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Bill Dodds
United States
Loveland
Ohio
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Issue 8
ESSCAPPPPAY![/b]
Attending: Red Raven, Neon, Shiva, Tank, X
Tank, who was working in the shop and unaware of the crazy night's activities, finally stops working on his newest armor design long enough to get a drink and check his phone, which had several desperate messages from Neon about the very unsuccessful evening. He got the lowdown from Shiva and Neon, then called X. He convinced the angry teen to stop on his heedless charge to the chophouse, and he drove out and picked him up. The planning session began and lasted deep into the night. About four hours after Red Raven's capture, they hear an alert on the radio and listen in stunned silence as Overwatch raids a building in the Cass Corridor. On-the spot news crews quickly spout out all kinds of fantastic and unbelievable tales, reporting that the post-human known as Frank the Tank was rampaging through the streets, trying to escape from Overwatch officers. One by one, the radio stations and news crews were cut off, as Overwatch flexed its political might to quell the reporting.
Neon's cell phone rang, and he answered it, not recognizing the number. He was shocked to hear Raven's scratchy voice. "Come pick me up.."
After the bruised and beaten hero was given a little medical attention, he told his tale..
He woke up in a cramped and confined cell of some sort, only to be stung into unconsciousness by Rattler. He was lucid enough to hear all three of the Reaper leaders: Rattler, Juno, and Frank, arguing about what to do with him, and whether or not to take him to Hook or 'eliminate' the problem themselves. When he came to again, it was from the building shaking, and he hear rapid gunfire outside the crawlspace-like cell he was being held in. He heard screams, yelling, cursing,m and well ordered precision communication. He recognized it as military and therefore an Overwatch heavy SWAT team. Gradually the firing slowed, then stopped as echoes of 'Clear!' filled the building.
Raven waited until his muscles worked again and began working on getting out of his predicament. Already half-naked, his options were limited. Surprisingly, through unprecedented luck, savvy, and sneakiness, he managed to escape the cell, snag some clothes off a dead reaper, and escape the Overwatch SWAT that were in the process of cleaning up the mess. It looked a bloodbath to Raven, dead Reapers everywhere, and a path of injured SWAT members where Frank the Tank evidently went berserk and escaped. Raven overheard several important things: Juno was captured after escaping through a hidden route, Rattler teleported away, and that Frank went on a rampage, and was on the run, followed closely by SWAT, though it seemed likely they would call in a member of the Strike team, since Frank seemed much more dangerous than their initial reports indicated. Most importantly, they found a stash of the designer drug called Spark, also known as Static or Shark. After Raven's escape, he found a phone booth and called the team.
Shiva, who had a fair amount of street knowledge, recognized the drug'sname, and a search on the internet found out some disturbing facts. Spark was a hyped up version of 'Angel Dust' (phenylcyclohexylpiperidine), created out on the west coast. The drug, statiphenylcyclohexylpiperidine, had the added effect of temporarily boosting a post-human's powers. It was also a powerful hallucinogen, and was horribly addicting. There had been several incidents of static-induced psychotic episodes that led to homicidal rages. Nearly a thousand had been killed last year when a minor post-human quasi-celebrity od'ed on static and went berserk. It took the entire Los Angeles Strike Team to take out the boosted mutant.
If the Reaper leaders were using Static, it could account for Rattler's recent dangerous improvement, and explain why Tank was much harder to take down than the OSWAT team had expected.
The next day, the team seemed a little lost as to their next step. The backbone of the Cass Corridor Reapers had been broken, and the lesser members scattered. The Overwatch incursion was revealed on the morning news to be a 'gas-main explosion'. It destroyed an entire warehouse, and numerous members of the Reapers were injured or killed, incinerated. No word of the OSWAT was mentioned, of course.
Tank made contact with Lt. Delgado, in charge of the Gang Task force in the Detroit PD. He wanted to make a contact in the PD that they could form a relationship with, finding out if they could get some under the table police back-up or information. Raven was doubtful, claiming it likely that Delgado was on the take like the majority of the officers out there. An in-depth, compouter-hacking three hours revealed that Delgado seemed too good to be true; a decorated officer, who oft spoke out against corruption in the police department, relegated to a horribly-underfunded and understaffed department. His personal life was the usual shambles for a cop: divorced with two kids. His wife filed for divorce three years ago, citing irreconcilable differences. Delgado was too dedicated to his job and was not at home enough. His two kids live with their mother in a suburb outside of Detroit, while he lives in a little two bedroom apartment in the city. He showed no large bank accounts more purchases, no sign of 'pay-off' money anywhere.
Raven was still not convinced, but he saw that the opportunity was too good to pass up. He decided to call one of the city's well known journalists and set up a meeting as well, offering exclusive pictures of Watch activities.
Both meetings were set up.
Hopefully we'll come back to this after the Pathfinder game takes a break!
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