter to Washington, but Washington left the letter untouched and told the Colonel that any he would refuse any letter concerning his station as a public figure when it was addressed to him as a private individual.  Patterson was effectively shut down by Washington; to keep the conversation alive Patterson offered to verbally relate the contents of the letter.  Washington agreed.

Patterson related to Washington that Admiral and General Howe were appointed by King George III to act as commissioners to "accommodate this unhappy dispute," and that nothing would please them more than to reach terms with Washington concerning their recently declared revolution.  Washington again rose to the occasion and put Patterson in his place.  Washington explained that he was unable to discuss peace terms with the Howe brothers, only Congress could do that; Washington went on to call Patterson's bluff, pointing out that neither could the Howe brothers negotiate peace terms, they could merely offer pardons on his majesty's behalf.  Not allowing Patterson to respond, Washington followed up with the knockout punch saying, "men who have done no wrong seek no pardons, we are only defending our indisputable rights."

Patterson was stupefied by Washington's skilled word-craft.  There was nothing more for Patterson to say or do.  He took the untouched  letter and turned to leave.  Just before he reached the door he stopped and turned to Washington asking, "Has you excellency no particular commands for me to relate back to Admiral and General Howe?"  Without hesitation Washington replied, "Nothing sir, except my particular compliments to them both."

With that the reception was ended.  Washington had played his role to perfection and Patterson was sent back to the Howe brothers with a clear message, General Washington was not to be taken lightly, and the Americans would not be pacified by anything short of independence from Britain.  The stage was set, it would come to blows to decide who won and who lost.

12 - The Last Day of Magic

July 1776

By the following morning, July 3rd, Lucy Knox, along with the majority of the wives and sweethearts of the Continental Army were gone.  New York boasted the third largest population in the colonies prior to the rebellion, somewhere around 20,000 residents but  most had fled and yet the city was still bursting at its seams.  Over half the residents had left but approximately 19,000 Continental soldiers had taken their place and more were coming into join the fight every day.  Across the bay on Staten Island were stationed another 20,000 British soldiers and German mercenaries and rumor had it that another 15,000 were expected to arrive any day.

Fisher, Rose, and Knox were having breakfast when Nathanael Greene arrived to deliver the morning report.  He reported that Washington's scouts had learned that General William Howe was not planning on launching an attack on the city until his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, arrived with the remaining 15,000 reinforcements and additional naval warships.  Admiral Howe was expected any day, but no one, including the British knew the exact date. The total British force was expected to number over 30,000 men with 30 war ships and 300 more additional supporting naval craft.  The numbers were staggering, in fact this expeditionary force was the largest ever deployed by the British in its history. The British plan seemed clear, squash the rebellion in one swift stroke.

Besides the bad news Greene also carried with him some good news in the form of letters.  Greene had mentioned that Charlotte was still in the city when he last had seen the city's quartermaster.  The quartermaster recognized the name and fetched a large crate filled with letters all addressed to Charlotte, every last one of them from Major Andre.  The letters dated back to March just before Charlotte left Boston to head to Canada.  The letters accumulated over the months, being undeliverable since Charlotte's whereabouts were unknown.  Greene had no specific orders for the magicians for the day so Charlotte excused herself and spent the rest of the day reading through each letter.

The following morning Greene again stopped by the Kennedy Mansion to deliver the morning report.  For Charlotte, again the news was good.  Washington had decided not to cancel the ball which had been planned for following evening, July 5th.  The news seemed odd considering that just across the bay stood an imposing British camp poised to strike at any moment. As if that wasn't enough to unsettle everyone in the city, there were several thousand Redcoats in plain sight marching and parading along the shores of Staten Island in a constant show of power and dominance over the Continentals.  The magicians and Knox all agreed that the circumstances didn't seem to call for a party but Washington's orders were clear, every officer was to attend the ball.

Knox arranged a carriage to the ball, the magicians traveled with him.  The event was held in a large estate outside of the city proper.  The turn out was good and Charlotte was surprised to see that there were in fact a fair share of women who were still in the city.  The three friends toured the home and made small chat with Knox's many acquaintances.  After an hour or so General Washington arrived.  The quartet of army players announced his entrance with fanfare.  Washington strode into the middle of the main hall and positioned himself to make an announcement.  All eyes were on the Commanding General.

At 6'-3", wearing a blue field coat and looking regal, Washington spoke in a loud and commanding voice.  He thanked everyone for their attendance and joked that his advisers warned him of a holding a party while the enemy was camped on the door step to the city.  Washington assured everyone that the British arrival was foreboding but there was still occasion to celebrate.  Without further ado Washington announced that on July 2nd the Continental Congress passed a resolution to declare independence from Britain.  By July 4th Congress completed revisions Thomas Jefferson's Declaration, which ultimately served as the final document.  Before officially opening the party, Washington told his officers that "it was his hope that this important event will serve as a fresh incentive, to act with courage knowing that the peace and safety of his country depends solely on the success of our arms."

The army was no longer fighting for rights as Englishmen, now they were fighting for freedom as citizens of a new nation of united and independent states. Spirits were high throughout the evening.  Washington, missing his usually dance partner Caty Greene, who left the city the same day Lucy Knox departed, asked Charlotte to honor him with a dance.  Charlotte and Washington, both accomplished dancers, hit it off and shared conversation and the dance floor several times throughout the evening.  Charlotte and Washington spoke of things both civil and military.  When Charlotte  asked what role she and Fisher might play in the coming battle for New York Washington replied that their roles would be much the same as his; as is the case when defending one must react to the attackers advances.  Fisher and Rose would be responsible for countering the machinations of the royal magicians under the command of the brothers Howe.

Charlotte danced the night away and Fisher spent his evening with Knox and Greene socializing with various officers of the army.  One officer took a particular interest in Fisher.  His name was John Glover, a fellow seaman and Colonel of the Marblehead Regiment from Massachusetts.  The Marblehead men where one of the most disciplined and skilled regiments in the whole Continental Army.  Their 800 men unit was made up of almost entirely fishermen who understood the chain of command and knew how to take orders from their time spent at sea.  They were so revered that Washington hand picked men from Glover's unit to act as his personal body guards.

The two men shared a love for the sea and sailing which made it easy for Glover to like and respect Fisher.  The two talked of business and magic briefly before Glover turned the conversation back to sailing.  He mentioned to Fisher that Washington had created a make shift Continental Navy from ships such as Glover's ship, Hannah, to be used as privateers.  These privateers were all privately owned ships which were officered by private individuals authorized for use in warfare specifically to capture British merchant and supply ships.  Glover urged Fisher to consider loaning his ship to the cause to act as part of the growing navy. According to Glover, the privateers had been largely successful thus far in capturing small British ships and disrupting supply lines.

The evening came to a close and the guests all returned to their homes and quarters.  By the next morning General Howe had received word of the party and the reason for its celebration.  The ball was a complete success just as Washington had planned.  The men's spirits were higher than ever and the newly declared independent Americans had put on a display of power of their own in the face of their British assailants.

A few days slipped by and still William Howe keep his soldiers at bay on Staten Island awaiting his brother's arrive.  In the meantime Washington had received a copy of The Declaration and set a plan into motion to have the soldiers of his army assemble in the parade grounds just outside the city to hear a reading of The Declaration.  At six o'clock in the evening on July 9th copies of The Declaration were handed out to officers and the words were read aloud to the groups of men, hundreds at a time, gathered there at the parade grounds.

The words stirred such emotions in the men that shortly after being dismissed a large mob formed of soldiers and civilians.  The mob wove its way down Broadway to Bowling Green, a park right in front of the Kennedy Mansion, where a lead statue of King George III on horseback stood. The mob of people pulled down the statue and sawed off the head of King George. The head was mounted on a spike outside a tavern and the lead body was melted down to make musket balls for use in the coming battle.

11 - The Last Day of Magic

May-June 1776

It was days before Thomas was able to gather up his scattered men and assemble them all at Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers), which was little more than a trading post along the St. Lawrence River.  His men were exhausted and starving; many of the men had walked over 50 miles with little to no food.  Thomas established a field hospital and camp but only temporarily, he had no intention of staying.  The siege was over, in Thomas' mind their destination was Montreal.  Thomas believed that the only chance the army had of standing up to a force the size of which had landed in Quebec was to retreat back to Montreal and convince Arnold to fall back even further and fortify Fort Crown or Fort Ticonderoga, where the British navy would have a difficult time supporting their land troops.

Fisher and Rose's trip back to Trois-Rivières was easier than most.  They were fortune to be with Thomas immediately after the battle and were able to retreat with the General by one of the few bateau that were not left behind.  Fisher was still in poor health when they arrived at Trois-Rivières so Thomas ordered him to continue on with the retreat.  Thomas sent Fisher, along with others of ailing health, back to the town of Sorel where there was food and beds.  Rose accompanied him.

It wasn't until May 17th that Thomas arrived in Sorel with his army.  It had been 11 days since their defeat outside of Quebec.  Thomas visited with Fisher in the field hospital and found the magician to be in much better health.  With Thomas' approval Fisher was released from the hospital and given orders to help with the continuation of the army's retreat.  Thomas had gotten word that General John Sullivan was heading up from Montreal soon with 3,000 fresh troops with which to continue the fight for Quebec.  Thomas knew that any further offensive would be disastrous and once again turned to his magicians for help with his plans to pull all the way back to Montreal.

The plan came from Charlotte, drawing from her success with Crowe she concocted an idea to use emotional magic to help prod the army on with its retreat.  Charlotte had learned from Crowe that she could amplify and control strong emotions.  The stronger and wider felt the emotion the more powerful she could be.  She knew that the mood of the troops was depressed and disheartened and that the mood was strong.  She convinced Fisher to channel that depressing mood through her in an attempt to amplify it and send it back out to the men.

Her plan worked. So well in fact that even Fisher fell prey to her magic.  What little fight the army had left in it was washed away and Thomas was able to convince the men to follow him back to Chambly, which was just outside of Montreal.  However, before the men left Sorel, Thomas himself came down with Smallpox from one of his many trips to the field hospital where he was tending to his men.  On June 1st, Thomas and his army arrived in Chambly.  Thomas was in very poor health.

General Sullivan arrived in Chambly the same day as Thomas.  Thomas gathered his officers to meet with Sullivan to discuss their plans despite his health.  Sullivan opened the meeting with bravado and explained that he was under orders from the Continental Congress to press the attack on the British and make up the lost ground from Thomas' retreat.  Thomas and his men did everything they could to convince Sullivan that the British were just too strong even with the new 3,000 reinforcements Sullivan had brought.  Thomas was in command and had final say but still he didn't want to override Sullivan and the Continental Congress. Thomas wanted Sullivan to agree with him, but after long debate, there was no changing Sullivan's mind.  Thomas called for the men to reconvene the following day hoping that time might allow the reality of the situation to sink in for Sullivan.

The next day, June 2nd, the men assembled for the meeting but Thomas was late.  After several minutes Fisher offered to check on him.  Fisher knocked on the general's door but got no response. Finally he opened the door and found the general dead.  Out of respect the meeting was delayed, but not for long.  They reconvened later that afternoon at which time Sullivan, having taken command, pushed again for an attack and this time got his way.

On June 1st, the previous day, Thomas, understanding the gravity of his situation both militarily and bodily, decided to release Fisher from his command and transfer him back to Knox in New York.  Thomas feared that if Sullivan took command he would drag Fisher with him, possibly to his death.  Thomas couldn't waste the Continentals best magician on a fool's errand so he wrote the order to release Fisher and kept it on his person.

As Sullivan laid out his plan of attack for his officers in the meeting, men just down the hall  were looking after Thomas' effects and found the written order to release Fisher.  After the meeting Fisher was presented his release papers and Fisher in turn presented the orders over to Sullivan.  Sullivan wasn't happy with Thomas' backhanded move but there was nothing he could do to reverse the order.  Fisher unceremoniously was dismissed.  He and Charlotte left the next day for New York.

General Howe and the British army who evacuated Boston back in March had unexpectedly sailed north to regroup in Halifax, Nova Scotia instead of departing directly for New York as the Continentals had expected.  The result was that Continental Army was given ample time to travel South from Boston to occupy and fortify New York without interference from the British.  Winter had turned to spring and the British remained North awaiting reinforcements as New York went from a city on the brink of invasion back to a state of semi-normalcy.  Nicholas and Charlotte returned to New York City in mid-June, a city that was not under siege but somehow felt as if it were surrounded by an invisible army waiting to strike.

Nicholas and Charlotte wasted little time in finding Henry Knox upon their arrival.  Down Broadway to Bowling Green at the tip of Manhattan Island, just before The Battery, they were directed to go to find General Knox's quarters.  Fronting on Bowling Green was The Kennedy Mansion at No. 1 Broadway.  The mansion had previously belonged to a notable Loyalist, Archibald Kennedy, but was commandeered by George Washington as his headquarters until his wife, Martha, arrived and asked to stay outside of the city.  Washington assigned the estate to Knox.

A young stout, yet pretty woman answered the door.  When Fisher asked if General Knox was available the young woman chuckled at Fisher's formality and shouted for her husband, calling him to the front door by his first name.  The woman was Lucy Knox, Henry's wife.  The magician's and the Knoxes spent the proceeding day catching up and sharing tales of their recent adventures.

Nicholas and Charlotte took up residence at No. 1 Broadway at the insistence of Lucy and took part in the daily entertainment of guests and visitors to the General.  The majority of the visitors were officers of the army.  The magicians were introduced to each man, as well as his wife, as they came to call.  Frequent visitors were Nathanael Greene and his wife Caty. Caty (Cathrine) and Charlotte shared much in common and became quick friends.  Both women were in their early twenties and loved fashion and socializing.  It wasn't long before Caty and Charlotte were both stringing the men in their lives along in bouts of shopping and dining at the most expensive venues throughout the city.  Nathanael and Nicholas soon found they too shared something in common, both men were in their late forties and were helpless to control the boundless, youthful feminine energies of their partners.

Charlotte was finally back in the comforts of a bustling city with a vibrant social scene.  After months of travel and living in the wilderness things were looking up.  To top things off a ball was announced to be held on July 5th in the city and all of the officers of the army were invited to attend with their partners for a formal evening of music and dancing.

On July 2nd, just days before the ball, the Knoxes and the magicians were taking their breakfast on the second floor dining room of the Kennedy Mansion.  The dining room offered an expansive view of the New York Bay through a large set of windows on the south wall.  Right in the middle of the meal a loud rumbling boom shook the china and rattled the furniture.  Henry and Nicholas knew immediately what the sound had been.  The signal cannon at The Battery had been fired indicating an enemy sighting.

With that single blast of warning fire the false sense of normalcy that New York had been enjoying for the past few months was blown away and was instantly replaced by the anxiety of imminent war.  Henry leapt from his chair and rushed to the south windows.  Before he reached the glass several more warning shots were fired and his wife Lucy went into a panic.  Henry lost his temper with her briefly, but there was love intertwined in his words, as he sternly reminded her that this day was coming and that she had to pack her things and leave the city immediately.  Lucy clutched Charlotte and told her to come pack her things with her.  Charlotte gave Nicholas and Henry a knowing look and the two men knew instantly that Charlotte was not leaving the city with Lucy.  Charlotte went with Lucy, but she didn't pack her things.

Standing in front of the windows Nicholas and Henry surveyed the bay.  They could see 45 ships under full sail cruising into the bay.  At long last the British had finally arrived.

By days end Lucy was packed and gone.  The following morning, July 3rd, more than one hundred ships were floating in New York Bay.  The British would eventually make their assault of the city, but for now they were content to make their landing on Staten Island, away from Washington's army and out of range from Knox's cannons.