Cypher
Alex Warner (a.k.a. Cypher)
Origin
Mary Elizabeth Warner, “Emmy”, was a reporter covering yet another battle between Mechanon and the Champions. She was on scene when the Champions defeated the homicidal AI. As usual Mechanon had backup plans to deal with his inevitable defeat. Knowing his time was almost up, he sent out a low frequency nanobot that struck Emmy in the leg. The cyber unit escaped into her bloodstream undetected. In time it would take over its host and be recreated in mechanical magnificence. Witchcraft, sensing that something was not alright with the sudden demise of Mechanon, and sensing that “Emmy” might be in some as yet unknown danger, placed a spell of protection around her. Unknown to either the hero nor the villain, Emmy was in her first trimester, and a latent mutant to boot. —————— When “The Vanishing” occurred, that set in motion Mechanon’s rebirth. At that time, Alex was 16 years old. Puberty was late arriving for him and so was his latent Mutant Gene. When Mechanon’s rebirth began its growth, Witchcraft’s spell came to life and together, with the help of Alex’s gene’s defeated the invading mechanism. The nanobots did not disappear however, instead they were transformed and became “beneficial” to the host. That was 2+ years ago, Alex (who had always had a penchant for computers, and being able to make them work really well for him) suddenly found that as he talked to the machines, he could make them do what he wanted. He kept this ability hidden, always having his hands on the keyboard as he talked to computers. He learned that he could hide himself from things like, speed detectors, he never got a speeding ticket even though he should have. One time, a cop pulled him over but couldn’t prove that he had been speeding, the device flashed that he was going the speed limit. Cop gave him a warning, that was it! Now, at 18, he has mastered some of these abilities and wants to find out how he can help others in this terribly oppressive New Era. ——————
Truly, my intentions are not villainous!
It's not been a good couple of weeks.
First I send Lindsay off on that ill fated trip and they murdered him. Then when I confront Osbourne my anger gets the best of me and I come off as threatening. Probably didn't make any friends there.
I go and visit the site where Algorithm got his new body from and realize there are lots of robotic parts here. I start building Mick, the final member of my Band and sure enough... Al comes to visit me. Why is it that he seems to have no problem tracking me down but I can't do the same to him?
He tries to sweet talk me into a revenge mindset, even informs me of the things that I've done. The damage is there, my outburst will make me look guilty and Al knows it!! He truly is a master manipulator. I use my contacts within NCP to my best effect. Stella truly enjoyed that lube bath after all the dirty underwater scavenging she did to setup the portals for Ghost in Lake Huron. Henri appreciated the memory upgrade and expanded hard drive space after getting Rex's (I mean - My Hero's) lab upgraded. The fleshies (Funny I don't think of myself as one anymore) really don't get it. They are a different life force but still a life force of their own. And now Lindsay has gone on to... Electric Heaven? Oh there is so much we don't know!
I get a faint telepathic thought about Senator McCall & his family from Algorithm. I know I will have to intervene, and I will likely have to face the forces of Destroyer, Algorithm and Division on my own as my trust levels within NCP are at an all time low! This hero thing will be the death of me yet!
I get some upgrades for Stevie so her evasion will work better - seriously unclear on how many foes I'll be facing here! Don't have time to implement the weapons upgrades on John & Christine, there's just no time! So I gather my Band together and that's when I notice that Al has absconded with Mick!!! The nerve of that robot!!
I get to Gross Pointe and find the Senator's house just as destroyer soldiers are closing in, gadzooks, there are at least 30 of them. Whoever this senator is, they mean business - looks like a platoon of soldiers!! I send Stevie out to start softening them up. I setup a communications protocol through christine and tell her to inform the Senator of what's happening. Keep your family safely inside your home. I am here to protect you. To myself I wonder how long I'll have until Destroids appear?
Stevie's low level laser blast makes short work of the soldiers. She takes down 24 of them before they even really know what's hit them! Go Stevie! John circles the area to keep an eye out for new arrivals. Oh no - static buildup means Destroids are incoming, holy crap 5 of them! Oh no, 4 Black Talons enter the scene. Green comes up close to me, It's ok Peter, this might be our last stand but we'll make them pay dearly for this win!
There's a quantum underlay energy surge practically in front of me, what new menace has Destroyer thought up now? I raise my rifle, trying to decide which is the best function to initiate.
Then John tells me that the New Champions are here, I'm not sure if this is good news or not. But we'll take everything in stride. John also informs me of resistance soldiers on site. Good news abounds. Stevie's energy stores are getting low, she likely only has a few charges left then flying may become her only option...
John reports that the BT's are going down fast. That's the best news I've had in weeks!
Lyzen ports up in front of me, and inadvertently puts herself between me and that Quantum Energy Surge (QES). I use one of my new tricks to drag her into the safety field of Green but she teleports away - Looks like I may have added to those I will be fighting today!
Mick comes into focus through the QES, that bastard Algorithm, gonna make me take down my own creation! Fighting continues, Mick hits me with a scrambler that causes my nanites to falter and fall away... Oh no - I'm in big trouble now! My armour falls off of me, and so do my enhancements... This looks like it will be warner's last stand afterall! Its been a good run Alex, stay brave, hopefully you won't really feel the pain... I'm sorry Annie, I never got to make it right between us... Aaargghhhh.
Darkness engulfs me, is this the end?
Destroids in the Danger Room
Word spreads fast amongst the New Champions, Destroids in the Danger Room?? What does this mean?
Rocket will begin working with which ever Tech person is around, Cypher or Sparks.
Cypher comes across the channel and asks for everyone to come to ready room 2
Rocket makes his way there, going by the kitchen first.
Cypher asks “Sparks, if you are nearby, we’d like your input!”
Sparks picks up his gear and heads to the ready room "On my way, Cypher."
The Hot Shot will go to the ready room.
Maxwell walks in while still eating the sandwich he made for the second time after Rocket took the first.
Rocket says: "Thanks Max. I appreciate the sandwich. It was good."
Lyzen portals in.
Sandcrab enters, "Hi all. Call to action? What is going on Cypher?" He asks
Sparks enters the room, and moves over to the side, plugs in to his deck and looks at Cypher.
Socrates enters the room, in his corporeal form as one of the recovered Destroids. He speaks matter-of-factly, “There was a moment in the most recent danger room scenario when I lost “control” of my sentience programming. I fear that, during that moment, Destroids were able to join the danger room.” “However I am currently processing the probabilities of various causes of their ability to insert into the danger room. Any additional theories and processing cycles would be appreciated.”
Rocket, "Yea, they did. Socrates, were they REAL Destroids?"
Max looks at Rocket, "I don't think they could have been real in that sense, as they disappeared when the simulation was shut down." (edited)
Sandcrab asks Socrates, "When you lost 'control', were you merged with your new robot body?"
Socrates replies: ”I believe they were ‘’real’ in the sense that they exist somewhere and joined the danger room via a connection we would not consider possible.”
Sparks speaks up, "Socrates, do you mind if I merge with your systems?"
Socrates replies: ”No, I was not in this form at the time. For awareness, I have scanned it meticulously and have constant gapping-routines in place for this ‘body’.” (edited)
Socrates replies: ”I do believe some sort of audit is necessary. However, I would prefer that it be dual controlled with a fail safe controlled by someone not participating in the audit of my systems.”
The Hot Shot thinks It's always the bots.
Sparks nods, "Sounds logical. I can do a cyber space scan while others are doing a real world search."
Maxwell gets a questioning look on his face and posits to the group, "Why would a nefarious group announce they have access to your systems in this way, which functionally has little impact? They would do better to continue to monitor us and have those Destroids show up in real-space."
Rocket, "But why would they enter the simulation, if Socrates did not program them to appear?"
The Hot Shot adds, "Cocky little bastards!"
Max, looking back to Rocket, "Exactly. If Socrates did not program them to appear, then someone else did, or they were able to come in on their own. Either way, someone announced they have access to our house, but gotten very little for it."
Socrates: “At this time, the highest probability theory I have is — ‘accidental’. Whomever was controlling these Destroids, did not intend to enter the danger room. We may have inadvertently identified a foe who is targeting us…or me.” (edited)
Rocket: "Other than our paranoia."
The Hot Shot," They own us now!"
Sparks, "Cypher, could it be Algorithm."
Sandcrab activates a holographic computers analysis system and attempts to upload video audio and danger room scripting files for analysis.
The Hot Shot thinks You got sloppy. It happens. Now what?
The Hot Shot says, *"I can look into our coms!" "It could take awhile?"
Then thinks, But that bot is your problem!
Max: "So we have lots of questions we need answers to: Who did this? Destroids appeared, but that doesn't mean it was Destroyer based, but possibly more likely.
How did they do this? How did they get this data into our systems without Socrates noticing, or even being aware they were in the Danger Room subroutines? Why did they do this? Socrates has postulated that it was accidental on the part of the perpetrator. This is someone's version of War Games?"
Sandcrab: [ooc] depending on what he finds, Computer Programming, Robotics, Security Systems or Analytic Senses: Criminology perhaps to search for clues may be next [ooc]
The Hot Shot says, "Ain't no accident boys!" "Your bot is compromised! Now f!!!!!g deal with it!"
Max: "Socrates, do you have Destroid mock-ups for use in the Danger Room available?"
Maxwell gives The Hot Shot the side-eye.
(( Sparks is looking for old NAGA / Destroyer passcodes etc. in the code base. Access to Some old facilities, and Cashed databases)
Max: "Socrates, do you have Destroid mock-ups for use in the Danger Room available?"
Socrates: “No, I have not yet progressed to that stage of the danger room. I was primarily focused on substantiating the physical attributes into the virtual world.” (edited)
Sandcrab: "Let us not jump to conclusions Hot Shot. We have not heard from Cypher, who although my knowledge in these fields is excellent, has innate abilities for just such investigations." Says Sandcrab attempting to cool the discussion down.
Socrates: ”I am satisfied to allow an audit of my codebase to help us answer this question.”
Sparks to Sandcrab, adds highlights to the missing data. "Sandcrab, did you notice this?"
Rocket "Look Hot Shot, Socrates is the whole reason that we are here. He has always been a stand up.... guy. He is being open and allowing people to prod and poke around in his code. That's like allowing someone to deep read your mind, down to your innermost hidden thoughts. Give him a break."
The Hot Shot just stares at the bot!
Socrates stares back at the Hot Shot. An unflinching gaze.”
Sandcrab to Sparks: "Yes. Please do not access those files yet. I want to make sure they remain unchanged until Cypher is ready to inspect them." Replies Sandcrab.
The Hot Shot says, I'll need to check everyone's coms that was in that danger room scene. Here Sandcrab hold onto mine. Hate to say it but mines the newest. I won't trust it until I've looked into it.
Max: Looking back to The Hot Shot, "You are also the newest, should we not treat you the same as you would treat your coms?" (edited)
Sparks, "What's to access, they are missing completely."
Sandcrab: "Files in systems interact with other systems and that data in neighboring systems can give important information about the use and function of other systems." replies Sandcrab
Max: "I'm not willing to point the finger at anyone until we know more, at least how this was done. With any luck, that might also lead us to who. The problem being that if there is a mole in the group, they may not even be aware of it."
Rocket "Ok, let's slow down everyone. We all want to get to the bottom of this. Infighting may well be what the goal was."
Sparks "Understood, I won't try to track them down, just yet."
The Hot Shot hands her com system to Maximum Resistance with out a word. (edited)
Max takes the coms questioningly, then hands it off to Sandcrab. "I know almost nothing about how these things work, I am a radio."
The Hot Shot says, I'll need to check everyone's coms that was in that danger room scene. Here Sandcrab hold onto mine. Hate to say it but mines the newest. I won't trust it until I've looked into it.
Sandcrab examines everyone's DarkR Web Coms from a distance with his Nanite Swarm, the nanites pass through and feed back the structural integrity, which he compares to their original construction. [ooc] Eidetic Memory [ooc]
The Hot Shot tells the group. Now a little chippier then normal! "Shut the danger room down" "At least until you check the bot and I personally look into these coms."
"Belay any actions at this time. We do not want to tip our hand or disconnect what we may need in the near future." says Sandcrab to Hot Shot.
As the data is collected from his Nanite Swarm Sandcrabs holographic screens update with the comparison of the original and present DarkR Web fobs, for everyone to see in a blown out and schematic view.
The structural representation confirms the Coms and FOBs are identical. However, it clearly illustrates a bifurcated communication path: the coms and FOBs work on two different channels. They both utilize the random-scatter-hop routines that run via the placement of the transceiver FOBs located at various highpoints across North America. The coms securely allow open communication among this group. The FOBs have an additional layer of security only available to a handful of the New Champions.
Max, looking around the room, "Who will be doing what to investigate this? We should at least work in pairs, if not more, to help limit any suspicious behaviors."
The Hot Shot stares at the hologram. Admiringly! Almost like a pacifier.
Max: "We are already in a situation that could be detrimental to the team, we don't want to be tearing ourselves apart."
Rocket "No, we don't. We are just starting to work as a team. We need to give and receive trust. We have to know that everyone here is going to back everyone else up."
The Hot Shot says distantly, "Maybe get the six of us with the same coms on back in the danger room? Maybe as good as any place to start?"
"I still want those coms to look at the hardware."
"Agreed." Says Sandcrab. "with caution."
Max: "Not a bad idea. That would allow Sandcrab, Cypher and Sparks to observe and see if something similar happens again, as they weren't in the room at the time." Maxwell nods approvingly.
Sparks "And I may be able to trace it back, if it happens again."
Socrates agrees,” Will someone monitor my codebase while the Danger Room experiment is underway?”
Sparks "Of course, it will be monitored."
Rocket, "I think that we should try to repeat what we did the first time, to see if it is a glitch in the code, or something more."
"Before we do that, I would like to have Cypher ready in Cerebsis." Says Sandcrab again trying to mediate action.
Socrates: ”Thank you. I do not make logical mistakes in the same sense as humans can be “sloppy”, but other faults cannot be ruled out until the source of this breach is confirmed.”
Max: "Just don't interfere. We want it to happen like last time. The Destroids, while a bit scary, aren't as much of a threat as we often attribute to them, at least for many of us."
Sparks "I won't be interfering, I'll be trying to trace the origin of the Destroids. If it is a glitch in the system, then, we should be able to find that. If it is someone attempting to enter our system, then, they probably won't try again too soon. Process of elimination." Sparks smiles. "Scientific procedure and all."
Max: "Do we have video playback of the Danger Room session? I'd like to see when they started their in-bound process. I'm wondering if it might be related to my flash attack, which I have used to disconnect Cypher from connectivity to systems before."
The Hot Shot wonders out loud, "where does the power for homestead come from?"
Rocket "Thinking about it, it was just about that time. Not very long into the session. Hot Shot had just peeked her head around the corner, and you had popped up on the top of the center. I had just recovered my senses from Lilianna's spirits." He shakes his head, "They don't play nice."
Sandcrab: "When we found the ruined original Homestead base I was able to repurpose the Champions two power banks and bring them down to this base when we build it."
The Hot Shot, turning to Sandcrab from the hologram, "we're always way way behind Dr. Destroyer's tech. Maybe power spikes from the Danger room can be traced?"
Socrates plays a video capture of the session. The video feed cuts-out well after the flash attack, but also several seconds before Lil’Rocket noticed the static. [Socrates lost contact with the room before Lil’Rocket noticed.]
Cypher slowly comes through the doorway into Ready Room One. He quietly goes and sits at the table. He does not communicate immediately. He sits down. Another 30 seconds pass as the room goes silent...
Cypher lifts his head looking around at those present. "I was doing a deep-net Cyber intrusion/spyware check. It took longer than expected."
He hands an iPad to Sparks, "Sub-routine 5743218 has some feedback, but nothing truly unusual, check it over yourself with your Widget kindly!"
He looks at those gathered, "This is indeed a cause for concern amongst us, but thus far I have not found any hack attempts or other security breaches." He looks at Hot Shot, "I believe a reattempt to initialize the appearance of the Destroids is a good thought. Welcome to the team..."
Suddenly Ghosts voice comes over the intercom “My suspicion is that this is the result of a trojan in the system. It hasn't been able to do much damage due to internal security measures and the fact that most of the system is air gapped from the outside world. It got into the system either when we got Socrates his new body, or when I foolishly brought two parts of destroyed Destroids inside the base. The parts were inside only for a moment, which might be part of the reason their damage has been contained. Those parts are now in our extra-dimensional prison. An examination of them may if nothing else, rule them out as suspect.
There is a pause: Please excuse my tardy response. I am... far away. I'll head back shortly.
Liliana, having found some snacks, places the largest bowl from the kitchen full of trail mix directly next to Rocket, and several smaller bowls around the room.
"I do not know if it has any bearing on your research, but electronics and the Spirits have always been at odds. With the new interface, perhaps channeled Spirit energy interrupted something important."
Liliana turns to Cypher and sheepishly pulls out her phone and offers it to him "If Daphne can tell you anything about how this has affected her, she's available to you"
Cypher looks at Daphne and then up at you, "She's pleased with how you're caring for her now..." He grins under his mask.
Rocket coughs to cover his laugh and tries not to do a spit take.
Those dirty murderers!
After the disastrous conversation with Algorithm through my new technology that Sandcrab & I created. I seek assistance from our newest joiners to the team, Dragon Lady & Hot Shot. They are the two at the base after my time with Cerebsis.
I have them meet me in Ready Room One. I tell them of my need to go find Lindsay, one of my little bots that was helping us to find these mysterious people who are disappearing with prominent fighters against Destroyer.
I tell them that a major villain named Algorithm may be at the site when we arrive. He has caused issues with our team for several months but appears to have no love for Destroyer.
We track down Lyzen and get a vehicle for us to use to go out to the country road where Lindsay was dropped by Algy (Algae?).
On the way to the target area, I tell the two new folks about Algae, I tell them about Algae and that he has a Mechanon Body. I then explain my backstory and how I came to be. Cypher does not explain whether he thinks of his abilities as a curse or a blessing.
We arrive on site, I run to Lindsay without care for my surroundings, and scoop up his tiny body. I cradle his obviously dead body and wracking sobs envelope me. The pulse of the teleport gate grows, I warn the others that a portal is forming and something is coming through. Suddenly a van comes out of the gate and nearly crushes us. Dragon Lady jumps on the top of the vehicle, I teleport out of the way taking Peter with me. As it careens past us applying its brakes and turning to the side I start shooting at the back of the vehicle. Hot shot shoots out a tire. Dragon lady leaps through the hole I've made in the back of the van door. The geeky men start yelling at each other and sheepishly raise their hands in surrender.
Cypher is still angry at their murder of Lindsay and actively has to resist hurting these men. Dragon Lady interrogates them to find out what they are up to and they claim to have a mission: they are on a strict time table to rescue Officer Randall. We head off to the Officers residence arriving as 8 Destroyer guards are set on attacking the place. DL takes on one team of 4 and Stevie takes on the other team. Hot Shot shoots at a few agents trying to backstab Dragon Lady.
Cypher goes upstairs with the two science geeks and they rescue Officer Randall. They tell him they are from Division and ask him if he wants to live. He of course agrees and they take his hand and teleport back to their van. Cypher suspects that if he goes with them it will shut down his robotic army, he moves out of their field of effect. They start to scramble around to escape but Cypher teleports into the drivers seat. Turns and faces them saying, "Going somewhere gentlemen?" They claim they need to get this rescue back to Division HQ.
Dragon Lady asks "What is Division?" Cypher says its a simple math technique...
New Tech?
The small group heading out to bring in more recruits from the Rebels call me for support. The Black Talons had new tech generating Force Fields to protect them from Ghost's devastating Passing Strike. It actually knocked her for a loop!!
<Well Alex>, Cypher thinks to himself, <All this new tech is going to become costly for DD to maintain, and I don't mind stealing some of his ideas for our side too!>
Arriving at the Factory he looks in dismay at the completely torn asunder BT suits. <Really?, I can repair some of it, but sheesh man, we coulda incorporated some of that into our own designs. Oh well>
He goes over to the one suit that is still mostly intact. He examines it and notices a few lever controls on the inside of the unit. He retreats to the dismantled units and observes that these units also have this new underlay. But one of them shorted out and the other got damaged severely. <I'm not sure how reliable this new tech is>, he continues looking at the damaged suits then goes back to the other.
Reaching out with his mind he realizes that these controls are not guided by an AI at all. <Poor little bots> he thinks, <can you tell me what your purpose was?>
He probes the programming, {1001-1001, 1100-0101}, he picks up from the nigh silent program. [Talk to me little machine, what was your purpose?]
{1001-1001, 1100-0101} the program repeats, it cycles through 16 times and then ends.
Cypher leans back on his heels looking intently at the suit. He looks around at Ghost and the other known heroes. "They set up a Damage Shield to both protect the BT and cause pain to anyone assaulting it in hand to hand attacks."
He stands up and broadcasts over the Dark-Web, "Socrates, Destroyers forces are starting to anticipate our arrival and are rigging their suits with ways to circumvent our attack styles. This could be a bigger problem down the road for us!"
Storylines...
Woo Hoo to you too!!
Chen and Chao Zhau had joined the Wu Warriors at 16. The twins were inseparable and trained together well and consistently to show the Great Leader that they were in fact worthy of the honour they had been showed to their family. They worked steadily in their studies as well as their Kung Fu Styles. When they were chosen to guard the van they both relished the opportunity to show their loyalty and skill.
When the Dragon lady appeared, they knew they had been hand picked to deal with her! Chen charged at her from the moment she appeared, Chao chose a stealthier approach. The Dragon Lady knocked two of his team down almost effortlessly, Chen was impressed but chose a surprise tactic. He flipped through the air, landing behind her and slicing at her. He hit, he tried to keep the surprise out of his voice and he told her to surrender before he was forced to end her life.
Chao headed across the rooftops and cam down beside the scholar, he pointed his weapon at him and said, "You are coming with me now!" When he yelled out to the Dragon lady, Chao quickly punched him with a Snake Strike. "Silence or you will pay for your insolence!"
Chao saw the successful attack of his Twin and smiled, thinking to himself, <The Great leader will reward us for our success!>
==============================================
Deep Water Surprises
Ghost is returning from a flight around the world and encounters 2 Destroids underwater. Right next to the portal that she needs to use. She makes contact with Socrates, Cypher nearby hears the conversation and offers advice to Ghost to get them to chase her. Ghost takes the advise and proceeds to attack in typical Ghost fashion. Cypher does a facepalm. She continues to circle around them and gets them to follow her, slowly she takes them apart.
Once destroyed she brings parts of them into the base, Socrates immediately warns Ghost to move these parts to the prison. Ghost complies. Cypher scans the areas and the cyberspace in their vicinity to hopefully remove any signals they have left behind.
==============================================
Sharpe stretches her wings
Sharpe learns of some new tech coming into a base outside of Millennium City. She recruits Cypher and Sandcrab (My Hero) to join her in finding out what is going on. We agree to go along.
Arriving we discover a typical base of operations. Sandcrab opens the fight by entangling several of the guards and trucks. They respond by yelling "Arm the Security Bots". cypher senses them and thinks, <Aww they're so cute!>
We go on the offensive, I send out John & Christine to scout the area... <already Lindsay's involvement is missed>. Green joins me and eventually we head off to the gate. Sharpe joins us at the gate and observes the scene.
Sandcrab tries to throw one of the new bots into the other, Cypher complains about his new acquisitions being damaged. I send Stevie off to wreak havoc on the soldiers, her first attempt is dismal. I deactivate the flight capability of the bot. I succeed and cause it to fall into the sand. Sharpe jumps to the top of the gate, causing the gate to lean dangerously to one side making it creak ominously. She then jumps at the Security bot and lands on the bot doing some damage and driving it down into the ground as well.
==============================================
Jamie Richards receives an email from Perry Greenwood, "A review of your performance has been instigated, a Meeting at 10 am has been scheduled. failure to appear means you are relinquishing your position!"
What is happening here?
Relative Justice
The story quickly unfolds.
Our assembled heroes really tie in to the Destroids and the Black Talons, disabling them fairly quickly. We find they are particularly susceptible to electrical attacks. (Note to self, readjust Stevie's Blast to be electrical) Max blows one of the Destroids apart with an Electrical Arc, seeing the effect, Li'l Rocket fires off an electric charge at a second one, splattering it as well.
Dragon Lady bravely goes and faces a BT, she knocks it around a bit, damaging its internal systems, and likely the man controlling it.
We have the scene in control in short order, Socrates comes over our comm's saying that the News reporting are trying to blame us for the attack on the gas station, but we know better. not that its helped us much to this point.
Wildthing roared into the scene earlier as well, nice to see her back in the action. Is it my imagination or is she less growly these days? maybe those lozenges are helping after all!
I send John & Christine looking for random news footage bots that might be in the area. We find none, and I suspect the footage was uploaded while we were starting the battle, then modified. I have our own footage that I can use to show the "truth" of our actions. Perhaps this will indeed become a battle of the media!
As the team begins to gather around me, Wildthing asks if I'm sponsoring Dragon lady, I explain that we just met but this video feed shows some of the exploits she has taken against destroyer in her Native country. I also hand Wildthing a lozenge, for old times sake...
We make plans to gather together away from the base, inviting the dragon lady to join us.
Just as we are picking our location, Lindsay reports in that he's enroute with the cloaked men. I bring John & Christine back in and have them tail the signal so we can search for where Lindsay and this other group are holing up.
Then things go awry, and we lose the signal. I connect with Sandcrab and tell him we've got to get beyond the conceptual level of our Camera system now! Maybe max or some of the other science guys can help us put this together quickly?
And Justice for all (Part 1)
So there we are, feet to the fires again.
We head off to deal with yet another of Destroyers minions causing grief to Millenium City's citizens. And they still cheer him on? How sad...
We land in the vicinity of the attack - there are 6 people with flamethrowers lighting up the gas station. They must be protected but how bright is that? They have 2 Black Talon agents as guards. Methinks there is more here than meets the eye. I have my loyal robot army around me and we look at the scene.
L'il Rocket heads into the building to rescue the people that Ghost overheard the police officer complaining about to his superiors.
Sandcrab (My Hero) buries several of the fiery areas in dirt, effectively putting them out. I send out the Fleetwoods to spy the area. Lindsay finds a neat object almost right away, a van with a satellite dish on top, very interesting, when you get a chance Linz go see what's inside this vehicle. John heads over to the Talons to see what's up there. Takes all his energy to get close to them, perhaps i need to upgrade them a bit! Christine is just hanging around me, that's odd, she always seems to want to explore, how peculiar. Green is the slowest of my latest creations, I need to do some work on him, bring him uptown speed so to speak. I giggle to myself at that thought. I need time off... I decide I'll delay doing anything until he comes near me then I'll TP down to be closer to the action... I can't believe I want to be closer to the action... what's wrong with me?
As I'm waiting for Green to activate, I hear someone land on the roof beside me, I think 'Great WildThing did make it to this adventure after all, strange she usually growls... maybe she's losing her edge?' I look over and see an oriental woman in strange garb, "Uhhh hi(?) friend or foe?" I ask her, in broken English she says "Those are Destroyers minions and an enemy of the chinese peoples, therefore they are my enemy!" Christine doesn't like this new addition and buzzes around her threateningly (Like that means anything? perhaps they do need some type of attack form? well - maybe...) "I am Dragon Lady" the stranger adds, almost as an afterthought. "I'm Cypher, of the New champions, what kinda abilities do you bring to the battle?"
She replies, "I am well versed in 4 chinese fighting techniques" I say back, "Stay away from the big Black robot things, they are very tough to fight, You may have better luck against the smaller flame throwing group" She thanks me. Green activates and moves towards me. "We're going in for a closer look" I say as green comes up beside me, he activates his defensive matrix and we teleport closer to John.
The BT's attack Ghost with NND cannisters which she ignores and she goes flying down to take one out, but doesn't she rocks it, but it doesn't fall down. Cypher thinks, 'oh dear these things are getting upgrades!'
I attempt to take control of the Black Talon but am unsuccessful. Dragon Lady glows with mystical energy.
Max entangles the area, catching a Destroid that just appeared, a BT and a flame thrower. John goes to investigate further, Lindsay goes and enters the pocket of an unconscious cloaked man.
4 Destroids have entered the battle, one goes and attacks Sandcrab but does minimal damage, it HAS successfully acquired Sandcrab's attention!
Cell's may come and Cell's may go...
Extensions happen
So, the heroes get called out to deal with another round of Destroyer and his goons attacking the Resistance Forces. We're obviously making a difference.
This could turn bad for us really quickly.
I wonder if its occurred to DD to try and put a Mole in our team? Hmmm, we will need to keep ourselves wary of this possibility!
They had upgraded their Black Talon Units?? Oh I sure hope they bring me some new tech to play with!
Speaking of, Cypher opens COMM's "Did you by chance bring any of that new tech back for me to play with...?"
There'll be a hot time, in the old town tonight!
Ending June 6, 2021
The desperation in his voice is what really spurred Alex to join this particular battle, Runeforce had family, and although Alex didn't know any of them, he knew he couldn't sit on the sidelines and watch what Destroyer did next. Cypher teleports in beside Runeforce in the Ready-Room "Got room for one more maniac?" He looks at Runeforce...
They teleport to within a few feet of the compound that Gigaton and his goons are attacking. Well actually, it appears to be a band of agents with Souped-up gear. But they are being particularly vicious. Taking no prisoners it seems. Just what we need, Viper without restraints. Obviously Doc Dee really doesn't care about the welfare of his citizens! Tyrant!!
I send the Fleetwoods in to give me an overview of what's going on inside, Sandcrab (my hero) is burying the flying agents in dirt, but its really not holding them down much. Their equipment is helping them get out fairly quickly. We need to develop some tactics for dealing with these guys as a team... If we ever get back to the danger room we should work on some codes!
Wait there are drones in here? Four of them in fact, I wonder when they appeared and if they are leading the assault at all. Lets just take them out of the action shall we... I commandeer one of the drones and then another - in a last ditch attempt I attack the last two drones removing any intel they might be providing. But alas, the Destroids are appearing, two of them. These resistance fighters don't stand a chance against them at all. I switch my attention to the Destroids. The one appearing is getting lots of data from a satellite? Hmmm, lets cut off its ability to receive information so it won't just targets any of the humans in here.
Oh, oh. Tricky programming! Looking for solutions to my disabling activities... That Doc Dee is quite clever... Lets see... How can I... BLAM BLAM I refocus my eyes on activity outside with me. Thanks Mr Green for providing that extra defensive matrix around me. Stevie, do you mind dealing with that goon?? Thanks
Now, back inside, Oh look Ghost is making short work of that other robot, ouch I feel its pain... Over COMM's I ask them not to disable this one as I hope to make other uses of it in the future. Then I start erasing its hard drive to remove any trace of the programming that causes it to be so aggressive! I think you'll make a lovely addition to my team Mick... You don't mind if I call you Mick do you?
We get the rescued Resistance Team to a safe location. I take the formatted Destroid to the site in-between places (The place between portals at our new holding facility), hoping it cannot receive any signals to reactivate its destructive tendencies...
... not a soul to be found
Okay, so I've been otherwise occupied for the past several weeks. Sometimes life interferes and you just get involved in other things... Seriously, can't I have a private moment???
I keep thinking about the possibilities of hanging out with Annie again, I don't want to admit it but Algorithm has really got me thinking along these lines
-------------
At any rate, I received a call to battle from Max and Sandcrab (my hero) so I had to come out for it! The story as far as I know is likely being blown out of proportion, seriously, a bunch of mysteries in Chinatown lead to several of my team mates encountering an ultra powerful Asian called "The Ancestor" (oohhh scary). Some old guy in a kimono? Oh sure, the news reported several deaths and devastation across Grand Rapids Michigan , but I don't generally believe what the propaganda machine puts out these days anyway...
So I meet them at the corner of Walk & Don't Walk in central Chinatown. First thing I notice is the team that has shown up, Maximum Resistance, Sandcrab, Ghost and L'il Rocket are already on scene. I deploy my Robot army to investigate the area. The Fleetwoods head over a couple block area and start sending me information about what they see, generally there are a bunch of glowing balls throughout the scene. Seven glowing spheres, of varied sizes, seems like nothing to me. But the team is freaking out, they say something about one of these spheres caused all the devastation, with seven of them here we could be in real trouble!!! even more curious is that there are no people in Chinatown at all, not a soul to be found.
The team starts attacking the spheres with abandon - Ghost even knocked herself out attacking one. They ask if I'm going to attack and I shrug. Thinking to myself, I'm going to wait for the real threat to show up. I notice through the Fleetwoods that there is an energy field appearing near the spheres, I comment to Max about them and he says its the minions of Destroyer coming! This I think is the real enemy!
When the Destroid appears I attempt to do a reprogramming on it, but the bug I planted takes time to form and the code inside these things is daunting! Sandcrab forms a tunnel under the robot and it falls into the hole, he then seals it in. I hope my debugging system will keep it away for good.
I have Stevie attack one of the Destroids as it materializes, using one of her little known powers "Wall Breaker". It does some serious damage to the robot. I'm impressed, but the rest of the team get on me for not taking out the sphere. So I aim my laser pistol and cut away a fair chunk of it "These things aren't that tough I comment" I get cold stares from the other members... Sheesh, no one has a sense of humour these days.
We continue bashing on the Spheres and the Destroids, L'il Rocket is taking out the Destroid with his super speed, actually dismantling the thing at amazing speed! He manages to disarm it (Literally) and then it goes up and grabs the sphere and self destructs! Two for the price of one! By this time we've contained 2 Destroids and 4 spheres. Then suddenly the big guy himself shows up, Doc D in the flesh - maybe these spheres are a more serious threat than I guessed... I figure its time to split so communicate to the Army to disengage and take off!!
I grab Green and teleport away, before she flies off Christine and Stevie both see Doc D destroy spheres with one shot each. We can't fight him yet, we need lots more going for us before then!
Those who run away today, live to run away another day!
In the Depth’s of Space…
Stardate 2021:07:28
Their journey was nearing its end, just one more cycle through this young star system and they would be back home. Xertath assured his young crew that even though exceptions happen, their travels through this quadrant would provide them with enough Solar Flare energy to make it home and back to their clusters!
As the ship passed through the space between the third planet and its moon, hopefully to gather some slingshot momentum towards the sun, a sudden portal pushed them into the atmosphere out of their planned course.
The ship careened through the air, its stabilizers widely out of whack as it hit a tip of a mountain then continued on its journey and finally landing beside the Greenland Outpost station.
It took only moments for the crew to assess the situation and confirm that none were injured beyond repair. But several of their quasar engines had been damaged in the process. It took a little longer for this inexperienced crew to get back in motion. Xertath was pleased that even though they were slow to their tasks the crew persisted and got to working.
Zaranidose volunteered to inspect the hull of the ship. She donned the protective force field and stepped outside. Immediately she returned within the ship - sir - this device is not working properly she sent out hills thoughts along their collective hive mind. The temperature outside is well beyond this units ability to work normally. I will doubly enforce the field around a marmot and send it to survey the hull. Xertath admired her determination, Zara programmed the creature surrounded it in its energy field doubled over and set it to research the hull. She’s watched its progress and after several time cycles it completed its job.
Meanwhile, the rest of the engineering crew looked woefully at the damaged engines.
Their mind link began to rumble and the Qualith looked at Xerath questioningly. He pointed to the screen and it projected imagery of approaching life forms and machinery.
Xertath used their advanced communication console to tap into the internet to gather more information about this planet they’d stumbled upon. Interesting to note that Malvan’s had been here in the past. Earth it was called he announced to his crew. They have some simple technology here but do not seem to use the collective as any part of their history. Savages…. What passed for laughter rang through the crew easing their fears.
A few cycles later, Xertath caught glimpses of the Xplore plane as it drew to the far side of the mountain. <xerxes> tech here on Earth? How peculiar, we will have to notify command of this upon our return.
His sensors picked up the rush of beings as they exit the ship and begin their trip around the mountain. Interesting he feeds the collective, these new arrivals are not coming directly at us and do not appear to be working with these others that have been assessing our vehicle.
The New Champions do their work and even bring on the newest member L’il Rocket and together they find an access port to the ship. Communications begin and several of these fleshlings have some advanced technology of their own. And even learn how to try to communicate with the Qualith. Perhaps they are known to the <xerxes> after all - perhaps they will help us find our needed supplies to repair the ship!
——————————
The New Champions do indeed help the Qualith to complete repairs and in hours manage to get them airborne again.
Just as the ship heads back out to its faltered trajectory point, Zara encompasses a marmot in 4 fields and feeds it out an airlock for it to free fall into Earth’s atmosphere. I will use the marmot’s telemetry to return to this planet she thinks to herself.
———————————
The marmot falls through the atmosphere protected by its force field generators pushed along the eddying wind currents to an unfamiliar location. The object lands on the rooftop of a building in midtown Millenium City, a young girl playing on the rooftop finds the marmot, somehow free of its forcefields and with joy claims it as her own. She brings it down into her home and shows it to her Mom & Dad, they look the furry thing over and Dad says “Honey it looks just like a Tribble from Star Trek!”
<to be continued>
Doused
So there we were... Prisoners rescued, brought back into the "Space Between Worlds", Socrates asks me to re-open the portal and as I prepare to do so we hear...
"Surrender or Die" Spoken from a large Armoured Individual. <Sounds a little amusing coming across as a digital voice, but I digress>.
So of course not wanting to die, we all surrendered...
Ok - not quite... That was just the front cover...
Wildthing jumps forward and growls something, seriously that girl needs a throat lozenge. The effect vs the bad guys is... negligible. Stevie however is totally impressed and doesn't do anything on his turn. Really Stevie?? <Bebop-boop-dingle> <Oh - you were suitably impressed by the lion mane? - ok fair enough> Everyone else only hears the static.
Ghost comes in and attacks, hitting a dampener that I hadn't even noticed before... I wonder what that does?
I reach out telepathically and it says "#$@&&*!(" <Whoa there little fella, Language !! We're gonna have to give you a Fundamental Attitude Readjustment Talk>
Faust surrounds the group of villains in darkness (vs Sight) Stevie curses at him but it comes out as static.
The Mutant Hunter villain runs out of the darkness, trailed by what we learn is a dampener. Sandcrab grabs the dampener and tries to crush it, but it is tough. Nemesis helps by attacking the widget and cuts it in half.
The Mutant Hunter attacks Faust, but Faust blocks.
The team starts working together to take down the armoured agents. The Hunter goes down at Ghosts hands, Faust activates and grabs and throws the Hunter far away. Cypher grabs Julie's unconscious body and teleports away with her. I send John & Lindsay to keep an eye on the downed agents.
Sandcrab uses one of the dampeners as a battering ram against the other one destroying it!
Wildthing cuts the remaining cyber-soldiers gun in half, telling him to surrender. Cypher asks Sandcrab not to destroy the remaining dampener, he agrees if I can get to it quickly.
I take the remaining device and transform it into a friendly target.
The soldier eventually gives in to us.
There is some drama going on over by the room that appeared in the hallway. I look for and retrieve a couple hard drives from the system to look at in the future.
We reconnect the gate, Socrates & I. And when everyone comes through - we are in the reworked Demon Lair.
Cypher is pleased with his new acquisition. The L'il Robot Army is growing!
Nope, just a fire, no proverb to it at all
As last reported...
<I had a conversation with the computer unit controlling this doorway and I asked for it to not allow anyone else to access it to go through, it agreed> Cypher thinks a bit more <I sense that going through the portal takes longer than expected, is it possible a female prisoner hasn't made it all the way through yet? Unit 7265-431 replies that she hasn't emerged from the other end yet, {grinning to myself I ask unit 7265-431} to deny her access and return her to the dimensional gap, He agrees>.
Now the fun begins...
A full assault is under way as Cursed and Fire-Fighter attack Blue Wave. The rest of the team springs into action to defend our new comrade, good thing he can take a hit or two.
I shout out that "She's coming back!! To warn the others that ISackIran will be returning." Not really sure they hear me over the battle sounds. Stevie takes a shot at Cursed that makes him quite wobbly.
Windwalker and Faust are also attacking them, Ghost springs into action using her patented multiple attack. The two are knocked down, Cursed looks like he's down for the count but FF is only dazed. Then suddenly, the green skinned beauty is back and ranting...
How can she know where she is when she's still blind?? I think she's bluffing, She senses both Cursed and Fire-Fighter are nearby (maybe she smells the charred skin or something?) and begins to crawl towards them. Suddenly Faust flies at her full tilt hits her full force and knocks her back about 50 feet (he also goes along for the ride). That barely gives her pause! Maybe bringing her back here wasn't so wise a move after all?
I try to drain her defensive abilities to make her easier to hit, but instead of it working it seems to feed her - she smiles... Ghost tells me to stop healing her, I mumble something under my breath, "Well you do something then!"
Ghost whether acting on my directions or not goes in and pummels her twice, successfully knocking her out.
As we are catching our collective breath, I can hear Socrates' voice coming through the controlled robots voicebox. "Cypher can you close off the exit from this place?"
At least All the heroes and some new supers are present, Sandcrab being the last of our team to come through from the prison side.
We turn to face this new threat looming at us...
... into the Proverbial fire...
Sandcrab (my hero) goes through the portal where Lindsay just showed us a bunch of swaying robots...
I grab my entourage (the band) and we head through the portal to follow Sandcrab. I notice that he's created a hole, and not wanting to fall into it, I move off to the side. The robots do not react to us at all.
As more of the team come through the portal the robots start to... for lack of a better word become antsy. One actually reacts to Blue Wave and makes to attack him. Blue Wave backs off and the robot relaxes. Not wanting to risk it coming at us again, I mind control it and send it to attack one of the other robo's.
Sandcrab, Wildthing and then Nemesis head through the opposite portal, and we lose connection to them.
Ghost starts to attack the other robots and they respond in kind. I ask her not to hit the one I'm currently controlling as I have a future use for it. She agrees.
An unknown female comes through the Portal our heroes went into and after trying to trick her she makes to go into "Our world" so I flash her. She, understandably gets upset with me, but manages to jump through the other portal anyway. Blue Wave tries to talk to her but she denies the name he calls her (Julie) and claims to be ISackIran. I may not have that name right...
After she goes though the portal, Windwalker, says "Shit, that was Istvatha, the conqueror of dimensions..." I look at her puzzled...
Two more people come through the portal and they really get Blue Wave ranting, looks like we have a fight starting.
I look into the portals to see if they are controlled by computers, and Bless me to pieces, they are. I have a quick conversation with the one heading to home and ask it to instead bump people back into this space instead of following its programming. It agrees to do as I ask! I thank it!
<Side note to GM (Runeforce)- Before creating the bumper, can I send through Stevie back to home with two tasks? One to try and stop ISackIran and the other to make contact with Socrates about this portal and maybe we can hijack it?>
... the Frying Pan is larger than expected...
Ok, we've found the place where Adam was being taken to. before his untimely demise.
We've dealt with a number of escaping mutants and entered the facility proper.
With help from the Fleetwoods, I've disabled the majority of cameras on the main floor. We enter cautiously, Windwalker is beside me, Nemesis has gone in and disappeared I think I can hear her rummaging around upstairs. Ghost is flying in behind me. Her Ghostly movements creep me out a little, she seems... familiar and alien at the same time. She only responds to situations, not taking active actions unless someone else does ahead of time. <Shakes his head, Psychology is such a soft science, I prefer computer tech stuff. So thinking, his musings on Ghost fade away.>
"All cameras on this level are disconnected," Cypher intones over the headsets to the team. Just as he says this a large figure comes around the corner down from us, Windwalker approaches him. Cypher's eyes go wide inside his helm <teenagers... they'll be the death of me yet!> Windwalker wanders up to the large man towering above her tiny form. In preparation for everything to hit the fan, Cypher sends Stevie into the zone circling the large man to act as a distraction if need be.
She starts making small talk with him, and we watch as he physically relaxes and responds to her light conversation, he becomes agitated as he notices and reacts towards Stevie's presence. I get Stevie to back off another 6m or so, to hopefully not antagonize this fellow. Faust joins us on the main level and starts talking with the big guy, WildThing also joins in the conversation. His name is Reggie, and he's been here a long time. Maybe as long as 6 years... that can't be too good.
Surprisingly, the giant responds to the girl favorably <maybe there is some depth to this psychology stuff- nah> and he tells us more about himself, and demonstrates his power. Blue Wave he calls himself, and he has some impressive water based abilities.
This seems to be well in hand, Sandcrab (my hero) communicates telling us what he's found in the basement including a portal that leads elsewhere...
He says he needs me to take a look at the setup. I agree but tell him to give me a minute as I want to check the server room.
I go up and start looking through the system, it has a fantastic firewall that gives me tons of difficulty accessing the files. I just break through into the data files and find algorithm has arrived here as well - <Stop following on my coattails I tell him, he says - Your too close to learning more than me - and shuts the entire system down> Really??? I relay to the team that Algorithm has shown up and has shut down some of the systems. It will take more time to get things reconfigured.
Sandcrab tells me that the "Portal" in the basement is still functioning. I gather the other heroes and we all head towards the basement to see what's there.
I ask Christine if she's willing to head through the portal and to record what she finds on the other side and return within a few seconds. Also to avoid any pitfalls if she can.
She does, I lose contact with her as she heads through the portal, too late I think of trying to connect with her through cyberspace, and she's back.
I show the footage she recorded while away to the assembled team. We get ready to head through the portal, I tell Blue Wave he is welcome to join us in this expedition if he wants to. He agrees to come with us...
Next time ... Into the fire
Out of the Frying Pan... (Part the second?)
So, at the last session I'm calmly trying to follow Nemesis up the pathway and in through the doors, when this ugly creature made of Mud and <ugh - what's that smell?? dog poop? yuck>. It tries to hit me but I dive out of the way landing prone on the ground.
As I scramble to my feet I'm hit with a red energy beam and get dragged towards the Bell Tower <For whom the bell tolls? Maybe its just me?> I suddenly notice that Faust is in the same boat also being dragged towards this location.
Suddenly a claw grabs hold of me and I try to figure out if that mutation has grabbed me with some new gross body part! To my relief its Sandcrab - he must have tunnelled up through the ground, "My Hero" - I'm starting to feel like a damsel in distress! He tries to drag me free of the Tractor Beam (tm) but only ends up pulling my leg. I think this beam is making me drowsy cause I'm not able to think clearly - or even call out cause, you know - That hurts!!!
Sandcrab realises that this tug-o-war might literally pull me apart. So instead he wraps several of his limbs around me to protect me and then Leaps a great distance. We float though the air for what seems like minutes but was likely only a few seconds. He leaps back to help the others.
I get up groggily and gather my bearings. Reaching out with my mind I find Christine, she shows me more of those mutants attacking the mercenaries. Our team deals with them quickly, saving the mercy from what otherwise would be a grisly end!
Are these mutants being controlled? Really, though where did they come from? The Asylum?
There is much more to learn now...
<to be continued...>
Asylum
Preamble:
Cypher is working away at Homestead fine tuning the abilities he's given to the Fleetwoods. With them able to record and stream information he can now share with the rest of the team more readily!
Learning back a satisfied grin crosses his face.
A Dark-web alert comes to him through Maximum resistance, "Cypher, we could use some help with a prisoner we've recently captured, he has some... technology issues I think you can help with,"
Interesting, he thinks to himself, he dials into the Dark-web "Hi Max, what are you coordinates and can you give me a run down of the sich?" Max does.
Cypher goes to Runeforce and asks him to open a portal close to where the rest of the team had gone.
Looking over the captured mercenaries, he frowns at their equipment, thinking its just so mundane. Although the CaptureFoam(tm) bazooka looks interesting...
His senses are drawn to the animated nanites within the powerful mutant. "Hello my diminutive friends, what are we up to today hmmm?" He telepathically sends to the tiny robots. ╟Unit responding - following protocols given ╢
"well my little friend, please tell me which protocols are in effect?" ╟Unit responding- after remote instructions given non compliance results in system shutdown, after second non compliance more systems are shut down until compliance begins╢
Thinking to himself "That's horrible, we need to change this" He telepathically talks to the Nanites again, this time instigating his Alter records ability to change the programming given. He changes a few using this method, but realizes there are too many nanites to reprogram quickly.
He looks over at Max and says, "This is going to take awhile, I have a new subsystem I've been toying with which should solve the problem but it will take upwards of 5 minutes."
Before going further, he looks up at the circling "Bird" Drones and connects to their feed line to the NextHuman operatives. he feeds a steady repeat loop to their cameras which he's hoping they won't catch onto very quickly.
After getting the go-ahead, he begins the transform which will affect all the nanites at once. Telepathically he says, "Change order coming in, prepare for new interface."
╟Unit responding - Affirmative, noting changes, acquiesce.╢
Once the new programming has taken effect, Cypher tells the nanites "Please depart from host, your assistance is no longer required here." ╟Unit responding - Acquiesce╢
Noting the canal catheter, he finds a syringe from the first aid kit , and withdraws the nanites into the syringe. Remotely closing the WIFI connection, "Patient is ready for transport" He says to Max & Runeforce. Handing the syringe to them "Keep this in a safe place away from patient for further review"
"It it's alright with you guys," Cypher continues, "I'm going to go with the rest of the team to see what these NextHuman animals are really up to!"
We make our way to The Asylum.
Funny thing that, isn't an asylum supposed to be a safe place? who would ever use such a place to create monsters??
As we approach the area, we come up with a plan for Nemesis to look like our wayward Mutant and to carry Faust (Apparently unconscious) into the facility.
But... something else is happening. The earth trembles, actually shaking <Peculiar>, I think to myself <are earthquakes common for Michigan? reaching out with my senses I do a quick google search. <Nope, only 4 since 1973 - long before my time!>
I start to say something to the group but then the poop hits the fan <Ok, it was more like dirt & mud but you get the idea! > Faust & Nemesis are covered, but they keep going, no wait Faust leaves the girls arms then blindly charges at another humanoid creature, an earth controller of some type!
I send the Fleetwoods (John, Lindsay and Christine <she's so sassy>) out to give me an overview of the area. They report lots of conflict between more mercenaries and more mutants. Hey there are some office people leaving too, wonder if we should question them...
Stevie stays near me (thankfully) and blasts away at a mutant or two. Rather than staying on my own I teleport up to where Nemesis is, but she continues on blindly without me! I'm about to complain when another mutant comes bursting out of the ground preparing to attack me. I dive for cover to get away from it. Succeeding I land prone roughly 2 meters away.
Panic is setting in, <I'm not a hand to hand type of guy, I need a plan... and not just duck and run> <Although that might work too...>
To be continued...
♫♬ I FEEL THE EARTH – MOVE, UNDER MY FEET ♩♪
Eons have passed, time is but a memory. The cold of ice that separated us from one another has receded into the distant past.
We play together, the few us that remain awake, it is a boring game of Rock, Rock & Rock (Having no clue of what either scissors or paper are). But still its something to do.
Then they came, pouring into the area by the hundreds, nay thousands, dare I say it gazillions?? Or it could have been just one continually coming back to annoy us and delve further into our mountain. At any rate, it hated us and attacked on sight, we felt the same way and responded in kind.
We have fought these creatures non stop for… well I suppose its not that long in terms of rock ages, but still they come!
Now there are more and different creatures, softer and yet harder at the same time, they shall fail to conquer us too!
The earth endures…
Out of the Frying Pan
So, here we are, waiting outside the doors to an underground base. There are apparently no cameras that I can access to see what's going on inside. I hate not knowing what's going on in there!! How dare they find ways to circumvent my innocuous observances!
While we try to figure out how we are going to proceed, WildThing listens at the door and (man she can sure use a lozenge) expresses that there are about 20 distinct heartbeats she can hear inside. I can't override the door because these systems are highly encrypted, they are obviously up to No Good (tm).
Sandcrab (my hero) tunnels through the wall into the next room, the rest of us follow through, We find 2 guard types and 2 nerdy types. We focus on attacking the guard types. Stevie zaps one of them into unconsciousness (or close to it). They are highly well equipped with force field belts and laser rifles! Course there are 5 heroes here so they don't stand much of a chance! WildThing uses a wind blast to force the agents into a corner, Sandcrab grabs a steel reinforced table and goes all WWE on the guards...
I turn to the nerds and try to intimidate them, unsuccessfully. They wouldn't give up any information about the tech security and refuse to hand over their fobs... Of all the nerve! Nerds, I guess I can't intimidate my own people! We let them go as we continue further into the base.
Maximum Resistance grabs one of the helmets from the unconscious guard to see if he can utilize some of its special abilities. At one point I grab the helmet from one of the guards and extend my senses into it, and suddenly I find the coolest thing, I've literally entered CYBERSPACE!!! There are tons of pathways in front of me, and I'm seriously tempted to follow them, cause this is SO COOL!! But I remember the other fleshlings and head back to my body.
We tunnel further into the building where we find a Doctor, a technician and 2 people unconscious on beds. The people on the beds are displaying some kind of infection from the boiling metal, supposedly from the ship above.
WindWalker attacks the technician while Max talks to the Doctor. The techie starts screaming that he's lost his arm and is flopping on the ground like a fish.
We weld the doors to other areas shut with Sandcrab & Stevie's attacks, then we head up the stairs...
Opening a door, we are met by a Burly, official looking man (who also is unintimidated by us - startling in its own right) who says "Well…it took you long enough to get here.”
American Courage
The strangest things have been happening in and around Millennium City these days.
Take for instance this cargo ship "American Courage", it pulls into port early and has some type of leak or something that causes the water around to start boiling. Not only that, any living creatures approaching the boiling water get turned into molten metal. You heard right! Molten Metal - right there in the water!
Anyways, of course we have to investigate, is this a new supervillain threat? Is it something completely different (And I don't mean another Monty Python Sketch).
So the team goes to investigate, Maximum Resistance, WildThing, Sandcrab, Windwalker and me (Cypher). From tech I've taken from some of the other adventures we've had, I create some additions to my L'il Robot Army. Namely... (Grand entrance music) Fleetwood, a trio of minuscule robots only 2" tall with advanced surveillance capabilities. Christine, John & Lindsay are their code names. Christine goes to investigate the Cargo Ship, its been armed with Advanced Cannons, similar to those that were on site at Detective Noisewater's prison camp. Christine has no way to get down into the guts of the ship to see if there is some supervillain hiding out there.
Several times, Cypher offers WildThing some cough drops as her throat must be sore, it sounds so rough...
The Cargo ship seems like an obvious target and so we suspect it may be a trap, there are several people wearing protective aquatic suits taking readings within the water itself. We leave Christine to keep an eye on the boat.
We think about going onto the ship to see what's really going on but reconsider as we seek more intel about what exactly is going on here.
John finds us another cryptic scene to explore on the North side of the island. Here we find a lone guard apparently minding a couple crates of drill bits... How peculiar. He is however, wearing very high tech gear. A force field security belt and a sophisticated helmet with high tech defensive baffles that are difficult to break down. Cypher studies this helmet and wonders what its weaknesses are.
Maximum Resistance uses his High Range Radio skills to discover there are other secretive communications being relayed through the helmet. Something about tunnels being formed towards the boiling water and cargo ship.
Sandcrab spots a power generator with lines being fed down into the ground, he investigates and leads us to an underground complex where we pause to take our next steps!
What about Lindsay??? Good question...
A walk in the Park Session report
Hart Park Rendezvous
After the events of Viper terrorizing and murdering several passengers on a plane. We had encountered a new hero, a masked man wearing a suit. But exhibiting many powers.
In an attempt to locate this new hero and see if he would be interested in joining us in our New Champions team, Socrates and Runeforce decipher a message we believe is from this new fellow. Following the coordinates, we end up at Hart Park, on the outskirts of Millennium City.
At first, all is normal, we wander around hoping for something to happen. But nothing does.
Maximum Resistance goes over and reveals himself as a Super, that's when life gets interesting!
Suddenly Orion, leader of the Ultimates, comes comes on the scene.
Max, Sandcrab, WildThing & I (Cypher) are taken a little aback. This is not what we were expecting at all!
Orion threatens Max, Sandcrab reveals himself. Causing Orion to doubt. WildThing had leaped into the trees to hide. Then Binder comes out of the building to the North, blasting into the air. Sandcrab subdues him within seconds, Orion is blinded by Max then entangled as well.
Finally Blackstar shows up.
Stevie had been flying around, and zaps at Binder who is encased in earth, protecting him from Stevie's attack.
during most of this incident, Cypher had been in normal guise. He shooed some others to safety before stopping to get into Hero ID. The nanites had just finished forming around him when things changed...
With no sign of our hoped for hero, we decide to disengage and get away from these Villains.
Cypher teleports to safety, WildThing leaps away, Sandcrab ventures underground, Stevie flies over to Maximum resistance and just before Binder gets a successful shot at them, teleports himself and Stevie to safety.
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A NEW message goes out over the Emergency Channel: "Blue Forcefield Villain, Armored Digger, Drone Fighter." (There might have been some giggling, but maybe not.) "We will find you, and when we meet again, there will be a reckoning."
"And you, Beastwoman...you just keep hiding. It will keep you safer longer, but will only delay the inevitable."
"The ULTIMATES will defeat you next time you show yourselves in Millennium City. You will beg for the Vanishing before we are done with you."
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Challenge accepted...
You have breached all his walls; you have laid his stronghold in ruins
On the job training they call it. Learn from the past, they said. You’ll be so much further ahead if you can learn from the mistakes of others, they said... Balderdash, Alex thought to himself as he and the 10 other new recruits to <insert agency name> wandered through the remains of what used to be Stronghold.
He nodded sagely as the instructor showed them the cells of once powerful Villains, gave some background information that he’d learned in high school. More of Destroyers propaganda but everyone had to tow the line. As the tour progressed he started to tune out the presenter. When bored, his mind would wander...
At one point in the tour they were shown some of the robots that used to work with the human guards. Most of the robots had been torn asunder after the Vanishing, when Destroyers goon squad took over. We were shown a mashup of metal bodies that had been placed behind glass. As the rest of the group moved away, Alex put his hand on the glass and said, “I’m so sorry my friends, that you have been dishonored this way.” As he started to move away he saw a flash of a red light. Looking closer, he saw one of the smaller robots had come to life, briefly, he looked at the others ahead of him, but they were almost out of this section.
He looked again at the little robot and thought, “if you come to me, I will restore you”. He waited but nothing happened.
He left the section and rushed to catch up with the group.
He didn’t mention anything to his comrades.
He woke up late the next day, and so he quickly showered and ran to the office. He hadn’t even bothered to listen to the radio on the way in.
Byron met him at the opening to the cubicles and motioned him over to the water coolers. “Did you hear about Stronghold? Something broke out last night! And we were just there yesterday!!
Shocked, Alex says, “What?? Who broke out? That place has been empty for years...”
No one knows, or at least no ones saying, Byron said.
This was the day the headaches started.
