"We should stay close in case it's a teleport field, and there should be enough room if it's a vehicle." He says as he moves closer to the group. "Hard to tell when you are working with such a resourceful employer."
Dave doesn't bother trying to figure out what's going on. He sticks around Doctor Toxic, who seems like a stand up pile of goo.
Once the people start arriving into the courtyard, Karma decides to stay with this group for the time being, figuring she can move on if things go oblate spheroidal. She shifts to the shadows and becomes visible and tangible. She drops her old clothes to get singed in the fire, which she hopes will destroy evidence of her passing, in case the 'fins' have a record of what she was wearing. He has her Day of the Dead mask obscuring her face. She looks a lot more menacing now than when she was wearing scruffy street clothes with no weapons.
Karma too notices that sounds of weapons is fading to the north, wondering if Dr. Destruction set up a distraction to draw their attention and fire.
Karma
No problem with taking the extra time.
A few minutes pass in light conversation and growing anxiety. The sound of blaster fire fades into the distance. The school continues to burn.
You hear a M'buna in the distance.
Growing closer.
Something sounds wrong..
Suddenly an alien transport flies in from the north. So low to the burning roof that you are all dusted with ash.
The transports gravitic engines glow a deep blue flashing to red as the pilot slams the transport into the courtyard in a very hot landing.
The sound is wrong. Everything sounds like you are underwater. The sound of the burning building behind you is muffled..
The rear ramp of the transport opens there is a armored figure at the controls.
Get in. The voice fills your minds. The speaker is clearly used to command. MinJack starts moving as soon as the ramp is down.
The interior lights activate and you see the unmistakable armor of the last true supervillain, Dr. Destruction.
Dave steps into the shuttle. "Drop me off at the Shake Shack, if you please."
Ah-Rekhmire looks at the ship and the others filing on.
"I shall follow under my own power. I will watch out for anything that might follow us!"
With that, the Egyptian wizard floats into the air...awaiting the ship to leave so he can follow.
Dave and Al-Rekmire
When you speak your voice is warped and distorted. You can barely hear yourselves much less each other.
Dave Up close you can see some damage to the craft. There is even a hole in the side big enough to see Karma in her new mask and cat suit through. Inside, the craft is much more comfortable than the prison transport. The chairs are still bolted to the wall but they have cushions and the crash bars are padded. There is even carpet under your feet.
Also there are 3 figures in faceless green body armor. They have more than one gun each. MindJack follows you inside.
Al-Rekmire
Again the voice fills your mind, clipped and artificial. There are multiple ships in orbit NOW scanning for anything in the air that is not broadcasting the proper transport code. Get inside or die on your own.
Karma moves into the transport and looks for a place to sit. She chooses not to make any comments and keeps ready to shift back into ghost mode if things go wrong.
Psiclops gets in the transport, hoping that this really is Dr. Destruction and not a V'Sori trick (he'd heard rumors that Dr. Destruction works from the shadows, so he's kind of surprised that he would make this pickup himself), and if he is, that he's not going to...destruct...us all after getting MindJack. He sits next to Karma, and says "So...crazy day, huh?".
Toxic hustles onto the ship. Dr. Destruction had a lot more resources than he would on his own.
"A crazy day indeed. But we're doing vastly better than we were an hour ago, so it's a good kind of crazy." he says affably.
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Ah-Rekhmire bristles at the authority in the voice and it DEMANDING that he enter the ship....on the other hand, as he scans the sky for enemy vessels he realizes that he does not know this new enemy well and maybe the voice does.
Floating into the craft, standing straight with his chin up, the decaying corpse settles into a chair, looks around at the others and confidently states;
"I have decided to ride within this ship!"
Karma takes a moment to respond to Psiclops. Doctor Toxic and Ah-Rekhmire draw her attention, and then she looks at the others in the ship. She finds hasn't seen much of Psiclops and doesn't even know his super-hero handle, or anyone else's who hasn't introduced himself or herself already. The voice of her mother rises up from her memory, suggesting she be more friendly and engage people in small talk. It was always a struggle, and the stressful circumstances do not make it any easier.
Karma nods but says nothing, watching instead in suspense to see if they will yet survive this crazy day.
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With true freedom so close, Kara has not felt quite up to her normal level of quips. She floats over as the ship comes down and prepares to enter quietly.
Until their host speaks to them in mind-speech.
'Well I'll probably never get this opportunity again,' she thinks.
"Thanks for picking me up for our date-night. But ya might wanna run this thing through the wash before getting it back to your dad. ;}"
She floats in and sees the three stoic bodyguards. "Hello gentlemen. Please do tell us when the in-flight movie starts."
She glides into one of the sumptuous seats and sits down, her head nodding in approval.
Everyone. Speech is extremely difficult right now. Even to yourselves your voices are warped and twisted like a cassette tape that has been through the washing machine. Maybe one word in five comes through clearly. You are more reading lips than hearing something. As some of you do not have lips you can see the difficulty.
Destruction turns their expressionless face plate towards the group.
Is this everyone? Again the voice in your mind, flat expressionless, demanding.
Dr. Destruction presses a button on the craft wall and the ramp begins to raise. Simultaneously the craft rises and accelerates, you feel the inertial dampeners compensating.
A few moments pass in warped silence as the craft maneuvers. Suddenly whatever was twisting sound here fades.
Dr. Destructioon speaks. Their audio voice is no more comforting than the mental voice.
"Welcome to Omega. You performed adequately. The V'sori did me a great favor in removing Champion and the Alpha Squadron rabble from my planet. I intend to make them regret that favor. You will assist me in this willingly with free run of the planet as your reward or you will assist me as fresh meat thrown to invaders as a distraction."
It begins to dawn on Dave that they are not going to Shake Shack. And there's no telling whether Doctor Demento's digs will be any better than the V'sori prison. He wants to raise his hand and ask a question but he gets the impression that the Doctor is more like one of his old teachers that absolutely does not want to hear Dave's voice. Oh well. He consoles himself by shamelessly staring at the blue girl's jiggling boobs.
It begins to dawn on Dave that they are not going to Shake Shack. And there's no telling whether Doctor Demento's digs will be any better than the V'sori prison. He wants to raise his hand and ask a question but he gets the impression that the Doctor is more like one of his old teachers that absolutely does not want to hear Dave's voice. Oh well. He consoles himself by shamelessly staring at the blue girl's jiggling boobs.
Boobs gives Dave an idea. And something else.
"Hey Doctor Demen--err--structo, like, I guess I'm on board with whatever, but I just want to know what the food is gonna be like at your evil fortress. Can I get nachos? Also, will there be access to the Internet? No reason. And finally, do you have a harem, and is there any chance that on my day off I can, you know?"
Dr. Destruction does not respond.
Somehow even through they are coated in an expressionless rigid suit of high tech power armor you feel they are doing so pointedly.
Dave sighs. "Sooo, is that a 'no' to the nachos?"
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Kara tries to remain seated, but the occasional turbulence almost upsets her tummy as she gets occasionally bounced and juggled. 'Frag. Imma hafta wear a better sports bra if I keep riding in things that shouldn't be ridden in.'
She can't hear much of Dave's attempts at conversation, but she catches the word 'nachos' twice. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what should be done. She calls on her ever-line. "Hey mom, can you make sure to have some hot nachos ready? I might be home soon. With friends."
If mom is anywhere within 1 mile, right now some mexican-blend cheese is meeting a fiery death on a corn-chip graveyard.
This is all just rearranging the deck chairs, procrastinating the thing that she knows she should do. Unique opportunity, never another chance.
She never closed the telepathic comm-line with their Destructive host, so she just goes for it.
Is my dad still alive?
...
If so, do you know where he is?"
Karma is sure she will eventually try to kill DD, but just as he is using all those in the ship to advance his goals, it is clear to Karma that it will be necessary for a time to use him to advance her own goals of serving karmic retribution to the evil abusers of humanity, and of staying alive long enough to do so.
She says nothing, preferring to watch events from behind her mask.
Toxic rolls his eyes at Dave asking for nachos And since they are floating in the goop, they literally go all the way around.
He addresses the Doctor with respect. "I definitely want to help get rid of the V'Sori." He stops there, not wanting to get sycophantic.
"So, now we're a part of your 'team', whether we want to be or not. What do you have in mind for us to do for you?"
She calls on her ever-line. "Hey mom, can you make sure to have some hot nachos ready? I might be home soon. With friends."
If mom is anywhere within 1 mile, right now some mexican-blend cheese is meeting a fiery death on a corn-chip graveyard.
What district does your mother live in? What economic class is she? Is she Atlantean, Hybrid, or Human?
Ah-Rekhmire "A wise decision."
Dr. Toxic Dr. Destruction nods in acknowledgment.
Psiclops Destruction answers you.. "Generally you will do as you choose. Occasionally tasks will be suggested to you. Sometimes they will not be suggestions. If you perform well you will be rewarded. Fail and you will be discarded."
As Destruction finishes speaking the transport touches down. The iris door and rear ramp open revealing the empty parking lot/delivery yard in an industrial area. There are buildings on all 4 sides with alleyways allowing access. All of the buildings are dark.
Destruction exits the craft and invites you to follow. MindJack remains seated.
"You are at this moment free. I will contact you when you are needed. However you may find a secure shelter useful. Consider it your reward for the nights work."
At this moment a sign on one of the buildings lights up, it is up to you whether this sign is neon, video, backlit, or just spotlights illuminating painted wood. The sign reads "Black and Hensley Meats".
Destruction continues."Black and Hensley Meats originally belonged to the Spider. It was used intermittently by Alpha Squadron once the Spider decided to join that Parliament of Dunces. This site was largely cleaned out when the Squadron relocated to New York. It had been empty for some time even before the invasion. Make good use of it. There are more instructions in the main office."
Unless there are further questions, and likely even if there are Destruction returns to the transport which powers up and disappears into the night.
Psiclops says to the group, "Ok, well, let's go in and check out our new digs." He proceeds towards the front door of the building.
Karma is once again confronted with the decision of whether to stay and cooperate with DD or use her powers to escape and make a new start. She fully intends to keep up her campaign to get revenge by taking out the highest V'sori leaders she can, and since they are in Star City, the decision is easy. She will stay. If she is staying, she will stay with the group. There will be resources, allies, and a patron. If she leaves, she will not only be without all that but will have two enemies in the city to contend with.
She cannot, however, bring herself to say anything to the bad doctor. So she lets her silence be her implicit agreement to stay.
Once the ship leaves, she says to the group, "I am Karma. Call me Ghost, however, as I don't want that name broadcast to the public or the V'sori. Now let's look at this place. I have my own secret lair, but so long as we are not discovered here, I will stay here."
Dave perks up as Karma reveals she has her own secret lair. He wonders if his shitty one room apartment on the south side qualifies as either a lair or secret, and decides that it does.
"Yeah, I've got a secret lair too, but this one seems nicer. I'm gonna go pick out my room!" He bounds inside to get dibs on the best room.
Description is pending on the group choosing the upgrade. You might choose Security Team or Exotic Location or another upgrade that would radically impact any description.
Karma sends a telepathic message to Imagine. This is probably obvious, but we should probably all assume the place is bugged by DD. We should watch what we say if we choose to trash talk the guy or plan on anything that might go against his plans for us. We should do a sweep to see if we find any bugs. If you agree, pass it on to the rest.
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Imagine was melancholy most of the trip and kept silent, perhaps a blessing to most. Her ennui followed her off the ship where she marched, zombie-like, off. And then things stopped being boring.
Without warning her face screwed up in the throws of torture, her mouth wrenched open in a silent scream. One hand clutched at her waist and another to her head. Her body slowly collapsed downward until she was almost sitting on the ground. Her camouflage flickered between the guise of the perfectly dressed secretary and the dirty, grimy blue girl still covered in prison rags until it at last turned off entirely. The belt at her waist, long her prized possession, glowed yellow with a light of its own.
After some moments the silent scream fades and she regains her feet. Her hands wipe at eyes, as if cleaning up tears, and restores her beautiful illusion.
"Got a message," she says aloud, to no one.
"From dad," she finishes, her smile returning to her face.
She flies into the building to claim her own room.
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Having at last claimed a place, she tries for her mom again before returning the message to The Karma Ghost. "Meh. I don't have any way to check for bugs, and even if I did this place is more his than ours. Ya gotta remember these power-hungry types are paranoid first, so even if he did have this place bugged, us disabling them would frag him off faster than talking smack about him.
Besides, the way I see it? He's the landlord, and if he's got cameras around, then that's just how I, ah, pay for the room, ya see? ;-)"
Kara at last concedes that she doesn't actually know where she is so mom might be out of range so she gets out her commlink and gives her mom a call.
Dave arrives in the common space of the lair, with its dated but functional decor, and taps at his phone. "I'm going out for Shake Shack. I'll get takeout if anyone else wants to put in an order. Text me." He drops his hoverboard onto the sidewalk outside and speeds off.
He'll text back to Dave, ::Whatever's cheapest. Calories are calories. thx::
"So...until we get orders from Dr. Destruction, anyone want to steal something, or hit the V'Sori on our own? By the way, my name is Psiclops. I'm a telekinetic - I'm hard to hit, hard to kill, and can do massive damage. Oh, and I can go invisible and fly. That's about it. What about the rest of you?"
"Doctor Toxic, Chemical superfreak." He extrudes a pseudopod with Nic Cage's face on it to punctuate the joke. "I can do various acids, binding long chain polymers, and psychoactive gasses. I also have a library of pharmaceuticals and can bind up wounds. It's not pretty, but it'll keep you going if needed. I also tend to be smart and flexible. I can usually figure technical or intellectual things out even beyond my specialties."
Having at last claimed a place, she tries for her mom again before returning the message to The Karma Ghost. "Meh. I don't have any way to check for bugs, and even if I did this place is more his than ours. Ya gotta remember these power-hungry types are paranoid first, so even if he did have this place bugged, us disabling them would frag him off faster than talking smack about him.
Besides, the way I see it? He's the landlord, and if he's got cameras around, then that's just how I, ah, pay for the room, ya see? ;-)"
Kara at last concedes that she doesn't actually know where she is so mom might be out of range so she gets out her commlink and gives her mom a call.
I wasn't suggesting we disable the bugs, just be aware of where they are so we don't share information we should keep secret. Probably doesn't matter much since, as you say, we can probably assume some kind of surveillance even if we don't discover it.
As people start sharing their abilities, Karma says, "Just call me Ghost. I don't like to publicize my given name or the name I've assumed as a vigilante. Before I got caught by the V'sorrys, I was going after the villains responsible for my family's death by failed lab experiments. I apparently died and they discarded my body for cremation but something they did affected me and allowed me to come back to haunt the living. I'm not sure if I'm even alive or a real ghost with super abilties. Doesn't much matter, I suppose. As you probably know, I can go into ghost mode, where I can move through solid objects and am immune to things like bullets, although I know through painful experience that energy based attacks can wound me. I usually recover very quickly, however. It's hard to keep a ghost down for long. I can be visible or not, corporeal or not, but when I'm incorporeal, I can fly and see in the dark. So if we need to do recon or gather dirt or scout a location, I'm the ghost who can get the job done."
She half draws the katana out of its sheath and then returns it, followed by demonstrating how her wrist greaves can extend vicious looking claws. "My specialty in combat is up close and gory. But I usually need to gain the element of surprise or I can be beat up pretty well if attacked back. I also have the ability to partly solidify a body part inside someone else and mess with their internal organs, which can be pretty effective. If we get into a knocked-down-dragged-out fight, I will go ghost and try to keep out of the way of energy weapons and do surprise attacks when I can."
"By the way, I don't necessarily trust any of you right now, since I know nothing of your true motives. So I'll be watching you closely and where possible checking out your claims before believing them. As the saying goes, 'No honor among supervillains.' Just sayin'."
Dave had one foot out the door when introductions started to fly around. He listened in amazement as each super person explained what they could do.
"Oh, I'm Dave. I got a hoverboard that's pretty cool. Ever heard of Manowar? The band not the super villain. Anyway, I listen to them a lot. But I like some techno, too. And the hits of the 70's. Yeah. Anybody like shooters? I bet we could network a sick game of Call of Duty in this place. Umm, my Mom lives just down the street a ways from here. She'll probably want to check in and make sure I'm doing alright. Probably just once though, she's not like one of those moms that's always interested in what her kids are doing. So anyway, Ghost and Psiclops, do you want anything from Shake Shack? Do you eat?"
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"Hey Ghost and Psiclops, could you two please do us a favor and fly around and find out, like, where we are? We'll want a feel for where we are in the city and that will tell us who is all around us and what kind of resources we have nearby. Also the security around, etc.
Also I may know people in the area. ... Okay I almost definitely will know people in the area, but which area this is will affect what people I know.
You too, Dave. While they are flying and invis you can get us the "feel on the ground". Keep in touch. It'd be just awful if you died before we got to know each other."
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Like, I'll probably know what gangs are around here, and for a few bucks we can make sure they never bother us. And for a few more they can make the Fishies look one way while we are doing things in another, copy?
Oh, hey, and I don't know how you feel with being all formerly-perished and all, but if you wanna get a room and go knock the socks off Psiclops, I'll totally understand. I mean, I've seen the way he looks at you, so it wouldn't take much to tip him over.
Just sayin'. =]"
Karma announces to the group that she'll explore the immediate area in ghost form to get the lay of what sorts of neighbors there are. She'll also fly above the area to observe the city nearby.
After this, if there are no urgent tasks to attend to, she'll drop by her crypt and get some street clothes and personal items.
"So...until we get orders from Dr. Destruction, anyone want to steal something, or hit the V'Sori on our own? By the way, my name is Psiclops. I'm a telekinetic - I'm hard to hit, hard to kill, and can do massive damage. Oh, and I can go invisible and fly. That's about it. What about the rest of you?"
"I'm up for the 'hitting the V'sorrys' idea. Stealing is easy for me. I just ghost into a place, materialize next to something I want to steal while remaining invisible, pick up what I can carry, and then ghost away with the stuff. I'd not want to steal anything that might arouse suspicion or that would hurt a struggling small business owner, but stores that cater to the super rich usually have insurance out the wazoo, so they are fair game."
"Yeah, bring me back a burger and fries. No problem with the surveillance, but short of street signs I don't know every part of the city from the air, just my old neighborhood. If I spot it, I can tell you where we are in relation to it."
He walks out the front door, goes invisible, and rises to the sky. He flies in an increasing spiral centered at the hideout. He's looking for things he can identify, like malls or parks, etc. Also *major* roads or highways, and he'll memorize their names.
= Success
Once Karma has her street clothes, she'll first do a ghost flight once around the lair and then she'll go normal mode and take a walk to spend some time talking to locals to get more information about what kinds of criminals frequent the neighborhood and if there is any gang turf or organized crime presence. She doesn't take her cape or her katana, but has her wrist greaves/claws in case she encounters any trouble. I guess she'll also see who she would contact to get a couple of pistols.
Modifier: +2 from Streetwise edge
Result: 6 + 1 + 2 = 9, so one success + raise.
Dr. Destruction has just left. The parking lot is dark and silent.
The main entrance to Black and Hensley Meats is a black heavy double door. It is standing open at the moment. The interior spells musty but it is clear that no one has been inside this building for some time.
Inside the layout is largely up to you. Please see the campaign page for more info and odd things you find.
As you scatter through the building you find a number of interesting things.
1. In the long building there is a pallet holding 42 rectangular boxes. Once the plastic wrapping is removed the boxes are revealed to be Australian 5 man ration packs..
2. In the lounge (Wherever you decide it is, I recommend the second floor for the view) you find a ring of keys. There is one key for every external door and every door uses a different key. The keys are not marked in any way but the bow or head of each key may be whatever shape you like. The total number of doors are also under your control.
2. In former control room (Wherever you decide it is) you find a closed ruggedized Chinese PLA laptop sitting next to a Bata branded shoebox.
2a. The shoe box.
Inside are 7 sets of comlinks. See campaign page for details. Anyone who has already purchased a comlink can retroactively spend that money on something else at book prices or just keep the cash. You could also keep the link if you like and have a mode of communication that is neither Omega secure nor Omega contaminated. If that is something you are worried about.
2b. The computer.
It as a thumbprint scanner lock. Who opens it?
Psiclops says "One lousy laptop? I was expecting an array of monitors and some kind of at least mainframe computer. Oh well, let's see what we've got here..."
He opens the laptop and seeing the thumbprint scanner, puts his right thumb on it. After watching the screen saver for a few seconds, he hits the enter key, expecting a password prompt. Instead, a video pops up, showing a map of the city and a bunch of moving dots. There's also a column in the right-hand side of the screen marked "To-do list".