Wild Dog (Vol. 1)

Issue #1: Blood on the Ice

Veracity, Michigan is one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. In 1967, police illegally raided a family household and it led to one of the bloodiest riots in American history. It lasted a week and brought devastation. Nine people died and one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven people were injured. Buildings were destroyed figuratively and literally by vandals and gangsters. To this day, things have not recovered.

In the present, Mayor Max A. Allen has promised change but has done nothing but cower to the gangs. The police were a joke, following the orders of whatever criminal could afford to bribe them. People who lived in Veracity were too poor to flee. For the past decade, all of the city's crime had been controlled by a violent kingpin called Shellcase and his gang of ex-military cronies. They ensured that they were feared.

One evening, a reporter from Detroit named Claire Carmonti was captured by Raze, one of the members of Shellcase's gang, for investigating their hideout. They dragged her to a closed-down hockey rink, where they brutally beat her to death at the center. Despite how horrific it was, they had the gall to laugh and crack jokes, that is until they heard someone go into the locker room.

"Who's there!?" Raze shouted. "You are so dead!"

Raze took his two henchmen with him into the locker room. They found it dark from lights that were shattered. One of them pulled out his lighter to see, but there was no one. Believing he had made a mistake, Raze left. Strangely though, his henchmen did not follow.

"Terry? Beatty?"

One of his men was tossed on top of him. A broken half of a hockey stick was jammed into the jugular. Out of the darkness came the culprit, a stranger in a hockey mask, Wild Dogs hockey jersey, camo cargo pants, and combat boot. He knelt on top of the corpse, pinning Raze underneath.

"You're a real piece of shit, huh?" the vigilante asked with a tough voice.

"Is this where you want me to beg for my life? I ain't a coward!"

"No. This is where I hurt really, really bad."

This masked stranger started to beat Raze's face in. His head repeatedly banged against the hard floor, soon leaving a bloody mark. Each hit made his nose break over and over again. Soon his face was a bloody mess. He slipped into unconsciousness and then death. The vigilante stood up and wiped off the blood on his hand on the shirt of the other goon. He then picked up the corpse of Claire and left the dead gangsters to rot.

An hour later at the Peoples Apartment building, the captain of the Veracity Police Department, Niles Davidson, was putting his children to bed. There was a knock at his front door. He found Shellcase and one of his cronies Smoke standing there. Niles's expression showed he was not surprised and this was a common visitation. Shellcase was a fit man with medium-long hair and an unshaven face.

"What is it now?" Niles asked.

"It would seem three murders have occurred at the old ice rink."

"Did you kill them?"

"No. I need you to find out who it is so I can kill them."

"Why me?"

Shellcase slowly wrapped his hand around Niles's tie with a tight grip. "Because I keep you around for your brains. My guys are just guns and the police are the numbers. I'd rather prefer a captain without a golden heart, but you fell into my lap. I need you to find the killer or you and your lovely family will be killed by your own men." He tugged down hard on his ties. "Understand?"

Niles nodded. Shellcase closed the door to leave the captain to get ready for work. It was going to be a long night shift.