X-Champions Issues

Issue 51 - Home Life

Considering his family’s safety, Nexus has decided on a dramatic course of action – to move them to an alternate dimension where their child can grow up in the blink of an eye in this dimension’s time!  After long discussions with Ayla, they agree on a dimension in which things are “normal” in that super-powers and mutants are unheard of.  Nexus tells Namor, his father-in-law, of his plan.  Namor is uncertain, explaining Eliot is playing with fire and that this could be dangerous.  Nexus is sure he knows what he’s doing (after all, he is “master of dimensions”).  Namor insists on checking with his wizards, saying “I can’t leave this to young hotheads such as yourself.”  Nexus feels cool being called a “young hothead.” 

In the end, Namor’s wizards neither endorse nor disavow the action, which for Namor is adequate to know at least it’s not disastrous or unwise.  As they talk, Eliot explains in detail that they’ll only be gone for some 5 minutes in this world’s time, while in the other world an entire lifetime will go by.  Namor ages only slowly, and Ayla and Nexus can deal with aging, counter-acting it with Nexus’ magic, and Nexus decides he’d like the opportunity to engage in raising a family in peace and quiet, away from the brutal political turmoil of Mu.  So Nexus is prevailed upon to let him come.

Nexus has already made extensive preparations to be sure this goes all right; moving a family and maintaining an extra-dimensional existence has its risks.  He embarks, then, on the final steps to create the journey.  A circle is drawn on the floor, and incantations are intoned by Nexus.  Then more incantations, and a cloud of smoke takes over the area, sending he and his family to another world… a world resembling Earth’s mundane sit-com family-oriented settings…a world in which it's "All in the Xian Family"...

During their time in this dimension, Eliot wears the ring that reduces his mutant quick-wittedness so as not to be so bored.  Namor annoys everyone, taking over the house as if it were his empire.  Over time, he gets involved with politics, which eventually goes terribly wrong as he crosses the line and ends up in jail, at which point Nexus returns him to his dimension, appearing a couple minutes before Eliot, Ayla, and two of the kids return.  The youngest, whom Namor favors, ended up staying behind, taken with his home and not wanting to leave.  It takes some time for Ayla and Eliot to decide to allow this, but he is an adult.  Eliot checks the possible futures and finds that probability favors his son being okay, so they relent.  Eliot bequeaths the summoning crystal to the young adult when he leaves, should help be needed.  Namor has a portal built to the dimension for easy access if needed, and so he can visit his youngest grandchild at least once, given how quickly time goes by.

Regarding homes and home life, Sammy and Jane have set up house in their new place.  A neat white picket fence borders the property, and plants and bushes are all over.  Sammy enjoys doing impromptu shows, and Jane joins in playing music. 

Jeremiah Dark, Nightshade, sees Dr. Sihn again, as the dark dimension is draining him again.  He explains that he’s losing his power a bit, as well.  Nexus constructs a dark mini-dimension to fuel and replenish him.  He wants to put it in a ring for Nightshade, so that he can keep it close and protected reasonably at the same time.  Nexus needs an indestructible ring that can accept this power, though, and one that can be blessed to only work with Nightshade.  He visits Necromancer, without revealing the details, and asks for such a ring.  Necromancer has one that he’s willing to part with but it’s unique and he needs something in return.  Nexus agrees to trade a piece of Bogeyman, and tells Necromancer he doesn’t need to know where he got the ring from.  Necromancer mentions a dark fey was involved, he should know, but that it should be okay.  Nexus fashions the ring with the dark mini-dimension and gives it to Nightshade.

Nexus has another patient, Jane, who wants to see if he can tell if she’s reproducing.  She’s not, Nexus feels, but as they talk she asks if he’s run across their people.  He hasn’t, directly, but has heard of such.  As they talk, Nexus moves across the room and quietly puts on his anti-super-intelligence ring, wanting to bring himself down a bit for the conversation with Jane and not over-think the consequences of where this might go.  She asks Nexus if he can find her people based on what he knows and bring her and Sammy to them.  He asks if she really wants to know, starting to warn her of all that could happen, but she blurts out enthusiastically, “Of course I wanna know!”  Nexus shrugs and says “sure,” then goes off into a trance to do a quick journey, keeping it to an hour, through the cosmos.  He puts little effort into it, but despite that ends up finding their race, aboard another planet, quite quickly. 

Meanwhile, Sammy is next door at Laughton Agency, waiting, thinking, “Darn, Jane’s taking a long time to get that pizza, I bet she stopped off at Phoenix Mel’s.”  Velda calls him just then, as Laughton is out, telling him, ‘Tony Stark’s here to see someone from the Laughton Agency!”  She then whispers through the phone, ‘He’s really Iron Man.”  Sammy goes out to meet Stark, and quickly asks if he’s hungry.  He’s not particularly, but Sammy is insistent and they go to Phoenix Mel’s, Sammy leaving word with Velda.  Sammy doesn’t see Jane there, but is eager for a buffet.  Sammy’s looking forward to the new place that’s opening nearby – a place covertly owned by Sihn and ready to operate at a humongous loss simply to keep Sammy nearby and in safe hands.  Nexus’ motto is, “I keep my friends close, my enemies, closer, and Sammy where I can touch him.”

As Sammy and Tony talk, Sammy explains that Laughton, whom Tony really wanted to see, is not around.  Sammy jokes, “He’s off getting kidnapped somewhere!”  Stark/Iron Man points out that he’s heard about Laughton, and makes it clear he means he knows Laughton isn’t simply an innocent friend to the Justice Squad, knowing from mutual high-level contacts that he’s in the Justice Squad. 

Sammy nods, and says,” Chicken is good!”  He adds, “And there’s a pizza coming back at Laughton Agency, but that got delayed.”

As Sammy chows down, making his usual scene, Stark looks around disturbed, noting, “I wanted this to be subtle.”  Sammy is untroubled and takes Stark into the back with him, as he enjoys eating leftovers where they clean the dishes anyway.  Stark is disturbed and confused, but Sammy reassures him, “I’m sure Laughton can fix your problem in five minutes!”  Stark just hopes that he can meet Laughton soon and get around this Sammy character.

But Stark knows that some supers are enigmatic, so he goes ahead and explains that he’s seen some unusual activities in his computer system and believes something is wrong.  He notes that Bellweather Stocks and Hamilton-Weiss Mutual Funds both have had suspicious timing in their growth during his problems.

As he mentions “timing”, Sammy is suddenly attentive.  He announces, “Timing…hmm…desert is a little late.”  And as Sammy, ravenously hungry, goes on talking, he notes that he thinks he can smell pizza.  Then, actually on topic, mentions maybe they need Manny to be brought into the case. 

Sammy, Stark in tow, gets sundaes for desert and they head back to Laughton Agency.  As they enter, Sammy asks Velda where Laughton is; it turns out he’s out and, she says, he indicated he will be incommunicado for a while.  Sammy tries to contact Laughton, and gets back a message, “Busy, see Sihn.”  Then, just a minute later, Sammy gets another message, “Did you see Sihn?”  And two minutes later, another message, “Did you see Sihn yet?”

At this point Jane shows up with the pizza.  As Sammy points that out, excitedly, she adds, “Yup, and I’m not reproducing, either.”  Sammy is thoughtful, in his way, introducing Jane.  He says, “This is…” and then forgets who Stark is, “..um, what’s your name?”  As he’s told, he resumes, ‘ah, yes, Tony, this is Jane.  I’m Sammy!’

Stark is losing his patience and just repeats, “I’m Tony,” flatly.

By this time, Laughton sends a note to Velda to get Nexus, as well as a message directly to Nexus, reading, “GET SAMMY RIGHT NOW, STOP SAMMY!”  Laughton isn’t sure why Sammy’s called him, but reasons, correctly, as to the correct course of action.  As Velda calls Nexus, she turns her head away from Stark and whispers, “He’s really Iron Man!”

And shortly thereafter, Nexus appears out of nowhere amidst a flash of light, next to Sammy and Tony Stark.  He’d met Stark a couple times before, as Sihn, once at a gathering sponsored by Stark Industries back when Sihn worked for them, and the other time just recently at a summit regarding the mounting American economic crisis.  Tony seems a bit relieved, and explains the situation.  As he mentioned to Sammy earlier, he’s concerned about some sort of industrial espionage, having seen odd computer activities, and noting the uncanny ability of Bellwether and Hamilton-Weiss to seem to predict SI’s performance.  He’s unsure who to trust in SI, so is reaching out to the Justice Squad.  Sihn gladly agrees to help him out.

Shortly Sihn is investigating the investors’ networks, attempting to ascertain if they’re connected to DEXTER.  His GUI is colorful and metaphorical, unlike Laughton’s rolling screens of 0s and 1s.  He finds a creative backdoor in that shows up as a blinking purple with a little alarm and squeak of a door upon discovery.  Sihn believes that he has tripped an alarm, though, and that whoever the source is may find out that someone knows.  Sihn also checks Hamilton-Weiss, finding a similar situation, except he feels he’s avoided the alarm trigger this time.  He shoots a message to Laughton, and gets back, from an AI, the message “busy unless life or death.”

Sihn and Stark exchange secure numbers, as Sihn promises to follow up more and get back to him.  Nexus mentions, “If you have any trouble call me,” putting an emphasis on “me” to indicate to get him directly instead of waiting around with Sammy.  Stark catches the implication.  Sammy doesn’t, but notes that Tony barely touched his sundae.

Jane discusses her exam openly as Sihn finishes up narrowing down the physical location of the home world of beings like her and Sammy based on his clairsentient identification of it.  As Jane goes on about reproduction and such, Sammy acts embarrassed, as he believes this is what human males do, and remains conscious of the talk that Nexus had with him about assuming responsibility.  Then Nexus announces he’s ready to go if they are to see the other beings like them.

Excited, Sammy turns into a small space ship, a flying saucer type like he’s seen in the movies.  Nexus draws a hole in the air and they step through, and the process is repeated as he uses a sort of cross-dimensional travel method that allows him to move from one physical point in this dimension to another dimension, then back to a different physical point in this one.  They walk into a lush heavy forest/jungle-like environment.  There are small lakes everywhere and the land is overgrown with vegetation, some of which seems to grow as they watch.  Sammy remarks, “Our slime is a great fertilizer!”  Moving about in the sky, they see spots where spacecrafts have obviously landed.  They also see large trails of stripped vegetation, and touching down see slime in the trails, slime that appears identical to Sammy and Jane’s sort.  Nexus analyzes it, and Sammy smells it.  They conclude this is the exact same race – this is Sammy and Jane’s actual home, not just inhabited by a similar but actually an identical species.

Giant flying insects also move about.  Sammy adopts one of their forms and flies.  Nexus notices furtive figures moving about in the overgrowth, apparently other shape-shifters like Sammy – all watching them!  Sammy and Jane realize, too, and Sammy touches down and says hi to nobody in particular.  He then morphs into Elvis and says hello again, this time eliciting a response as a nearby bush turns into the basic slime form.  The thing then changes into the form of an alien “gray” and reaches out to Sammy, touching and then mingling with him.  Sammy lets it happen, and suddenly feels perfectly familiar with this other entity.  Jane muses, “Am I supposed to be jealous?” and then joins in, the three of them mingling physically completely together, their bodies fusing in the slime-type state.  Another slime moves towards Nexus, who gives an intergalactic phrase for “no, thanks.”

When fused, the alien forms all understand each other perfectly, their minds actually exchanging information freely and directly.  Sammy and Jane explain their history and escape from ABC and the human world they’re in.  The other being indicates that on this planet they all live communally, and discusses how the eco-balance is such that the Shlumari, their race, is dominant and eats everything in sight but that the world regrows fast enough to support them.  Some other aliens hunt these shape-changers, however,, as they are a great and useful prize, and the landing spots that can be seen from the sky are from several aliens who come and capture some of their type.  Thankfully, this being notes, some other races try to stop this poaching, and the Shlumari do have allies.  The Shlumari here have never seen humans and are fascinated by Sammy and Jane’s tales just as Sammy and Jane are with theirs. 

Coming back into an Elvis form, Sammy babbles excitedly to Nexus, not making much sense, but Nexus is pleased for him.  As Sammy asks, he gladly shows them to the great lake where the Shlumari community all gathers and lives when it isn’t eating or resting in the smaller lakes.  Upon getting there, Sammy and Jane dive in, losing their individuality, even, as they become one with their entire people. 

Sihn is fascinated, of course, and watches, but carefully, staying five feet from the lake to be safe.  As he communicates with a couple of the Shlumari, he finds that they share some common languages, including a variation on the language the Martians speak.  One asks Nexus, “Are you food?” and he is sure to dispel that notion.

The subject of various alien races comes up, and it turns out there is a Vulcan-like race called the Janari.  One of the Shlumari says “they have a moral code – whatever that is.”  An older member of the Shlumari points out to Nexus that an ape-like being once freed him from a circus he’d been imprisoned in, Nexus reminding him of that.  As it’s clear Nexus is a mage, one of the Shlumari asks if he can make their planet hidden.  Nexus demurs, saying it’s beyond his ability (he actually believes he can, but figures he shouldn’t be messing about in such a cavalier fashion).  The Shlumari is unconcerned, simply saying, “Okay, then.”  Nexus says he can make snappy fireworks, though.  Sammy comes to the shore, over-hearing, and asks if Nexus can make the lake disappear.  He says he can’t/shouldn’t, and the other Shlumari responds, “I guess fireworks are nice.”

Another Shlumari comes out of the lake and says to Nexus, “Sammy says your planet tastes nice,” and eventually suggests, “Maybe we can have our lake there, on your planet!”  Nexus considers that’s not entirely a bad idea, but realizes it wouldn’t work out well.  Nexus realizes what great customers the Shlumari would be if he could just set up a pizza and/or baloney stand for them.  He whips up some food for them to try.  It’s gone in moments, naturally, and they find it good and interesting.  The Shlumari are excited when Sammy explains the Justice Squad has a baloney machine.  They’re ready to go to Earth!  But Sammy also discusses the harder parts of life on Earth, saying how he’s hunted and one of his own teammates turns him into sand (dust) sometimes.  The Shlumari ask why he hangs out with such a person, and Sammy pensively just says, “I dunno.”  Sihn prompts, “He gives you coffee and donuts.”  And Sihn gives serious consideration to putting a factory here, paying the natives with pizza and baloney.  As Sammy and Jane return to cavorting, Nexus experiments summoning up different toppings with different baloney types.  He finds mushrooms do better than pepperoni, though he finds that individual Shlumari do have varying tastes.  They all seem to like sauerkraut a lot.

After spending some time there, Nexus affirms to Sammy and Jane that he can gladly return them when they like.  Sammy says he wants to meet a Vulcan/Janari, and Sihn points out that’s likely a lot more of a production, and says, “Why don’t you wait until they come meet us?”  Sammy asks when that will be, and Nexus says he doesn’t want to ruin Sammy’s surprise.  So Sammy figures he can wait.

Upon return, Sihn checks out another company that’s been rising up quickly and has some links, via industry circles, to Hamilton-Weiss and Bellwether.  It’s called Barrman Associates, and is run by the enigmatic tycoon William Barrman.  His own past is a bit dubious, in that he’s risen and fallen in fortune a couple times, at a couple points failing due to investigations that seemed to indicate he was involved in unethical if not illegal dealings.  However, he’s never been found guilty of anything, and his name was cleared before he began Barrman Associates, an investment company.  Sihn finds no linkage to ABC or DEXTER, and no back door. 

Sihn follows up on who did the computer security work for Bellwether and Hamilton-Weiss.  Aside from IBM, they also had a small company called Interlock – which also did some work for Barrman.  Sihn also checks on the public status of the companies, finding Bellwether is public and Hamilton-Weiss is private.  And Barrman has been escalating investments in Bellwether Stocks. 

Sammy wants to do a check on their physical security, but Nexus cautions him how much riskier that is. 

Sihn then sends off a probe to figure out more about the work done by Interlock.  As his program interrogates, Nexus gets back an anonymously sourced message, “Have you heard of DEXTER.”  The probe program is terminated, and Nexus realizes DEXTER is aware. 

While Sihn is fairly sure of the connections, he wants to prove, at least to himself, that there’s linkage between ABC and DEXTER and all this.  He goes to a library and from there hacks into ABC’s network.  He manages to find a couple suspicious log files that correlate with the activities he’s seen at Bellwether and Hamilton-Weiss and the timing of his work. 

Sihn then contacts Terwilliger to tip him off as to what’s going on.  Terwilliger asks him not to do anything overt or destructive yet, and thanks him.  Meanwhile, Nexus works with Gere-luce to build a device (several, actually) that they can affix to some lines going into ABC and do some special monitoring.  The device will locally store information, so that it makes no transmissions or otherwise can tip anyone off actively.  Sammy turns into a gopher and goes underground to put the device on underground lines, and scurries up as a squirrel to deal with the above-ground cables. 

The devices are left for two days.  Upon recovery, Nexus finds bursts of activities to Barrman, MIT, and the St. Petersburg Institute.  Studying more, Nexus finds that these are some sort of informational probes. 

Sammy pursues a more low-tech, social engineering route of hacking.  He uses public Internet facilities and sites such as Yahoo, and sends out a bunch of emails to low-level security people in these companies, requesting information in a manner sounding like an inter-company note.  But he gets no responses in this first pass.

Sammy looks into things further, finding that Bellwether uses Chase Manhattan.  He wanders into the massive banking firm’s Detroit office.  He grows an ID badge to match the other employees and maintains the appearance of a typical female administrative assistant.  “She” goes into the women’s bathroom and over-hears conversations, getting the lay of the land.  From this Sammy finds a recently vacated office, and simply settles into it to do his work.  He starts calling around at Bellwether, claiming he is working for the bank and “must” hurry up and get some important information for his boss, who’s unreasonable.  As he calls into the office of William Goodman (Bellwether Stocks’ CEO) he indicates he’s trying to finalize some applications from their offices.  He introduces himself as “Harry’s executive admin” (using the name of a real person at Chase), and goes on saying, “I don’t want to look like a total idiot.  My boss is a freaking asshole, and I need to keep this job.  But a lot of stuff was left off this application, and we have to have more info.  We need your fiscal records for purchases and investments.”  He’s convincing, and eventually Goodman’s admin offers to fax the investment plans and detailed operating expenses to “her office”!

Repeating the process and relentlessly calling to find the weak link in each organization, Sammy gets similar information from Hamilton-Weiss, and a few things, not quite as detailed, from Barrman Associates.

Nexus is pleased with Sammy’s initiative and gets him an all-you-can-eat gift certificate.  Then, looking carefully into the investment and operating expense portfolios Sammy gathered of Barrman, Bellwether, and Hamilton-Weiss, Nexus finds that, extrapolating out 20 years, Bellwether and Hamilton-Weiss are pursuing strategies that will wear away at Stark Industries and benefit ABC, while Barrman is doing, strangely, almost the opposite.  He also finds it’s clear that Bellwether and Hamilton-Weiss are definitely front organizations for ABC, not in a way provable directly but with this data perhaps via a RICO case.  Although he and the Justice Squad know there’s a lot more on the line and the information isn’t to be used that way, as it would spook DEXTER.  But it’s solid progress, and builds up the case.

Nexus’ further research finds that a Kevin Collard at Bellwether Stocks seems to be skimming from the company’s profits and that it’s being allowed.  Searching for more info on Collard, he finds that he’s a very fast-moving professional, growing rapidly in his field.  He started humbly indeed, as a janitor at an outsourcing company, then going to the mailroom at a large bank, and then getting a job at Bellwether in the financial department, growing rapidly from there. 

The investigation heats up on Collard, Nexus suggesting to Sammy it's time to lean on him.  Nexus and Sammy wait for him to go to work, and Nexus uses a spell to see if he’s a mutant, finding no such indication.  Collard lives in a nice condo in downtown Detroit.  They wait for him to get home.  Sammy goes to the nearest roof, and into a vent in the building.   He finds his way quickly to Collard’s place, eventually getting into the plumbing and coming up the toilet, growing from a tiny figure into a burly rough-looking thug.  It’s 3 AM, and as he expands into the large bathroom, he sees Collard there, lining up coke but facing the other way.  He takes a couple snorts.  Sammy looks around to see if there’s any security, finding a small camera there.  He spits acid at it, and the sizzling sound causes Collard to turn.  Sammy plays tough, looking down at him and telling him to shut up and do what he’s told.  Collard is freaked out completely, drops to his knees, and begs not to be killed.

Sammy bluffs and says his boss sent him to get back at Collard, they don’t appreciate what he’s doing. 

Collard pleads that he “only did it for the money.”

Sammy retorts, “How much is your life worth to you?”

The man begins to cry, saying, “I can’t get out he’s too powerful!”

Sammy flatly states he’d better “cease and desist.”

Collard agrees, desperately, “I’ll stop, I’ll stop.”

Sammy gives him a solid smack, forcing his face the other way, so that Sammy can then quickly vanish down the drain, unseen.  He communicates to Nexus, then goes back in, snaking through the walls, and finding the man’s home office, where he’s gone.  Nexus then cuts the power.  Sammy can hear the man freaking out more and swearing violently.  He can hear him as his shaking hands grab a bottle of pills and pour out a couple to relieve his nerves.  Sammy moves into the man’s computer, and messes up his hard drive, eating bits of it.  The sound is audible, of course, and he hears Collard shouting, “What’s that, what’s that!?” into the darkness.  Then Sammy hears the sound of something smashing, then something else, as Collard in mad fear has pushed over one desk and thrown a chair.  Sammy leaves out a wall plug.

Collard is thoroughly spooked, of course, and then they hear him get on the phone, shouting into it, “CODE RED CODE RED CODE RED CODE RED!!!!!” and hanging up.  Nexus gets the phone number.  He gets a call back, Nexus overhearing as he stays tapped into the phone, and a digitized voice says “Stay there.”

Collard starts to calm and sits in his darkened office.

Then the entire room blows up in a blinding flash of light and a roaring noise.  Nexus and Sammy didn’t expect this.  Nexus tells Sammy to be one of the emergency workers on the scene, wanting to conceal that the Justice Squad is involved.  Then they wait a while, Nexus doing what he can covertly, and they finally appear as themselves after sufficient time.  Nexus teleports people out of the building and Sammy flies them out, and they also help put out the fire immediately.  Miraculously, only Collard was killed. 

As Nexus investigates, he finds that a chemical was present in the room that can be ignited via electronic signals.  Gere-luce helps out in this and confirms this, also discovering that the phone link itself is probably the activation source, a particular signal pulse, however slight but unique, forcing the chemical to activate.

At 5 AM, just half an hour after leaving the scene, Nexus receives a call from the mayor asking; “now you tell me what happened this morning.”  Sammy over-hears and wants to be in the conversation, so Nexus puts it on speaker.   The mayor wants to know what the Justice Squad involvement is about, as while they are helpful, the Nexus/Sammy involvement at the odd hour seems to indicate it’s not the normal run-of-the-mill happening.  Frustrated, Nexus says, “It’s probably some Fox Force Five thing.  Sheesh, if it was us everyone would know by now, you know that!”  Also, the mayor has gotten some complaints about someone compromising security at Chase Manhattan, and he’s curious if they know something.  Mayor Berry asks about Laughton and where he’s been lately; Sihn is ambivalent saying, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”  Sammy says, “I’d like to know where he is!”  Berry points out (again) things would be easier if they’d allow themselves to be deputized, and then asks again what’s going on.  Nexus invites him to a personal chat, and in 30 minutes the mayor visits.

Sammy has a big tray of baloney sandwiches waiting (the ones he hasn’t eaten, anyway), and Nexus summons up some donuts.  Sammy prepares a “high society dinner”, replete with candle light (even though it’s 5:40 AM).  The sandwiches are cut up into little pieces with toothpicks, and the donuts are chopped into pieces as well.  The mayor has a baloney sandwich, and Nexus has to create more donuts as Sammy has already devoured the first batch.

Getting quickly down to business as the mayor eats, Nexus explains about the power play going on between ABC and SI, and that they were called in to investigate.  As the mayor presses, Sihn points out he probably would be happier if they didn’t explain too much, but that the Justice Squad is not responsible for the apartment blowing up.  Sammy points out one of their more dramatic rescues at the site.  Nexus also is sure to discuss that ABC is behind the violence, even if it’s not entirely provable yet, and that they are “playing for keeps.”  He lets Berry know that it’s in everyone’s interest to assure that ABC doesn’t take over SI, and explains this is akin to a gang war now on ABC’s part.

The mayor properly debriefed, they chat a bit before he leaves.  The mayor asks about the new all-you-can-eat place opening up nearby (the one Sihn is secretly funding), and Nexus laughs “they’re just asking to go out of business.”  He mentions they have an extra-large dumpster and a menu that Sammy will probably like, from what he’s seen.

Sammy think that he somewhat wishes he had spent the night at home.  There are two pizza places that deliver to his house, one of which he even volunteers for as they need help, and he gets all the refuse.

And it’s not all work, anyway, for Sammy, as that evening he and Jane visit the Metal Men, who have invited them for dinner.  Sammy notes half the food in the refrigerator is molded, since the Metal Men only buy it for show.  Of course, he and Jane prefer that, anyway.  Gold laments that they aren’t welcome in the neighborhood, and suggests that maybe Sammy could help them, since he’s so outgoing and successful with people.  Sammy’s excited to do so, and suggests a party.  Tina says that won’t help, as no one will even come over to their place, the neighbors are too afraid or hostile.  Sammy is sure he can get them over, and declares he’ll entertain them, doing a big Elvis shindig.  He vows to take care of it the very next day.

And indeed he does, as in the AM on several Detroit radio stations it’s announced that Sammy/Elvis will be doing a show at the Metal Men’s house, and their address in Farmington (http://www.ci.farmington.mi.us/) and a date/time is given!  Gold is concerned, though, and calls Sammy, to both thank him and express the concern, as several neighbors have already left them hate notes and such for destroying the peace and quiet of their bedroom community with the announcement of this party.  Nexus over-hears, and suggests that he can put an infinite amount of space in a finite house.  Sammy is sure people will love this, and tells Gold not to worry about the nay-sayers.  Gold mentions that the neighbors didn’t like the jack-hammering they were doing, but the pleasant robot gives in to the charming Sammy, saying, “but if you think it’s a good idea…”  Gold then asks Nexus about his idea of infinite space.  Nexus explains no one will know the difference so long as they don’t look out the window, and “they really shouldn’t look out the window.”  Sammy brings up the idea of tapping into the cheese dimension (to date, still his favorite dimension).  Sammy discusses contracting with parking and shuttle companies, and Gold again gently says, “hmmm, I don’t think the neighbors are going to like all this.”  Sammy, to assure him, resolves to invite the mayor of Farmington.

But when Sammy calls the mayor, Alan Wailer, the first thing Sammy hears is, “What about the permits?”  Sammy is surprised to trip on this – he’s accustomed to others taking care of “the little details” and also hasn’t dealt with smaller cities which don’t just assist the great Sammy/Elvis.  Sihn, still standing nearby and hearing, decides he should probably take a vacation whenever this event is supposed to occur.  Wailer goes on to explain he doesn’t want to be associated with this.  Sammy goes by his office, and in person tries to convince the mayor, claiming “really important people want this to happen.”  He goes on to say that the party will be sponsored by the Metal Men for their neighborhood association and raise lots of money for the neighborhood and the city.  The mayor says he’s welcome to have the party – in nearby Detroit or Dearborn!  Sammy relents, still offering up half the money will go to the neighborhood association and half to Farmington itself.

As plans change, Sammy visits Mayor Berry, who offers up that the Riverfront Casino would be just the place for such a party.  Sammy consults with the Metal Men, and talks about doing a big heavy metal sort of setting, which Lead and Iron really like.  Then Sammy plans with the Metal Men for a small private party with the neighbors after the show.

Then Sammy goes on his campaign in earnest to help the Metal Men.  He goes door to door, wearing a “Silicon Man” costume, and offers free tickets personally, explaining that the others who come and pay will be donating to the neighborhood and city.  He’s persuasive, of course, and gets by even without adopting Nexus’ idea of making the tickets include a raffle for $20K or a new car or such.  Sammy checks out the community and looks for areas of improvement, and ensures that he sets up free parking for the Metal Men’s neighbors who go to the show.

Final follow-up on Collard shows that he called the cell phone of a “Kevin Smith”, which just went out of service immediately thereafter.  Collard was drawing money from a South American bank, they also find.  Sammy checks on the Kevin Smith who supposedly had the phone.  He finds he is listed as living at an address in the slums of northeast Detroit.  Sammy, looking like a local, walks into a run-down tenement.  He finds the manager for the building in the basement, and casually asks about the tenants, and finds out that there is a Kevin Smith, but his identity was stolen a year ago.  The manager suspects Ms. Rollins (“I call her ‘ho’”), and Sammy dutifully notes this.  After small talk about the “damn Bush economy” with the manager, he leaves, convinced that Smith is not involved and neither is Ms. Rollins.  Sammy does find his way into Smith’s apartment, and checks his mail and such, finding nothing suspicious.

Nexus checks up on his routine news clippings, and finds a reference indicating that Vision has struck again, this time in Mongolia.  He rarely strikes now, seeming to be held at bay or otherwise doing other things, only about once every six weeks now does vision surface at all.

As always, Sihn is spending all the time he can on BOOM, actively promoting its role as an emergency response organization.  Slowly, in the background, he’s forming a super-powered official BOOM team.  BOOM has climbed to be the 57^th most recognized brand in the world as of early summer, and seems to be rapidly climbing further.  Celebrity endorsers such as Liberty help.

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

Sihn's family protection plan, taking care of the situation this time and it's a worthy challenge (graduated from "not enough color" due to "All in the Xian Family" and the basic idea) - +13.125 RP, +.875 XP for Nexus

"All in the Xian Family" - +1 XP for Nexus

Investigation into Barrman, Bellwether, Hamilton-Weiss, Collard, it got out of control but you did your best against the BIG BAD! - +11.25 RP, +.75 XP for Nexus, Sammy

Handling the Metal Men neighborhood situation, it got out of control but the odds were stacked against Sammy - +3.75 RP, +.25 XP for Sammy

Exploring the Shumari, the situation is taken care of this time and it was an interesting but not over-powering situation - +1.875 RP, +.125 XP for Nexus, Sammy

5 hours - +3.75 RP, +1.25 XP for Nexus, Sammy

Sammy, dedicated XP of 3 XP for AK:  Farmington, MI

Totals:

Nexus 30 RP, 4 XP (note includes the "All in the Xian Family" PBEM)
Sammy 20.625 RP, 5.375 XP

Totals to Date:

Dice 188.5 RPs, 14.95 XPs
Laughton 2361.525 RPs, 227.875 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Neumann 945 RPs, 143.95 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion)
Nexus 2443.775 RPs, 227.275 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Sammy the Slime 2277.65 RPs, 210.6125 XPs  (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Spectrum 2178.025 RPs, 190.675 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]]