Issue 49

X-Champions Issues

Issue 49 - Injustice Squad

Laughton and Sihn are back in town. They report that Sihn had some problems with the pumpkin patch, apparently a major destabilization in the dream worlds and so, while Sammy and Spectrum were busy and had to rescue Jane, he needed some of Laughton’s help to wrap things up. As everyone catches up, Sammy mentions he has a friend visiting, and goes on to explain the Listener to them. Both Sihn and Laughton are dubious.

And the topic of the Metal Men’s house-hunting comes up. Laughton and Sihn join Sammy as he takes them out to a house in the suburbs that they like. It’s a brisk day as March is going out like a lion. Before going, Laughton does a quick check, finding that eight years ago there was a fire, and in 1978 it was once the home of “the other woman” involved in an affair with the Detroit mayor. Sihn and Laughton begin arguing over whether to put bodies in the backyard to drive down the price!

When they get to the house, they find the police, a woman, and the Metal Men outside. The police are interviewing Gold on one end of the property and an upset woman on the other end. At the same time, Spectrum pops in to check if things are going smoothly. It turns out that the woman was frightened when the Metal Men showed up intending to buy her house. Spectrum carefully explains everything to the woman and the police, settling the matter – for the moment.

As Suzanne sees both Laughton and Sihn there with Sammy, she remarks, “Must be boring at the base!”

Laughton starts to ask the woman who owns the house, a Mrs. Jones, why the flowers look like something is bulging underneath them. She becomes confused and concerned. Spectrum knows what Laughton is doing, and out of annoyance inflicts a headache on him. Though Laughton does have some heavy-duty tablets made just for such headaches. In fact, he seems surprised that the headache is so mild. And Laughton further presses the woman, she storms off when he gets to the point of implying a neighbor is buried there! Meanwhile, Sihn half-jokes with the woman to watch out for the Metal Men’s death beams. Suzanne is glad to see her cohorts back, but annoyed at their impish behavior, even if they are trying to help out the Metal Men. Laughton points out that people just don’t understand his plans, those foolish humans, and advises Suzanne to ‘clam up” while he helps the Metal Men get a deal.

And as Sammy and Sihn inspect the house, Sammy notes Sihn getting a beer out of the frig, so helps himself to the left-over casserole.

Laughton continues to hassle the woman, asking her about why leaves are all over and the place is so unkempt. Suzanne mentally suggests that Laughton just study satellite photos if he’s really suspicious and leave it at that. Sihn uses his biochemistry skills and checks the flower bed, and declares there’s nothing unusual, prompting Laughton to take him aside and explain his strategy, wanting people to be suspicious.

Laughton does advise the Metal Men on what he thinks they should offer. Platinum offers she’s looking forward to being the female homemaker; Sihn says, “That’s fine, Fred,’ in a joke nobody gets (GM note – but HERO Board readers would…). Then he and Laughton talk about the “robot with death rays” some more.

As the woman complains, the officer steps in. Laughton “advises” the police to “talk to the Metal Men or talk to me,” and things get a bit heated as the police ask Laughton to leave. Suzanne is perplexed as Laughton and Sihn become indignant with the police. Nexus starts offering up that they could contact the mayor, or the president. Laughton finally says, “Fine, you’re right, I’ll leave, with you, to go to the police station and explain your behavior,” and he gets in the front seat of one of the police cars. The officer of that vehicle gets fed up and places Laughton and Nexus under arrest! Suzanne mutters, “There might be damage here..” as she bangs her own head in frustration. Nexus points out all the taxes he pays, “more than Tony Stark,” just as Laughton grabs the police radio as he asks if The Captain is available. Then he reports the officer at the scene, Windslow, to the dispatch officer. The dispatch person is confused, so Laughton then repeats what he said, slowly, as if speaking to a child or one who doesn’t speak the language.

Spectrum talks to the woman, calming her, and then explaining they just have to do the usual checks and discuss with the Metal Men if they want the place for sure. She says, “Things look pretty well…except for the usual stupidity,” as she glances at her teammates. She says she’ll be in touch and then quickly teleports out and back to the Justice Squad headquarters, before making her next step – the local police. She talks to the desk sergeant and gives a pre-apology, explaining there’s some misunderstanding and while nothing bad has happened, some officers are really annoyed. The officer is confused, and surprised but at least glad to see the famous Spectrum. She indicates he’ll know what she’s talking about soon enough.

Just before this, back at the house, Sammy is finishing up the food in the refrigerator as Nexus gets him. The police are unable to control the Justice Squad and are afraid to create too much of a conflict, so the situation remains unresolved. Sammy gets the idea to entertain, since Laughton and Sihn seem amenable, and they briefly play a big as Nexus concentrates on just being “Master of Dimensions” and whipping up drums for Laughton, who plays rhythm as Sammy sings.

Spectrum appears. She sees Mercury now in a confrontation with another officer, which she also manages to take care of. Then she waves and disappears, tiring of the scene.

As the police again approach Nexus, this time saying they’d just like a statement to understand what he’s doing there and what is going on, Nexus protests he’s too busy, and instead summons a pencil which he hands to Laughton, saying “he’ll do it.” Laughton discusses with Sihn how the police are “obstinate, boisterous, disrespectful, and rude,” and Nexus chimes in they have no sense of customer service. Laughton does write up a statement, but in the “short hand” language that Nexus created for their mutual use and speed.

Watching and over-hearing via the mind link, Suzanne knows something is up and can’t stand the mind games anymore. She pops in to find there’s still some beer in the refrigerator, so she just helps herself out of desperation.

Then Spectrum and Laughton each give the officer business cards, her for correcting things and Laughton, well, also, but to his liking instead of the officers’. Laughton does also give the officer the instructions on how to get through the menus and points out there’s a book for sale on Amazon with further tips and tricks to get through even faster. Suzanne has another beer, having downed this one. She wonders why she ever quit drinking.

Then Spectrum, less tense, goes back and works with the officers, apologizing and somehow using all her skills from years in the courtroom to get the police to realize there’s no real threat and so they’re soon off (and gladly so).

Spectrum returns to the house to see that Mrs. Jones is all right. She’s staring blankly into the now-nearly-empty refrigerator, saying, “I don’t know…my husband will be home soon…” As Suzanne soothes the woman and points out that it will all be replenished shortly, she makes a passing reference to the annoying Nexus and Rodin/Laughton, then they hear a drum roll and a loud “pop” as Nexus appears.

Laughton takes the woman aside, assisting the Metal Men with negotiations. After a quiet conversation and a call to her husband, she seems happy to accept $215K, $35K less than the initial asking price! Suzanne shakes her head and has another beer.

As Gold thanks Laughton, he tries to rush him off, saying he’ll be sending the Metal Men his bill.

It turns out the Joneses were intending to move to Florida at the end of the month. This being the 25^th, Spectrum offers she could magically move them, no fuss, no muss, the next day. She is also hoping to get this all completed so as to keep Laughton away from finding more money-making opportunities at these people’s expense. Nexus offers up he could do it right now. Meanwhile, Laughton is taking a tape measure to the flower bed.

Gold points out to Suzanne she’s been drinking. She says, “Yes, I have, this is my third.” She thinks that she’s glad she’s built up immunity to too much alcohol, and gives that a workout. She then stops Nexus from what he’s doing – playing with or torturing (depending on one’s point of view) ants in the back yard. She explains their work is done. Nexus boldly proclaims, “The Work of Justice is never done!” She says, “Uh, right.”

With the rest all gone, Suzanne does the final clean up of the mess left. As the couple discusses investments, she recommends Sihn-Tek. But more importantly, she writes the couple a big check, just as Mr. Jones gets home, to more than compensate for the loss on the house, and she asks them not to cash it until they get to Florida (she is concerned about tipping off the unsteady Laughton). The Joneses start to warm up to her. She explains that Laughton and Nexus have incredible minds and are doing a lot of good, however, their relations with people are “a bit lacking”. She adds, “Take a stereotypical nerd and multiply by ten.” Though she knows they’re acting odd, even for them. Suzanne mentions that they will move for slightly cheaper but much more efficiently. She orders up whiskey as they agree.

Sammy goes off to help the Listener find a job. Without too much trouble and with the Justice Squad’s connections, he manages to get the Listener the job at buffet place Sammy goes to every so often (and they are well paid for the trouble). Sammy pledges to insure they get more business.

Nexus is off on patrol, looking to deliver justice. Downtown he sees a guy being robbed near an ATM. He blasts the perpetrator with a supernatural effect, causing disorientation, and is disappointed the guy won’t fight back. A witness comes from around the corner, and Nexus takes the bad guy and the witness to the police, then teleports out rapidly to do more justice. He sees Bombastic Barney, a large purple Barney-looking (as in the purple dinosaur) criminal. Nexus calls after him, and Barney starts to run. So Nexus shoots him in the back, seriously injuring him. Then Nexus gives him a solid kick in the head, saying “Let that be a good lesson to you!” A woman nearby notices, shrieking and hollering, “people who call themselves heroes shouldn’t be doing this!” Nexus is annoyed at her disturbance of the peace, but decides to let her go. The police quickly show up. Nexus wakes up Barney to make him give a statement. Nexus then says, “This one’s a bleeder,” handing the wounded dinosaur-person to the startled police. And so it goes for the evening…

An angry Jameson editorial the next day is among several columns reacting to Nexus’ night of active “crime-fighting”. He has indeed cleaned up the streets, but has also filled several hospital beds. As soon as Suzanne gets wind of this she phones Rogers and gets him involved in spin-doctoring. And vows to figure out what is going on. But when she goes in, Nexus isn’t around yet; he was on a high from active crime-fighting, and decided to enjoy sleeping and dreaming after getting back in between 3 and 4 AM. She does, however, pick up all the legal complaints being filed against Nexus.

Later, when Nexus is up and before catching up with Suzanne, Sammy introduces Nexus and Laughton to the Listener. Laughton suggests the Listener should work with his 900 number racket to ensure the music is perfectly in tune and scratch free. Sihn is willing to hire the Listener, saying he’ll pay him $11 an hour for a “confidential job position”.

Suzanne then speaks to Nexus about his night out. She tells him to try a less injurious path; as Laughton tells her not to worry, that he’s already gotten it taken care of. Nexus objects that he only beat up bad guys, and points out one has to fight evil with overwhelming force. Suzanne retorts that not putting them in the hospital saves a lot of time; she explains that it’s more efficient to knock them out with one quick shot and then move on, appealing to his sense of practicality. And Sammy adds that her way Sihn won’t have to go through all that legal hassle. Laughton agrees Nexus isn’t being efficient enough and vows to go along with him next time. As Suzanne points out the paperwork Eliot will have to deal with, he protests he doesn’t do paperwork.

Just then she gets a call from Jonas, offering some help if the Justice Squad needs it, given the bizarre events from the night before. Laughton hollers over, “Tell Jonas ‘woof’!” Dutifully, she relays it, though half-heartedly, and Jonas flatly responds, “very funny.”

Mayor Berry stops by to see Laughton. He runs into Sammy first, who eagerly greets him. As Velda lets Laughton know the mayor is there to see him, Laughton instructs her to have him wait 4.8 minutes before coming in, and to put on some orange vinyl, for “security reasons”. Then Laughton comes out and sees him.

The mayor and Laughton go into Laughton’s office. The mayor asks Laughton to take the “usual position,” and Laughton takes out a large paper cone, and secretly ensures his hidden camera is running. Laughton then insists the mayor wear the cone. The mayor resists and starts to speak, but Laughton won’t speak, insisting that the mayor does not have on “the cone of silence.” Sammy is hanging out as a dog, and nuzzles Laughton in wet-nosed mode, causing the detective to tell Sammy “Sit!” Nexus is watching from afar and tells Laughton it’s about time he neutered that dog.

Laughton pulls out a paper and a plastic bag, and instructs the mayor to put one hand in the plastic bag and the other in a paper bag. Berry gets upset, saying he doesn’t want to deal with this, causing the Sammy-dog to growl. Laughton then takes the plastic bag, puts it in the paper bag, and gives it to Brutus (what he calls Sammy) to hold in his mouth. As Laughton messes with the mayor, Sammy figures there’s some sort of fun going on, and pees on the mayor’s foot just as the mayor hastily gets to the point and tells Laughton to tell Nexus to clean his act up. Laughton hands the ruffled mayor a wet-nap, as he leaves, enraged and confused.

Suzanne talks to Nexus about moving the Jones’ stuff. He insists on the $1,400 in cash, so Suzanne says she’ll just take care of it herself. Nexus points out that a billionaire’s time is worth a lot of money. Suzanne then says she’ll just do the job herself for $1,200. Nexus gets miffed and offers to do it for $1,010. Laughton throws in he’ll do it for $1,900. Suzanne “bids” $1,000 and Nexus, determined not to lose, offers up to do it for $500. Suzanne gives him the cash and says, “sure, go for it.”

Bob Rogers shows up to talk to the Justice Squad in the Laughton Agency main conference room, off of the reception area. He is mainly addressing Eliot. Eliot says, “Yeah, fix me up, you know, fix it all like you always do.” Laughton excuses himself – and goes up to the roof to let the tires out of Rogers’ special car! As Rogers expresses his disappointment and outrage, Eliot says, “You’re starting to sound like that miserable loser, Gere-luce!” Sammy is perturbed (finally) and stands up for Gere-luce, saying he’s great. Eliot gives a ho-hum, “I guess.” As Bob takes Eliot aside and asks him to please stop fighting crime for the moment, Suzanne having telepathically communicated to Rogers to just do his best and disengage as something is terribly wrong, Eliot is distracted and whispers to him, “Hey, isn’t Suzanne hot?” Spectrum, however, listens in and catches this.

Meanwhile, Laughton., who’s returned, is sure their charade is about to crumble, as, of course, he’s not the “real” Laughton from this dimension, and neither is Nexus. He calculates that “due to Nexus’ foolishness” there’s only about seven hours left before “those fools,” the Justice Squad remnants, act against them, and he starts to make plans for an escape with loot.

Spectrum in the meantime tells Sammy, via the mind link, to just keep playing along. She then starts to concentrate on a mind control spell to capture Laughton with, but even “Bizarro Laughton” is a genius, and he realizes what is going on. He says he has to leave for a moment, and shuts the door behind him, engaging the lock that keeps everyone else in.

Bizarro Eliot is taken with this dimension and its version of Spectrum…after all, his dimension’s is sadistic and brutal! They may be equally hot, but this one is approachable, so Eliot says, “We’re gonna party now! Ayla doesn’t have to know what she doesn’t have to know! She won’t kill you, probably, maybe.” Then he pauses and considers, “Where is Ayla?” Then as Laughton engages the lock from the outside, he says, “What’s that click?”

Suzanne decides to cut things short and just blast him. She says, “Where’s our Nexus?” as she does so, and her sudden blast takes Bizarro Nexus by surprise, stunning him.

Laughton rushes out to his desk, and releases the photo he has of the mayor with the cone on his head, with the caption “I’m a big doofus.”

Sammy, on Suzanne’s instruction, smacks Bizarro Nexus.

Then, through the intercom, Bizarro Laughton calls into the room, “The jig is up, and you should go peacefully.” Spectrum ignores him. Bizarro Laughton turns static up quite loudly, and Bizarro Nexus grabs a moment to teleport to the roof. B. Nexus then says to B. Laughton they should go home, saying he’ll teleport B. Laughton with him. B. Laughton objects, though, and points out that King Midas will kick their butts. For King Midas has kidnapped this world’s Nexus and Laughton, and sent these Bizarro versions in their place, from the strange inverse Earth he now rules. They were supposed to hold off Neumann, Sammy, and Spectrum longer, but have failed. B. Laughton tells B. Nexus to wait for him to activate the poison gas.

Suzanne teleports out with Rogers and Sammy. Not that it matters. B. Laughton tells Velda to sound the alarm and set off the self-destruct button and release the poison gas. She shrugs and says, “sure,” but ignores him, assuming it’s some sort of joke or obtuse comment. B. Laughton then checks and curses this dimension’s Laughton for not setting up the “standard” defenses and precautions!

Then he and B. Nexus make their escape, splitting up and meeting in Vegas, where B. Laughton counts cards and B. Eliot plays the roulette wheel. Upon making $100 million, B. Eliot hastily leaves.

In the meantime, Spectrum asks Rogers to shut down Eliot’s credit lines, and she arranges to follow where any attempts are to access his money, as bet she can. Spectrum asks Sammy idly if he ever wanted to hit Laughton or Nexus; Sammy says just Laughton. Far away, as B. Nexus points out to B. Hamlet that Sammy blasted through his substantial defenses easily, they agree they better leave this Earth altogether. They briefly consider taking Sammy, as he’s so much friendlier than their version, but decide it would be too risky.

Quickly, Suzanne of course finds their trail in Vegas (what with the record winnings). She finds a note in Laughton’s handwriting, saying “Dear Suzanne, you’re really nice compared to our Suzanne.” And added on by B. Nexus, “Absolutely, you’re a babe! PS – watch out for our Sammy, he has a really voracious appetite. Don’t let him fool you.” On the back of the sheet, she finds, in Laughton’s hand-writing, “Don’t come after us, we’re pathetic.” They hope this will work.

Suzanne sends a quite note to the Joneses, suggesting they wait a few days for a price dip in Sihn-Tek stock, then invest heavily.

Then she carefully opens her mind up and concentrates, using a ritual she’s learned to assist. After a time, she gets a reflected view of the dimension that the “fake” Laughton and Nexus come from – via the Bizarro Spectrum, who, upon feeling her own mind, viciously attacks with a massive mind blast, fortunately misfiring, though.

Having a fix on the location, Spectrum visits Dr. Strange for help. He agrees to help her create a portal and will hold it open for her, as the biggest risk in the way King Midas has sealed his dimension and made it difficult to escape or enter. Jane joins Sammy and Spectrum as they go to Justice Squad headquarters in the alternate dimension – which is located in the Glitterati Hotel (in the regular world they know the same one that was once Kingpin’s HQ) in New York City.

They find the street is, literally, paved with gold! King Midas has transformed the city into a massive display of golden opulence. They immediately do their best to look like everyone else, an easy feat for all three, Spectrum using her mind-magic and Sammy and Jane of course transforming their bodies. They find that King Midas’ New York is eerily pleasant. The New Yorkers are glad to help, always saying hello in a friendly fashion all along their walk along the street.

Bizarro Spectrum, tipped off by the contact from the other Spectrum, reaches out to find her world’s Nexus and Laughton. Laughton tries to ignore her, feigning busyness. But she intrudes, tapping into their minds. As they talk, involuntarily and voluntarily, she gets quite excited – nervously so – about the prospect of another Sammy and the possibility of him being in her world. B. Nexus and B. Laughton, while afraid of her, realize that she has bigger problems with the other Justice Squad on a rescue mission. They declare their independence. B. Hamlet tells her, “There is no coming back,” and as she gets upset, says, “Do I have to speak slower to you?” Sihn cries out, “We have seen how Sihn and Laughton were treated, so much better!” He knows they can therefore find a much better place to be than under the cruel thumbs of B. Spectrum and B. Sammy (that cunning sociopath)! Then they pop out, eluding B. Spectrum for the moment. They then build some quick clones and send them off to divert her attention later.

In King Midas’ dimension, Jane, Sammy, and Spectrum note the posters offering a $1 million reward for Magneto’s capture; in this world he’s a freedom fighter.

Meanwhile, the “real” Laughton and Nexus are coming to in the holding cell in the Glitterati, now called the Counting House (which is also the seat of King Midas’ government and his personal palace) – because B. Spectrum wants them to. She wants information. Laughton and Nexus simply goad her, insulting her and attempting to keep her off track. She attacks Laughton, physically, kicking at him and hurting him in his weakened and incapable state (he cannot transform under the stasis field they have him in). He feigns unconsciousness, then Nexus takes over the goading. Now awake, Laughton and Nexus note that they are turning slowly into gold!

Spectrum is carefully working on a highly secure mind scan to find her compatriots. Then she and the others come across this dimension’s Nightshade. She has her mind link on with him, assuming they are probably familiar here as well. And sure enough, they are. B. Nightshade is thinking about bumping Sammy off as he makes small talk with Suzanne, mentally communicating with her that they could have a chance to stop his dominance. Sammy, tipped off by Spectrum’s multi-way mind link, “innocently” says to B. Nightshade, in a slightly ominous fashion, “You seem nervous today, what’s wrong?” Of course this does make B. Nightshade visibly nervous. Sammy enjoys himself, saying, “We’re great friends, come on, let’s hug,” and he approaches B. Nightshade – who goes desolid out of fear!

Spectrum meanwhile manages to open a secure mind link to Nexus and Laughton, informing them to hold on.

Nexus keeps B. Spectrum occupied. He starts telling her knock-knock jokes while she beats him. She’s so angry she simply uses her fists and steel-toed, high-heeled boots to mercilessly savage him. He uses the “repeat” knock-knock joke, just to vex her more. Even though he can barely stand the pain. He tells her, “I thought we had something special together!’ Laughton, sensing he’s reaching his limit, hollers out, “You bastard, you’re cheating on me again!” causing B. Spectrum to come into his prison room and start to bruise him again.

Mentally, B. Nightshade and Spectrum plot. She indicates that the Sammy he sees now is just a duplicate she’s made. She explains that they do have a shot at getting at the real Sammy. She gets B. Nightshade to be on the lookout for them and cover them as she intends to sneak into the building and double-cross Sammy. Then Jane, Sammy, and Spectrum try to get to a position where they can get from a building across the street from the Counting House into that main palace. Unbeknownst to them, Bizarro Necromancer sits not far away, watching for intruders! The Bizarro Outsiders serve as the main enforcers in New York City. But, with B. Nightshade watching out for Spectrum, they manage to get into the Counting House through a window that she can see into. Inside the Counting House, Spectrum has on overwhelming sense of her own self in the building, a strange sort of déjà vu feeling.

Meanwhile Laughton looks around, carefully watching the reflections on the gold all around them for any signs of opportunities or the arrival of his allies. Nexus mentally calls out, “Isn’t this a good time for my cat?” Pyewacket indeed does respond to his master’s call, saying “What’s up?” Nexus says he needs his help. Pyewacket is hip to what is happening, and demands that he help him get his old master, Bizarro Nexus, back. Nexus has misgivings about this and thinks about it, but not for long…

As he realizes now Laughton is about to give out and he calls out to B. Spectrum, “You look really fat in that outfit!” What he doesn’t know is that this is a particularly sore spot for this dimension’s Spectrum, and she pulls out the entire enclosure he’s in a stasis field in, ripping it out of the wall with her telekinetic strength, and then she mentally blasts him, dropping him, and walks out.

The “real” Spectrum’s other self speaks to her, wanting to take over, to help her. It’s afraid of the other Spectrum’s power and wants to protect her other self. Spectrum thinks about this for a time. She knows that their situation is, at best, precarious, and she carefully negotiates with this other part of her, making their goals clear. They reach an agreement. And Spectrum begins to swell with power; the gold floor begins to melt under her feet! She’s so warm that Jane and Sammy eagerly jump on her shoulders for warmth. They take the stairs in the direction of where she mentally knew her friends to be, quickly taking out a guard along the way.

Nexus comes to during this – and looks for his ear, which B. Spectrum has apparently ripped off. Her brute force and rage has freed him, though, leaving him on the floor, mistakenly presumed to be out for some time. Nexus tries to grab a gun from a guard, who almost wards him off, but then Nexus does get the gun and blasts him, hurting him. Then they both see gold all melting and seeping around them!

Nearby, during this, the two Spectrums meet! Spectrum mind blasts B. Spectrum, causing her a lot of pain. B. Spectrum has water flowing around her to ward off this Sammy’s attacks. The gold around Spectrum starts to melt, more quickly, threatening her position. Sammy launches himself physically at B. Spectrum and land a blow that, atop the pain she’s already in, dazes her.

Now klaxons are going off throughout the Counting House. King Midas is running to find out what is happening. Sammy bonks B. Spectrum again, making sure she’s out cold. Spectrum looks down the hallway, and telepaths to Nexus. They mentally talk – she says she needs a drink! Then she hears an insane laughter in her head, her other self.

Where Nexus is, things aren’t much better. Guards have poured in, and one of them has a gun trained on Laughton, holding him hostage. Nexus resorts to a bluff…he hopes to cash in on his reputation as “master of dimensions.” He explains if they pull the trigger and Laughton dies, this whole dimension will come apart – which is more believable given the strange melting of the house of gold. Nexus pours his considerable speaking skills into it, forcing a pause on the guards’ part.

Then Spectrum blasts her way, in setting of a telekinetic explosion of force, knocking out several of the guards and stunning others. Not far away they hear the wailing of King Midas screaming, “MY GOLD MY GOLD!” Suzanne’s mind radiates another blast – this one a bit out of control, and both Jane and Sammy are caught in it, reeling from pain! But the guards are at least completely out. Sammy nor Jane are out, though, and they scramble quickly through to find Laughton and Nexus while Spectrum stays ready to fight. Jane picks up Sihn, who was knocked out by Suzanne’s last blast, while Sammy chews at the restraints holding Laughton to his stasis device. He then heals Laughton and Nexus as quickly as he can, his gelatinous excretion coating their wounds.

Nexus picks up a gun and a guard’s armor, Laughton turns into his T’suara form. T’suara quickly begins transforming the Bizarro Suzanne into dust. Then King Midas enters the room, shouting, “YOU!” Suzanne whisks everyone up right that moment and they all spiral through a dimensional rift to the safety of Dr. Strange’s mansion. But T’suara gets the last shot off on B. Spectrum. The last thing they hear is Midas shouting, “I’ll get you for this!”

But Midas has other worries. The strange events at the Counting House have not gone unnoticed, and a popular uprising led by Magneto, particularly with the disruption of that world’s Justice Squad, begins. Chaos takes home in a dimension that King Midas had fashioned, he thought, to serve him…

Back home, Spectrum immediately reaches Spiderman, whom she’d asked to intercept Laughton if Spiderman ran across him. Sihn heads off immediately to see Ayla. Later, Spectrum, for fun, shows him the tape of “himself” saying she’s hot. Laughton is inspired by the other Laughton’s idea of poison gas for the conference room, as he finds brief notes written about piping up chlorine gas from the salt mines. Spectrum points out they barely got out of the room a few seconds before it would have went off, had it been set up. Laugton points out they should put more defense on the door to guard against teleports, but it’s a good thing it was hermetically sealed. Suzanne goes home for the day, exhausted.

But Laughton has more important matters. He hears from an irate Mayor Berry. Berry points out if this were the old days, he’d have some homies breaking his neck. Laughton pleads he’ll set things right, explaining without too much detail there were imposters. Later, it comes out the picture of Berry were a “photo manipulation”, a fake, after careful work by Laughton. And then Laughton sends the mayor flowers, and gradually regains his trust through further conversation.

Dick Weed visits the Justice Squad, making it clear he’d like them to find their “counterparts” and get them imprisoned.

Suzanne has her own problems. After having let her other self out, she finds it hard to restrain her power. When mind blasting a regular perpetrator, she hurts him badly by accident.

Meanwhile, the Bizarro Laughton and Sihn are binging from universe to universe, dimension to dimension, visiting various versions of Vegas. They end up buying midget-crashing-cars with fur seats and other bizarrely extravagant purchases.

On other details, as Laughton checks on Hellcat Hellion and his crew, he finds that they’ve saved one old woman from losing her house and stopped various other crimes.

Nexus, who lost many of his foci when captured (it turned out there was a problem in the pumpkin patch, but it was a trap by King Midas, who also is a dimensional traveler, to add the Justice Squad, primarily Nexus as a fellow traveler, to his collection of "cool stuff"), starts rebuilding them. He also is a bit slow, compared to his old self though still vastly quicker-witted than any regular human, as some of his vast quick-thinking was fueled by his arcane tools. He rebuilds those tools first, then does the rest.

[Game Mechanics - Points Awarded...

King Midas is taken care of this time, and the odds were stacked against you - +45 RP, +2 XP for Laughton, Nexus, Sammy, Spectrum

Helping the Metal find a house, the situation is taken care of this time and it was interesting but not that powerful - +1.825 RP, +.125 XP for Laughton, Nexus, Sammy, Spectrum (awarded to Laughton and Nexus as an "as if" and compensation for playing the Bizarro versions)

Becoming the sworn enemy of King Midas - +26.25 RP for Laughton, Nexus, Sammy, Spectrum

6 hours +4.5 RP, +1.5 XP for Laughton, Nexus, Sammy, Spectrum

Totals:

Laughton 77.575 RP, 3.625 XP
Nexus 77.575, 3.625 XP
Sammy 77.575 RP, 3.625 XP
Spectrum 77.575 RP, 3.625 XP

Totals to Date:

Dice 188.5 RPs, 14.95 XPs
Laughton 2328.2 RPs, 226.35 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Neumann 899.5 RPs, 107.4 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion)
Nexus 2380.45 RPs, 221.75 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Sammy the Slime 2223.7 RPs, 203.7125 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Spectrum 2144.7 RPs, 189.15 XPs (with Rep level, 50 for base, 25 for minion, 50 for reorg (note, did not use for agency or life-saving)
Steely Danelle 86 RPs, 10.75 XPs]]