Where the Traffic Leads - Part 2

General Summary

The New Champions are in the middle of a battle with an unidentified crazed mutant and a slew of armored mercenaries with energy blasters. After the crazed mutant obliterated (err, atomized) the teenager being held hostage, most of the team went into immediate action to take him down while Maximum Resistance and Windwalker handled the remaining mercenaries. Noticing that the rollercoaster supports were faltering, Wildthing made efforts to move the unconscious and blinded/deafened mercenaries to safety. The crazed mutant seemed to be inadvertently hurting the mercenaries in his over-powered attempts at thwarting the heroes. Powerful sonic waves were emanating from him in all directions, reverberating through the human mercenaries with devastating effect. They cowered as his reverberations burst capillaries and rocked them to the ground. But Ghost and Nemesis were a match for the mutant dressed in an orange prisoner's jumpsuit with the emblazoned words "Prisoner 241". They landed several punches which knocked the mutant to the ground. Nemesis grabbed the mutant by the hands and forced him further into the ground...but he continued wrestling against her with all of his might. Meanwhile, previously knocked unconscious, Faust snapped back into action. He quickly moved toward the crazed mutant, deftly swiping by him and draining the life force from him (and also mimicking his powers). But the crazed mutant was unfazed. Nemesis, having the mutant's hands pinned behind him, squeezed his arms backward with the force of a stone golem...the pain was unbearable. The mutant's eyes glazed over as his face fell into the dirt. With the villainous threat subdued, Faust placed his hands on the reverberating mutant and drained him incessantly, ensuring that "Prisoner 241" would not awaken anytime soon, but also copying the mutant's powers for his own future use. Nemesis crushed the mutant further into the ground, embodying the entirety of her stone golem weight while remaining with her knee firmly pressed into his back. Wildthing led the effort of locking the mercenaries into the armored truck onsite -- the truck they must've had arrived in. She quickly noticed the vehicle's on-board GPS was locked-onto a location called 'NexHuman HQ". She messaged this information to the team and to Socrates, Sean Rogers, and Runeforce who were monitoring the situation back at Homestead. Earlier in the engagement, Wildthing had pointed out to the group that the birds flying overhead weren't actual birds, but were drones. Now, with the battle over, Max began looking at the electromagnetic spectrum around the birds and noticed that they were transmitting data. He also noticed that Prisoner 241 was both receiving and transmitting data (from inside his head) even while unconscious. Socrates spoke audibly with the team over their comm-devices, "The GPS coordinates shared with me by Wildthing with the reference to NexHuman HQ are, in fact, what appears to be an asylum. There is no reference of the corporation NexHuman having occupancy at this location." Socrates shares more information on NexHuman with the team, detailing their business structure, marketing material, and a recent commercial where their tagline reads, "Making human lives better with the next generation of science and technology. NexHuman!" The story continues on Wednesdays at 8PM central. A video of the session is available below: