Wyatt King took the bus to River City. He had heard stories and read news accounts that, while they certainly didn't indicate that the reporter had any idea, indicated to him that there were some particularly strange things going on in River City. Things that seemed to center around Little Tokyo...

Heading into Little Tokyo from the bus stop, Wyatt found himself a table near the window of Saitosan Coffee and kept a look out. There was a rather large man with a deceptively heavy package sitting in the back with his back against a wall, as well as a shady-looking character perusing an international copy of the Asahi Shimbun. After about a half an hour, Wyatt spotted a bunch of dangerous-looking young japanese men headed toward him.

The group of six young men, obviously Yakuza, started to shake down the proprietess and the clientelle rushed out. Wyatt rushed out with them to maintain appearances, but quickly found a vantage point across the street to keep watch. The big guy ended up taking down all six Yakuza thugs with little trouble, throwing one through a plate glass door and taking a bullet without wincing. Wyatt also noticed bulges in his woolen cap. Wyatt decided to follow him.

The large man left the coffee shop and walked briskly away from the scene. Wyatt followed at a discrete distance, periodically taking side streets and meeting up with him at later corners just in case the big man knew how to spot a tail. Fortunately, Wyatt's chess training and keen analytical mind allowed him to stay many steps ahead of the big man and anticipate where he would be. It was during one of these side trips that he spotted another group of Yakuza carrying a heavy crate into an abandoned cannery.

Wyatt crossed the street in the middle of the block slowly, tying up traffic so that the big man would cross the street here instead of a few blocks down and leading him closer to the cannery in the hopes of seeing some more of this strange man. His gambit worked.

The large man reacted to the cannery as if some sort of bright light were emanating from it. He headed for the door of the cannery and, after taking a good look, went in.

Wyatt waited 48 seconds and followed. With the distraction of the big man removing his woolen cap and displaying the characteristic horns of an Oni and the lightning sparks surrounding a man with the long nose and katana of a Tengu, Wyatt was easily able to slip into the Supervisor's office. With the lights in the office off, Wyatt had a perfect view of the battle, which involved yet another "abnormal,"* a young latina who could pass through solid objects as well as cause other objects to similarly become out of "phase."

Wyatt was impressed with the power of these abnormals. The feats they were capable of were, on a mundane level, as far removed from a normal person's capabilities as his own deductive skills were. He realized that normal humans would be unable to stop these abnormals if they were to turn on people. He gave the matter a lot of thought on the bus ride back to Newport.