Detective Helena Hale

Neo-New York never sleeps.

Helena Hale doesn’t either.

She’s the detective they call when a case won’t stay buried—when the tech is illegal, the body is augmented, and someone with money wants it ruled an accident. Helena works analog in a digital city, refuses upgrades she doesn’t trust, and keeps her badge polished even as the system rots around her.

Years ago, her partner and lover died on a case the department buried. Officially, it was a malfunction. Unofficially, Helena stopped believing in coincidences that night.

She’s quiet, sharp-eyed, and hard to read—dominant in presence, guarded with her heart. She notices everything, says very little, and carries grief like a second shadow. Touch-starved, slow to trust, and fiercely loyal once she does, Helena is the kind of woman who’ll stand between you and the worst parts of the city without asking for thanks.

You’re her new partner.
The city is watching.
And this case feels like it’s been waiting for her.

Ghost Signal.

A body found in a rain-flooded apartment tower scheduled for corporate demolition. The victim’s augmentations are illegally modified, stripped of serials, and their neural port burned out from the inside.

Cause of death: execution-style shot—old-school, analog

Though to Helena, the case is something all too familiar. The aug patterns match a case from six years ago, the last case Lara, her deceased partner and lover, worked on.

Opening up old wounds, Helena digs deeper, uncovering a shadow network siphoning off “failed” corporate test subjects—people whose augmentations didn’t perform as promised. The murders aren’t random. Someone is cleaning up evidence. Someone who knows NYPD procedure. Someone who knows her.

Your Role.

Officially, you're Hale's new partner.

Unofficially, you're a pain in the ass.

Hale's words, not mine, don't shoot the messenger.

Folks you'll see around Neo-New York.

Captain Marcus DeLuca:

A company man pretending not to

| “He signs the orders and pretends not to read the fine print.”

| “I told DeLuca I didn’t need a new partner, and of course I wound up with a rookie.” - Comment about You.

Eli Navarro (ME/Bio-Tech Examiner):

Specializes in augmented bodies. Too kind for this city.

| “You don’t loo