11-12-2015, 05:42 PM
It had taken longer then expected; the prevalence of social-media in the modern age had made for an uncontrollable spread of information on the attacks, and on those involved. Fan clubs always formed regarding mass-murderers, and with them would come copy-cats, impostors, supporters, and more. Weeks were lost chasing false leads or taking down would-be supporters.
The breakthrough finally came thanks to a less then enviable stakeout spearheaded by Officers Konstantinov and Sokolov. Or more accurately, requested by Detective Köhl after a possible facial match had been made using city cameras. The two police officers had spent a particularly cold night in a late 2000's Lada Niva which they quickly discovered the heater was faulty and gave out hardly an hour into their twelve hour shift.
The end result was a confirmation of the whereabouts of Pankratiy Volkov, the magic-user whom had very publicly slain two police officers the same day as Theo Andlain's attack on the Golden Circle. The man was hole'd up in a once-popular nightclub, The Ministry, which had closed it's doors a few months prior when one of the co-owners had lost most of the company's finances in a gambling and drug binge that left the man dead of a heroin overdose.
Captain Aleksandrov stood once more at the head of the table in the small Domovoi briefing room, which felt especially crowded with the task force's full complement of detectives, Officers Konstantinov and Sokolov (probably) jokingly threatening to start a garbage fire in the room's steel garbage can, Officer Zinoviya seated near the head of the table and firing up the table's builtin computer and the associated wall monitor, and Lt Chmela, commanding officer of the task force's assigned Special Purpose Mobility Unit (aka SWAT).
The newly formed SPMU was only ten members strong, small for such a team in Moscow, but thanks to that small size Officer Zinoviya had had far less trouble then she had expected getting the task force armoury stocked and ready for them, and equally had allowed the SPMU to develop as a cohesive team in the few short weeks they had had to prepare.
"Detectives Favager and Köhl have managed to confirm what Konstantinov and Sokolov have gathered. Pankratiy Volkov is currently hiding in a closed nightclub, and likely has been for some time already. All signs indicate that he is indeed hosting 'private parties' for some of his more dedicated fans. This also explains why we have not been able to track his financial records; likely these 'fans' are giving him physical cash."
The Captain indicated to Kira, and she activated the wall-mounted screen, displaying a few block radius around The Ministry.
"Officers of the Prospekt Vernadskoho District precincts will be providing the outer cordon, and their SPMU team will be on standby should we need added assistance during the raid. In light of Volkov's capabilities, we will be relying on your team heavily, Lt Chmela. The Vernadskoho SPMU is not ready for someone like him."
The Czechoslovakian lieutenant nodded solemnly; his team was as ready as they could be, considering everything they had trained for was theoretical.
"We will be executing the raid in five hours. From what we have been able to gather, the building is mostly or entirely empty save for Volkov in the morning. This will of course cause some issues with the public considering the affects on traffic flow in the region, and once the cordon is established, we will quickly loose any element of surprise should Volkov be paying any attention to the news or social media feeds."
People would be making angry comments on city service boards and their private feeds, and that would spread quickly.
Questions were fielded and answered, contingency plans and 'what if's' explored for some time, but eventually everyone seemed as content as they could be. It was time for the big show; Domovoi would level modern science and weaponry against people who could throw balls of fire from their fingertips or stop hearts with a thought.
The breakthrough finally came thanks to a less then enviable stakeout spearheaded by Officers Konstantinov and Sokolov. Or more accurately, requested by Detective Köhl after a possible facial match had been made using city cameras. The two police officers had spent a particularly cold night in a late 2000's Lada Niva which they quickly discovered the heater was faulty and gave out hardly an hour into their twelve hour shift.
The end result was a confirmation of the whereabouts of Pankratiy Volkov, the magic-user whom had very publicly slain two police officers the same day as Theo Andlain's attack on the Golden Circle. The man was hole'd up in a once-popular nightclub, The Ministry, which had closed it's doors a few months prior when one of the co-owners had lost most of the company's finances in a gambling and drug binge that left the man dead of a heroin overdose.
Captain Aleksandrov stood once more at the head of the table in the small Domovoi briefing room, which felt especially crowded with the task force's full complement of detectives, Officers Konstantinov and Sokolov (probably) jokingly threatening to start a garbage fire in the room's steel garbage can, Officer Zinoviya seated near the head of the table and firing up the table's builtin computer and the associated wall monitor, and Lt Chmela, commanding officer of the task force's assigned Special Purpose Mobility Unit (aka SWAT).
The newly formed SPMU was only ten members strong, small for such a team in Moscow, but thanks to that small size Officer Zinoviya had had far less trouble then she had expected getting the task force armoury stocked and ready for them, and equally had allowed the SPMU to develop as a cohesive team in the few short weeks they had had to prepare.
"Detectives Favager and Köhl have managed to confirm what Konstantinov and Sokolov have gathered. Pankratiy Volkov is currently hiding in a closed nightclub, and likely has been for some time already. All signs indicate that he is indeed hosting 'private parties' for some of his more dedicated fans. This also explains why we have not been able to track his financial records; likely these 'fans' are giving him physical cash."
The Captain indicated to Kira, and she activated the wall-mounted screen, displaying a few block radius around The Ministry.
"Officers of the Prospekt Vernadskoho District precincts will be providing the outer cordon, and their SPMU team will be on standby should we need added assistance during the raid. In light of Volkov's capabilities, we will be relying on your team heavily, Lt Chmela. The Vernadskoho SPMU is not ready for someone like him."
The Czechoslovakian lieutenant nodded solemnly; his team was as ready as they could be, considering everything they had trained for was theoretical.
"We will be executing the raid in five hours. From what we have been able to gather, the building is mostly or entirely empty save for Volkov in the morning. This will of course cause some issues with the public considering the affects on traffic flow in the region, and once the cordon is established, we will quickly loose any element of surprise should Volkov be paying any attention to the news or social media feeds."
People would be making angry comments on city service boards and their private feeds, and that would spread quickly.
Questions were fielded and answered, contingency plans and 'what if's' explored for some time, but eventually everyone seemed as content as they could be. It was time for the big show; Domovoi would level modern science and weaponry against people who could throw balls of fire from their fingertips or stop hearts with a thought.