Suburban Psycho
This BPN shows the Ops something of SLA’s true colours – that if you’re valuable enough to them you can get away with pretty much anything.



"It’s Haynes. Good news, I’ve got a White for you. Serial killer, Third Eye. Smells a bit fishy – I’ve worked with Natalya Janda before and she’s bad news. Pull this off though and you’ll never have to do a Blue again. Check the net for the BPN, sending you the ref number now. Let me know when you’re done"

Mrs Janda, should the squad contact her, wants the killer apprehended. Should the killer be identified a death warrant will be made available by her if necessary, but as with all things it’s probably easier to avoid the paperwork by killing them in self defence.

The BPN file contains reports on three killings, carried out on three consecutive Sunday nights, all with the same MO. All three victims were young male residents of suburbia.

1. Anders Peterson – 17 year old son of a corporate executive. No criminal record. Post mortem indicates victim died as a result of two puncture wounds to the chest that pierced the heart. The coroner indicates that the cleanliness of the cut would indicate a vibro weapon, and that the spacing of the wounds suggest a single blow from a Gash Fist. The wounds penetrated the victim’s chest entirely, breaking several ribs with the impact and apparently hurling him several meters. Photographs from the scene show him slumped against a wall with splatters of blood across the floor and wall, which would confirm the force with which he was hit. Adrenaline in the blood suggest that the victim was scared when he died, and a CAF handgun was still held in his right hand, unfired. The victim was found at home, alone in the Suburbia flat hit father pays for, with no signs of a forced entry to the apartment. CCTV footage of the lobby shows nothing unusual.

2. Ben Clements – 16 year old son of a Shiver sergeant. Criminal record shows several arrests for alcohol and violence related minor offences, none of which came to charges. The post mortem again indicates the weapon was a Gash Fist, this time directed at the neck, almost decapitating the victim. The body was found in an alleyway, and as with the previous victim there was adrenaline in the blood and a CAF pistol in his hand. This pistol has been fired once, the round coming to rest in a wall further down the alley without any interference. Higher than normal amounts of folic acid in the muscles indicate that the victim had been sprinting just before death.

3. Howard Liphook – 19 year old son of an accountant. Criminal record shows numerous fines for petty theft and minor firearms offences. Again, the cause of death was a GASH fist in the form of multiple deep lacerations to the chest. Also present are fracture wounds to the right arm and skull. Photographs of the injuries indicate that the fractures were caused by powerful kicks, the bootprint of which is partially visible on the side of the victim’s face. As with the last victim, this one had been running and had been scared when death occurred. The body was found in a service access corridor of an apartment building, armed with a black market FEN 603. The weapon had been used to shoot out the lock and had fired several shots back down the corridor, none of which appear to have found their target.

With the amount of deaths in Suburbia it takes time for links like these to emerge, and almost a week has passed by. Issued on Friday, the squad have two days before the pattern should repeat and another killing takes place.

What the Ops don’t know is that the killer is an Uptown corporate executive and ex-Finance Package combat financier. Federigo Fiorillo is now SCL 5D and hasn’t been in combat for two years, but he’s feeling itchy after sitting behind a desk for that long and needs to stretch his Nuke Tendons. He has actually committed four murders, the first being a mouthy young advertising executive. He beat the man to death with his fists after an altercation in a bar, but the difference in MO and spontaneous nature of the killing will never connect him to it and it gets filed as another mugging gone wrong. With a taste for blood, Federigo dusts off his old Kick Murder-style combat gear and looks for victims. The killings portray his descent into his psychosis as he starts with a target of opportunity and then begins to refine his victims and relish his kills by simulating combat.

Peterson:
Peterson may not have a criminal record, but only because he hasn’t been caught. His father lives in Uptown nearby where Federigo lives, which is how he came to be selected as a victim. Federigo knew Peterson to be a loud and violent bully who used his father’s influence and his gun to impress and cause fear, so he felt little remorse in hunting him down. Entering the building through the roof using his climbing gear he avoids the only security camera in the lobby, he simply hacks the (moderately secure) lock on the flat, walks in and impales Peterson neatly through the heart. Peterson barely has chance to take his CAF pistol off the coffee table before the force of the Karma enhanced blow kills him instantly and hurls him across the room.
Clues to be found:
• Asking people who knew Peterson will reveal that he was far from an innocent teenager. After seeing the background of the other two victims this should show that the killer knew him.
• Anyone skilled in electronic locks can see, upon examination, that the lock was hacked by a SLA electronic lockpick.
• The force of the blow is more than an un-enhanced human could muster.

Clements:
Returning to Peterson’s area of Suburbia a week later, on his only night off work, Federigo looks for a target who might put up a bit of a fight. He finds Clements, strutting his stuff as leader of a small gang of teenagers. Waiting for him to set off home, he follows him until he reaches a quiet area then herds him into an alley by startling him from a hiding place. Finding himself with limited options as Federigo quickly makes up the ground between them, Clements panics and turns to shoot. He gets off one round, which misses, before Federigo hits him. The killer’s goal was a decapitation but his aim was slightly off, although the blow was still enough cause death almost instantly.
Clues to be found:
• This victim gets more time to fight back, but the attack was fast and precise.
• No connection with the first victim other than a similar demeanour and being armed.

Liphook:
The next week Federigo does a little research and narrows down his target. Again in the same area of Suburbia in order for the investigating Ops who are sure to come to suspect someone local to the area. He selects an area haunted by a known thug who is likely to put up more of a fight, and who has been unknowingly tagged by the Dept of Employment as Operative material. It doesn’t take much to find him, and again he herds his victim into a secluded alley. Liphook is a little wiser than the other victims and improvises an escape route by shooting his way into a building, throwing Federigo off slightly and allowing him to compose himself. He gets several shots off at his killer, all of which unluckily miss. Federigo’s plan pays off though and he gets a bit of a fight from his victim, first breaking his arm with a kick to try to disarm him, then stunning him with a kick to the head that almost kills him by itself. He finishes him off with a slashing blow to the chest.
Clues to be found:
• Liphook is known to SLA for being violent and resourceful.
• He is better armed and tougher, forcing the attacker to fight.
• The bootprint matches those of two year old Sigerson Airware Combat 900s. These boots were marketed as combat footware to Operatives, and while they were available to the public their high price made expensive fashion items that would be long past that purpose now.

For now, barring some impressive improvisation by the players, the trail ends. There’s actually enough evidence to hand the BPN over to Cloak Division, as all indications point towards the culprit being a SLA employee. The BPN would be considered complete in this case, but it’s unlikely the Ops will do this. Instead try to drag their investigation out a bit. If they come up with something imaginative with their investigation feel free to cough up a bit more information, but it’s likely to fizzle out and leave the Ops waiting (hopefully not too long) until Sunday night when another killing is probably going to be attempted.

4. John Lewis – 22 year old Shiver. No criminal record, naturally. Post mortem shows several lacerations to the chest as the cause of death. The angle of the cuts could indicate that they came from opposite directions, possibly suggesting an ambidextrous attacker. The victim was wearing issue Shiver Blocker armour, which doesn’t seem to have offered much resistance to the blows, and was carrying a Browbeater and a FEN 603. The Browbeater had fired forty rounds, and by the looks of the pattern of where they landed most of them were fired upwards. The victim was carrying 1550 Uni at the time of death, and the body was found by his partner ten minutes later in the alley he had left him in.

Lewis:
As with many of the more enterprising Shivers, Lewis was corrupt. He regularly met with the local drug dealers and black marketeers to shake them down in return for turning a blind eye. He was attending such a meeting when he was attacked by Federigo. His partner, not wanting to be involved but not wanting a confrontation simply went for a sandwich while Lewis went about his business. Meanwhile Federigo watched the proceedings from above and once the coast was clear descended on his target. This time he was a little premature though, and Lewis’ customer spotted the killer on his descent. As the dealer fled, Lewis followed his horrified gaze and managed to fire off a couple of bursts from his Browbeater. Several rounds found their target but only slowed him down. Lewis’ Blocker was no match for the Nuke Tendon powered Gash Fist, although it took a hit from each hand to kill him.
Clues to be found:
• Dual Gash Fists narrow down the list of possible killers.
• Lewis was carrying a lot of cash for a Shiver, more than he had any right to have.
• Lewis’ partner, Rogers, can reluctantly reveal what he was up to in the alley, and a few names of possible contacts of his that might have also been there. He won’t be keen to give up this information for fear of incriminating himself.
• One of the names given by Rogers is Ben Chadwick, a small time dealer. Chadwick ran for his life after seeing a black figure dropping out of the darkness and hearing Lewis’ screams behind him. He describes the killer as being a large human with blades on either hand, wearing black leather (Striker armour) and some sort of night vision goggles.

Hopefully by now the squad will have picked up on most, if not all, of the key points:
• Connection with Anders Peterson (lives in same building as father)
• Skilled in electronic locks
• Karma enhanced
• Skilled with and owning two Gash Fists
• Surviving Operative active two years ago

All of these together will marry up to one person – Federigo. Most of them together will at least narrow down the list and maybe they’ll pick up on the missing ones from there.

If they fail to pick up on enough clues to point them in his direction, have Federigo get a little sloppy. He visits Rogers in an official capacity for a phoney reason and asks about Lewis and his connections, trying to find out who the guy was who got away. He swears Rogers to secrecy, but he’s already so nervous about the whole affair that he contacts the squad leader to try and clear his name. If the squad act straight away they can get to Chadwick before Federigo does and ambush him. If they arse about have them arrive just after Federigo gets to him and he gets the jump on them. If they wait until the next weekend have Cloak Division step in and relinquish them of their BPN, with no pay or SCL increase.

If at any point the squad tell either Haynes or Janda who the killer is they’ll warn them to back off. Both are of a high enough SCL to know that SLA won’t consider bumping off a few nobodies reason enough to lose a good employee. They’ll both recommend that the squad let them contact Cloak and close the BPN as a success. Make it implied that he’ll probably go unpunished.

Should the Ops come up against Federigo they should hope it’s on their terms. As an experienced Op and heavily enhanced, he can quite easily dice a low SCL Op in Blocker and he’ll be sure to pick off the weaker targets first. He’s not stupid, he knows he’s only in Striker and can’t take much damage, but he’s fast and skilled at stealthy attacks so he’ll make hit-and-runs. He won’t run away though, only retreat to attack again – he relishes the fight and has an expensive LAD account and a lot of self confidence, so he’s not too worried about being killed. If he needs to be beefed up a bit, put him in Silverback armour.

As mentioned above, Federigo has a LAD account. Should the Ops confront him and kill him a LAD Kilcopter will be on the scene within two minutes. Unless they destroy his head or torso he’ll be alive and good as new again within a couple of days, and Cloak will let the squad know that shooting SLA employees without a warrant is not acceptable behaviour by blocking their payment and reducing their SCL by .2.

The players should come away from this BPN feeling cheated. If they succeed they should feel like they’ve let a killer go free, and if they fail they should feel like SLA has wronged them. Such is the World of Progress.

Federigo Fiorillo
STR - 15
DEX - 15
Actions: 1,2,3,4,5
Hits: 30 + 3 in each location
PV: 1
Climb: 6
Hide: 7
Sneak: 7
Close Combat: 10
Acrobatics: 4
Gymnastics: 5
Detect: 6
Ambidextrous
2 x Gash Fists: Pen 4, Dam 4 (+5), AD 2
IR and UV goggles
Climbing gear