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Some gear to help or enhance our mutations would also be really good. Also, I wonder who's stronger, Wildfire or our local ice queen mother?
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Jun 19, 2019 05:39
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 16:30 |
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 Intercept Keeps TalkingSeeing Intercept interacting so fully with the world around him is ...unsettling in a way you can’t describe. You look to where Squib would usually be sitting with a stupid grin on his face, and purse your lips. “You said Susie is showing high brain activity or something?” You focus back on Intercept, who rouses himself just enough to look up. “Yes.” “What about the others in the other hospital. Hospitals?” He shakes his head. “About four others. All mutants on record, mutations are … not on record.” Intercept scrubs his hand through his beard. “When that thing came through it squashed fifteen people. Dead.” “Christ,” mutters Eel. “About three times that many injured and in the hospital, and then additionally our twenty-two coma patients. They are not all mutants. Well, twenty-three, including …” he looks out toward where Squib’s room is. “Can we… I mean can you…?” You look directly at Jake. He raises an eyebrow. “I could try? You’re asking if I can determine if he has an active mind right now, right?” “Yes, exactly.” You nod, trying not to look back at Intercept’s worried face. Vote!! A. Adjourn meeting, check on Squib immediately B. Continue talking about stuff! C. something….else??
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Jun 19, 2019 06:09
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C, let Jake leave so he can focus on that while we discuss something that could really, really help: Finding someone with a healing mutation. That is, a mutation that lets them heal others.
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Jun 19, 2019 06:14
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Junpei posted:C, let Jake leave so he can focus on that while we discuss something that could really, really help: Finding someone with a healing mutation. That is, a mutation that lets them heal others. Good plan.
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Jun 19, 2019 13:20
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B
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Jun 20, 2019 18:41
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 “I can do that,” says Jake. After a moment of him looking at you and you looking back and raising your eyebrows meaningfully, he pushes back from the table. “I’ll go do that, then.” “Thank you.” You smile, your eyes watching his butt as he walks out of the room, and then you drag your attention back to the matters at hand. “I want to keep an eye on these coma patients. Especially Susie. And we’ll probably want to get Jake in the room with her, so he can ...compare and contrast her condition with Squib.” “I’m in the system but there aren’t security cameras on the beds. I have a feed from outside Susie’s room, though. Anna is there with her with one of her brothers.” “Okay, well, keep an eye out for anything weird.” “Weird?” “I assume you’ll know it if you see it,” you say. Billy leans forward, elbows on the table, his eyes narrowed. “How are we going to keep Anna safe from the Nordicks? She’s exposed there, at the hospital.” “I’d go sit with her, but I can’t,” you say, and then you look at Eel. “Actually maybe you should do it.” He looks thoughtful, and nods. “I could, but her brothers probably have it in hand.” “You don’t have to be in the room, just in the hospital.” You are liking the idea more as you think aloud. “We would have someone there, just in case.” Decision time: We need to move forward. What will we do?A. Focus on hospital and Anna and Susie (and Squib) B. Focus on Nordicks and investigating them C. Focus on Haven D. Focus on other dimensional beings E. Something else: Write in F. SPLIT FOCUS - pick two or three things to work on at once. Our results will not be as good.
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Jun 24, 2019 19:38
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A.
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Jun 24, 2019 22:40
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Yeah, have to agree. A
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Jun 25, 2019 03:01
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All that poo poo needs to get dealt with, but we also need our human grenade machine up and running. A
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Jun 25, 2019 06:32
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 The meeting meanders on for twenty more minutes, with no new revelations. Jake didn’t come back in, so you follow Intercept back to Squib’s room. You hesitate before entering. It occurs to you that you have no idea what Squib’s real name is, or how to contact his family. As with most of your team, you assume he isn’t in touch with them for one reason or another, but Squib always seems to have … a kind soul? Your eyes catch one of the MLP posters he’d decorated with, and you shake your head. Intercept knows who everyone in the cell is, anyway. If Squib would want his biological family involved then Intercept would have already taken care of it. “His mind is quiet - just like if he was in a deep sleep. Not active like he was dreaming, or anything like that,” Jake is saying to Intercept as you walk in. “I’d have to compare what I feel with Susie before I would want to make a guess as to what the difference is between them.” “Susie has mental abilities,” Intercept says. “She’s a pre-cog, right?” They both look at you, and you’re grateful to have a question to answer. Standing awkwardly while Squib lays there, unconscious, is making you restless and you’ve only been in the room for two minutes. “Yes, she’s a pre-cog. I guess she only sees like ...five minutes into the future?” You shrug, and lean against the wall. “Since the creature comes from a plane of psychic energy..? Maybe it had a stronger or different effect on psychics.” Jake sighs. “I’m only guessing.” “What’s the treatment plan at the hospital?” You look at Intercept. “Keeping them comfortable and alive, basic coma patient care.” Intercept reaches out and brushes Squib’s hair off his forehead. “We’re going to need a nurse to set Squib up with a catheter and IV by the end of the day or we’re going to have to bring him to a hospital.” “poo poo.” You push off of the wall and scrub your hand over your face. “Okay. Right. Of course.” Something occurs to you then, and you can’t believe you hadn’t thought of it before. “Wait, Intercept - the GDPA registry - it records what people’s mutations are, right?” “Yes. But I don’t know how the testing works for that - Haven’s proprietary blood test is confidential but has something to - Sorry. Yes.” He looks at you, and then away, back down to the iPad resting on his leg. “Do they have any mutants with healing abilities on file yet?” “I …” Intercept’s eyes roll back almost immediately as he delves into the network, his hand resting on the iPad. The screen is flickering under his touch. You exchange a look with Jake. Have you just solved the problem?! “No mutants with healing have been registered.” Intercept sounds depressed. 1. What do you do/say?A. Keep looking, Intercept, more are being registered all the time. And expand the search to any reports of healing done anywhere in California or the surrounding states. This is a top priority. B. Keep looking, but don’t forget to keep an eye on the coma patients in the hospitals, especially Susie. I assume we are sending someone to the hospital with Susie. 2. Who are we sending to keep an eye on Susie and Anna?C. Eel, he can wait in the lobby discreetly. D. Someone else, write in E. No one - her brothers are there as well, we assume they have things in hand. Intercept can simply monitor the hospital’s security cameras. 3. What are we doing with Squib?F. Calling up a home care nurse who can keep his or her mouth shut to take care of him. G. Taking him to a hospital is the wisest option. H. Get Jake to try EVERYTHING to wake Squib up. This could be dangerous and will have unknown consequences, not the least of which is Intercept will likely be pissed (unless it works!)
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Jun 27, 2019 20:20
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B. Finding a healing mutant would be super sweet, but it's not a top priority yet. It's a luxury. Like scented candles. D. Spectrum should watch-with her mutation, she can probably keep an eye on them from a longer range. F, preferably a mutant nurse.
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Jun 27, 2019 20:30
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BEF. Also keep a lookout for any mutants with useful or 'interesting' abilities. Especially psychic nonsense.
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Jun 27, 2019 22:39
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Gonna keep this vote open for another day, just to see if there are more opinions out there. I know you people have Opinions! 
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Jun 29, 2019 23:15
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Junpei posted:B. Finding a healing mutant would be super sweet, but it's not a top priority yet. It's a luxury. Like scented candles. I like this. +1
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Jun 29, 2019 23:26
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Outrail posted:BEF. Also keep a lookout for any mutants with useful or 'interesting' abilities. Especially psychic nonsense. +1
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Jun 30, 2019 01:59
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To be honest "keep an eye out for mutants with cool, useful powers" should be an always thing
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Jun 30, 2019 02:12
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 The next few days pass by slowly. With nothing specifically on your plate you try to make yourself useful cleaning up the new place. You discover you really hate painting. Squib is well taken care of by a home care nurse who seems happy enough with the money you’ve thrown at her to come by every day and make sure he’s comfortable and doing well. Intercept barely leaves his friend’s room to eat, so Spectrum brings meals to him. She is a perceptive woman, so you did send her to the hospital one day to see if she could find anything useful or interesting happening around Susie. She didn’t come up with anything, so you didn’t ask her to go again. You have called Anna a few times, to make sure she has everything she needs, and to find out from her how Susie is doing. She assures you it’s all going as ‘well as can be expected.’ For now it seems that wait and see is all the doctors can do. Wait and see. Waiting. waaaaaitiiiiiing W A I T I N G You discover you really hate waiting.
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Jul 1, 2019 20:29
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Well, given that we have some time, maybe we can check on something that hasn't come up in a while. Like Juan, the shadowy smoke kid. What happened to him? Is he okay?
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Jul 1, 2019 20:40
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During one of your phone calls with Anna you check up on Juan, the smokey boi. He is doing ... well? Seeing as he cannot physically manifest and only communicates by spelling out words in the air, he's hard to get to know, but Anna assures you that he is still at her house. The other kids are doing their best to act normal around him, but you imagine it's like trying to get used to living with a ghost. Still, he didn't leave, so you take that as a good sign. Being dead is not as much fun as you thought it would be. Still, you are doing your best to remain behind the scenes, as it were. Eel is out with Wildfire, touching base with your MLM contacts, Digger is being Digger in the basement (enough said, really), Hot Sauce is really annoying so you haven’t felt the need to try to become his buddy. You want to GET OUT. Instead you take a swim in your pool to try to keep your mind off things. It doesn’t work. You spend the whole time pondering different reasons why you, you, need to be out and getting your hands dirty. Maybe you could try to get in contact with Vigilante again. Intercept hasn’t caught her anywhere since the Incident, which you know she survived, so she’s probably holed up somewhere with Haven. Most likely the base out by Joshua Tree? Now, that would be exciting, strolling into Haven’s base just to see what was up. You touch the side of the pool and hang there a minute before pushing off for another lap. Or you could go show support for Anna by visiting Susie in the hospital. Surely that wouldn’t being a whole mess of unwanted attention down on Anna and her foster family. You swim angrily to the other end of the pool, splashing way too much and slowing yourself down. When you get to the edge there are a pair of feet there waiting for you. You wipe the water from your face and look up at Intercept. “Haven is moving the coma patients.”
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Jul 1, 2019 20:49
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"Have they started yet or are they still in the preparation phase?"
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Jul 1, 2019 20:58
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You pull yourself up out of the pool, water splashing up against Intercept’s shoes. He takes a few steps back. “Moving them where?” Your towel is on the other end of the pool, so you just drip where you stand, squeezing water out of your short hair. “...and when?” “Top secret medical facility. They’re calling it a national security issue, but they’re only taking the mutants. It’s still in the preparation phase as of now, there’s a lot of moving parts when it comes to transferring patients.” “gently caress.” You grind your teeth for a moment, and then snap your attention back to Intercept. “What about Susie? She’s still not on their radar, right?” He grimaces. “I thought she wasn’t, but it appears they’ve finally connected the dots. The order for her transfer to Good Sam just came through, so she would be with the other patients. From there Haven will have her.” ”gently caress!” What are you going to do?A. Get out there and stop Susie’s transfer. You should do this yourself. You really need to be more hands on. B. Stop by the hospital with Jake ASAP, you can stay outside or something, but send him in to try to wake up Susie or connect with her before she’s taken away. C. Go for a drive to clear your head and let Eel take point on this. You’re too keyed up to make good decisions. D. Let Eel take point on the Haven business, you’re going to go to Anna’s for … reasons. You’ll figure it out when you get there. E. Go find something to punch. F. Something else: Write in
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Jul 1, 2019 21:09
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F: Call in allllllllllllll the favors we can. Those gang guys. Our invisible politician dude. We need all hands on deck!
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Jul 1, 2019 21:12
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Junpei posted:F: Call in allllllllllllll the favors we can. Those gang guys. Our invisible politician dude. We need all hands on deck! All hands on deck to do what?
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Jul 1, 2019 21:27
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hollylolly posted:All hands on deck to do what? Oh, right, should have said that. Get them all to help us get this thing stopped! We can work on stopping it on a ground level, while they can spread information and show that this is blantant mutant prejudice!
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Jul 1, 2019 21:30
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C If we're going to come out of hiding, we should make some gains with it, I dunno that this is it. The mutant act might put us in a situation of not having legal recourse, mass protests would be great if the promutant sentiment is already there though.
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Jul 1, 2019 23:42
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I'm Jane's seething hindbrain. Yeah, C, though I'm tempted to vote A just because it's such an appropriately IC Jane reaction.
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Jul 2, 2019 22:23
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Looks like we're going for a drive! May cooler heads than ours prevail.
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Jul 10, 2019 04:48
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Oh nice! So happy this story is back! 
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Jul 10, 2019 08:05
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theroachman posted:Oh nice! So happy this story is back! I almost DMed you on Twitter to tell you, but then, obviously, I didn’t 
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Jul 10, 2019 17:17
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(Cross post from Vampires of Caribbean) I said this on the Discord but I’m going to be camping next week and won’t have WIFI so the update won’t get posted until next-next week. On the plus side I should get the last edits done to my book and finally put that to bed. 
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Jul 13, 2019 18:43
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hollylolly posted:(Cross post from Vampires of Caribbean) I said this on the Discord but I’m going to be camping next week and won’t have WIFI so the update won’t get posted until next-next week. On the plus side I should get the last edits done to my book and finally put that to bed. Have Fun! Hmm, is there a camping themed emote around here somewhere....?
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Jul 13, 2019 19:30
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Outrail posted:Have Fun! Hmm, is there a camping themed emote around here somewhere....? hmmm.. I wonder...
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Jul 13, 2019 23:19
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Time to write the update 
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Jul 26, 2019 17:16
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After a moment or two of clenching your hands into fists, you realize you’re standing in front of Intercept in your bathing suit, water puddling around your feet. Walking over to grab your towel, you take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Get Eel on this … find out where they’re taking them. Get Spectrum there too. I’m … I’m going for a drive. I just can’t -” You look down at your hands. Your body is trembling with adrenaline at the rage you feel, and you attempt to force yourself to relax. “Text me where they’re going. Or when. … or something.” You wrap the towel around yourself and stalk into the house to get dressed. Fifteen minutes later you’re on the freeway, driving without a destination. The hot August air quickly dries your short hair, but you leave the windows down, filling your car with the roar of wind as you accelerate. With your phone on the dashboard, you can glance at the texts as they come in. 13:40 Team heading out 14:03 Eel @ hospital 14:08 Susie still there w/Anna & Paulo. Spectrum keeping  on them14:09 Susie prepped for transport to Good Sam 14:09 Anna making a stink about continuity of care with drs & 1 dr is explaining its better to keep all the patients from the Incident together and Haven is better equipped etc etc etc 14:10  14:11 Eel bringing in Jake, might get here b4 Susie leaves Your hands tighten on the steering wheel, and you abruptly take an exit from the freeway, looking for something to eat. Not sure where you are, you look at the street signs and narrow your eyes when you realize that you’ve driven close to Good Sam, where the majority of the coma patients are. It is entirely too tempting to give the hospital a drive by, and you’re taking the turns indicated by the blue H signs without consciously deciding to. Obviously you won’t stop, that would be stupid. But you’re in the area … What do you do?A. Drive by Good Sam (this is the hospital where Susie will be transferred to, and then from there the mutant coma patients are being taken to a secret [so far] location) to just … keep an eye on things. More information is always good. Rationalize it however you like. B. Drive to Good Sam and get out and sneak into the hospital to see if you can get any information about where Haven will take the patients. C. What are you doing?! Go find some In-N-Out and stay away from the hospital. It’s not too late to turn around, ok you’re almost there but … no. Stay away. D. Drive across the street, or park far away in the hospital parking lot, and surveil it from your car with the binoculars you keep in the glove compartment. E. Something else: Write in
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Jul 26, 2019 18:16
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E, remember our invisible politician friend? Let's call him and leak this info to him, so he can make a stink about it.
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Jul 26, 2019 18:24
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Nice idea. Plan Junpei
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Jul 26, 2019 18:43
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Junpei posted:E, remember our invisible politician friend? Let's call him and leak this info to him, so he can make a stink about it. You do not have an invisible politician friend. You are thinking of Greg Smythe, who is one of the lawyers you have worked with in the last few months. quote:Greg Smythe - local mutant lawyer, often represents mutant rights and is involved with the MLM movement. He is young (late 20s) and enthusiastic, but also skilled. He is reportedly able to become invisible. We ended up hiring three lawyers: quote:You have Intercept set the wheels in motion to hire Greg Smythe, Frieda Jefferson, and Louis Beauregard. Having a team of lawyers on retainer is worth the down payment on their services, and you already have a few ideas on lawsuits you want to level at California government agencies. Heck, throw in Haven Corp while you’re at it; the idea of using your lawyers like a shotgun full of lawsuit-birdshot is appealing. quote:You have two pending lawsuits, one against the LAPD on behalf of the mutants (and their families) that they have renditioned off into the desert to 'await trial,' even though there are no trial dates on the docket and apparently no rush to get them their day in court. Well, you'll take care of that. The other lawsuit is against a local mall who kicked a group of mutants out who were peacefully protesting the upcoming Genetic Diversity bill. quote:We have been working on a lawsuit against the LAPD on behalf of Ales Hlinka and James Scott. MLM (and our lawyers) have also been working with the two men for their defense on their upcoming court date. It appears that in order to talk with the lawyers (Frieda Jefferson is taking point on this with the help of Greg Smythe ) the meetings have been taking place via encrypted Skype calls. Well, at least, they were. It as been a while since we checked in with our lawyers and it definitely is because it has been literal years since I started writing this story. I will formulate a Lawsuit Update (tm) soon.
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Jul 26, 2019 18:44
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Jul 26, 2019 18:45
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Right, right, sorry, forgot/misremembered. That.
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Jul 26, 2019 18:47
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I believe this is the last we, the readers, really checked in on Ales Hlinka and James Scott (mutants taken prisoner after being dosed with Haven-augmented Headlight at the MLM rally). We are working on getting Ales out, but James made a deal with Haven and his own lawyers. It's also where Vigilante discovered how to teleport long distances. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3738085&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=24#post455832500 edit: I don't know if you need Archives to read it or not. I will work on some sort of searchable document for the story thus far.
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Jul 26, 2019 18:59
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