Monday July 30, 2018 Apex’s decryption program finished the files taken from the
‘Glove Cleaner’ lab. The data is much too advanced for Paladin, Marvel Girl,
and Kismet to understand but Kismet and Marvel Girl did understand some of it. Kismet
was able to discern that the original pathogen was a silicon based life form
meaning that none of the life on Earth (all carbon based) would have any
resistance to it. Marvel Girl saw that it was most likely alien in origin and
was most likely lethal in its original incarnation but was modified to attack
brain function instead. Paladin noticed that the scientist who recorded the
majority of the data (up to three months ago) was Dr. Shelby Benson. Kismet looked up Benson on the internet and discovered that
he was arrested (about three months ago) by PRIMUS for his work in bioterrorism
for VIPER. Kismet took a copy of the decrypted files back to the ‘Glove
Cleaner’ lab to deliver it to the PRIMUS agents there. The agent in charge,
Sasha Blackwell, accepted the data but she and Kismet did not hit it off well.
Kismet asked that the Brooklyn Brigade be kept in the information loop but
Agent Blackwell did not seem keen on the idea. Afterward Kismet heads back to her dorm. As she leaves she
feels an invisible someone grab her chest then an unseen force tries to pull
her pants down. She throws up her force field and manages to protect her
dignity. Then she feels lips on her lips, and gets the impression that someone
then ran off giggling as he went. Paladin and Marvel Girl take a copy to Marley’s friend the Marilis
librarian. Marilis sets off Paladin’s danger sense so he only shows her a
single page of the research. From that Marilis is able to tell them basically
everything they already have learned about the pathogen. Marilis also tells
them it is nothing that could be found on earth and must be incredibly ancient
or from space. Paladin says that she is working way under her pay grade as a
librarian. He then leave and Marley (Marvel Girl) follows him out. Paladin decides he wants to take the research to Dr. Elias
McQuark. They call DMSS&G (Dr. McQuark’s Super Hero Supply Shop
and Gymnasium) and make an appointment to see Mick Kramer, Dr. McQuark’s second
in charge in 30 minutes. After looking over the data Kramer says it is beyond
him and takes them to see the McQuark. McQuark tells them after seeing the full
data that organism is definitely alien, probably arriving on Earth tens of, or
thousands of, years ago, most likely by meteor. It must have been somewhere
remote and devoid of life since its arrival or there would be no life on Earth,
or what is here would have been very different indeed. From the data they gave him he and his team are going to
build a computer model of how the pathogen affects organisms that it encounters.
He refuses to track the pathogen through a primate because all life is sacred.
McQuarks says he needs some of the original pathogen or at the very least some
of the modified pathogen. Paladin tells him they have some of the Kindred’s
stabilization serum, McQuark believes it might have been developed as a spin
off of Bloodmoon working on a inoculation or a cure for the Glove Cleaner
pathogen. Paladin goes to the Glove Cleaner lab and asks for some of
the pathogen but Agent Blackwell says that it has been moved to a more secure
facility. She will send his request to her superiors and they will let him
know. The group has been staying in touch with mind link crystals
that Kismet has provided. Paladin heads back to the base. The sun has set by the time he
gets there and he finds a couple of policemen waiting outside the base door.
They invite him to come and speak with Lieutenant Campbell. They take him to a
run down section of the city near the waterfront where a shake has been built
out of driftwood. Inside is a man that the policemen identified as Campbell . Campbell tells Paladin that Rhazazarak is framing him for
the death of Father Benedict (in France ). Campbell says that he
might be called to end Paladin’s life and he does not want to upset the cushy
life that he has become accustomed to so he is hoping that Paladin will leave
town before it comes to that. Campbell
has the officers take Paladin back to where they picked him up from. Paladin
calls Cassandra to give her the head’s up on what Campbell told him. Cassandra says she will
look into it and whines that because of the Brooklyn Brigade she is going to
have to start greasing the palms of politicians, ambassadors, and other
international men of influence. Kismet arrives at her dorm and finds Shannon
on the couch in the common room eating popcorn and watching Invasion of the
Body Snatchers. Shannon asks Kismet if
anything odd has been happing to her lately. Shannon
tells her that the room she is living in was the scene of a suicide in the
1920s. Orson Arlington’s ghost has never let a male occupy that room. He drove
them out through various means. Girls however he haunted in other ways. Orson
Arlington is a pervy ghost who preys on pretty girls. The longer you reside in
the room the longer it takes for his haunting to end. Shannon
offers to let her stay with her until they can find her a new room somewhere.
In that way the haunting can end as soon as possible. Kismet declines saying she can handle the situation herself.
She goes to bed and in the morning discovers all her under
clothes are gone and all the rest of her clothes have been transformed to very
thin, transparent, white sleeveless tops and bright pink lycra hot pants. She
goes out and replaces her clothes more frustrated than anything else.
An agent of Primus comes to the base and tells Paladin that
‘at this time’ his request for a sample of the glove cleaner pathogen has been
denied.