S081_The_Hopewell_Device Recap:
As
soon as they reach the base Kismet goes to get changed out of the
gown that 'Dracula' gave her. Network rushes to his room and puts on
a pair of pants.
The
villain closes on Network and rips his guts out with a swipe of a
claw. As Network collapses near death the purple bat assumes the form
of mist and escapes with the device.
Kismet
finds Network bleeding out but is able to save him with the use of
her healing powers!
Paladin,
Revenant, and Big Tuna are on their way back to the base from the
Jersey shore where they escaped Murderworld.
Preston
and Cherry Darling who were at the base last night have not been
accounted for … yet.
November
21, 2018 Wednesday (Sunrise at: 06:46)
06:40
Kismet
healed Network so he is only down 3 body and 3 stun. The majority of
the Nazi attackers were just mooks hired from the American Neo- Nazi
Party. The Neo-Nazis headquarters in New York is located in Queens.
Kismet
does a mental delving on the mooks and learns they are basically
clueless. They are fairly well trained (in small arms use, defeating
security, and demolitions) but know nothing of the purple-vampire guy
who was giving them their orders. All they know is their party wanted
them to follow the orders of the purple Nazi because the dawn of the
Fourth Reich is nigh!
Other
than the location of their own chapter house (the headquarters in
Queens) they have no useful information. They didn't even know the
purple vampire guy was Baron Blood, war criminal from WWII. He was
identified by members of the Brigade who are better versed in history
than these morons from Mooks-R-Us.
As
NYPD is taking the mooks into custody a black and white pulls up.
Preston and Cherry Darling, sharing a blanket, are in the back of the
car. The police say they were found skinny-dipping in Central Park
lake. The pair claim to have no memory of how they got there or where
their clothes are, but they are cold and want to get dressed and
drown themselves in hot coffee.
Network
makes a plan to mercilessly tease Preston about this incident.
The
police returned the pair to the Bunker but make no official record of
the event as a courtesy to the super hero team.
07:30AM Paladin,
Revenant, and Big Tuna, have taken a cab back to the base.
Paladin
is dressed in the peasant clothes he got from Murder World, Revenant
has his costume, but Big Tuna has only a towel. He goes to his room
and gets dressed.
Revenant
took a handful of parts from the Murder World robots so that he can
try to identify who produced the components. It is the first step to
finding Arcade: follow the supply chain of his technology.
Reviewing
the security tapes Paladin (with the help of the base computer and
the team) calculates Baron Blood's flight speed and direction. He was
heading across the East River toward Manhattan. At 44 MPH it would
take him about 3 minutes to cross the river. He would have 1, maybe 2
minutes, of safety before the lethal rays of the sun would have
overtaken him.
Baron
Blood would have to have taken shelter in one of the buildings along
Manhattan's eastern shore or possibly retreat under the river's
surface.
Kismet
takes an hour of preparation then performs a Mind Scan for the
unfamiliar mind of Baron Blood. Unfortunately she is unable to locate
the vampire.
While
Paladin and Kismet are busy Revenant takes advantage of the time to
examine the Murder World Robot parts. To his amazement he finds a
small label that reads Murder World Incorporated. The parts are
completely unique and untraceable.
Network
tries to locate Arcade on the dark-web. There are a few sites where
super villains, mercenaries, and other lowlife sell their services or
alternately hire talent. In America the two of the biggest sites are
Villainy
Unbound,
and Crimes
of the Heartless .
Network
finds that Arcade makes use of both of these, and very likely more.
Arcade seeks clients who want to have a target eliminated in a manner
similar to the Jigsaw movies, with the target having a chance of
escaping with their lives. Arcade promises elaborate death traps or
scripted final scenes for all occasions. In addition to murder,
maiming, and merriment he also trolls for contestants for his game
show channel on the Dark-Web.
Some
of the games he sponsors are 'Wheel of Torture', 'Real Jeopardy',
'Weakness Link', and 'Fatal Family Feud'. Those wishing to become
contestants, or more likely wanting to designate someone to be a
contestant, can pay handsomely for the privilege.
The
shows are televised and are popular but the pay-per-view tickets are
somewhat expensive.
If
you win prize packages include you getting to live, being free to
return to your life without further molestation, a cash award, and
being able to select future contestant. This last option is most
often used to get revenge on the person who nominated you.
Network
sends a message to Arcade. It reads simply, 'Hey, Big Fan. Would like
to hire you.' He does this with Charlie, the computer Golem that is
permanently spying on him, watching.
Network
sets up his own Golem to watch the message. When someone retrieves it
he will be alerted and the Golem will follow to see where the message
is delivered.
When
he finishes his preparations he tells Charlie with pride, 'that is
how it is done!'
Network
exits cyberspace with an idea. He asks Revenant to come up with bugs
that can be put on the team trophies. That way if they get stolen in
the future the team could track them. Kind of a Lojack but not for
cars.
11:00AM
A
large black Mercedes pulls up to the Bunker.
Pearl
Ivy and an unidentified man exit the car. Pearl asks for Paladin,
when he comes to the door she makes introductions. The man with her
is Andrew Rufus, her new boss and the current CEO of Prometheus
Medical and chairman of the Prometheus Foundation.
Mr.
Rufus makes Paladin's danger sense tingle but it is very muted, very
slight.
Pearl
looks uncomfortable and shifts her eyes downward.
Paladin
asks what the reason for this visit. Mr. Rufus suggests they talk
inside, out of the cold air. Paladin eyes the demolished exterior
walls of the base, the caved in roof, the wrecked cars that Kismet
threw at this morning's intruders and the elevator shaft that was
blasted by plastique. He suggests they talk in his car.
Mr.
Rufus and Paladin sit in back seat while Pearl takes the front. Mr.
Rufus wants the Brooklyn Brigade to 'return to the fold' and come
back under the umbrella of the Prometheus Foundation.
He
says that it would be good for the team. The Foundation could give
them temporary quarters while the Bunker is being repaired. Mr. Rufus
says that the (public) income statements show the Brigade's revenue
has been suffering. He also suggests that his predecessor acted
improperly when she cut the Brigade loose. He says he does not
believe she acted criminally but a lawsuit is being prepared against
her for damages caused by her reckless and questionable decision.
He
snaps his fingers and Pearl hands a folder to Paladin. He tells
Paladin that it is the Prometheus Foundation's proposal for bringing
the Brooklyn Brigade back into the family. He gives Paladin until
next Wednesday to review the proposal and get back to him.
Paladin
takes the folder but does not open it.
Paladin
exits the car and Mr. Rufus drives away.
After
Pearl and Mr. Rufus have gone Paladin places a call to Post
Nuclear .
Only reaching an answering machine he leaves a message for Sam to get
in touch with him as soon as possible.
Failing
to reach the Camarilla he calls the Devil's Hideaway to speak to the
Hell's Belles. Like Post
Nuclear
the Hideaway
is closed at this time of day. Frustrated but undeterred he and Big
Tuna drive to the converted church where the Belles make their home.
The
door is answered by a young woman with a pink and green mohawk,
piercings in her nose, wearing a vest and jean cut offs. Her vest has
the word Tramp.
Not
recognizing the young woman Paladin asks to see Sanguine. Tramp is
dismissive to the heroes until Paladin mentions this is about a
paying venture.
Tramp
refuses to invite the pair in but says that if they force there way
she won't try to stop them. Paladin realizes this is a test to see if
they are vampires steps across the threshold. Big Tuna follows.
Paladin derides her test because it would only exclude a few types of
vampires and be meaningless to so many other types of fell creatures.
Tramp
with a rather sharp tongue tells Paladin that it might not be a
definitive test but it is an easy one so why shouldn't she make use
of it?
Paladin
asks who she is as he does not recognize her. She tells him that she
is the Hauntress.
“Then
you recognize me! Why are you being difficult?”
“I
never said I didn't recognize you but anything could have happened
since we last met. It never hurts to be cautious.”
Hauntress
invites them to have a drink while she gather's the rest of the
Belles. When Sanguine arrives she is dressed in regular street
clothes and not the more revealing style of her stage costume.
Paladin
lays out that he is looking for Baron Blood, the Belles say he died
seventy years ago. No, he didn't. If you can locate him I'll pay 50
thousand dollars as long as you do it before 3PM today.
Sanguine
accepts. She directs Hauntress to find a safe place to release her
plaything and go 'do her thing'. She then tells Perdition to check
with her contacts in the lower planes. Perdition vanishes in a puff
of brimstone smoke while Hauntress/Tramp head out the door.
Paladin
gives Sanguine his phone number and they part company.
Paladin
then contacts the police and asks them to find the Murder World van.
He also contacts PRIMUS and gives them the location of the Murder
World location on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.
01:30PM
Big
Tuna has been doing a deeper dive on the security footage. He is
trying to discover how Arcade managed to kidnap everyone at the base
with no resistance.
He
discovers that the security hard drive were removed and copied onto
new media which were returned to the base. The time stamps where the
base was being compromised, roughly a two hour period, was not copied
on to the new memory devices. Therefore there are no ghost images to
be reclaimed.
This
brings to question how Arcade knew what kind of hardware to bring in
order to so seamlessly replace the originals. The fact that they were
prepared suggests that someone gave them advanced information about
the bunker's security layout and the hardware requirements.
The
base was originally provided by the team's founder The Crimson
Knight, just over a year ago. The base's hardware dates back to that
time and The Prometheus Foundation has the inventory and construction
records.
The
team wonders if it was just a coincidence that Andrew Rufus dropped
by with a merger proposal earlier this morning.
With
it being impossible to get anything more from the cloned hard drives
Big Tuna examines the other buildings in the area. The entire area
consists of warehouses and shipping offices, most of which have
security cameras.
Enlisting
the help of Network he taps the data from the surrounding
surveillance systems a more complete picture of what happens emerges.
At
2AM a large, very distinct, van parks two blocks from the Super
Secret Base. Two women and four very buff men exit the van. They walk
to the base where the Brigade lay asleep. One of the women bypasses
the security on the main door so they could gain access to the base.
When
the door is opened the van pulls close to the door.
The
women and men enter the base and carry the team members, Preston and
Cherry, out. They are then loaded into the van.
The
women return to the base and come back out roughly 30 minutes later.
This is the rough amount of time that would be needed for a competent
tech to remove the security hard drives, perform an edited high speed
copy, and then install the new devices.
The
team runs the van through manufacture databases and can not find a
match with any of them. The van, like the robots, are uniquely
created by Murder World, Inc.
Considering
the damage the base has suffered Paladin is looking for
reconstruction contractors. Peter Wallace, a project manager from
Wallace Construction, is looking over the site identifying what needs
to be done while sketching out a time table for the work.
Peter
Wallace understands the job is of the highest priority, but with
Thanksgiving being tomorrow the work can't start until Monday. He
points out that the elevator that gives the only access to the base
level won't be in service for at least a week. Safety regulations
require that there be another access to the base level and with the
elevator out of service the team will need an alternate means of
access anyway.
He
suggests adding a staircase or maybe a access tunnel to the existing
sewer system.
2:00
PM
Sanguine
calls Paladin. They arrange to meet at the Coffee Bean on the
campus of ESU. Sanguine and the Belles tell Paladin they don't know
where Baron Blood is but they know where he will be. She the tells
what the Belles have been to learn from their various sources. Baron
Blood is working with the Red Skull, yes, he is still alive. The
Skull survived World War II and is still working on winning the war.
The
Nazis are looking for the formula for an explosive that is as
powerful as a nuclear weapon but without the radiation. The explosive
is inert until the last two components are combined. There is no
known means of detecting the explosive making it perfect to smuggle
in to any sensitive areas, government bases, airports, anywhere.
The explosive, Xylon, was invented by Professor Roloc Bard. He was a
Nazi scientist who came to America under Project Paperclip after the
war. He is dead and has been for quite a while. His skull and several
other relics will be on display at the Met museum starting in
January.
The
exhibit is about Operation Paperclip with a focus on Wernher Von
Braun. The relics are in a secure storage room on one of the basement
levels until the exhibit hall is ready.
The
Nazi's want to get Bard's skull.
Sanguine
offers one last note about Xylon: after the chemicals have been
combined it must be used within an hour. After that time the formula
becomes inert once again.
Perdition
interrupts saying that it is viable for 24 hours, not one. She and
Sanguine argue a bit about what Perdition told her. Sanguine sighs
and says 'good help is so hard to come by these days'.
Perdition
objects, I am not 'the help'. The girls start to squabble among
themselves.
Paladin
leaves the 50 grand in cash in a bag at the table giving the girls
some privacy to enjoy their argument.
Returning
to the base the group (minus Kismet) decide to get the skull and
destroy it foiling the plans of Baron Blood and the New Nazi regime
he plans to anchor.
Needing
to get access to the skull they contact Director Canfield of PRIMUS.
After laying out what they know about the skull, Baron Blood, and the
Hopewell device she asks them to come to her office.
Which
they do.
The
Xylon formula is one of th great mysteries remaining from the second
World War , just like the Dr. Erskine's super soldier formula that
created Captain America. If it could be solved that would be
marvelous!
She
thanks them for the information but tell them that PRIMUS will handle
it from here. Sensing the group's reservation she explains that on
the world stage you can't swing a Sensing the group's reservation
she explains that on the world stage you can't swing a dead cat
without hitting someone with a nuclear weapon. Xylon would tip the
advantage in the favor of the United States again. Her arguments
basically boils down to 'you trust your government with nukes, you
can trust us with Xylon!'
The
group leaves her office. Once they are away they plan to get the
skull themselves and destroy it making sure the formula remains lost.
Revenant
has little trouble breaking into the storage room and getting the
skull. They are very careful not to be caught on surveillance and
make a clean get-away.
3:00PM
While
the rest of the Brigade is playing cat and mouse with PRIMUS Kismet
is gathering her luggage for the trip to the airport. She finds a
small stack of photographs and a note. There are several photos of
her in the shower. The remaining shots are of Sherry, also in the
shower. The last item, the note, simply says 'Hurry back, I'll miss
you! Love Orson'.
Kismet
calls Sherry who is at her parents house in Hoboken NJ with her loser
boyfriend Spencer Acosta. She tells Sherry about the pictures. They
agree that something has to be done about the pervy poltergeist but
they decide to discuss it later, after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Kismet
is concerned that Orson has gotten a hold of a digital camera and is
stalking the girls in her dormitory. Orson does not have a camera but
used the ability 'thoughography' to create the pictures. It is the
power to burn pictures from ones mind onto a surface, such as film.
The
flight to Topeka is just under 3 hours. During the flight she and
Edgar talk about the ghost. While it possessed Edgar's body his
mental powers were temporarily restored and Edgar would like to get
his powers back. They also discuss Kismet's dating prospects. Edgar
internally pervs on the thought of his niece and Sherry making love
with each other.
7PM
(NY Time) (6PM KS Time)
Kismet
and Edgar touch down in Topeka. They are met at the airport by Lionel
Robert. He was sent by Aunt Mabel to bring them to the house. As
Lionel is leading them to the helicopter Edgar repeats that it isn't
too late to go back to New York. She replies that they are still, at
least slightly, dependent of the family fortune that is controlled by
the people at the house.
It
is in their rational self-interest to keep the rest of the family
happy with him. Reluctantly Edgar agrees and falls in line.
7:30PM
(NY Time) 6:30 PM (KS Time)
There
are 50 members of the Cizko clan gathered in the ancestral home. Aunt
Mable is in the Grand room visiting with family she hasn't seen for
most of a year, many of the clan is with her. There are several more
family in the billiards room, playing game in the social room,
enjoying the pool downstairs, or lounging in the sun room.
The
staff is preparing a lite dinner which will be served at 7.
Kismet
is dressed in the black bat gown she got from Dracula (this morning
in Murder World). She is taking advantage of the dress but wants to
talk to Arcade about the mistakes he made where her 'fantasy' is
concerned.
Kismet's
mother Lenore grabs her by the elbow and drags her to a place where
they can speak privately. Lenore tells Kismet that their branch of
the family is in trouble. They are losing money. William is going to
quietly talk to other members of the family to see if any of them
might be willing to invest in upcoming and proposed projects.
Lenore
also tells her that William has resumed work on the Iron Side project
in violation of his is parole agreement. If he is discovered he could
find himself back in jail for a very long time.
When
Lenore leaves the room a very naked Marsha Rhalman, one of Kismet's
teenage cousins. Marsha is the twin of Cindy Rhalman, and yes their
parents named them after characters on the Brady Bunch .
Marsha
asks Kismet 'are you a super hero? You know how to keep secrets
then?' Marsha tells Kismet that tomorrow after the feast a group of
five super villains, including a guy who has a fish-bowl head with
his brain floating in it, plus a team of guys with guns will attack
the house.
The
bad guys want Kismet and Edgar. With 50 family members (and staff)
being held at gun point Kismet agreed to go with them. After Edgar
and Kismet have been taken away the bad guys murder the rest of the
family execution style.
Marsha
and Cindy managed to get away.
Kismet
asks Marsha where her current self is. Marsha casually answers that
she is wondering around somewhere. She came to Kismet because she and
Edgar are the lynch pins to the death of the family tomorrow. Marsha
thinks that if Kismet and Edgar aren't here the chain of events will
break and the family will be safe.
From
what Kismet knows of time travel from the Time Masters what Marsha
claims is impossible. She decides that she will reach out to the Time
Masters for explanation and confirmation.
But
first she gets in contact with the rest of the team (via Mind Link)
and tell them what is going on. She asks if they might be able to get
to Topeka to help defend the family if the villains do, in fact,
attack.
She
also says that she thinks they have made a mistake in how they
handled the skull situation.