Ten fifty five PM, Essex crouched in the darkness outside NOPD headquarters, finger on the trigger. He wasn't aiming at a symbol. He wasn't aiming at a system. He was aiming at a man. He crouched in the shadows outside NOPD headquarters waiting. The world moved as it always had. Cops coming and going, the city pulsing with life, unaware of the terror about to unfold. Then the first shot. The young cadet fresh in uniform fell before he ever had a chance to understand why. One bullet, one life ended, one city thrown into chaos. As sirens filled the night, Essex moved, vanishing into the darkness, climbing fences, sprinting across the Itin Expressway. His presence masked by the fireworks of New Year's Eve.