X-Champions Issues

Issue #19 - Martians and Men-in-Black and X-Men Oh My!

Upon returning to Detroit, Sammy takes some time off on an Elvis-free vacation, spending time not being Elvis and imitating forms fond in the Justice Squad's base. His perspective is that given Elvis disappeared before, he can do it again. It isn't long before the media notices Elvis' absence but Sammy decides to stay out of it despite the hue and cry. In the meantime he fanatically practices shifting shapes, worried that his Elvis-ness may be a symptom of losing his mind.

Dr. Sihn is enthused to see Aela return home, although he has to deal with his powerful father-in-law, Prince Namor, and his exhortations to watch over Aela "properly". While Namor is anxious to see Aela leave protective custody, where she tended to cause issues, he has seized upon comments she's made and believes Sihn is too inattentive. Sihn explains his clumsy attempts at quality time and Namor is unimpressed. Then the son-in-law gets a chance to impress as Namor wants to have a cigar. It's clear Namor is uncomfortable with cigars but trying to develop the taste.

Sihn's new-found friend the Big Ugly Bug comes to town and Sihn puts him up at Sihn-Tech.

Suzanne Palmer takes a trip to Bermuda to follow up on Diane and Dean (issue 18) and see how they're doing. She finds that Diane is drinking a bit but otherwise they're fine, and Dean is getting ready to return to NY, finding that his job is intact.

The Lobster Boy case is proceeding and Suzanne keeps busy traveling to Texas and helping out. The Amazing Nothing Thing case continues to linger as it's court dates are pushed back. Suzanne realizes that Lucy Coe, in the DA's office, is exerting pressure on the judiciary to push the case back to the point where theoretically the ANT's medical condition may worsen beyond remedy.

A representative from the 719 Society, a tall man with several eyes unsurprisingly named Frank Eyes seeks Suzanne's help. He is a zealot but a fairly restrained one; he attempts to appeal to Suzanne's obligations as he presumes (without basing it on anything other than her assisting mutants) that she's one of them. Suzanne points out the problem with society is the attitude he portrays, one of us-versus-them and insularity.

And so she passes him on to Laughton, who's more preoccupied with agency issues. The NME has defaced the office in his absence, and worse still the Blue Moon's new Detroit branch has ads all around the Laughton Agency indicating where to find them now that they've moved. The ads stress they're available for customers who want subtlety and discretion, raising the high profile that Laughton Agency enjoys. Then Laughton finds out that the check he wrote Chiang Li has bounced, apparently because Li waited a long time to cash it and it was in one of Laughton's many accounts that only stay open a short time. As Li and Laughton talk, Li finds out that Laughton has jewelry from the Kingpin, and in particular a crystal catches his eye. Laughton offers the jewel, not seemingly of any great value as a gem, to Li, who eagerly accepts it to settle the debt. Li in fact is quite enthusiastic about the prize, and before Laughton can grill him on why the mysterious psychic detective disappears in a cloud of smoke.

Down in the Justice Squad Headquarters Sammy is startled as he hears someone lurking outside one of his doors. He inspects to find Velda has infiltrated to find Sammy, whom she's worried about. Sammy grabs a stack of baloney sandwiches from the limited food replicator and takes Velda into the entertainment room to watch a movie. They talk, Sammy consoling her but not being the romantic she desires. As she leaves her baloney sandwich uneaten other than one polite bite, Sammy asks, "Are you eating the rest of that sandwich?"

Sometime in mid-April the Justice Squad members become aware that Bud Girl (whom they recently encountered in issue 15 as she's been paroled) has become the morning meteorology anchor on channel 6 (find call letters).

Sammy's alone at the base and gets a call from Velda upstairs. A strange visitor has appeared, a small self-professed Martian who wishes to see the owner of the building. He attempts to reach the rest of the Justice Squad, but Suzanne is in court and unable to respond to her page. Hamlet is across town surveilling the Rosicrucians and can't get there quickly, so also attempts to get Suzanne. Eliot responds, starting out saying, "Sammy, I hope you're not paging me because we're out of ice cream again." Realizing something legitimate is up, Eliot rushes over to join Sammy.

Sammy and Eliot talk with the strange little character, who is awkwardly polite but insistent that he needs to speak with the owner. During this time he brings in a large box. He reveals that he bought the property and expects them to vacate soon. Suzanne calls back during the conversation and Eliot gives her a hard time, saying, "You know, the world could have ended by now. Why do you think we have these pagers?" She sense a certain humor underlying his comments but is unsure. In any case she surmises they have the situation in hand and keeps a mind-link up just to be sure. She explains that the strict judge, Crocker, won't grant a recess for a while, and Eliot offers to "fix" Crocker. She declines - besides she could certainly fix him herself if necessary.

The Martian, still waiting for Hamlet, becomes agitated and begins to feel that Sammy and Eliot are toying with him (which they are). As he threatens action, Sammy grabs the gun from his belt, destroying it, and the Troll attempts a grab, missing. The Martian lets loose a blinding flash of light somehow, blinding both Sammy and Eliot. Blindly Eliot pulls an eye out and rips an arm off, swinging the arm wildly toward the Martian. The Martian stares at this display and pauses, giving time for Sammy to recover and hit him a couple times just as Hamlet pulls up onto the sidewalk and near the entrance of the agency. Hamlet misses the Martian, attempting his transformation to stone. The Troll attempts to hit the Martian but misses, and gets hit by a strange painful sensation from the Martina. Another flash of light blinds Hamlet as he runs in front of Sammy (moving in position for Sammy to use him as Rodin). The box meanwhile swings open and a bunch of robots come out, attacking Sammy. Thanks to the mind link that Suzanne, blocks away, is maintaining for them Hamlet can "see" what Sammy is seeing/thinking but can tell from his own sense of hearing and perspective that the robots attacking must be an illusion to Sammy, and with that knowledge fed back mentally to Sammy, Sammy breaks free of the mental cage. Sammy grabs Hamlet as he turns to stone and swings at the Martian, stunning him, at the same time as the Martian hits Sammy with the same startling mysterious pain. Mentally witnessing this, Spectrum excuses herself for an "emergency" quick break, Crocker making cracks about doing something about her bladder control problem, and is about to fly out the window when she "sees" the Troll delivering the coup de grace on the staggering Martian. She heads back to court, relieved that the team is okay.

Dr. Eliot Sihn gathers samples from the Martian. Sammy, coming to quickly on his own, isn't sure what to make of the Martian's destructive capabilities and breaks his hands. Gere-luce gets the Martian's gun for later reconstruction and study. Sihn moves the Martian downstairs just before the police and Suzanne (freed up finally from court) arrive. Suzanne insists that Eliot not dissect the Martian as it is clearly a sentient life form, though Eliot is unsure he wants to really listen to her. Detective Berger shows up and immediately assumes that Hamlet and the Justice Squad have cooked up some sort of publicity stunt. But within a couple weeks fuzzy tapes show up on the FOX network showing the strange alien at the headquarters…

Also a week later the Justice Squad gets a visit from a dark-clad elderly, German-accented stranger with a raven on his shoulder - the former business associate of the Kingpin, Jochen Kietersling. He meets with Sammy, Hamlet, Suzanne, and Eliot in the lobby and claims to know how to fix Sammy's Elvis problem; in return, he wants the Martian - or at least the Martian's brain, as he reveals as the negotiations begin. Laughton wants the paper trail between NY crime boss Cabot and Fisk. As it turns out, Kietersling had put a spell on Sammy for Kingpin. He also sent the Martian the Justice Squad's way, "giving" the Martian their property in repayment of some sort of debt or trade. Hamlet admires the way Kietersling works but still wants the mafia information, and wants to know what Kietersling wants with the Martian. Kietersling only responds, "Imagine ze unimaginable!" After some discussion of swapping the Martian's brain with one of the Justice Squad members', Suzanne takes off, annoyed with the talk of trading a being. [There is a note here about Jochen's saliva as a sample for Eliot Sihn and something about replacing a desk? - anyone who can remember please e-mail me]. With Suzanne gone Sihn and Laughton agree to trade the Martian's brain for releasing Sammy from the Elvis effect and Cabot's criminal secrets. Sammy is released just like that, with no seeming effort on Kietersling's part. Before the dark stranger leaves, he offers his strange Necronomicon book up. Hamlet says he's already got one. But Sihn, who is fascinated in this occult nonsense and quite willing to study it, takes it. Sihn is bemused at the cliché evil cackle of Kietersling as he departs.

Meanwhile Suzanne meets up with Buffy and the "Scooby gang". She mentions Kietersling and his strange appearance. A side conversation with Willow sees them discussing Suzanne's alter consciousness, Willow concerned for her friend. Suzanne is not dismissive, but plays it down and believes it's under control. Giles then interrupts as he calls everyone's attention to his findings that Kietersling is "Daemon Wodin", an ancient being who is the basis for the Nordic God. He warns against accepting anything from him. Suzanne of course is unaware of Eliot's receipt of a "gift".

The next day Cabot flies to Detroit and, a bit zombie-like, gives Hamlet Laughton plenty of information on his criminal organization and his own misdeeds and connection to Kingpin. Most (but not all) of the information is forwarded to the police; Cabot isn't in business much longer.

Sihn convenes a meeting with the Justice Squad and insists that people pay attention to their pagers and phones and get together more promptly, etc.. The rest of the group talks around it and jokes, blunting any impact he may have had. They tend to think he's read too many pulp books and semi-fictionalized super hero news accounts.

No word has been forthcoming from Manny in the Philippines for some time; Eliot fears he's been taken or something's happened to Manny. But he's preoccupied with concern over the still-missing Professor X. He starts casting about more seriously, speaking with friends back at his old school.

In the meantime Suzanne's hard work on the Lobster Boy case pays off and the Texas court rules in his favor. Her visibility in the legal community increases, although Durshowitz mostly refers to his (singular) success in most interviews.

Sammy is undisturbed by Velda in his shape-shifting and quiet time downstairs. She's effectively locked out again, and miffed at it. She feels she's contributed a lot to the success of the Justice Squad as she's held down the fort at home and at great personal risk.

Hamlet visits the distraught Andrea d'Ennui, still recovering from her suicide attempt. He brings her the usual dead flowers. She's grateful to see him and seems willing to go on with life in her normal depressed and attention-seeking mode. Hamlet presses for more details on Dr. 13, whom he's become more curious about. She hasn't much more to offer, though, and he vows to get more details.

Archie, one of Sihn's Men-In-Black associates, contacts Sihn to follow up on the Martian rumor/story. He wants the Martian, whom the doctor has quite thoroughly collected samples from and studied by now, so Sihn gives it up easily. Archie's annoyed to know it has no brain but it's still of interest to him, and Betty comes and picks it up. In return Archie indicates that the Professor X disappearance may well be government-involved although he has no meaningful details and does not know anything about Dark Force except that he's heard of it and it is extremely secret.

Sihn then turns to Terwilliger who, while annoyed at not getting more on the Martian himself (though he was unavailable at the time), has a little more information. He fingers a source who knows something about Dark Force named Zack Oldham, a government contract plumber who works out of a Washington, DC office.

The Justice Squad is soon in the capital. They enter the non-descript office building as two normal-looking business people (Suzanne in her usual lawyer attire and Sihn disguised by Laughton) along with Laughton impersonating Kietersling with Sammy posing as the raven on his shoulder. They find Oldham to be not merely cooperative but, after initially being disturbed by their appearance, stating, "It's about time youmade your way to me!" It turns out Oldham is a mutant himself and has been expecting someone to follow up on Xavier and track their way to him. Apparently he has maintained deniability by establishing only secretive contacts within the government itself, thus anyone finding him would have to do so essentially on their own. He details for them pivotal yet scanty information regarding a known base of some sort for Dark Force in Bermuda where they are suspected of conducting mutant experimentation or study of some kind. Oldham is pained by their flamboyant (what with the dark-clad figure with a raven) appearance in the building leading to his office, so he requests that they knock him out - he doesn't want to fake being put out - so he can report them when he regains consciousness. After a brief hesitation, Laughton obliges, pummeling him with the Sammy raven. They then leave under the same secure suppression of security systems that Laughton enacted in Oldham's office.

Hamlet follows up with his government contact, Frank Beard of WEB, and doesn't find out too much more except that Beard also knows Oldham and vouches for him as a credible source. This eases the Justice Squad's mind a bit about it being a trap.

The Black Buick, driven by Rogers, whisks the Justice Squad to the tropical paradise island of Bermuda. They can take no time for sightseeing, instead touching down in the Black Buick and "borrowing" a local license plate so as to remain less conspicuous. Then they reconnoiter via a chartered commercial plane, finding without much trouble the large unmarked building. Deciding to strike quickly, Hamlet changes into a long pole-like statue, the Troll riding him down a la Slim Pickens from Dr. Strangelove. Spectrum and Sammy fly down behind them. Rodin smashes through the structure not far from where technicians are working and near the holding cells Professor X and the rest of the X-Men are. The operation is a success as they rapidly free their fellow heroic mutants and take off. The building is quickly evacuated and clearly some sort of massive self-destruct sequence is engaged. The Justice Squad and X-Men barely escape in time as the building implodes, destroying everything. Scientists and other staff members are heading down the road, one truck clearly containing some sort of important material. Spectrum grabs it telekinetically and lays it on its side. They see the truck quiver slightly, and realize when they reach it that one of the occupants in the cab of the truck activated explosives inside the truck destroying its contents. Apparently the "brains" of the operation have otherwise fled and these scientists, while knowing a bit, only knew their job was to take computer equipment and destroy it if cornered. The mutant studies are destroyed. The scientists do not know the purpose of their studies, but feel that Dark Force is creating some sort of ability to recreate or create mutants.

Professor X explains that he was doing some work with Dark Force that he believed was for positive study and use of mutants as government operatives. They went to meet them and were ambushed.

Upon returning to Detroit the crew winds down. Sammy calls and catches up with Eduardo Tocci. While he has no illusions about the crime boss' background, Tocci is now truly retired in Florida and Sammy does miss the dinners he used to be treated to.

Hamlet returns to studying and surveilling the Rosicrucians, while also seeking out information on Dr. 13. He also vows to go after the Blue Moon and figure out why their business is doing so much better. He's sure it's not simply that they're mining the client list that he had when he was part of the organization, that something more sinister is at work. Sammy witnesses the concern over the business, and in order to drum up business goes out and acts as a sign, wearing/being a billboard promoting the Laughton Agency.

Eliot studies the Necronomicon. He scans it entirely into the computer and, to be safe, locks the original in a safe just in case it does have some sort of odd power attached to it. Suzanne mentions to Eliot and Hamlet one day about what Kietersling is. Eliot finds it to be nonsense but listens politely.

In fact, Eliot Sihn is working more than ever, and finds that his computer seems to almost anticipate his queries and research work, with processes seemingly instantaneously responding and the "glitch" of file listings and prompts appearing that benefit his work rather than being nuisances. He becomes more engrossed in his computer research as well as more intent on his work in general. Sammy grows concerned about his friend's demeanor.

Hamlet and Suzanne get with Velda and, as Hamlet's concerned about how she ever originally got into the base as well as her exposure to various villains, they scan her mind in case she's been influenced or otherwise tampered with by some mental forces. Velda comes up clean, if more annoyed than ever before.

Suzanne desires to get some distance from the madness of the Laughton Agency and the intensity and questionable ethics of Sihn Industries. She begins looking for a house on the fringes of Detroit. Hamlet requests that she give him any refrigerator-sized cardboard boxes that she may acquire through the moving process.

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

Thoroughly defeating a marginally inferior opponent for defeating the Martian - +3.75 RPs for Rodin, Sammy, Spectrum, Troll, +.25 XPs for Rodin, Sammy, Spectrum, Troll

Winning against a marginally (marginal for being so secret) inferior opponent for rescuing the X-Men - +1.875 RPs for Rodin, Sammy, Spectrum, Troll, +.125 XPs for Rodin, Sammy, Spectrum, Troll

6 hrs Session Play - +4.5 RPs for Rodin, Sammy, Spectrum, Troll, +1.5 XPs for Rodin, Sammy, Spectrum, Troll

All points below are dedicated XPs as noted, they are included in totals but note they should not be rearranged (note - some skills costs are too much in Champions, don't get hung up on how they affect character points totals):

Rodin - +1 shadowing (2 XPs), new general skill Rosicrucians 13/less (4 XPs), new skill Martians 8/less (0 XP but not generally available)

Sammy - +3 Points to disguise (6 XPs), +1 point to journalism (1 XP)

Spectrum - +2 legal skill (2 XP), new skill General Occult 8/less (2 XP, new skill INT-based Ghosts/Spirits (3 XP), RP bonus famous legal cases +11.25

Troll - "Martian" (Sihn probably sees this as another form of mutant) Physiology INT-based skill (3 XPs), +1 Computer Programming (2 XPs), Dark Magic INT-based skill (3 XPs), RP bonus (Necronomicon possessor, +11.25 RPs)

Totals:

Rodin +10.125 RPs, +7.875 XPs
Sammy the Slime +10.125 RPs, +8.875 XPs
Spectrum +21.375 RPs, +8.875 XPs 
Troll +21.375 RPs, +9.875 XPs

Totals to Date:

Rodin 890.75 RPs, 81 XPs
Sammy the Slime 861.5 RPs, 79.5375 XPs
Spectrum 713.25 RPs, 73.3 XPs
Troll 886.25 RPs, 89.225 XPs]