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Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

Vinnie nods, "Sure, sounds like a good plan. I'll wait to see what Nora can read, and then I'll do a quiet flyby or two."

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professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

"I'll get into the river upstream of here and make my way down next to the docks, I can hold my breath a while, I should be able to sneak close without getting spotted, close enough to listen in to what they're saying. If it goes south I'll try and hit them from a different direction to cause some chaos so we can regroup."

Slugger slinks back into the shadows, moving upriver before slipping into the water out of sight, his torso swelling as he draws a massive breath,. He will move under the water, with no bubbles or snorkel to betray his presence until he gets close to the docks, ideally trying to come up underneath the docks. Once there he will raise his head up just out of the water, his eyes expanding comically, twitching and wiggling as he filters out the sounds of the water washing against the pier and the ship, then the sounds of the city, then the sounds of henchmen... trying to listen to the Boss and the family, trying to figure out what was going on.

Will use Expand Torso to try and Frogman my way over to the big meeting, close enough where I can raise my head up just out of sight and expand my ears to listen to what the Named Villains are talking about.

Dachshundofdoom
Feb 14, 2013

Pillbug

Isaac Hennessy/Akela the Shimmering

"I got nothing. Guess I'll just wait for the fireworks to start."

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
BRAD!

The girl with the bike yelps in surprise as BRAD! speaks to her, but to her credit, responds with a reflexive roundhouse that passes harmlessly through his body, still coalescing from the shadows. It appears to take her a moment to piece together what just happened, but it seems she's enough in the know to be aware of BRAD!'s powers. She reaches up and takes off her helmet, freeing long, dark hair that blows gently in the night's wind. Her face is as beautiful as the rest of her, and if BRAD! had a type other than "breathing", she would be it. The woman sizes BRAD! up for a moment before introducing herself. She speaks bluntly, but doesn't sound unfriendly. "Uh, hey, I'm Angela. This isn't quite how I was hoping our first meeting would go, but I guess it's difficult, looking for someone for so long, and not knowing what to say once you find 'em." Apparently, this Angela must have been admiring BRAD! from afar for quite some time.


Everyone else

Nora senses general feelings of unease from the group of mobsters, but it seems they're less worried about the heroes than they are the Track & Field Gang. She can't get a read on the don or his sons, her powers are no secret, so they may be wearing anti-psionic earpieces for just this sort of occasion. Luckily, they're too expensive to deploy in any large amount. In any case, their lieutenants provide a few bits of choice information. A couple seem to have reservations, they think what they're up to is a violation of the tradition, and a couple others are feeling a little insecure for some reason, like their positions are being threatened. They seem to be deliberately avoiding thinking about what, exactly, is on the boat, probably another precaution against Nora's abilities, but it's apparently something that could play havoc with the family's power structure.

The Suit and Slugger are able to take up stealthy positions close enough to the meeting to overhear a bit of talking. It's primarily a discussion about the shipment. It's referred to in vague terms, but it's clearly nothing living, and there's a large supply of it aboard the boat, enough that they're concerned they may not be able to load it all up before sunrise. However, before the conversation can go much further, Nora detects new minds entering her field of awareness, closing in on the meet, and quickly. A loud crashing can be heard, like a truck ramming into the wall of a nearby warehouse. However, seconds later, it's proved to be no truck at all when The Juicer punches his way through the other end of the warehouse opposite the cargo ship, the other members of the Track & Field Gang in tow. He shouts, "Oh yeah! The juice is loose!" as the Carozzos open fire. Don Carozzo taps the ash from the end of his cigar dispassionately before gesturing to his sons, who gather around him. He takes a small device from the pocket of his overcoat, and presses a button on it, activating what must have been an emergency teleporter of some kind, as the five of them immediately vanish. This leaves half a dozen of the Carozzos' lieutenants and a large, though rapidly dwindling, number of nameless mooks. The Track & Field Gang seem to have the advantage, and if left alone, will likely make off with whatever's on the boat. Whether or not both sides will immediately turn on any intervening heroes is unclear, three-way battles tend to be extremely unpredictable.

(Here's the choice, you can just let the Track & Field Gang have whatever's on the boat, you can wait for a winner of the fight and try to take them on, or you can jump in right now and hope that the Carozzos don't shoot you all in the back.)

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

Vinnie thinks to the group, "So do we want to jump in right now, wait until one side has been defeated, or is there a third option?"

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

"I could sneak onto the ship and see what they're smuggling."

OscarDiggs
Jun 1, 2011

Those sure are words on pages which are given in a sequential order!

Liam Rochay AKA Claymation

“If you think you can, that might be a good idea Slugger. If we have some intel to bring to the police we should be able to get a clearer idea of what's going down. Personally, I vote for waiting for the two groups to wear themselves down, then attack when one is about to win."

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

Slugger slips back under the water, moving to the far side of the cargo ship before stretching his arms up and pulling himself over the side, trying to stick to the shadows and stay out of sight. It looked like there weren't any legitimate dock workers around, so hopefully the ship isn't well guarded. He will attempt to make his way into the hold, or otherwise track down where this "shipment" was located, and trying to figure out what it was while the villains fought over it.

Captain Rehab
Jul 8, 2005

BRAD! the Living Skeleton

BRAD!'s grin is the last thing about him to solidify from the shadows. He straightens his jacket and steps in closer to the woman, maybe just inching inside what most people would consider their personal space.

"Angela? Looks like the right name for a girl like you."

He leans in a little closer as his grin gets wider.

"Fan of the band, huh? We're good, but I'm even better solo. So what can I do you for?"

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
BRAD!

The woman takes a step back, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "Uh, wow, okay, better get to the point, then. Do you remember going to a Dave Matthews Band concert back in '98? You told one of the groupies you were a roadie, and could get her backstage? Well...," Angela gestures her hands down past her sides, looking a bit embarrassed. "Probably should've played it safe, Dad."

(Welcome to your subplot, titled "He Already Died".)


Everyone Else

Slugger doesn't have much trouble slipping into the cargo ship. The crew was apparently dismissed, presumably as soon as the ship docked. One could assume it was to maintain plausible deniability on their part. Making his way to the cargo hold as the battle rages outside, he finds a large number of crates, marked as carrying pharmaceuticals. Peeking inside reveals boxes of pre-filled syringes filled with an unknown chemical agent. Lacking more than a basic knowledge of chemistry, Slugger can't identify the contents offhand, but he might make a deduction, if he can put the clues together.

The others stay put and observe as the Track & Field Gang finish clearing out the Carozzo goons, and shift focus to the capos. Hothead Malone breathes flame at them, but it does little to hold them back, and Jimmy Two-Arms is sent sprawling by a tremendous blow from The Juicer. If the team waits much longer, they'll be left to stop the gang themselves.

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

Vinnie thinks to the group, "So how much longer do we wait? Doesn't look like the Cardozzo's are going to do much to stop them."

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger


Telepathy posted:

"This entire shipping compartment seems to be filled with some sort of premade chemical injection. Based on the Carazzo's family use of gene modification for the sons to gain their powers, and the fact that the Track and Field Gang want it so bad, these must be some sort of chemical enhancement or mutagen injections. Neither group can be allowed to acquire this shipment."

Slugger will dash back up the stairs to the deck of the cargo ship, summoning his armor and weapon. If no one stops him, he would normally start attacking as soon as he can jump off the ship and enter the melee.

However, he takes a moment when he reaches the deck of the ship and closes his eyes, grasping his baseball bat tightly and trying to use his 4th Dimensional Sight, trying to put his self-training regime to use...

If everyone agrees Slugger is ready to go. I'll have Big Arms(2), Big Torso(1), Time Speed (2), Armor (3) up and going, and since it's part of what he has been training I will also hold onto the Baseball Bat and try to look forward into the future and try to plan out an attack play (5) - total power spent going in, 13

Captain Rehab
Jul 8, 2005

BRAD! the Living Skeleton

BRAD! also takes a quick step back.

Patting the pockets of his jacket, he finds his cigarettes and lights one, takes a long drag and lets out a quiet laugh.

"OK sweetheart, I've seen the long lost daughter one before. Thing is, I ain't go no money, and I'm kind of in the middle of something right now. So just cut to the chase and tell me, what's the angle?"

He taps some cigarette ash on the ground.

"Seriously - Dave Matthews Band? You gotta do you're homework if you're gonna pull a con like thi - ".

He stops speaking as his mind finally shifts into gear. 1998 was a blur to him. So was '99. If he was being honest with himself, most of the late '90s and early 2000s.

He can, however, blurrily recall some rear end in a top hat white guy singing rear end in a top hat white guy sadsack poo poo at a show, and BRAD! may or may not have been working it. He also may or may not have used that line to get laid. It's definitely the sort of thing he'd do, and come to think of it, the woman in front of him did kinda look like a woman he vaguely remembered...

gently caress.

"gently caress!"

Go RV!
Jun 19, 2008

Uglier on the inside.


Bleedin' Nora

"Yeah, we're gonna deal with this one. Let those two groups of doofuses fight. They aren't the priority, that shipment is."

Nora thinks for a moment, before going further.

"Suit, how much of that ship can you blow to piss before things go south? I feel like we'll need a quick exit strategy too. Slugger, if you see any innocents, toss 'em off the ship, yeah?"

Go RV! fucked around with this message at 00:00 on May 19, 2017

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger


Telepathy posted:

"There are no workers on board. I am going to make these criminals face Justice"

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

"Not sure Nora, Maybe, I should just go into the ship, and try to vaporize as much of the shipment as I can, instead of the ship? "

OscarDiggs
Jun 1, 2011

Those sure are words on pages which are given in a sequential order!

Liam Rochay AKA Claymation

"If we're going to engage, we definitely need to do it soon. If we're not..."

Telepathy posted:

Slugger, can you grab some of whatever it is as a sample to give to the police?

"If you're inside the ship Vincent and you start blasting, then they're going to know and suddenly we're engaging in a sinking, enclosed space while we're a person down. Attack it from here, we can destroy a good portion of it keeping it our of their hands, while giving us a better ground to either fight on, or to disengage from. Plus, at least from here you can see what you might hit if you pierce the hull. You won't have that luxury from inside."

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

Vinnie thinks to the group, "Okay, I'll blast the ship as soon as Slugger jumps off the ship, I don't want to accidentally catch him in the blast." The suit flys to a point that puts him able to fire down into the ship with the first blast will hopefully hit just above the water line at an angle near the cargo hold.

Do I have to roll to hit a cargo ship?

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
BRAD!

Crossing her arms, Angela's tone turns annoyed. "Okay, look, all I know is the story my ma told me, and it looks like you remember. A few days ago, some private investigator shows up at my apartment and tells me he knows my father's location. I dunno who the hell hired him, but, after he showed me the article sayin' you're some kinda superhero, I figured I'd track you down. I live right over in Hoboken, so it wasn't exactly an epic journey." She sighs. "To be honest, I didn't really think this through, I got know idea what to say to you. I mean, you're s'posed to be my father, but you're really just a stranger to me." Angela seems to be at a bit of a loss.

Everyone else

Slugger gets to the deck of the ship, and his future sight shows him a unique opportunity. Rather than jumping immediately into the fray, he lands himself behind some crates near the ship, the ongoing fracas keeps the bad guys occupied, and he isn't spotted. What is spotted, however, is the bright streak of light that sears a hole through the cargo ship, causing it to begin taking on water. The fight seems to stop all at once as everyone looks for the source of the blast. It's The Umperor who speaks up first. "Crap, they're here! I was hoping they'd be occupied longer." A few stray shots whiz and streak past Vincent, but being a starfield against a starfield has its advantages, and it quickly becomes clear that they can't actually see him. After the unsuccessful volley, the remaining villains seem to come to an unspoken agreement, and rush the ship, intent on absconding with as much of the shipment as they can.

(As long as The Suit is flying around, he has the benefit of Invisibility. You're at -1 to be hit, and +1 to hit, and the bonus goes up 1 every turn you go without doing anything to give away your position, giving it away resets it back to 1. Also, enemies attacking in the wrong direction miss automatically, so if you were to, say, attack, then move and not attack, you'd be completely safe. Everybody roll initiative if you want to try to stop the villains from grabbing the pharmaceuticals. The Triathlete moves on 37 with three actions, everyone else moves on 23 with two. You're all at -2 to hit the Carozzo lieutenants or The Triathlete, as they're all level 3, you're at -3 to hit Juicer or Umperor, as they're both level 5, you're at -7 to hit Le Fenseur due to his being level 5 and having Heightened Defense, and you're at -4 to hit The Tosser, as he's level 7, one benefit of being the oldest member of the gang. The remaining Carozzo guys are Hothead Malone, Thumps Mackenzie, Ricky the Crab, Gene Gene the Killing Machine, and Little Frankie, not to be confused with Big Frankie, who already got knocked out.)

EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 04:25 on May 22, 2017

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

Initiative: 1d10+31+31 65 Current Power: 73

Vinnie flys to up to a point where the angle of the blast will destroy a portion of the ship near one of the gangways, hopefully before the villains can use it to board the vessel.

Action 65: Spend 6 for Void form. Fire into ship. Beam Cost: 3 Current Power: 64

Action 49: Fly to location allowing me to: Fire into second gangway. Beam Cost: 3 Current Power: 61

Action 33: Fly to location allowing me to: Fire into where I think the cargo hold is. Beam Cost: 3 Current Power: 58

Action 17: Fly to location allowing me to: Fire into side of ship near waterline again. Beam Cost: 3 Current Power: 55

Action 1: Fly to location allowing me to: Fly around the ship to keep enemies guessing at my location.

Mykkel fucked around with this message at 19:32 on May 25, 2017

Captain Rehab
Jul 8, 2005

BRAD! the Living Skeleton

BRAD! takes a couple more stuttering steps back and puts a hand to his head, massaging his temple.

"Yeah... yep... I mean, yeah, I am a superhero. drat right.".

He finishes the rest of his cigarette with one drag and, crushing the butt under his boot, looks at his gold Rolex, then at his communicator, then at his gold Rolex again, muttering the words "detective" and "daughter" repeatedly under his breath.

He takes a deep breath.

"OK, so we should probably have a beer or something. I'm sure you got some questions. I do, too. Like who the gently caress this detective guy is. Thing is, I've kind got a thing going on right now. Important thing. Italian guys and hosed up athletes. It's complicated.".

He holds up one finger while he uses his communicator.

"Just a sec. Just a sec".

He punches in a message to Slugger.

"SRRY DUDE. GOT KID. U OK?"

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

Initiative: 1d10+19 23

Slugger waits until the criminals are running by him behind his crate, swinging hard at the first, closest person who comes running by him. With his long arms and huge bat, it's easy to swing at anything nearby. (I assume it would be the Carazzo's, I think they would be closer? I did the math with Carazzo's in mind, not taking into account any potential bonus I get from striking from the side/in hiding/Future Vision)

"To be fair, we got here before you did."

5 + 3 (Big Bat) + 2 (Speed) + 2 (AccBonus) + 2 (Big Arms) + 4 (extra) - 2 (level) = 15
Swing TN 15 (Correct): 1d20 16
(If I'm striking from the side/surprise then this is a hit:
Damage: 2d10+1d6+1 18

Slugger will jump in front of the charging criminals, his torso and arms swelling grotesquely, and he summons more armor and a riot-style shield, taking another swing as he tries to interpose himself between them and the cargo ship until the others arrive.

"Flee or face justice, criminals."

Swing (TN 15): 1d20 15
Damage: 2d10+1d6 17

Basically I'm going to try and use a combination of Sherlock Holmes vision fighting and constantly repairing my armor to try and slow down/rope-a-dope the criminals until the others arrive with hopefully a better plan, but in general just be in the way to keep the bad-guys from getting onto the ship.

Also BRAD!, assume you get a comical response where Slugger tries to answer in the middle of a fight and you just hear him getting the poo poo kicked out of him
Power: 54 - 4 - 4 = 46

OscarDiggs
Jun 1, 2011

Those sure are words on pages which are given in a sequential order!

Liam Rochay AKA Claymation

Initiative: 18+1d10 22

"Right. I'm going to move in closer, try to intercept a few before they make it to the boat." With that, Clay is off, moving at his ponderous speed toward the running Carazzo goons and Track and Field members.

Just getting into boulder tossing range for now. Not close enough to star fighting hand to hand, hopefully.

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

Telepathy posted:

"Nora, we probably won't be able to hold them for long. Try to read their minds and figure out where they're going when they start to flee, we can track them down and deal with them separately later. We'll make it look good so they don't suspect here

Go RV!
Jun 19, 2008

Uglier on the inside.


Bleedin' Nora

quote:

I'll see what I can get, but if you bring me one, I can get a better read.

Nora takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She begins to actively scan, looking for destinations, backup plans, anything that's useful.

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
BRAD!

Angela waves her hand at her father, as though shooing him away. "Go, go, save the city or whatever. Give 'em one for me. The dick gave me your number, so I'll be in touch." She laughs as she dons her helmet and hops on her bike, taking off with a cloud of dust. Unfortunately, by the time BRAD! arrives, the action is already over, and the police have finally made it to the docks.


Everyone else

The team makes a valiant effort of holding off the criminals, and may have even succeeded, had it not been for the Triathlete. Slugger feels a massive weight on his impromptu shield, and then sees the villainess on her custom bike, The Juicer holding on behind her, having used Slugger as a ramp. She calls out, "Thanks for the lift!" behind her as she hurtles toward the deck of the ship. However, at that moment, Vincent hits what must be a fuel tank of some sort, as the entire ship goes up in an enormous fireball, neither The Triathlete nor her boss can be seen, but all things considered, it's entirely possible they survived. The remaining Carozzo goons, realizing their plan is a bust, decide to surrender, likely realizing that with the evidence burnt to a crisp, any potential case against them has gone up in smoke. However, the remaining members of the Track & Field Gang flee in the confusion, and chasing them would mean leaving the mobsters unattended and possibly able to salvage something from the burning ship. However, Nora did manage to pick up some stray thoughts from the retreating villains, the words "underground", "genes", and "CHESS".

A few minutes later, the police arrive, having managed to regroup after falling for the Track & Field Gang's ruse. Captain Valentino approached the heroes as the Carozzo lieutenants are led away, and asks, "Would one o' youse mind explainin' what the hell just happened here?"

(On the plus side, you deftly prevented the bad guys from getting at the shipment, mostly, and the explosion was definitely nobody's fault, plus you got a clue. Downside, it looks a little bit like a fiasco to the uninformed outside observer.)

Go RV!
Jun 19, 2008

Uglier on the inside.


Bleedin' Nora

Nora smiles, and steps forward. "Of course, dear. About an hour ago, we were able to track down a lead that there was a Carazzo shipment coming in, and Track and Field were interested in it. Became a scene. We were able to infiltrate and found that it was some sort of high-grade chemical. I'm no chemist, but bearing in mind the interested parties, we decided it was in our best interest to dispose of it before it hit the streets."

Her smile drops, and she looks the Captian straight in the eye. "Unless you were interested in a slow-boat full of chems in criminal hands?"

OscarDiggs
Jun 1, 2011

Those sure are words on pages which are given in a sequential order!

Liam Rochay AKA Claymation

Making his way back from his unsuccessful interception, Claymation arrives just in time to for Nora and the Police to start talking. "Nora has the right of it Captain. Anything the Carazzo were shipping in that the Track and Field wanted to steal, well keeping it out of both their hands was a priority."

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

The Suit lands behind Nora and Claymation. "Sorry for the mess officer."

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

After the ship explodes Slugger tries to help put out the fire by smothering it in mental construct material while the others talk to the cops. Better to try and contain the fire before a major spill or other disaster happens in addition to the explosion. He's also trying to contain the fire so the job for actual firefighters won't be as hard, to whatever degree of success he can manage. Hopefully, he can also salvage one of the chemical samples before they are all destroyed.

"Claymation, can you turn my plastic into something more flameproof as I disperse it? I might also be able to do a temporary patchjob to keep the hull from completely sinking so we can unblock the pier for legitimate business traffic"

Slugger will attempt to do damage control on the ship to try and improve our image/keep the pier open/preserve what evidence he can while the more... friendly party members talk to the cops.

Captain Rehab
Jul 8, 2005

BRAD! the Living Skeleton

BRAD! hops off his bike and saunters up to the rest of the group.

"Heard I was coming and hightailed it out of here, huh? Sorry I missed the fun, guys - kinda had a... situation.".

BRAD! starts intently fixing the frayed cuffs of his jacket.

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

As Slugger is summoning plastic to help control the blaze, he hears BRAD! and slowly turns his head towards the skeleton man. Slugger notes the tone, and the strange, almost embarrassed behavior. BRAD! never got embarrassed.

"What did you do?"

Captain Rehab
Jul 8, 2005

BRAD! the Living Skeleton

BRAD! thinks about Slugger's question for a moment.

"Uh, remember that time I found that fifty bucks underneath the counter at the store, and it was definitely mine, even though I couldn't remember losing it there and it looked like it had been there a long time?"

He shuffles a little awkwardly.

"So yeah, it's pretty much like that, except it's my daughter, not money, and it was Hoboken, not under the counter."

BRAD! furrows his brow, trying to think of what dads say to people. His experience is somewhat limited.

"Anyway, touch her and I'll kill you!", he says with a nervous laugh.

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

Slugger stops what he's doing and stares at BRAD! for a long second, before grimacing and pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm sorry, I assumed all of those stories of women you'd slept with were complete fabrications. Give me a moment to alter my worldview into one where at least one of them is true."

Then he looks back up to BRAD! and tosses him some keys, "Alright, take her back to my place, discretely. I get the feeling that this is some sort of plot, the timing is too convenient. We'll deal with this after the situation here is stabilized."

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
Captain Valentino nods along with Nora's story, and shrugs helplessly when it's finished. "Guess there ain't nothin' ta do about it now. Way to get dem steroids offa da streets, youse guys." Aside from his blatant display of incriminating knowledge about the drug shipment, Nora picks up an additional surface thought from the captain with remarkable clarity. "They was behind on their payments, anyways." As The Suit sets down, Valentino scoffs, "Of freakin' course it was you what set this shitshow off."

The cleanup effort continues apace, with The Slugger and Claymation doing what they can to mitigate the overall damage. A few syringes remained unharmed, though the chemical was apparently quite flammable, causing the blaze to consume the vast majority of the shipment. Slugger was able to lay claim to the remaining samples, as superheroes have been given jurisdiction to independently investigate superpowered crime ever since the Italian superhero, Il Pipistrello, lobbied the UN for the privilege. When passed through the crime computer's built-in mass spectrometer, the drug is revealed to be, in fact, a steroid, as Captain Valentino had let slip. However, it was like no steroid on record, many of the hormones used are identified as extraterrestrial or even extradimensional in origin, and would be exceeding difficult to obtain. The biological simulation program in the crime computer has difficulty predicting the exact effect the steroid would have on the human body, but a dramatic increase in all physical parameters is all but guaranteed. Anyone who shoots up with the drug could probably punch their way into a fallout shelter or rip a tank in half. And the Track & Field Gang probably have at least one crate of the stuff.

BRAD! gets a call from Angela the morning after the incident at the pier, and forwards Slugger's offer of a place to crash. Angela is confused by the offer more than anything, reminding her father that she has an apartment, and only lives about half an hour away. She offers to instead meet up for coffee later that week.

(The T&F Gang are off the grid for the moment, so now it's up to you to solve the case before they strike again, gumshoes!)

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

After the fire is controlled, Slugger takes the samples back to the basement base and starts analyzing the materials. His expression is grim as he examines the readouts. Potentially extra-dimensional muscle enhancements, the type that the computer didn't know how to analyze. As it ran through more simulations, Slugger went over to the big cork-board and started filling in blanks with pictures, and connecting them with bits of string and tape.

quote:

The Carazzo's ordered this shipment brought in.
Observation: The shipment was so large they brought out a sizable crew and still weren't sure they would be able to offload it all in a single night. Therefor, a substantial amount of time and effort must have been spent loading the vessel.
Question: What was the charted path for this vessel, where did it travel to? Perhaps attempting some crowd-sourced intelligence gathering, massive cargo ships are hard to miss and there are enough boat enthusiasts in the world taking pictures of major ports that it should be possible to figure out where this stuff originated from.

The Track and Field Gang found out about the shipment.
Observation: They murdered a Carazzo goon, likely to get specific information on the shipment. However it is incredibly unlikely this was a random act hoping for a score - the Track and Field Gang are tough, but picking a fight with the Carazzo crime family on a hope seems far fetched.
Question: How did they know about the shipment enough to get on the trail of the Carazzo family? Where did the Juicer's original steroids come from, perhaps a related source leaked the information?

"Gene," "Underground," "CHESS"
Observation: The Carazzo sons have undergone extensive gene therapy to acquire their powers. Incidental mental contacts combined with that information indicates that this mixture is likely more than a simple chemical steroid, but might also act to rewrite the DNA of those that inject it as an active mutagen.
Question: Take a sample to CHESS and inquire about potential involvement from their end in the development or procurement of this material. Also inquire about the potential of CHESS Blacksites in the vicinity, particularly ones that have fallen into disuse that might be the "underground" referred to. Also ask about potential super-villain labs that might be suited to genetic testing, or at least

BRAD!'s "Daughter"
Observation: The timing of this event, coinciding perfectly with the shipment date is too perfect for a coincidence. The girl says a "private detective" that she didn't know had tracked down her father. Potential distraction and opening of a vulnerability into the team.
Question: Who hired this private investigator?

He sends a message on the team communicator to call a meeting, and asks if anyone else has input or suggestions.

"I think these are the most obvious avenues for us to investigate. Am I missing anything?"

OscarDiggs
Jun 1, 2011

Those sure are words on pages which are given in a sequential order!

Liam Rochay AKA Claymation

"That sounds like a pretty succinct reasoning, Slugger." Clay ponders a moment before continuing. "So, now we have to run down a few leads to drag them all up out of hiding, right? Hmm, I have a few ideas to try... Unless we have a reason to say I think it's time to split up for the night before we put our thinking caps on for tomorrow."

professor_curly
Mar 4, 2016

There he is!

Joe Obasi/Slugger

"If we are splitting up, I would like to try and contact CHESS and see if there is any information they can provide. I am neither stealthy nor particularly observant, but I do enjoy filling out paperwork."

[i]Slugger will attempt to contact CHESS through official channels for information about this chemical and potential underground sites in the area.[/b]

Mykkel
Oct 8, 2012


we were somewhere around hesaim on the edge of the spinward marches when the drugs began to take hold.


Vincent Scarfo/The Suit

"Thanks for that explanation Slugger. I'm not sure what I can do to help. I guess I could try to find out information on the ship, where it's been before. I'm not great at being
stealthy either , but I can definitely use a computer to pull up everything we can get on the ship."

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EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
(This is a note for posterity, reflecting what's been discussed on the Discord channel, that the two V&V threads have been merged, the Philly characters will be finishing their downtime activities from the other thread while this story arc is wrapped up. Additionally, Go RV has dropped from the Newark game, and Tyrannosaurus has dropped from Philly.)

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