X-Champions Issues

Issue #33 - Taking the Offensive Part 2

While Rodin and Sammy, with Lizard King and Nightcrawler, Spectrum flies through the skies of New York with Nightshade as they patrol.  It's nearly carefree as the only crime encountered is easily met, but as they move over the Bowery Spectrum spots a movement on the streets below, a multiple set of movements at once actually.  She sees it's Mover Shaker, several of his duplicates spread out, whom she's faced a couple times as they joined forces with other mutants against the Justice Squad.  She warns Nightshade, telepathically, and they open fire on the wanted villain.  She mind controls one of them to turn on his brethren while Nightshade pulls the life force out of one, growing visibly darker and stronger.

But rather than a struggle, the Mover Shakers surrender, many of them holding up white cloths as white flags, and one calling out o a bullhorn, "White flag, white flag, sent by Magneto."  She cautiously lands and speaks with the one with the bullhorn.  It's the first time she's really spoken with any of them, and finds at least this one to speak effeminately.  He explains that Magneto sent them to get her attention as Rodin and Sammy are in trouble.  Mover Shaker gives her enough information to ensure it's on the level, and then they ask after the Troll.  Spectrum replies, "The Troll is gone."  They ask what she means and she says she'll explain it to Magneto later, and she mutters that she's "still working out the stuff," as her mind struggles to deal with the strangeness of the nexus void.  

And they scatter, a momentary truce understood.  But as they teleport out, they do get a headache from Spectrum's radiant mental wave.  She then invites Nightshade to join her but he has some appointments that he has to keep, checking in on underworld contacts on some leads.  She wills herself forward at incredible speed, traveling to Detroit in mere minutes.

Once there, she begins mentally scanning for Sammy, the easiest mind among her peers to find, but instead "hears" a mental hollering, one quite distant, obviously from a normal person concentrating rather than a mentalist.  She focuses on it and finds it's Magneto.  Drawn to him, she meets with him as he sits inconspicuously on a bench in a park within sight of ABC Laboratories.  Magneto explains what is going on and apologizes that she has little choice but to look in on them, as he had a tracer on the Lizard King and Nightcrawler, then it disappeared in the basement.  He shows where the signal left off.  He asks where the Troll is, and she explains she cannot locate him; she isn't surprised or concerned given his tendency to travel extra-dimensionally and besides he may want to block his mind for privacy.  She says, "Eliot is taking some time off.  We've had a trying time recently." 

Magneto knows she's referring to the incident with the cloud over Sihn-tek, though he knows little more.  Still, he surmises a bit from what she's said and replies with a smirk, "So the Troll is humbled, eh Suzanne?"  She nods slightly and simply says cautiously "You could say that," in response.  Magneto goes on to say that he thinks it probably isn't important to discuss this with Eliot, but that regardless he's not going to hold anything said to Eliot against her or anyone else.  

With that she's off.  She decides to move at full steam ahead, and approaches the same side door that Laughton and company went in earlier.  She notes there are two guards, but these two have some light armor on and are not the typical house security.  She presses ahead and smashes through the glass window (which she finds to be much tougher than she anticipated, but it does yield), and, as she does, steamrolls the guards, knocking one of them completely out as his ribs are broken.  The other guard is dazed as shards of heavy glass strike him.

As Suzanne continues to the void, in the secret base, Sammy grabs a gun freed from one of the agents and fires a round but misses.  Nightcrawler begins a new maneuver as he adjusts to the base, moving Laughton around at dizzying speeds as he mini-teleports constantly.  Laughton braces himself and tries to hold his lunch in as he fiddles with the costume he's grabbed.  From the back, the two figures seen before, Nemesis with her bat and Genecide with his eerie presence move towards the door.  She prepares to ambush them as they come out.  While Nightcrawler continues keeping them from being hit, Laughton briefly blacks out.  The strange figure Genecide hits Sammy a couple times with a strange sort of "whammy", causing a strange chilling feeling as he realizes that he's feeling weaker.  Sammy hits Genecide using the gun, apparently slightly hurting him.  

During this time Spectrum reaches the void as she's flown rapidly by an ABC guard whose fired at her.  At this point Sammy is hit hard by two shots, hurting him but not putting him down.  Then the woman with the bat swings a mighty blow; Sammy leaps aside at the last minute as the bat makes a mighty crack in the air from the speed of its swing.  The Lizard King concentrates on Genecide, slicing into him.  He watches as Genecide's wound heals. The odd figure shouts at Lizard King, "I'm Genecide!  I'm gonna kill you all, friggin' mutants!"

As Suzanne passes through the void, Hamlet makes a careful study of the situation.  He analyzes the combatants and begins taking a stronger hand in directing the team.  Nonetheless, Nemesis smacks Sammy, sending him into the wall and knocking him out.  As he lay there, a couple Omega agents fire electrical stunning blasts at him, ensuring he won't get up anytime soon.  Other agents fire scattered electrical area blasts against Nightcrawler and Laughton, and Nightcrawler manages to leap in the right direction with Laughton's commentary.  But then Nemesis moves on Laughton with her bat; he manages to martial throw her, though she amazingly flips onto her feet.  The Lizard King makes another strike at Genecide, just nicking his coat buttons, while Genecide misses Lizard King.  Hamlet gets the suit on as Nightcrawler draws agent fire and Spectrum pops in. 

She immediately establishes mental contact with Laughton and Sammy.  She then, surmising the situation with Laughton's input, mentally strikes at Nemesis, telling her - while mind controlling her - that Spectrum's side provides better money and lawyers.  Nemesis is confused and holds back a moment, asking who Spectrum is, thinking she might know her.  Spectrum says they went to the same camp to which Nemesis asks, "Baseball camp?"  Of course Spectrum agrees.  She knowingly offers 3% of the white van take (see issue 23), piquing Nemesis' interest.  In order to not reveal much, Nemesis throws the bat as if at Spectrum but "misses", instead punching a hole so that retreat back to the void is possible.  She quickly recovers the bat as they whisper and mentally banter.

The battle rages with Lizard King and Genecide dodging each other's blows.  Hamlet throws his Browning to Spectrum as he has the suit on.  Nightcrawler then hits Genecide who starts looking decidedly woozy.  Laughton, taking advantage of Nightcrawler's quickness, throws him Sihn's recovery solution in the syringe and instructs him to help Sammy.  Sammy is quickly awake but he chooses to appear to be asleep so he can recover and surprise.  Two of the standing Omega agents hit Laughton but the suit holds up.  Then Hamlet begins turning Genecide to stone.  

Then Nemesis recovers from her spell and unexpectedly strikes at Laughton from the side while talking to Spectrum.  His quick mind catches the turn, though, and he throws her.  Again she flips to her feet.  But Genecide takes out Lizard King with another hit of his strange ability which basically saps the life of beings.  Nightcrawler, at Laughton's behest, uses the recovery drug and shortly Lizard King is back up.

Once again Nemesis strikes at Laughton, and again the pattern is repeated as he throws her and she lands on her feet.  Spectrum extends her mind link to Nightcrawler and Lizard King as the battle grows more intense and they need to work more closely together.  The mentalist then attempts to squeeze Nemesis' mind but to no avail as the strong-willed opponent resists her attempt.  Laughton finds that within the Omega suit he can actually fire off his ability to change items to stone, and beings changing Genecide.

Genecide, reeling from the fight with Lizard King and Laughton, senses the need for a strategic retreat as he witnesses both Lizard King and Sammy get back up, seemingly refreshed.  Laughton taunts him for his seemingly defeated boast of killign mutants but he simply yells back, "I said I hate, not that I'm stupid."  Laughton, with his towering intellect, is surprised and without thinking yells back, "What do you mean, EVERYBODY's stupid!"  Fortunately the rest of Laughton's team is too engaged to make anything out of his comment just then.

The agents fire another round of area energy blasts, bearing down on Spectrum as she barely stands and affecting Laughton as he, only a bit more together than Spectrum, struggles to keep going.  Sammy, healthy from the drugs and brief rest, grabs a nearby agent gun and shoots at Nemesis, following Laughton's lead as the great-minded detective tells the sharp-shooting Sammy where to fire.  Nemesis though is missed as she dodges his fire.  Nightcrawler attempts to disarm Nemesis but misses as she deftly moves the bat effortlessly away and begins spinning it in high motion, creating a whirling protective force as it moves faster than the eye can see.  Lizard King tears at an agent, barely touching him.

Spectrum then gets in a pivotal shot at Nemesis, the Mistress of Bat Fu, and dazes her as her mind reels from mental squeezing.  Lizard King again barely tags an agent.  Hamlet shoots at Nemesis but barely hits her, having no effect.  Sammy though fires a telling blow at the stunned Nemesis, knocking her out cold.  However, as that happens the bat flies uncontrolled from her hands and strikes Laughton, knocking the wind out of him (game mechanic note - he's down to 1 STUN) but he keeps going.  As they want to ensure she stays out, Sammy delivers the coup de grace, ensuring she'll stay dropped for some time.

Suddenly seemingly out of nowhere the nearly-human voice of DEXTER, the artificial intelligence Laughton previously encountered, booms throughout the space.  It asks all to stand down while it negotiates with Laughton, and all, including the invaders, do.  It offers the intruders a way out without harm.  Laughton scoffs at it - even as he studies Nemesis' bat - and insists there must be a better deal than that.  He presses for electronic files, even if they are no evidence, regarding ABC's experiments.  DEXTER relents, offering up research 6 months old and older, knowing that only the most recent cutting edge material really requires hiding.  The artificial intelligence recognizes that the Justice Squad and mutant freedom fighters will cause damage and wreak havoc even though it expresses certainty that they would be apprehended.  A DVD of information is shortly brought by a compliant agent to Laughton.  As this goes on, Laughton lays the bat down by Nemesis, having determined that its qualities are nothing so special in their own right and it is her skill and knowledge of it that makes it a weapon.  DEXTER tells Laughton, "Your friend, Eliot Sihn, will enjoy this file."

Before they leave, Sammy lays a note down by Nemesis, recommending she coach a local baseball team, indicating he'd help.  Laughton warns DEXTER "We'll be back if our terms were not fulfilled on this DVD," as he cannot read it until he leaves.  As Magneto's crew leave, Genecide is heard hollering "NOOOOOOOO" repeatedly and can be heard hammering at the door to the entry room which DEXTER keeps shut.  Laughton hollers back at Genecide, "No solicitors!"  The mutant-hating Genecide cannot accept that these invaders will leave unharmed.

The ABC/Omega guards on the other side of the void, which the supers exit through, are scowling as well, clearly disappointed.  Spectrum looks at the one who appears in charge and hands him a $5 bill as recompense.  He spits on it.  

They head back to Laughton Agency after briefly speaking with Magneto on the cell phone, agreeing to rendezvous there.  As he hangs up the phone, Laughton arches an eyebrow; the voice on a phone is very, very familiar.  Suddenly it comes back to him as his mind leaps back a year - Magneto's voice was only briefly heard distantly in the background at Maddy Hayes' place when she called Laughton once (see issue 9)!  Back at the office, Laughton takes off his suit - the crew had previously analyzed an Omega suit and DEXTER knew that, letting Hamlet take it.  Spectrum calls Nightshade to check in with him.

Shortly Magneto shows up and holds court in his makeshift office.  Sammy looks glum, disappointed at not further infiltrating ABC and at getting knocked out.  Hamlet, one to boast, points out that neither he nor Suzanne were knocked out while Sammy was and the Lizard King was nearly killed by Genecide's strange draining powers.  Laughton adds, "Kurt's got some promise," in speaking with Magneto.  Nightcrawler responds, "Yah, zank you!"  The Lizard King grimaces and makes attacking motions at Laughton.

However, Sammy breaks the mood, saying "Let's go for a drink!"  Laughton mentions to Sammy perhaps he should take the Lizard King out for a drink, but Sammy isn't too keen on spending 1-on-1 time with the violent reptilian mutant.  So as a group they head over to O'Malley's in the dead of night, as they have copies of keys to the establishment for their long association.  

As they settle in at the bar, Laughton begins explaining what they found to Magneto.  He particularly calls out the artificial intelligence, DEXTER, and explains how their secret base is not quite like Kingpin's.  Suzanne discusses the void and some of its similarities to the nexus.  Hamlet characterizes DEXTER as "astonishingly" intelligent, and believes it is smarter than he or Sihn.  Sammy keeps the mood light as he offers up beer nuts when someone says the word "caveats" in passing and Sammy confuses that with a desire for food (as it sounds similar to caviar).  Magneto, though is not about to be amused.  He's grim with the news, scared of what power ABC may have.  Hamlet explains that he believes DEXTER could not have been deliberately created by a human, it is too far beyond human intelligence.  Magneto does chuckle though as Laughton goes on to say he had a good conversation "for a change" with the computer.  

Then Laughton pulls out the helmet and says, "and this proves ABC is in fact linked to Omega - not enough for a court of law, but we saw Omega agents in their secret base."  Magneto is delighted at the proof - he has no intention of troubling himself with human authorities and their courts anyway.  Then Laughton asks for some private time with Magneto, asking Suzanne to help Sammy get a baloney sandwich - as if Sammy needed help.  Suzanne replies, "Sure, I'm sure I'm needed," and rolls her eyes as she and Sammy walk back.  Nightcrawler adds, "I like baloney," disgusting the refined Spectrum.  Lizard King asks if there's anything living to eat, such as a pet.  Suzanne patiently explains, "If you see a dog here, it's not a pet," hoping to keep the Lizard King away from Jonas the Wonder Dog.

At the bar, Hamlet pulls out the DVD (of course he's made himself a copy already), and indicates he negotiated that when departing.  Magneto is pleasantly surprised, exclaiming "Remarkable."  Laughton though holds back the DVD from Magneto's grasp saying, "I have two words for you.  Maddy Hayes."

Magneto is stunned, but then breaks into a smile.  He responds, "And I have two for you - Blue Moon."  He goes on to ask Laughton to just go ahead and bring everyone back, saying he has nothing to hide from this group.  Hamlet is loathe to lose any possibility of plausible deniability but goes ahead and abides by Erik's request.  Erik does indicate that Laughton should tell Nightcrawler he can go to "the usual place".  Laughton offers up to Nightcrawler when calling them that he can stay at his place, as well, but Kurt decides to stay where Magneto has indicated.  The Lizard King simply takes off.  Before they go back, Sammy and Nightcrawler discuss eating.  Spectrum whispers to Nightcrawler he may not be ready for Sammy's diet (dumpster-diving, though she does not get into the details).  Nightcrawler whispers back, "Ze diet iz unique?"  She just says, "Not to Sammy."  Before leaving, Nightcrawler agrees to come back later in the day, after getting some rest, and see the Justice Squad.

Reconvened, Sammy and Suzanne listen in.  Magneto admits he has been a lover with Maddy Hayes, sort of an occasional situation that he gives no further details on.  He explains that as Laughton Agency competed with her new Blue Moon Agency in Detroit, she was upset and wanted to get back at Laughton for her older business that he was, unexpectedly, largely able to maintain.  Magneto, through is underground work, knows Fox Force Five.  But he could not normally afford them as they are inordinately expensive.  Maddy Hayes, though is a rich woman.  So Magneto hooked them up with her as a favor, but also took advantage of the situation to further his own goals.  As they were already paid by Maddy, he asked them to not merely ruin Laughton Agency's business, but also to gather information again on the Justice Squad for his own use.  They did not directly reuse information gathered for Kingpin - that is against their code - but they did use their experience to more efficiently and quickly put together Erik's requested dossier.  

Magneto goes on to say that from there it became natural to entangle the "ever-curious" Laughton and the ABC-challenged Sammy into his plan.  He goes on to say that now that the Justice Squad has helped him, he's quite willing to call off Fox Force Five and deal with Maddy - who should be content as she certainly has been able to rebuild her Detroit business.  He adds, "I hope you won't blame me.  I think you can understand I needed to be careful."

Laughton respects Magneto's approach even though he's vexed at the situation.  But he's also too relieved to hold any real grudge, although he's disappointed at not being able to carry out his plans with Jonas.  Erik adds, "Oh, I wouldn't trust the dog.  The girls do say he's quite cute, by the way."  Laughton frowns.  Erik then adds, "Oh, and Jacqueline says hello, Hamlet."

Sammy gets up and gives Magneto a hug in solidarity.  Magneto stands rather rigidly, uncomfortable with such emotional displays, but acts appreciative as he can.  

The night nears its end.  Spectrum flies back to New York to rejoin Nightshade.  Hamlet muses that DEXTER runs ABC.  Sammy struggles with his cell phone - the one on which all nine buttons press down at once.  Erik fades into the night to ponder on his next steps.

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

For resolving the situation with Maddy Hayes, the situation was taken care of this time and it was tough, a worthy challenge - +13.125 RP, .875 XP for Laughton (NB - a lot of PBEM led up to this)

For stalemating with DEXTER and getting info, the situation was handled but it isn't over against THE BIG BAD! - +26.25 RP, +1.75 XP for Sammy, Laughton, Spectrum

5 hours in character - +3.75 RP, +1.25 XP for Laughton, Sammy, Spectrum

Totals:

Laughton 43.125 RP, 3.875 XP
Sammy 30 RP, 3 XP
Spectrum 30 RP, 3 XP

Totals to Date:

Dice 188.5 RPs, 14.95 XPs
Laughton 1487.5 RPs, 135.125 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Neumann 344.5 RPs, 49.05 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base)
Sammy the Slime 1404.25 RPs, 138.9875 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Spectrum 1318.25 RPs, 125.425 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Steely Danelle 86 RPs, 10.75 XPs
Troll 1457.25 RPs, 136.25 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)]