Pg. 22
There's no surprise Mistrop Police Department officials are worn out by the omnipresent madness of violent crimes plaguing the city's streets. This brings the attention of CyByFly Solutions, who released new anti-burglary technology - while partnering with the MPD - to help businesses combat criminals.
"Chicago's wicked sister" or "Springfield's neglected mass of junk" is what some refer to Mistrop as, but the city is much more than these references. Mistrop is an evolving city led by intellectual minds and problem-solving pools that aim to introduce fixes for any issue.
Self-driving services roll down avenues, packing heat for any intrusive body. Chip trackers for essential workers and selected personnel allow for promised security. City-wide dispersion freshener systems help keep our streets smelling nice and clean.
It's also where my family grew up in the 1980s; Mistrop is home to me.
That's why I find certain Mistrop chronicles interesting to see unfold, such as new anti-crime technology making its way into the hands of the MPD. Especially if it involves killing someone without trying them in court.
Let me set the stage for you. James "Jim" Trench Sr. (78) owns JUNE near the industrial district, a perfect placement for businesses to fetch needed items quickly. "Jim's Used and New Essentials" undergoes constant traffic since it's right off the J. Rivers highway, but that also goes for greedy, hungry punks.
JUNE has been broken into three times in the last six months (2/25-8/25, as of writing), and Jim is fed up. In comes CyByFly Solutions and the MPD, who introduce to Jim the Bog Fog. The device's destination is under MPD-#I-708, but calling it the Bog Fog feels better to say with your neighbors. The shoebox-sized device sits in proximity to JUNE's safe, where lethal chemicals await inside to directly target any inhaler's lungs, temporarily knocking them out.
The initial patent for the machine also extends two noodle arms (50 feet per hose) for extensive smoke deployment. Only a second passes for the mist to fully disperse.
Theoretically, a box with arms incapacitates the target, harming only the lungs enough to mimic an allergic reaction, nothing more.
That's not how things worked out at JUNE's.
Mid-July, right on the 15th, 3:43 AM, Evalena Butts (39) and Trevor Morgan (21) break into JUNE's with steel bats, two handguns, back bags, and an empty 2021 Stella Loader. A couple in ski masks, Butts and Morgan grab the expensive goods. Reinforced coils, magnetic tractor parts, anti-demonic collars, and, oddly, unmarked capes from gifted heroes*.
Shattered glass across the main floor and the shop's alarm ringing, Morgan scouts the front-end goods. He unzips his bag and begins to fill the sucker up. The bag is relatively huge, yet [REDACTED] refused to comment on its clothing products being used for criminal activity.
Meanwhile, Butts attends the safe, located close to the Bog Fog's shadow sitting above Jim's second register. Lurking next to a twin-modem, the machine deploys smoke like a pipe bursting from a crack.
"What
the?" Butts mutters, looking up to find the source of the mist. The
parking lot light only shines what it can into JUNE's; the shop keeps
two night lights to support the exits, yet they don't help the criminals
in action.
Morgan drops a pair of spiked wheels and runs to the back, where Butts is now lost in a cloud of smoke. "Babe! Babe!" Morgan shouts, running into the fog.
The smoke's power intensifies, however. Surveillance footage shows the fog encapsulating the shop, puffing up a hotbox-like scenario. Though blocked, the cameras come with thermal readings.
Butts waves her hands around when hearing Morgan's voice. He rushes in, only to trip over one of the noodles and crash-land onto a bundle of screws. Multiple screws pierce Morgan's right shoulder, temple, and face, with one forced into his right eye. He screams in agony.
"What's going on?! Are you hurt?!" Butts yells into the fog, an overpowering chokehold of gray dust. "Wher- ugh, rrrra, rrrra-"
Rough coughs come from Butts. The cameras pick up traces of smoke clouds accumulating in the space. Morgan's body stiffens and twitches before regaining minimal strength.
At this rate, JUNE's security alarm has been going off for a couple of minutes now, administering a screeching rip through the air. The camera volume control tips its scale, receiving only a distorted ring like a blown-out speaker.
Butts exclaims, yet her dialogue remains inaudible. She's waving one arm around for guidance, with her other hand shielding an ear from the noise. Her head presses against her shoulder to cover the other ear. "Hhhhuuu-" Butts strains, though the remainder of her voice becomes lost.
Morgan recovers from his fall, though his body carries little stamina. No audio is heard from him as he visibly extends his left arm for Butts. However, thermal readings pick up blood from Morgan's mouth and right eye.
It's here when curious denizens of Mistrop storm the front of JUNE's. Some leave their cars running, phones in hand, ready to record. While most shared footage only shows the shop's front blanketed with smoke, two angles captured Morgan's movements.
The
first clip displays an aching Morgan with blood appearing on his torso
and face. An artery nicked from his neck, cascading a different, darker
color on his clothing. Additional blood drops from his mouth, followed
by a rough coughing movement. His shadow hunches over, thus depending on
the store's counter for support.
The second angle instills a close-up of Morgan, brightly shot from an extremely curious end from the outside. Morgan's eyes grow red; his mouth begins to froth; cheeks pasted purple; choking is heard throughout.
JUNE's thermal readings show Morgan's body collapsing into the counter, breaking the protective glass with his forearm. A broken, blood-curdling scream lingers, which many cameras pick up from outside the shop.
"It sounded like it was from a bad horror movie, like the ones you see some real snuffy stuff, man!" - @bringbackbadtv.tv via Bicker
"My baby would scream like that in the middle of the night, in her crib and all. Just a little one, just, y'know, not developed enough. Not enough to be screaming some kind of Latin [expletive] to her mother and me." - @ porterhollywood2000 via Bicker
Mistrop police cars arrive 5 minutes and 38 seconds after the Bog Fog trigger. An MBC van appeared moments before, only to be placed behind the impromptu crime scene line. MBC's Aaron Shuster and a cameraman began reporting.
"It's just another stream of muck spewing from the city tonight, everyone. My camera guy and I are standing in front of Jim's New and Used Essentials near the industrial district, or JUNE's for short, according to some of the locals here, which my guess is custo- I mean, which might be customers, sorry about that. It's being reported that two masked individuals broke into the parts store, with at lea-"
A painful moan comes from the shop as Shuster talks to the people of Mistrop, stopping the reporter in his delivery.
Inside the shop, Butts finds Morgan. Outside folks couldn't hear it at the time, but Butts pleaded for Morgan's attention, according to the official police report.
In the end, an ambulance pulls the couple away from the crime scene. Butts is slowly moving her eyes; Morgan is dead.
Autopsy findings conclude blood flooded Morgan's lungs after becoming forcibly exposed to the Bog Fog's chemicals. The coroner explained the classified reagent from CyByFly Solutions includes a unique synthetic substance rumored to be "deadlier than ammonia." Morgan's eyes popped like balloons, leaving two red puddles pooled against shredded skin walls upon initial body retrieval. One associate said they looked like soiled cauliflower. Clumps of mass dotted his chin and neck - particles from the ruptured right lung. The ammonia-like chemical, which we're dubbing "Shrinkonia," sucked Morgan's lungs completely of air, mirroring football-sized raisins. Moreover, the victim's neck is bruised from the overwhelming abuse of internal damage.
Butts, on the other hand, now lives in a Mistrop Sheltering Agency home on the city's west side, strapped to an oxygen tank. She refused to comment when we approached her to get a better understanding of her side of the story.
JUNE's Bog Fog is now an attraction for the shop's regulars. Jim intends to keep it operational until "the damn thing takes me out itself," he jokingly told me when we stopped by for an interview.
"My
goods, all my commodities and such, it's all good now. I go home with a
peaceful mindset and- and, gah, it's just amazing. It's exactly what
this country needs, stuff like [Bog Fog]. I know my family is happy I'm
sticking with it. Sucks about what happened to that feller who broke in,
but," Jim puffs a cigarette, "hey, don't try me. You'll get the bull's
[expletive] and [expletive] tenfold when [expletive] with me."
CyByFly Solutions plans to manufacture additional devices for distribution. While controversy surrounds the company's craftsmanship as "insane" and "unconstitutional," CyByFly Solutions doesn't view Morgan's death as a backstep.
"The machine functioned perfectly according to the documented blueprint. Mr. Morgan harmed himself while committing a crime, thus enhancing 708's capabilities. If all is considered here, we'll thank Mr. Morgan for providing improved avenues to explore in terms of our security products. Federal agencies and the Mistrop Police Department see no issue with working with more 708s to minimalize crime," an official from CyByFly shared.
As the city continues to map out new fixes for ongoing problems, we'll maintain a vantage point in the midst of all the movement. I, for one, know which avenues to not go down to. I just choose to explore them still.
Take care of yourselves out here.
- Patricia Q. Merrill, Contributor
Bicker @ pandqatvc
VOCAL CONCERNS, ISSUE 711
*Many cloaks and weather-resistant robes, though unmarked, are suspected of belonging to San Senoj and Pop Flame, two fierce fighters from Brooklyn who occasionally show up to save persons in distress. The capes come from their early crime-fighting days of the 80s and 90s, as evidenced by liquor spillage, metallic abrasion, and defacements from frenzied transmissions of electromagnetic radiation.
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Photo Credit (skull): Alessio Ferretti
ProductionCrate Smoke Effect Used in Graphic
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