November 19, 2018 Monday 1000      Preston collects the mail and delivers it to Paladin. There is an unusual letter among the typical correspondence that the team routinely receives. It has no return address and is printed by a machine to eliminate identifiable characteristic of handwriting.      The letter says:      You foiled my attempt to retrieve something from your trophy room. My client is displeased and has fired me. Lacking any further loyalties to my client it pleases me to complicate his desires. Keep a close watch on the fragment of the Hopewell device that is in your possession. Powerful forces left over from World War II are intent on acquiring it. Good Luck – Utility.      The team reviews what the Hopewell device is, a civil war era camera that can (allegedly) photograph ghosts. Paladin thinks there must be something more to it otherwise there would not be so much interest in it.      Paladin calls Dr. McQuark. Lydia answers the phone and promises him 30 minutes of muzak but the phone is answered by McQuark almost immediately.      He askes the Doctor if he can create more of the Glove Cleaner vaccine from the blood of someone who has already been inoculated? He replied that it would be possible but the result would not be as effective as the original vaccine. Doctor McQuark states that getting the original virus would be the best solution. Unfortunately there are no samples of the original virus left, it was destroyed along with the remaining doses of the vaccine, when his lab was set ablaze.      Paladin is in route to the new location of DMSS&G (Doctor McQuark's super hero Supply Shop and Gymnasium) to provide a blood sample but takes the time to call the base. Revenant answers the phone.      Paladin asks Revenant (who is one of the two tech guys who are members of the group) to dig out the hard drive that was salvaged from one of Bloodmoon's hunter robots back in May. Paladin recalls that he robots were operated remotely by a signal broadcast from somewhere in Manhattan.      Revenant says he wil get right on it.      Kismet has been spending the morning making travel arrangement for her and her uncle to go to Topeka for Thanksgiving. She toys with the idea of trying to locate Giganta in order to invite her and her son (Kismet's 18 year old cousin Herman) to come to the family Thanksgiving celebration. The idea does not advance beyond the planning stage however.      The flight out on Wednesday is confirmed but the return on Sunday might be dicey because of a storm is predicted to hit that day. Okina Maguro (Big Tuna) has been helping Network upgrade the security system for the base when Preston tells him that a police officer is here to talk to him.      At the door is Detective William Joyner. In a very accusational tone he questions Okina about his involvement, Okina corrects him, interest, in the land shark attack at the Tokyo Market.      The Tokyo Market is a known front for the Tsukihama-gumi Yakaza clan. Okina's (previous) association with Tsukihama-gumi makes Joyner suspect him of complicity. The Tsukihama-gumi will need to make an example of whoever attacked them. Otherwise more people will think they can resist their influence.      Tsukihama-gumi was attacked by land sharks. Land sharks (Bulette) are only used by the animal-men of Bloodmoon.      Joyner presses Okina for information concerning the Tsukihama-gumi being involved Doctor Anton Megalo. Okina does not know who that is but Joyer does not believe him.      A turf war between Tsukihama-gumi and Bloodmoon seems to be brewing and Joyner does not want innocent people to get caught in the middle. He gives Okina his card and asks him to call if he should think of anything.      After Joyner leaves Okina researches Anton Megalo. Megalo is a mad scientist who is wanted by law enforcement internationally. UNTIL, Interpol, PRIMUS, SAT, etc. are all looking for him. Meglo is a freelance weapons designer who has sold his services to VIPER and anyone else who can met his price. He transplanted alien body parts into a common thug creating the neo-super villain Oculon. Megalo has also created a dizzying number of evil cyborgs including (but not limited to) Ripper and Halfjack.      Revenant has been combing through the data on the hard drive. The contents was encrypted once upon a time but previous members of the Brigade had already deciphered it.      What he is able to glean from it is that the robot was piloted like a drone. It was intended to be constantly under the command of a remote pilot but a set of default instructions were present in case the connection was severed. These protocols included returning to a predetermined point for retrieval if the unit suffered sufficient damage.      Unfortunately the 'predetermined' points were all mobile and were reset after each deployment. They included ships, large trucks, and similar things where the robot could be discretely salvaged.      Revenant tried to get the comm frequency that was used (at least for this unit) but was not able to since the robots radio was not included with the hard drive.      So he tried a different approach. The hard drive was a custom build for the robot but it did use high grade components in it's construction. Tracking who used (or purchased) these components in bulk quantities he came up with a lists of suspects: Armbruster Tech, Eclipse Industries, Moreau Biometrics, Lex Corp, and even Prometheus Medical Tech.      A complimentary search revealed that Armbruster Tech has the exclusive contract to supply robots for the Stronghold and Safehold projects (the federal super prison and super asylum). Including the Minuteman series which Genocide coopted for their Genocide robots.      Paladin reaches DMSS&G and a rather terse Lydia Davidson working the reception desk. She asks him if he has an appointment, no, but Doctor McQuark is expecting him. Paladin in directed to have a seat and read the year(s) old magazines that they painstakingly sought out to not be interesting or informative until someone can see him.      Mick Krammer shows up to save him within minutes.      After getting Paladin away from the lobby he apologizes for Lydia's attitude. He explains that she is mad at Mick for forgetting the anniversary of their first date. Paladin remarks he didn't know that they were dating, Mick says they aren't, they're married.      Mick asks Paladin to call Hiram Worchester to see if he can get them reservations at Ace's High explaining the Ace's High is one of the best and most exclusive restaurants in the city. Anyone can go there by super heroes get moved to the front of the line. Paladin promises to do what he can.      They find Doctor McQuark working on a centrifuge, refining it to try to separate blood from the Glove Cleaner vaccine. He is very intent on his work so he asks Mick to take Paladin to Vincent to get his blood drawn.      After leaving Paladin places a call to Ace's High. They take his reservation information for a private alcove at 8PM. Paladin then asks to speak to Hiram. He is a friendly man who says that Ace's High would be delighted to take special care of Paladin's guests. Before ending the call Paladin says that he will take care of the bill. Hiram assures him that he will send it to the Bunker in his care.      Paladin sighs lamenting that everyone knows where the base is located. The then thanks Hiram but points out that the name of the base is not the Bunker.      Paladin then calls Mick and lets him know that everything is set for tonight. He also reminds Mick that suits and ties are appropriate dress code for the restaurant. He does not mention that the lady who took the reservation information said that super heroes who come in costume are also accepted as appropriate dress.      Kismet gets a call from Sherry. They talk about the upcoming holiday. Sherry was prepared to invite Kismet to join her family across the Hudson in Hoboken but there is no need since Kismet is going to Topeka      Kismet asks if Spencer is going with her. Sherry is downcast but says that yes, he is. Sherry's dad, Brock, is a big fan of Spencer. She describes them as best buds. Spencer will bring a couple twelve packs of Budweiser and Brock will provide a couple bottles of Jack Daniels sipping whiskey and they will go to town.      Sherry tells Kismet that her family is definitively non-typical. She will explain in more detail after the holiday.      Kismet tells Sherry that she is leaving Wednesday and will be back Sunday if the predicted storm does not prevent it. Somewhere in the conversation Kismet tells Sherry that she is pretty.      Sherry pauses for a second trying to find something to say but changes the subject instead.      Later Sherry sends Kismet an email; “Thank you for saying I was pretty. That made my day! You're beautiful and I love you!”      When Paladin gets back to the base after seeing Doctor McQuark he is approached by Barbra Satin, Babs, the team's mechanic. She wants to know about time off for Thanksgiving. She wants to see her aunt Agnes for the holiday. Paladin tells her to go, she squeals in delight and says she will be back Monday!      Rocko sheepishly asks for time off too. Paladin tells him to be back Monday! Rocko beams happily. He thought it would be an issue considering so many of his family are still involved in 'the business'.      Preston has no family, at least none that want to spend time with him (or whom he would want to spend time with) so he will remain at the base to take care of his team.      Paladin remarks that dealing with the needs of a staff is something that he isn't used to. They briefly lament not having Pearl Ivy to take care of that aspect of the team dynamics.      Network hacks into the computers at Moreau Bio Industries searching for information on the Glove Cleaner and/or Bloodmoon. As he enters Cyberpace the Golem that has been shadowing him for a long time is there waiting for him. He waves and goes about his business. The Golem does not wave back.      He finds nothing for either but he does find a buried email from Moreau's legal division to Harold Moreau (VP of operations for their New York operations. The email was also CCed to Mathew Barnes, head of MBI (Moreau Bio Industries) genetics division.      The contents of the email was that a lawyer named Claud Pruitt was concerned when Federal and Local law enforcement came to the New York offices of MBI looking for Doctor Phillippe Moreau. Harold admonishes the lawyer telling him to never put anything relating to 'him' on a computer. He (Harold) will speak to him directly.      The Email was dated over a year ago.      Coming up more-or-less empty on the search for data on Phillippe Moreau Network copies all the security information about the building. It has cameras, some IR cameras, pressure plates, magnetic card readers, digital combination locks, etc. Nothing too super to overcome. There are four security guards on duty at night but they have rapid response buttons hooked up to local law.      Network started pursuing information on Phillippe Moreau outside of the nodes located in MBI. He discovers that he is an internationally wanted criminal for crimes against humanity. He has done extensive human experimentation, sold bio-weapons to VIPER (and, again, anyone who met his price) and has been on the run for what seems like forever.      When he comes back to the real world he tells Paladin and the rest of the group about his shadow in the Net. Paladin thinks it would be a very good idea to know more about it. His shadow is a Golem, a computer program designed to go follow him. Paladin wants Network to identify the source of the Golem.      Network goes back into the net but this time he takes Big Tuna and Revenant with him. In cyberspace the tracking golem appeared as a 10 foot tall, yellow, vaguely humanoid shape with red eyes. The arms and legs were poorly defined limbs that seemed more for show than anything else, otherwise it had the appearance of being highly armored.      The golem did nothing but watch the group. As they moved around it the golem generated multiple eyes encircling its head to be able to watch them all.      After enjoying the mexican standoff for a while Revenenant wanted to see what would happen if Network exited cyberspace. Reluctantly he did warning Okina and Revenant about the time dilation between the real world and the net.      Network left, counted to five, and returned. While he was gone nearly two hours of subjective time passed during his absence. The golem sent a data package when Network left. An hour later (CST – Cyberspace Time) another package returned to it. When the golem absorbed the data it transformed. It grew two more arms and they morphed into weapons: a battle ax, a morning-star flail, and two machine guns. It also changed in color to a blood red becoming much more menacing.      Further it divided into two identical units. When Network returned it split and formed a third. One golem for each of the Brigadiers. The golems were very face, SPD 8, Dex 29.      They come to the conclusion that whoever authored the golem program must be inhumanly fast. After getting the data package from the golem he wrote an update to the system and deployed it to the one who was serving as sentry at the Bunker's node all in the 5 seconds of real world time that passed.      [Due to lack of time the battle was narrated rather than played through]      The updated golem entered killing combat against Okina (Big Tuna) and Revenant but only defended themselves against Network.      The heroes discover from this battle that damage taken when you are physically in Cyberspace is real and you carry the wounds back to the 'real' world when you come.      The logical conclusion is if you enter physically enter cyberspace you can die there.      Revenant thinks that the group can used the surveillance loophole against the golems if they need to battle them again.